Az laughed. “That isn’t a very sure answer. Do you get hard when you hang out with him or talk to him? Does seeing him make you think about sex?”
“No,” Gabe said more decisively. “We hang out and we’re just friends. I talk to him and we’re friends. I don’t think about him like that now. But sometimes… well, sometimes I think about the two college kids that had some pretty crazy sex, and that makes me horny. Usually that only happens when I’m reading a story or already masturbating. And I think about stuff we did. But it’s not like his current self makes me horny.” Gabe huffed out a breath. “I don’t know if that makes sense.” He ended with a shrug, picking up his bowl and Az’s and bringing them over to the sink to wash them. It was easier to talk about this with his back to Az anyway.
“And then there was Domenique,” Gabe continued. “My first job was in a middle school in a different district, and she taught the same grade but a different subject. That whole crew was fun, and everyone ate lunch together, and we had team meetings every day, and we usually all went out for Friday happy hours. She and I ended up talking a lot and confiding in each other about our crazy families, although I never really went into detail.” Gabe chuckled at that last part, but it trailed off as he thought about Domenique.
“What happened?” Az asked, and he sensed concern in the demon’s voice. The dishes were totally clean at this point, but he kept washing anyway.
“We had sex,” Gabe said. “It was after a Friday happy hour. We both had a drink or two, but neither of us were drunk. I left my car at her place and we walked since the weather was finally warm. When we got there, she invited me in for some snacks, and… next thing you know, we were naked and fucking.” Gabe knew his voice sounded sad, but he couldn’t help it. Thinking about Domenique made him sad.
“Did you start it, or did she?” Az asked.
“She did. I was surprised but then horny. And it was really good sex. Afterwards, she told me she’d liked me for ages. I told her the same. I didn’t feel like it was a lie since Ihadliked her for ages, just not in that way.” Gabe put the bowls in the drying rack and shut off the water, but he didn’t turn around. He felt Az come up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“What happened?” Az asked softly. “The memory of her obviously makes you sad.”
Gabe sighed. “We hooked up a few more times. We flirted and laughed and texted each other. I kinda thought we were dating. I mean, I still think we were dating during that time. Then one day after sex, she asked about fantasies and past experiences, so I told her how I wasn’t usually attracted to people, and that I hadn’t had a lot of experience. Then I told her about Greg.
“She was… shocked. She asked a ton of questions, and she got kind of… defensive? I kind of joked that everyone experimented with same sex attraction, and she said that everyone absolutely didnotexperiment with same sex attraction. She said that it wasn’t typical for straight guys to have sex with other guys, and I said I never told her I was straight.”
Gabe hung his head, and Az’s other hand came up to his other shoulder, and the demon gently rubbed his back and shoulders. Gabe figured he needed to just get the rest out and be done with it.
“She was pissed. I was pissed. I got my stuff and left. She didn’t text me that weekend, and I didn’t text her. At work on Monday, she acted like nothing had happened and we were just colleagues. It wasn’t a total cold shoulder, but it was close.
“I didn’t know what to do. I really liked her, but I wasn’t going to be with someone who was homophobic or judgmental, and I hadn’t thought she was like that. We worked in a middle school. We had students who came out all the time, and she was always supportive of them. But I guess it was different when it was a guy she was sleeping with who might be bisexual.
“By Friday she said we needed to talk, and I agreed. We met up at her place, and despite her obviously sexy outfit choice, I had absolutely no desire to sleep with her. I was still so mad at how she had reacted. She talked about how it was a surprise and I couldn’t be mad at her for her reaction, and how I was wrong for not reaching out and apologizing. I told her I wasn’t going to apologize for sharing and answering questions she had asked.
“I’m not going to rehash it all, but we just couldn’t come to any sort of middle ground. She just didn’t see my side, and I didn’t see hers. I wasn’t going to apologize for who I was, and maybe that wasn’t even what she wanted. I don’t know. I left without us figuring anything out, and everything was just awkward after that.
“We were so close to the end of the year, and I had applied for the job here because I wanted to work in my hometown. I took the job, finished out the last couple weeks of school there, and we haven’t talked in years,” Gabe finished off lamely.
Az turned him around and pulled him into a hug. Gabe just kind of stood there awkwardly for a minute, but eventually he reached up and hugged Az back. It was… really nice to get a hug that wasn’t from a family member.
“Anyway,” Gabe said into Az’s chest, “it was sad and upsetting. I wasn’t in love with her, but I valued and missed her friendship. I tried to reach out during the summer after I left, but it was clear she wasn’t interested in being friends, and I just wasn’t interested in a relationship with her anymore. I don’t know. The whole experience changed something in my head about her, and I couldn’t see her that way anymore.”
Eventually Gabe pulled back from the hug, and Az smiled at him again, saying, “Alright. Time for bed. Go find me some pajamas or boxers to wear and get ready for bed while I shut off the lights.”
Gabe couldn’t help it, he chuckled this time. “You’re a demon and you’re going to turn off the lights? How domestic. Will you check the locks too? Even though you could just spontaneously combust anyone who tried to break in?”
Az raised one eyebrow—and Gabe tried not to be jealous that everyone but him seemed to have that skill—and said, “The bloodstains and innards are such a mess to clean up. Locked doors are so much easier.”
Gabe laughed out loud at that and turned toward his bedroom. So maybe having a demon stay with him wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Despite talking about some pretty heavy stuff, he felt lighter than he had in quite a while.
Chapter8
Asmodeus
They were in Gabe’s bed, and Az was wearing boxers and no shirt. Gabe had set out both, but he hadn’t seemed to notice when Az hadn’t put the shirt on. Gabe was wearing boxers and a t-shirt and looking quite sexy. They were on opposite sides of the bed, but if Az had his way, they’d be cuddling before long.
Az was starting to figure Gabe out, and he liked what he was finding. He had some guesses about Gabe’s sexuality, but he figured it would be far more fun to experiment as opposed to explaining. Az was a hands-on demon, in every sense of the word. The first step would be to get friendly with Gabe, since Gabe was obviously somewhat demisexual and required a relationship with someone before he could be interested in sex. Az knew that wasn’t all there was to it, but it was a starting point.
And, Az admitted to himself, getting friendly with Gabe would certainly be no hardship. He liked people in general—he always had—but he particularly liked Gabe. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he actually cared if someone liked him, and he didn’t mean liked the fact that he was a sex demon or liked his body or liked his ability to give them multiple orgasms. He actually wanted Gabe to likehim. It was an… awkward feeling. But he was an Infernal King of the Underworld, and he wouldn’t change who he was to be liked; either Gabe would like him or he wouldn’t. But he’d try to put his best foot forward, at the very least.
Gabe interrupted his musings when he asked, “What’s hell like? Is it all tortured souls and screaming and pain and horror? Is that why you don’t want to go back?”
“No, the underworld has areas like that, but where the demons live is actually quite lovely. Better than upstairs, as far as I’ve heard. They’re dreadfully boring up there,” Az chuckled.
Gabe sounded sad when he said, “So it’s either torture for eternity or boredom for eternity?”
