Page 66 of A Subtle Scar
“What?”
Ronny shrugged. “It’s why he’s doing this work, why he won’t vacation. Why he came all this way to a different city just to solve a case.”
“And he’s a ten.” I pointed to him. “Look at that ass.”
“I have been looking at that ass,” Ronny said.
“Yeah, he really has,” Florence agreed.
“No, that isn’t what I mean. I mean, pretty asses attract other pretty asses, and the only pretty asses I want our boyfriend to see naked are ours.” Ronny needed to get on board with this because if I was meant to undertake showering our boyfriend with affection by myself, well, I very likely might not have time for anything else. I’d need to get a Trony of my own just to manage my day-to-day life.
“Your metaphors are shit,” Ronny said.
I took a deep, steadying breath and opened the doughnut box to Ronny. “I got chocolate for you. All I’m saying is, we must give him everything, he cannot want for anything, and we should discourage him from seeing other humans who might offer him comforts we did not anticipate he might desire.”
“He wants to stop murderers, and he doesn’t want us to become dystopian rulers of earth, so the best we can do is support his endeavors with our magic.” Ronny reached for one of the chocolate doughnuts. “There used to be more of these in the box, Hermes. I can see the grease stains.”
“Yes, and then I ate them. And I agree with you. I was even thinking about building him a police unit, like they have on those crime solving shows.
“Oh, those are not reality,” Florence said. “What we really need is more people like Detective Rice, Lionel—Chandler too I guess—and laws that are actually designed to protect victims instead of attacking their character.”
I turned around. “If that Silvio person ever does anything you don’t like, call me, and I’ll take care of it.”
“I didn’t think you were capable of bonding with humans beyond asking them to spend the night at one of your fancy condos,” Ronny said.
I pushed out my chest. “I have grown over the past few days. Here. Let me show you my Insta.”
I was just taking Ronny through the newest pictures when the door to the office opened from the chainsaw, well, bolt cutter side.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Chandler asked, and by how hard my dick twitched from just hearing that mildly accusatory voice, and feeling his blue eyes roam over me, there was no doubt: Chandler was mine, mine and Ronny’s.
Chapter Seventeen
Itwasdifficulttofocus on the mumblings of a broken body when two immortals decided to unabashedly stare at you. On the plus side, maybe Hermes had found something.
“Oooaadl,” the corpse said.
Next to me, Deacon was straining to hold her essence as he moved his athame and drew on his talismans, but this was probably as much as we were going to get from her. To be honest, it was difficult to think of what remained after she’d gotten under the wheels of the subway as “her,” let alone human, but I focused on the one eye that still remained and looked around frantically, searchingly.
“I think we should try the other body, Deacon,” I said.
He held on to the magic for a few more seconds, forehead wrinkling with concentration, then let her slip away. He nodded.
“I’m sorry, I really tried my best with the reconstruction,” Dr. Kurtz, the pathologist, said. “But heavy machinery tends to make a mess.”
“True. I’m sure Detective Rice appreciates you trying, as do I.” I looked down at our victim. “As does she.”
Kurtz nodded. “It would have been good to bring her home to her family.”
“Agreed. Will you excuse me while you prepare for the next body?”
Deacon followed my line of sight to the window of the admin office and frowned again, this time not because he was frustrated he couldn’t get anything with his necromancy.
“Is that the other one? If you need help getting rid of them, just say the word. I did tell you Lucifer manipulated Lionel into making deals with him. Remember that.” Deacon gave me that kind of look that was supposed to let me know he was on my side and that I could trust him to back me up.Cop going into a suspect’s houselook, I liked to call it.
I shook my head. “I got this. They’re mostly harmless.” And hot in bed.
I took a deep breath to clear my head as I walked toward the office door. Thinking about them between the sheets was altogether too arousing, and this was work. Lines that didn’t cross, circles that never overlapped. I needed to remain in control here, just until the case was over and I could make sure the two immortals knew that whatever they’d dreamed up we had was also over.
