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“No, no.” The angel shook his head again. “He’s not involved in any of this.”
The demon facepalmed. I concurred.
And I still didn’t have an answer. I mean, what did I have to do? Just… venture out and see if anyone saw my ridiculous companions? Ugh. God help me if they did. The last thing I needed was to advertise to the whole world—and all my colleagues and clientele—that I’d stupidly asked a fae for help, and that was exactly what everyone would assume when they saw this shitshow. What other explanation could there be?
If someone did see me—if they saw this angel and demon on my shoulders—that would be a disaster. A professional and personal one that I couldn’t afford and was way worse than being depressingly single. I couldn’t have the stigma that came with using magic to get what I wanted. I’d worked hard for my professional reputation, and if it got out that I’d used magic for literally anything, then everything I’d ever done or achieved would be called into question. My law degree, my partnership at one of those most prestigious firms in the state, the athletic medals and trophies I’d won over the years—everyone would wonder if I’d used magic to get those, too.
God, what a mess.
And even without the stigma, these two were allegedly going to help me find a man? But how was that supposed to work? How was I even supposed to leave the house? And how the hell did I connect with someone when I had these two morons flitting around above my shoulders? Wait until their fifteen-minute breaks to make my move?
Over and over, I kept landing on the same unanswered and panic-filled question: what was I supposed to do now?
Fortunately, I had someone nearby who I could go to in a crisis, even if it was a stupid crisis of my own stupid making.
Chapter 2
Cory
As luck would have it, I was mid-sip when someone pounded on my front door.
“Damn it,” I muttered as I tried to brush hot coffee off my hand, my face, and my shirt, all while trying not to drop the mug. And who was at my door this early on a Saturday morning, anyway? Because the missionaries usually waited until at least nine or ten, and they were a bit more polite about knocking. This kind of loud, demanding sound didn’t usually herald“Do you have some time to talk about your Lord and Savior?”
Whoever it was, they banged on the door again. Great. They must’ve been selling somethingreallyimportant.
“Just a minute!” I barked. Then I muttered, “Son of a… Who the fuck?” Still wiping coffee off my hand, I strode down the hall to the front door.
There was yet another knock a split second before I turned the deadbolt, which nearly prompted a cranky, “Well, fuck you, then.” But I don’t know—now that I thought about it, the knocking sounded less demanding and more… frantic?
As concern chased away my annoyance, I opened the door. “What in the—”
“Oh, thank God.” Matt, my best friend and upstairs neighbor, stared at me with wide, panicked eyes. “I need your help.”
My pulse surged with panic of my own. Matt was one of the most level-headed people I’d ever met. It wasn’t just because he was a lawyer, either. My ex’s dad had been a lawyer and he’d been anything but level-headed. So seeing Matt like this—freaking out and pleading for help—was alarming to say the least.
“Uh. Okay. Okay. You—my help? What? With—”
But then my teeth snapped shut. Because I realized Matt hadn’t come alone.
I flicked my gaze from his right shoulder to his left to his right again. Were they… Was I hallucinating? Was there really a pair of—
“So you see them too?” Matt’s shoulders dropped beneath his two passengers. The angel was hovering gracefully, but the demon had been perched on top of Matt’s shoulder, and he squawked as he damn near tumbled off. With a few flaps of his leathery red wings, he too was upright, floating above Matt’s shirt, tugging at his own jacket sleeves as if to reclaim his dignity.
What… in the holy…
I shook myself. “Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I see them, too.” I met Matt’s gaze. “What’s going on?”
His shoulders fell even more, and he sounded more helpless and crestfallen than I’d ever heard him. “I fucked up.”
I nodded, still stunned, and stepped aside, gesturing for him to come in. “Okay. All right. Just, uh… Let’s sit down and see if we can figure this out?”
The breath he released as he stepped into my apartment was full of relief. Did he think I was going to magically have all the answers? Or had he thought I was going to turn him away? I hoped he hadn’t believed I’d slam the door in his face. He had to know me better than that.
Then again, he was clearly in full-on freakout mode, so he might not have been thinking as rationally as he did under normal circumstances. It probably wouldn’t hurt to cut him some slack.
I shut the door and followed him into my living room, where he’d started pacing in front of my coffee table.
“I don’t know what to do.” He flailed a hand. “I’ve got two depositions this week. And I’ve got client meetings, and I mean, I can’t just walk into the firm ora fucking courtroomlike…” He gestured sharply at the pair, nearly smacking the demon in the process.
