Page 51 of Indecent

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much sex. He wasn’t sure he ever had.

“Okay.” Daniel nipped his shoulder. “Now we can go.”

Before they left, Chaol opened the window. The room could definitely use some fresh air. Sunlight slanted in through the curtains, and he turned away with a disapproving grunt to find Daniel, behind him, doing the same.

“Bright,” Daniel murmured, tucking his face in Chaol’s shoulder.

“Ah, right. You’re not used to the sun hurting you, are you? Don’t worry, you’ll acclimate. It stops seeming so harsh once you get a little more exposure. Never pleasant, but less painful, at least.” He reached back and brushed his fingers through Daniel’s wild hair, letting the harbinger pull him away from the window and back into the shadows.

Daniel had been a demon for almost a day. He was recovering from the ordeal remarkably fast, but it would still be some time before he had learned the ropes. There was a lot to know about being a demon. Luckily, they had another harbinger nearby to help him harness his powers. Chaol didn’t have the first idea how a harbinger actually controlled hellfire. All he knew was that it didn’t burn him—because Daniel didn’t want it to. Another piece of flattery to tuck away in that quiet, warm place below his breast where all his Daniel-related feelings seemed to go.

When they finally ventured downstairs, they found Julian cooking in the kitchen, wearing something white in each ear that might’ve been earplugs. Valac sat at the kitchen table facing the door. He, like Chaol, was shirtless, and the thick black lines on his body undulated lazily across his skin. His neon violet eyes settled on Chaol like a threat. A laser pointer and a trigger happy finger ready to twitch and blow his head off.

Julian looked up from the stove when he saw them from the corner of his eye, tugging one of the white things out of his ear and offering them a smile.

“Hi, guys. I’m making brunch. I thought you might,” he interrupted himself with a snort of laughter, “need the sustenance after all that.”

Chaol grinned shamelessly, nudging Daniel, who looked torn between embarrassed and smug.

“And welcome to our humble abode, Chaol. Nice to see you didn’t make Daniel track you down.” Julian’s smile, to his credit, was only slightly guarded. “Nic texted me a few minutes ago, Danny. They’ll be here soon with your stuff.”

Chaol sat down in the kitchen chair across from Valac and pulled out the chair beside him for Daniel, who sat with a fond, lopsided grin.

“We’ll replace your sheets,” Chaol offered.

“With what money?” Valac asked coolly.

That drew Chaol up short. It was true, he’d spent a long time in Hell and didn’t have much in the way of Earthly assets these days. He’d left some money in a trust for his future self in New York, but who even knew if it was still there or how long it would be before he could access it.

“I have some money,” Daniel said. “Assuming no one liquidated my bank account.”

“Nic was in charge of it,” Julian said. “You can ask him, but odds are good it’s all still where you left it. Coffee?”

“Yes, please. Chaol?”

He nodded, then gestured to the white earplug Julian had set on the counter. “What is that?”

“Ear buds,” Julian replied.

“Like earplugs?”

“No, like headphones. They play music, or some other kind of sound. You can connect them to your phone.” He picked up a black rectangle, and the screen came to life. It was like a tiny television or computer screen.

“That’s a phone?” They were plugged into the wall the last time he was topside. Phones played music now?

Daniel barked out a laugh at the disbelief on Chaol’s face. “He’s having a little bit of culture shock, I think. He hasn’t been to the surface since the seventies. They didn’t have any of that back then.”

“Phones are supposed to have cords,” Chaol said dumbly.

“Not anymore, grandpa, ” Julian said. “That reminds me, Danny, you’ll probably need a new phone. Chaol will need one, too. Wait until we add you to the group chat,” he said to Chaol, chuckling.

“Are we?” Valac asked lightly, and Julian shot him a warning look.

Chaol pursed his lips. It was understandable that the behemoth didn’t trust him. Hell, maybe Julian didn’t trust him either. Maybe he was just better at pretending than Valac was. Chaol couldn’t blame them. He wouldn’t have trusted him, either. He’d come here under false pretenses and held a grudge against some of their own.

He still didn’t like the leviathans, but he could set aside his feelings about Amon’s death. While it was true they’d had a hand in it, it wasn’t like Amon had given them much of a choice. His own poor decisions, and Lilith’s persuasion, had done just as much to kill him as the leviathans.

It didn’t mean he wanted to be BFFs, though.