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Chapter 14
Matt
The maelstrom of emotions churning inside me had been too much to sort out. Between the sex and the heartache, I’d been exhausted, and I hadn’t been able to think anymore.
I’d barely been able to speak, my voice so close to cracking as I told Andras and Raziel, “Just… leave me alone for the rest of the night, okay? I need to…”
Sleep? Think? Cry? Well, in the end, I did manage two of those things.
Now I was right where I’d been when this whole shitshow had started—staring at myself in my bathroom mirror, my jaw scruffy and my eyes bloodshot as I tried to comprehend the angel and demon perched on my shoulders.
It wasn’t the same level of shock this time. And the red in my eyes had nothing to do with alcohol. The panic roiling in my chest wasn’t the same either, but like last time, I couldn’t figure out what to do with it.
My voice came out raw and brittle: “I don’t understand. Why are you guys still here?”
From their respective perches, Andras and Raziel eyed me like I’d lost my mind.
“What do you mean?” Raziel asked. “We left while you were, as you put it”—he made air quotes—“‘on the prowl,’ and while you were, um…” He actually blushed, which would’ve been funny if I hadn’t been this close to curling up on the floor and sobbing.
Andras rolled his eyes. “While he was getting railed up the arse by his neighbor?”
Raziel turned even redder.
I glared at Andras. “So you weren’t there, but you know what I was doing.”
He rolled his eyes again. “Well, I do now.”
“For fuck’s sake.” I pressed a hand against the counter and wiped the other over my face. Dropping that hand to the counter, I glared at both of them in the mirror. “I just don’t get it—why are you still here after last night?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Raziel asked as if I’d just asked the stupidest question ever. “Our work isn’t done.”
“The hell it isn’t!” I groaned. “You said you were here to get me laid. I got laid. So why…” I pointed at each of them. “Do I have to do a survey or some shit before you leave?”
“You think last night counts?” Andras scoffed. “If you just needed to help someone polish his knob, we’d have put you on Grindr the first night and got on with it.”
I blinked. “But… wedidput me on Grindr. And Tinder. And… It still doesn’t matter. You said you were here to—”
“We’re here to find you a companion,” Raziel said.
“Buthesaid you were here to—”
“My colleague has been known to oversimplify matters.” Raziel shot Andras a look. Andras silently mocked his words.
I narrowed my eyes. “Oversimplify them, how?”
“Well.” Raziel straightened a little and cleared his throat. “Carnal relations are certainly, well, if that’s what you want—but it’s not the whole deal. I said we were here to find you acompanion.” He huffed and sounded seriously smug as he added, “You read the agreement just like I read the briefing. You know the deal.”
“Yeah, I did,” I croaked.
Except… oh fuck. I hadn’t. I’d been so fixated on and panicked over the visibility of Andras and Raziel, I’d overlooked… everything. The specifics of what qualified as a “companion” to break this spell. I was a fucking lawyer. I did this for a living. I… God, I wasso stupid.
Except…
“I’m still confused. Last nightwasn’tjust a hookup.” I threw up my hands. “How the fuck doesn’t it count when I spent the night with a man I’ve been in love with for years?”
Neither of the beings on my shoulders responded. They stared at me. I stared at them.
Then I met my own eyes in the mirror.
