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Well, revenge was. I didn’t know about the popper because my mouth was on fire, and I had to focus to not cry.
“I hope I don’t have this power.” Lee was watching in horror. “Think about it, Fen. If you could taste what Evan eats, you would have to eat kale.”
“It wouldn’t hurt him to eat a vegetable,” Evan groused.
“Yeah, it would if it was kale,” Fen replied.
“Please don’t eat kale.” Casey sounded like his whiny, man-baby self from years before.
I’d kind of liked taking care of him. It only worked because he was the type of boyfriend who got up before me to make coffee he couldn’t drink.
Wait. Something hit me in that moment. Something I hadn’t thought of before.
“You don’t like coffee.” I stared at him for a minute. He’d talked about how his morning drink had been caffeinated cola because he didn’t like coffee or tea. Yet he’d made both for me on a regular basis.
“I don’t.” He spoke slowly, like every word bought him a couple of seconds before I blew out his taste buds with satanic sauce. “I hate it, but I got used to it.”
“But you made it for me every morning and never told me you hated it.” At the time I certainly hadn’t known he could taste what I ate.
“Because you love it, so I love it, too. Not for the taste. It tastes like someone wiped satan’s butthole and brewed it down,” he began.
“It does not,” Evan argued.
“Hey, girl who thinks cilantro tastes like soap,” Casey pointed her way. “We all have our DNA challenges. I can’t stand the taste of coffee, though I quite like the smell. But what really made me happy was how Liv would put her hands around the mug like it warmed her. She would smell it and get this sweet smile on her face, and then she would take that first sip and I would kind of grit my teeth but then I could tell how much she loved it. And I loved her. It’s funny. I always wished my dad and mom had been more demonstrative. They weren’t the kind to kiss in public or to say I love you a lot. But my dad always made sure she had a glass of wine waiting if he got home before she did, and she watched his favorite shows with him even though I know she didn’t like much TV. But he needed someone to talk to. Is it dumb that I can’t stop thinking about what Lucifer said about them?”
I knew that had ripped him up, and I couldn’t let another moment go past because I knew the actual truth. Lucifer, you see, liked to lie.
“They mourned you.” I put the plate aside entirely now because my silly attempt at revenge had blown up in my face. Now there was a hole opening up inside me, one I didn’t realize I had. Or I thought I didn’t care about anymore. “I think it was hard on them right after you died. You never looked them up?”
Casey’s head shook. “It’s not something we’re encouraged to do. I’m supposed to stay away from my hometown for at least seventy years. I thought it would hurt too much, and then we were in the middle of a war, and I definitely didn’t want to point out to anyone that they’re alive. But you knew. Are they still together?”
I had looked them up a long time ago. The fact that I’d kept tabs on them even during the war… Well, if I thought too long and hard, that headache would start up again. “Yes. Your dad retired recently, and they’re RVing around the States. I have a fake profile I follow their socials with.”
He stared at me for a moment, getting that stillness I associated with deep emotion from him. Casey seemed like a guy who wore his heart on his sleeve, but that’s mostly a function of his goofball half. There’s another part of Casey, the deep part that shoved everything down so he didn’t have to confront it. “I’m glad to hear that.” He took a deep breath and turned back to Gray. “So, we should bring Tix in and see what he knows?”
“Or we should take Kelsey Jean right back up topside.” Gray looked to his wife, and whatever he saw there had him putting his hands up in defeat. “I have to put it out there.”
“He never learns, baby,” Trent said with a wolfish grin. “It’s why I’m always the favorite.”
Gray snorted slightly. “Sure, you are.”
I was going to ask Casey a question, but the doors to the salon opened and Tix entered, his hands fluttering and followed by three bouncing hellhounds.
“Lord Sloane, the strangest thing has occurred,” Tix announced. “These are my mother’s sweet pets. Hestia, sit, please. You, too Hercules and Perseus. Everyone sit.”
The dogs continued to wriggle and bounce around. Kelsey saved her tray of fire, which was really intriguing to those canines.
Puff was squirming in Evan’s arms. “Calm down. We don’t know if they’ll eat you.”
“Perseus,” Tix exclaimed. “That is not proper. Those curtains are expensive. Don’t pee on them. I swear, Lord Sloane, I ensured they had time to relieve themselves. Hestia, that is not a chew toy. That is a very rare artifact.”
“I think that one is a little… Well, he’s found a lover,” Lee pointed out, laughing behind his hand.
It was complete chaos.
“Sit.”
Every canine in the room stopped at the sound of Fenrir’s growled command. I looked over, and he was as relaxed as he’d been before. But there was gravity to his tone.
