Page 31 of Hexes From Exes

“No, I’m fine. I can do a lot of work without it. It’ll get me out of the office, actually,” he said pleasantly. The demon shrugged, and Rick made his way to the office.

“Geez, Rick, you’re looking rough,” Zed said with a frown. Rick looked down at himself, realizing that he hadn’t cleaned himself in over a day. He knew he smelled like Stephanie’s apartment, and the fuzzy feeling in his head told him that his breath probably reeked of the sweet alcohol and dessert they’d consumed while talking until the early hours of the morning on her couch. It didn’t help that he was in his demon form for most of it, so the smell stuck to his skin instead of the magic human glamor.

“Yeah, late night,” he said with a shrug.

“Really? Out at the bars again?” Zed asked with a frown.

Rick shook his head. “Nah, human realm.”

“Again?” Zed said, his tone incredulous.

Rick shrugged. “You know how some of the assignments are, they take a lot of footwork.”

“Yeah but…” Zed looked him over, frowning. “Is this the same one? With that human woman CEO?”

Rick suddenly wished he did have a laptop, then he’d have something to occupy his hands as he evaded Zed’s line of questioning. “Yeah, it’s just complicated a bit. I told you she struck a deal with me, so it’s a balancing act.”

“Huh. So, you’re…spending time with her?” Zed guessed.

Rick nodded. “Yeah, as part of the deal. Proving innocence or guilt to tailor the curse,” he added.

“Can you do that?” Zed asked with a frown.

Rick shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Why else would we be allowed in the human realm to investigate the victims to enact the curses if we didn’t have some control over it?”

“I guess,” Zed said slowly. “I just assumed it…well, the magic did all that for us, you know? The groundwork was mostly to make sure it actually got done and to collect the magic at the end.”

That can’t be right, Rick thought. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” Rick said, feeling unsure. His eyes flickered to Herschel’s empty desk. Was he still out sick? What the hell was wrong with him?

Zed followed his gaze and sighed. “Yeah, Herschel would know. I guess I fell asleep during that lecture at the academy,” Zed laughed with a shrug. “Anyway, if you’re up for it, wanna go out tonight? There’s a new bar downtown that just opened, and I want to try it out.”

“Uh, maybe,” Rick said with a shrug.

Zed eyed him up again. “You okay? You’ve been acting…weird.”

“Yeah, just busy,” Rick replied.

Zed watched him again before stepping away from his desk. “Okay, cool, whatever. You don’t have to tell me,” he added with a mumble.

Rick watched him go and tried to figure out what else to do with his time in the office. Luckily his communicator buzzed, alerting him to a message.

Stephanie

Make it home okay?

Rick

Yep, back in the office *gif of a dead horse*

Stephanie

What the hell kind of meme is that?!

Shit. Rick had no idea how the moving images worked, just that Stephanie would send them from time to time.

Rick

It’s a dead horse.