It was Aidan’s hungry groan that finally awoke Jeff. Aidan felt him stretch, rubbing even more comfortably against his now-throbbing member. He tipped his head back to look at Aidan.
“Good morning.” Jeff’s sleep-husky voice stirred Aidan’s soul. Aidan wanted to wake up next to this man every morning.
“Morning.” He kissed him, closing his eyes and enjoying how Jeff’s cock throbbed in his hand as his tongue gently parted the seam of his lips.
Jeff rolled over, grinding against Aidan. “Did you arrange for us to miss work?”
“Yeah, sugar. We’re good.” He kissed him. “You’re officially sleeping with the boss now. I think we can arrange special perks.”
Jeff laughed.
They slowly made love again before they showered. Aidan cooked Jeff breakfast, and they spent the morning talking, watching TV, and holding each other.
Aidan wouldn’t deny it felt right, more right than anything he’d ever experienced before. He felt a little guilty that they weren’t in the office while Will and Kal were gone, but Purs and Gery could handle things or call him if they needed him. Dammit, all the times he’d covered for Purson being late or out because of getting some pussy, it was damn sure time for him to repay the favor.
* * * *
They cuddled in bed together after lunch. Jeff even loved the way Aidan smelled, like they were made to be together. Secure in his lover’s arms, he felt okay broaching the subject.
“I don’t understand why Bera is so determined to get pregnant.”
“No one does,” Aidan said. “Whatever her reason, it can’t be innocent or good.”
It was what Aidan didn’t say that clued Jeff in. “Meaning Ryan doesn’t know? That’s why you’re all so nervous, isn’t it?”
“She showed up at the office after Kal and Will first got together, looking for a little confab with Kal. Ryan doesn’t trust Bera. He’s not omniscient. No one is, despite commonly held beliefs.” He stroked Jeff’s arm. “I don’t have to be a mind reader to know that her sudden disappearing act after she tagged you wigged Ryan out in a big way.”
“And it means whatever her reasons, they’re probably not good.”
“Exactly. Two plus two will never equal seven. Not in this realm at least.”
“I’ll admit I didn’t pay a lot of attention in the office yesterday to what you told me about her,” Jeff admitted.
“What?”
“I was a little distracted.” Jeff’s hand drifted south, his fingers brushing against the front of Aidan’s shorts.
“Oooh, I’m being objectified. I think I like that.”
“Yeah?”
Aidan smiled. “Yeah.” He brought Jeff’s hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Why doesn’t she go after an unsuspecting archdemon? You said there’s more of you guys.”
“Don’t know. Maybe she has. Ryan hasn’t found anyone who will admit to it if she did. She seems to have a particular thing for me, Ryan, and Will. All we know is she wants to get knocked up, and I guess she needs an archdemon to do it because of her whacked-out bloodline.”
Later that afternoon, Aidan was drifting to sleep when he heard a familiar tapping in his brain. He wanted to ignore it, then realized maybe it would be best if he took care of business sooner rather than later.
Especially considering how Ryan had stepped up to the plate for him with Jeff.
He sighed. Sitting up, he leaned over and kissed Jeff.
“What’s wrong?” Jeff mumbled.
“Nothing, sugar. I need to take care of some official business. I’ll be right back.” He pulled on shorts and a T-shirt before appearing in Ryan’s Atlanta living room. He damn sure didn’t need Ryan busting his balls about how he was dressed.
Again.
Four other archdemons were gathered there besides Ryan, men Aidan had met before but didn’t know very well. The sight immediately drove all grogginess from his system.
“What’s wrong?” Aidan asked, old wary instincts uncomfortably kicking in.
“Calm down,” Ryan said. “I wanted you to be a part of this.”
“Do I need to get Jeff? Is he safe?”
“Do you honestly think I’d allow you to leave him behind if he was in immediate danger?”
“Immediate?”
Ryan looked impatient. “Aidan, please. Sit.”
He finally did.
Ryan nodded to a large man with ebony skin, muscles that looked like they were carved from rock, and a smooth, shaved head. Tosko.
