Page 56 of Fire
Henry Miller stayed at the bar, only the hatred on his face a sign that he was still a threat.
Outside, Tobias headed toward the Eldorado, but Jake stopped by the wall about fifteen feet from the door and turned around, his hands settling on his hips.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tobias demanded, voice rising now that they’d made it outdoors, a solid wall between them and the hunter-threat.
“I told him we’d be waiting outside,” Jake said. “I’m seeing if he’s stupid enough to take me up on it.”
Tobias gritted his teeth to stop from growling. All he wanted was to get in the Eldorado, drive to a hotel somewhere far away from that asshole, and curl up with Jake so he could drive the last shivers of adrenaline and old fear away. He wheeled around, grabbed Jake by the shoulders, and shoved him into the wall. “You’re being a fucking idiot.” And then, because Jake’s mouth was so close, his eyes wide, lips half-parted, Tobias kissed him, hard.
Jake’s lips opened for him, his hips shifted against Tobias’s, and his shoulders relaxed under Tobias’s grip.
Tobias broke it off after a few seconds, not wanting to be distracted if Miller was stupid enough to follow, but he smiled to see that Jake looked dazed and shaken, the blank rage gone from his face.
“You took that asshole really personally,” Tobias said. “More than usual, I mean.”
Jake reached up and kneaded the back of Tobias’s neck while his other arm tightened around Tobias’s waist. He took a couple deep breaths. “Miller. He gave me the idea, so fucking long ago. I didn’t know that I could get someone out of FREACS, but he was doing it and I thought,Maybe I can get Toby out. So maybe I should go back in and thank the bastard, but I just want to punch him in the face. You are not my fucking monster, Toby. You arenota fucking monster.”
“I know that, but you can’t go off the handle and almost get us killed. Even if you did look very sexy doing it.” Despite himself, Tobias kissed him again, enjoying the clean heat of Jake’s skin driving all the old pain and new worry away.
Then he pulled away, dragging Jake by the arm toward the Eldorado. “C’mon, drive us home.”
* * *
They didn’t go home right away.The cursed object (which theydideliminate, no thanks to Henry Fucking Miller) led to a Bigfoot sighting with possible aggression. They didn’t find Bigfoot, but they stumbled on someone producing hex bags for a small fee. From there they made their way digging, salting, burning, and stabbing across the supernatural population within a three-county radius of their original job, and Jake for one was really glad to finally drop his duffle just inside the door of their condo in Boulder and stretch the kink out of his neck.
He dropped onto their battered couch with a groan and dumped their bag of mail onto the coffee table. He loved his baby, but it was good to be out of the Eldorado for once, with no plans to leave anytime soon.
Tobias locked the door behind him and went into their tiny kitchen, opening cupboards to check on the state of their supplies, putting away the food that had survived the last leg of their trip—a bag of M&Ms left over from their stop in New Mexico, and a half-eaten pizza. He hummed a Cher tune while he put stuff away.
When Jake finally had the urge to move, he sat up and started sifting through the unholy piles of mail that always seemed to accumulate in their Boulder P.O. box when they were gone.
Mostly it was the usual. Piles and piles of junk mail, the occasional bill that Jake didn’t have set for automatic payment, a couple packages—one from Roger and one, intriguingly, without a return address.
After tossing most of the junk mail and sorting out what ought to be at least opened, Jake reached for the unmarked package first because it looked like the more interesting of the two.
“We’re out of milk,” Tobias called.
“Oh no, milk,” Jake said, running a protection amulet around the edges of the package. It was hard for a non-hunter to figure out who they were or get their address, but it was better safe than cursed by some hedge witch who thought he could get the drop on them through the U.S. postal system.
He could hear the laugh in Tobias’s voice. “We’re also out of beer.”
Jake slammed the package down on the table, where it made a satisfying thump, and stood. “Not the beer! Come on, Toby, we’ve got to get back out there!”
Tobias turned and leaned on the breakfast bar between the living room and the kitchen, smiling. “I think I can handle it. You stay and deal with... that.” He waved his hand at the envelopes that had scattered over the coffee table and across the floor. Some had fallen so far that they looked like they might be trying to crawl away. “I can get the beer.”
“You sure you don’t need me?”
“Always. But not for a milk run.”
“Beerrun.”
Tobias grinned. “We’re pretty much out of everything, so I might pick up some salad ingredients too. Maybe a kohlrabi.”
Jake sat back down and snapped out his knife to cut through the package’s tape. “You can get the rabbit food, but you get two-percent, you hear? Don’t waste our hard-earned money on that bullshit skim stuff.”
“I like the skim stuff,” Tobias said.
“You need meat on your bones,” Jake said, from long habit more than any real truth. Tobias looked every inch of the badass he’d always been. “And how are you going to get that drinking watered-down moo juice? Come on, Tobias, give me something to grab.” He put the knife down and made grabby hands. “Which reminds me, we probably need lube.”
