“My goal,” he reassured her, “is for Gabe to discover what he enjoys and provide it for him, along with self-awareness. I will not allow him to come to harm. I will also not break his trust.”
“Yes,” she mumbled, more to herself than him. “I did call for someone perfect to serve Gabe’s needs. I simply forgot how private he is.” She shrugged then smiled almost fondly at Az, her eyes once again twinkling with an odd light. Az had the definite sense that this woman was not what she appeared to be.
“Well, I’m sure you boys will get along just fine,” Grams continued, turning to Gabe as he walked into the room. “Is your lovely demon treating you well, Gabey?”
‘Gabey’ turned a rather bright shade of red at the question, probably thinking about the morning with Az. That only caused Grams to laugh outrageously and made Az hold back his own smirk.
“I just brought you boys some sustenance. I’m sure you’re exhausted from all the sexcapades you’ve been having,” she sassed.
“Grams,” Gabe admonished. He was still rather red and somehow looked both amused and appalled. “You’ve gone and saddled me with a demon who can’t be revoked, you know. He’s an Infernal King of Hell, or some such thing.”
“Ah, well,” Grams replied airily. “I’m sure he’ll go back to the underworld when you two are done burning up the sheets. Besides, he seems a lovely sort. I’m sure it will all be fine.”
She must have sensed that they both had more than a few questions for her, because she was suddenly all business and heading toward the door. “Well, really must be going! Lovely to see you both! Enjoy some breakfast before school!”
And she was gone like the whirlwind she was, the door slamming shut behind her. Gabe looked frustrated but also relieved at her abrupt departure (and he was still blushing a bit, too).
Az, however, couldn’t get one burning question out of his mind: How in the afterlife did Grams have angelic or demonic ancestry? And whose ancestry was it?
Chapter11
Gabriel
Gabe felt a bit like a death row inmate who had been granted a reprieve. He wasn’t sure why Grams had hightailed it out of there, because he had totally expected the third degree about his sex life.
Gabe shuddered, remembering Grams giving him the “birds and the bees” talk when he was in elementary school. She had been graphically specific. Gabe had been uncomfortable beyond belief.
Then in middle school, right when his friends were talking about porn and naked body parts (both their own and girls’), Grams had given him “the pornography talk.” If he thought the regular sex talk had been awkward, that had nothing on the pornography talk. She had ventured into fetishes and bdsm and… well, Gabe tried to block most of that out. She had driven home the point that porn was not always an accurate portrayal of real life, but that whatever two consenting adults enjoyed in the bedroom was their business, and there was no shame or judgment in what people did, but everyone should be respected and consent was key.
Gabe respected the sentiment, he really did, but he just wished it hadn’t been expressed along with an explanation of water sports and a St. Andrew’s Cross. There were some things you just didnotwant your grandmother talking to you about. Gabe had been traumatized.
Plus, he had already known by then that he wasn’t quite as interested in things as the other boys, so along with it being totally appalling, it had also left him confused, because none of it seemed very sexy to him.
Which brought him back to this morning. Az was slathering butter on one bagel and cream cheese on another while Gabe stood there idly staring at the door. He had to be the worst host ever, making his guest get breakfast ready.
Then again, when your guest was a demon you didn’t mean to summon, did normal manners still apply?
Gabe walked over to get his own bagel, but Az held out both plates to him, saying, “Which do you prefer? I’ll take whichever you don’t want.”
“Uh, thank you?” Gabe said, grabbing one, not even sure which it was. He felt himself blushing again, and he turned to go sit at the table, hearing Az chuckle good naturedly.
It would help if the demon wasn’t so damnnice. Where was the cocky asshole who had showed up in the yard? Then he could turn on teacher mode or be snarky, but instead he found himself actually liking Az.
It was weird.
Not that he hadn’t liked plenty of demons over the years. Not that he didn’t actually keep a demon as a pet, apparently. Which reminded him that Mr. Frog’s aquarium was still in his bedroom.
“Oh my god,” he blushed. “Mr. Frog was there this morning!”
“Actually, no. He went on a bit of an errand for me. He was back after your morning session, so you don’t need to worry,” Az reassured him.
“Oh. Umm, ok. Thanks,” Gabe stammered out.
They sat at the table together, and Gabe was gearing up for some awkward silence, because if he was bad at knowing what to do about sex, he was also bad about knowing what to do after sex. Even with his past lovers he’s been morning after awkward, just following their lead. With Greg it had been super easy—they’d completely ignored it when they weren’t actually having sex.
Az didn’t let the silence get awkward, however. He seemed totally comfortable as he asked, “So, what do you teach?”
“Senior English,” Gabe replied, taking a bite of his bagel.