When Tosko spoke, Aidan realized the man’s thickly accented words weren’t in English. “We have not been able to track Bera’s current whereabouts. Or her method of leaving Earth, if that is truly what she has done.”
Aidan rolled his eyes and stared at Ryan. “You called me here for that? You could have texted me.”
“Keep listening.”
“We located her mother’s family,” Tosko said. “We found a cousin. Bera told her she had figured out how to secure a full position within The Firm.”
“What?” Aidan turned on Ryan. “You told me she couldn’t because she’s half Tanuki.”
Ryan nodded. “There are loopholes. They’re not public knowledge, obviously, but she found one. She needs a line heir. As the mother, and because of who her father is, she would then automatically be guaranteed a secure position regardless of anyone’s feelings on the matter.”
“A line…” Ryan’s meaning sank home. “That’s why you, me, or Will?” Aidan asked.
“Apparently. At first I didn’t know exactly why she’d focused on the three of us. Now, it’s rather obvious.” He sat and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “None of my living siblings are eligible to produce line heirs. However, the three of us are bound as soul brothers. That makes you and Will proxy line heirs regardless of genetics.”
“Wait. How long have you known this?”
“That she wanted one of the three of us? For a little while. I didn’t know why, at first.”
“Why the home didn’t you tell me?” Aidan slumped on the couch. “Fuck. That explains why she was so hot to trot over Will all those years.”
“Assumedly so.”
“Why isn’t Will here to hear this?”
“He’s indisposed with Kal. I’ll fill him in later.”
Son of a bitch, the bastard did still have a heart. “Can’t you kick Bera out of The Firm and end this before she gets pregnant?”
“I would. If I could locate her.” He studied his hands.
It bothered Aidan that even Ryan, with his considerable powers and connections, couldn’t track her down. He forced himself to stay calm. “Okay, so what is her angle? She’s not exactly mom-of-the-year material. If she’d just keep her head down and her nose clean, she wouldn’t have worry about getting kicked out.”
“Again, I don’t know. Believe me, I wish I did and we’re working on figuring that out. What she hopes to achieve beyond securing permanent status in The Firm isn’t something we’ve been able to discover.” His face darkened. “I assure you, when we find her, I will be asking that very question.”
Aidan eyed the other archdemons. They were physically big, beefy. In terms of powers, not as strong as Will, or even as powerful as himself. He knew from reputation they were vicious fighters, Enforcers Ryan employed on an as-needed basis to quickly quell threats to Earth that required a sword rather than diplomacy.
He suppressed a shudder as he repressed his memories of his past. Those were definitely days he didn’t want to think about.
The dark and crazy days.
“What do you need from me?” Aidan asked Ryan.
“Keep Jeff close to you. I’ve arranged extra measures to help keep him safe, but nothing he needs to concern himself about. I would prefer you don’t worry him. His talisman will help you keep tabs on him, as it were, until I have time to reevaluate giving him an amulet. I expect you to protect him in the meantime.”
Aidan straightened in his seat.
“You damn well know I will!”
“I have no doubts about your abilities,” Ryan calmly assured him. “I simply meant you are best positioned to watch over him.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“I need to go off-Earth for a little while. The other reason I asked you here is that I need you to be available for me, in my place.”
Aidan blinked. “Say what?”
“Did you not hear me, or not understand me?”
“You’ve never asked me to take the hot seat before.” Ryan always had Will do it, before Abby died. After her death, Aidan didn’t honestly know or care how Ryan managed The Firm’s affairs because he was too busy focused on Will and his own grief.
Ryan stood. “Well the situation has changed now, hasn’t it? You’re obviously capable of managing it. Will is indisposed. I’d prefer not to distract him if I don’t absolutely have to, because Kal needs him.” He nodded toward Tosko. “He’ll be available to you today in case you need him.”
“Whoa, today? You’re going today?”
“Right now, as a matter of fact. Is that a problem?”
