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“Taking his fifteen.” From where he’d sat on the back of the couch, another unfurled scroll in his hand, Andras huffed. “I need a break from him, too, so…” He made a shooing motion.
Great. So they weren’t taking their breaks together? I could get rid of one but not the other? Awesome. Just what I needed.
I sat in the armrest and sipped my coffee, watching the tiny demon furrowing his brow and peering at the paper. Gesturing at it with my coffee cup, I said, “Is that a different assignment? Or our agreement again?”
“It’s our briefing for this assignment.” Andras didn’t take his eyes off what he was reading. “All the rules and whatnot.”
I cocked a brow. “Haven’t you already read it like fifty times?”
“Seventy-one.” At that he looked up at me and offered a sharky grin. “But you know what they say—the devil’s in the details.”
I groaned and covered my face with my free hand. “For fuck’s sake.Really?”
His chuckle was downright, well, demonic.
I just lowered my hand and brought up my coffee for a sip.
Andras snickered again. Then he sighed and started rolling up the scroll. “One of us has to know all the details. Isn’t like Raziel ever reads it.” He huffed and shook his head.
It was my turn for a chuckle. “You two sound like an old married couple. You know that?”
His head snapped toward me. “What? Fuck off.”
“You do!” I laughed. “Nobody bickers that much unless they’ve been married a while.”
He muttered something I didn’t catch, but then he sighed, and the sound was almost wistful. “We might as well be married for all we work together.”
I cocked a brow. “Yeah? You like working with him?”
Andras gave one of those shrugs that was clearly meant to look more flippant than he actually felt. “He’s an utter bampot half the time, but…” The faintest hint of fondness crept into his voice and expression. “We make a good pair. Most of the time.”
“Most of the time?” I said with a laugh.
“You’ve heard him,” Andras explained. “He’s a wanker.”
I just chuckled, but it faded. “I’ve had that with someone before. I miss it.”
“Miss it?” Andras scoffed. “Give me that electric flyswatter, and when he comes back, I’ll show you how much I miss him.”
I laughed. “Whatever you say, man.”
Minutes later, Raziel returned, looking refreshed and way too chipper. Better than hangry, I supposed.
“Well.” He smiled brightly. “Should we be off soon? The shops should be open by now, yes?”
“Yeah, yeah, we’re…” I glanced at my watch. “Just waiting for Cory.”
Cory, who was probably about to cancel. If I opened my text app, those three dots would almost definitely be there, indicating he was typing… something. Knowing him, a tactful way of bowing out instead of wasting more of his time helping my pathetic ass get laid. And could I blame him? After he’d spent all day yesterday with me, he was well within his rights to—
My phone pinged with a text notification, and I yanked it out of my pocket so fast I almost fumbled with it.
Ready to go when you are.
The relief that crashed over me was mind-blowing. This was just a shopping trip, for God’s sake, but… I was really, really glad Cory was still on board.
And it wasn’t just because I didn’t know how to hold on to my sanity through this without him.
Truth was, I just…
