And either he had an investment business too or maybe just had so many investments it seemed like a separate business? No clue. Basically he played with high tech toys while his money grew and he bought and sold other money… or something. I did not totally grasp the finer points of investing.
But Orion was here.
He found me in the kitchen. "What are you doing?"
"Making espresso."
"Why?"
“To be awake?”
I needed a shower to wash off the club from last night. Our blood being connected was bad enough. But seeing through the eyes of the guy who killed my cousin? I shuddered. Dreams weren’t kind to me last night.
Not that I was feeling particularly friendly towards myself either. What had we really accomplished?
"We did good last night," Orion said, apparently guessing the downward spiral my thoughts were heading in. “No disappearance was reported.”
"Yeah, we stopped him for one night. Maybe he’ll lay low a while since we got close, but not forever." I sighed. “I wish we could have done more.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be an underachiever?”
“I’m growing as a person?”
Sure, nobody died last night because we weren’t enough to stop him. But if he killed again, whether tomorrow or two weeks from now, it would mean we failed. This whole experiment where Ididn’tmake everything around me so much worse just by existing? I enjoyed that and needed it to continue.
“And did we figure out why you’re making espresso?” Orion wondered next.
"I told you—”
"You need caffeine, but why areyoumaking espresso? You don’t know how."
The stupidly complicated espresso maker sat there serenely as I considered this point. Its stupid copper exterior looked smug. In retaliation, I pushed all the buttons.
"Do you truly believe that accomplished anything?"
I sighed and stepped away.
We won a battle last night. Orion and I worked hard to win that battle. I tried to summon optimism about what we accomplished. Perking up became a bit easier when Orion placed a steaming coffee cup next to me a few minutes later.
“We also need to talk about what happened at the club, Rob. What happened between us.”
Never mind. All optimism shriveled up and evaporated.
Here it came. After getting a little taste of everything—Orion, his hands, his magic, how we’d blended together—now came the permanent blue balls.
“We shouldn’t make this more difficult,” he said. “Because of my powers, connecting sexually will give us an advantage magically. There’s no sense in refusing any edge we can get.”
Orion adjusted his stance and planted his feet, like he expected me to jump on him immediately. I wasn’tthatthirsty. At least not so early in the, uh, afternoon. Nor did I love where this was heading.
“Dude, I don’t want this, not like this.”
Sleeping with an incubus might be a fantasy of mine. But sleeping withOrion Lennoxbecause he was taking one for the team and sleeping with me out of necessity? Jeez, be careful what you wish for.
“Rob, I’m serious. We—”
“There is no we. You hate me, remember? You think I’m an obnoxious lost cause. I’m the worst.”
"It’s amazing that you have such a low and high opinion of yourself at the same time. Are you a lost cause or the worst? And really, the worst?” He rolled his eyes. “Not even close. I’ve seen much worse than you."