“But I’m…” Well, that would be sort of tacky, to admit he was finally getting laid and too busy doing that to protect the Earth.
Ryan smiled. “I doubt you will need to deal with anything. I don’t expect to be gone very long, but as you know, I must have a suitable substitute in place. You can return to…whatever you were doing.”
Fucking ballbuster. The smirk on Ryan’s face told Aidan he knew exactly what he’d been doing. “All right.”
Ryan waved his hand and Aidan found himself back in his bedroom. Jeff flinched, startled by Aidan’s sudden return.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Aidan nodded as he stripped and slipped back under the covers with Jeff. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Ryan just needed to update me on a few things.”
“Any word on Bera?”
“Nope. Not yet.” His mind raced as he tried to absorb what Ryan had told him.
Jeff snuggled tightly against Aidan. “Am I safe?”
Overwhelmingly fierce protectiveness welled up inside Aidan, pushing aside all other thoughts. This had to be love, because he’d never felt like this before. Ever. Considering how old he was, that said a lot.
Aidan wrapped his arms around Jeff. “I’ll die to protect you, buddy,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “No one’s gonna hurt you with me around. You’re safe.”
Chapter Thirteen
They finally made it out of bed long enough to drive to Publix for groceries. Jeff enjoyed being out with Aidan, the incidental touch of his hand on the small of his back, or tapping his arm to point something out.
It felt right. More right than anything in his life. If this was a preview of having Aidan for eternity, he was damn glad. He felt connected to Aidan now in a way he’d never experienced before.
In a good way.
In spite of his faith and the teachings he’d grown up with, he would never regret this, would never renounce the love he felt for Aidan, no matter what.
They returned home, and Aidan insisted Jeff sit at the counter with a wine cooler while he prepared their meal. Jeff watched Aidan skillfully chop the veggies for their stir fry. They’d talked a lot, but there were subjects Jeff stayed well away from.
Usually.
Ryan was one of those topics, because Aidan tensed whenever he was mentioned. He also didn’t do a lot of asking about Aidan’s younger sister, other family, or his distant past in general. It was whacked enough dealing with the whole archdemon concept to begin with.
They wouldn’t have told him that much if one morning he hadn’t been standing in the office Aidan shared with Kal when Will appeared.
Literally appeared. Out of thin air.
The horror-struck look on their faces told him more than anything.
They’d called Ryan in—who also appeared out of thin air. After an hour of demonstrations, Jeff believed their story, even as far-fetched as it was. Kal more than anything convinced him of their sincerity. He’d known her nearly his whole life. Not well, but at least if she was caught up in this, then it was most likely the truth.
Admittedly it was a comfort in the spiritual department to know he wouldn’t spend an eternity in Hell for preferring guys to gals. It made a lot more sense than the dogma he’d been raised on. Let’s see, believing in a virgin birth, a parted sea, and an ark containing all the world’s animals—two by two—or believe in a species devoted to keeping humans from becoming lunch for other species.
Number two was far more comforting. Not to mention a dang sight more believable.
Frankly, he could wrap his head around the concept of Hell being in Atlanta. He’d flown through there enough times to swear a blue streak at the damn place. Any town with an airport that screwed up had to at least be Purgatory, if not Hell itself.
Add to the mix that whenever Aidan flashed his big, sweet butterscotch eyes at him, Jeff couldn’t think straight.
No pun intended.
Jeff always got the distinct impression there was a long-buried past between Aidan, Will, and Ryan. Kal had alluded to it without expounding upon it. Jeff had the feeling she didn’t know the full story either.
Maybe it was the wine cooler or their recent change of relationship status, but Jeff felt like asking tonight.
“What’s the deal with you and Will and Ryan?”
Aidan tensed, pausing his hands. When he started the rhythmic chopping again, his green peppers weren’t as neatly diced as they had been before Jeff spoke.
“Long story,” Aidan grunted. “Old news.”
“I’m listening. I like old stories.”
The knife paused again. Aidan’s knuckles whitened around the handle as he gripped it tighter. “I don’t know the full story.”
“You lived it.”
“Doesn’t mean I know it.”
After a few strained moments, Jeff tried again. “Tell me what you know.”
“You won’t let up on this, will you?”
“Nope. I want to know all about you. No secrets between us.”
Aidan lifted his gaze. His sweet, honey-hazel eyes nearly soaked up all of Jeff’s reserve. “We’re soul brothers.” He didn’t continue, switched to chopping a Vidalia onion.
“That tells me nothing.”
The cadence of the knife against the wooden cutting board didn’t sound as smooth as it had before. “Ryan’s dad bound the three of us as soul brothers a long time ago. He had to. Ryan would have died, and he was afraid I might have died, too.”
“Why?”
Aidan’s hands stilled as his eyes closed. It took him several long moments to answer. When he did, his voice sounded soft and sad. “Because Chloe was murdered.”
* * * *
Aidan hated revisiting those times. He didn’t want to think about her, about how she died. He wanted to remember his baby sister, watching her grow as he raised her after her human mother died when she was still an infant. Their archdemon father practically disappeared after dropping Chloe on his doorstep. None of his other siblings wanted to raise a child, so his father assumed that since Aidan was single—without a real life, as he’d phrased it—that he would be the perfect surrogate dad for the baby.
He’d also made a snide comment about how Chloe might help Aidan “sucker in” a wife, as he’d put it.
Aidan wanted to think about playing hide-and-seek with her, about holding her through nightmares and waking with her beside him. He wanted to think about all the hours they talked together, about everything and anything. About teaching her to ride, to hunt, to wield a sword and shoot a bow.
Even thinking about her meeting Ryan was a better memory than thinking about the day she died, the day Ryan nearly died trying to protect her.
“Chloe went to a meeting with me this one time. Hades and some of the other archdemons. I’d met Ryan before, but didn’t know him very well. I wanted to keep guys away from her. She was my baby sister
, even though she was nearly thirty and half demon. Beautiful, long amber hair and eyes the color of wheat. Then Ryan walked into the room, and I knew I’d have to step aside. Not just from the look on Ryan’s face, but hers, too. It was literally love at first sight.
“Two days later, they were inseparable and she was his soul mate. For better or worse.”
“How did you get along with him back then?” Jeff asked.
“Not always the best, at first,” he admitted. In the beginning he resented Ryan taking his little sister, worried he wouldn’t be good enough for her. As the years wore on, their happiness was transparent, and Chloe insisted on Aidan living with them, knowing he might never find a soul mate of his own. Knowing his secret and loving him regardless.
When Aidan realized Ryan also knew he was gay, he was surprised to find that Ryan didn’t care. It wasn’t a topic of discussion, as far as Ryan was concerned. He was glad to have Aidan around to look after Chloe when he wasn’t home.
They butted heads on occasion. Aidan felt duty-bound to distrust him on general principles.
She was, after all, his baby sister.
And Ryan was the boss’s son.
But they both loved her, and that was enough to usually keep the peace between them.
Pulling himself from his memories, Aidan looked at Jeff. This was something he struggled to forget, seared into his memory by countless centuries of grief.
“Ryan was Chloe’s husband, her soul mate. I didn’t know Will back then even though we were cousins. I knew of him but we’d never met.”
He slowly chopped the Vidalias, being careful not to lop off a finger in the process. “They were together for a couple hundred years, Ryan and Chloe.” He wistfully smiled. “If she had told him to jump, he’d have said, ‘How high?’ and that’s not a bullshit cliché or exaggeration, that’s the truth. His world started and ended with my baby sister. She was his everything. He literally never looked at another woman but her.”
He looked at Jeff as his voice softened with emotion. “You don’t see the guy Ryan was before. He was a different man with her. He was a normal, loving guy. We laughed all the time together. He was always smiling. I don’t think I’ve heard a deep, genuine laugh out of him since…” He went back to chopping vegetables.
Good Will Ghost Hunting: Hell's Bells [Good Will Ghost Hunting 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 14