by Dakota Brown
"That what you need my help with?" Not going to lie, I was glad to know someone hadn't died to get him back up here. It made me feel a little better about my aching desire to drag Ezra back to my office and jump him.
He nodded, hopefully not catching that surface thought. If he did, he didn't react.
"How are things going for you?"
I recognized a subject change when heard one, so I filled him in on the relatively uninteresting events of the last month. It was just as well, because Stacy brought our pizza while I was talking and the restaurant filled up a bit more so people were getting seated closer to us. The 80's music wasn't turned up so loud that nearby tables couldn't overhear us. We usually only cranked the music in the evening or for special events. And even then, we'd done some acoustic work in the place to keep it from being painful. When my parents had owned the place, they'd had a different theme, and they might be rolling in their graves at what we'd done recently, but no one could deny that the pizza parlor was thriving.
Ezra dug in, a pleased expression on his face. I wanted to save room for pizza this evening, but I was hungrier than I'd imagined, and scarfed a few pieces of extra cheesy deliciousness before I could really slow myself down and remember to feed Mayhem. The little dog jumped up on the seat next to me and I discreetly cut up a pizza slice for the hellhound.
"Ezra, what do hellhounds normally eat?"
The demon prince paused in his own efforts to demolish the pizza I'd ordered for us. Either he really liked it, or he was hungry, too.
"In their normal form, meat of any kind. On Earth? Whatever their partners feed them is fine. They don't have food allergies like dogs do."
"Which is good because I'm sure I've fed him things I wouldn't feed a dog."
Ezra nodded.
"So, you coming back to my place to tell me what else is up?" The idea of Ezra in my house both terrified and thrilled me. What the actual fuck was wrong with me? He was a freaking demon prince. Whose leg was currently pressed against mine, his warmth seeping through the fabric of his suit pants and my jeans. I wanted skin contact. A lot of it. Damn it.
"If that's okay with you."
"Sure. I think I've done enough here for now. We can go when you're ready."
We'd successfully polished off the pizza.
"Any time, Price."
Reluctantly, I pulled my leg away from his. The discomfort was back almost instantly.
"Please tell me that's going to fade?"
Ezra sighed. "I have no idea."
I grumbled under my breath as I pulled some cash out of my pocket.
"How much?"
"Hmm?"
"I'll pay. How much?"
"Oh, uh, throw down a twenty for the team. Pizza's on the house. I need to grab a few things from my office. I'll be back in a minute."
I left Ezra at the table and, Mayhem on my heels, went to grab my jacket from my office and make sure I didn't need to do anything else before I headed home.
The kitchen staff gave me curious looks, which I ignored though I did throw out my normal friendly wave on my way back out to the dining area. Everything pressing had been handled.
Ezra joined me and Stacy handed me my to go pizza before I could walk out without it.
"Thanks. Tell Billy to call me if you all need anything."
"Sure, boss," Stacy said.
I caught her eyeing Ezra as we left and I was torn between amusement, and a weird possessive annoyance. Which was really strange because I'd never minded anyone ogling Mal, Aaron, or Sabian, or really anyone else I'd ever dated.
"You've done some weird shit to my head," I grumbled as I headed for my car.
"You are not alone in that frustration," Ezra said.
I glanced at the handsome demon prince. He'd shaded his eyes with sunglasses that did nothing to diminish his allure. "You got a car?"
He gestured to a black sedan with heavily tinted windows.
"Great. See you at my place."
Ezra didn't reply, just headed for his car, shoulders tight.
The tension in my body amped up with every step we took away from each other. There had to be some way to get this under control because I couldn't live the rest of my life glued to Ezra's hip.
Chapter 4
Price
The trip back to my house seemed to take forever, though it was only about fifteen minutes. I didn't see Mal or Aaron's car in the driveway, though I'd expected at least one of them to be home.
Mayhem hopped out of my car and dashed off to pee on something. I grabbed the pizza and headed for the house. Ezra's car door shut and then he was right behind me. I didn't even have to look, I could just feel his presence.
I did look at him when I opened the front door. Ezra had taken off his sunglasses and his gaze followed the invisible wards along the doorframe, much as Mal's had the first time he'd come over. The wards didn't stop Ezra though, when he followed me through the door out of the heat and into the air conditioning.
I kicked off my shoes and held the pizza in one hand while I slid my arm out of my jacket.
Ezra helped with the jacket, hanging it on the hook before stepping closer and brushing his fingers across my temple, leaving trails of heat as I lost myself in his endless eyes. Tingles traveled down my spine and I forgot to breathe.
Someone cleared their throat and both Ezra and I jumped.
I glanced toward the living room. Mal leaned against the wall, arms crossed, frowning at Ezra.
"Oh, hey Mal." I somehow managed to get my voice to work.
"Who's your friend?"
I tilted my head, then raised my eyebrows. Oh...he'd never actually seen Ezra. That might be why he looked a little annoyed.
"Ezra, mate. Just, you know, in the flesh instead of possessing me."
Mal's expression lightened to surprise. "Ahh."
At least he no longer looked like he was considering taking Ezra's head off with the sword that still lay on the table by the front door.
"Hello, Malak," Ezra said slowly.
Cue the awkward.
"Nice to finally meet you, Prince Ezra." Mal bowed his head ever so slightly, as a gesture of respect, I supposed.
I stepped away from Ezra and headed for the kitchen, pausing next to Mal for a kiss, which he delivered with a bit more heat than normal when company was present.
They both followed me, Mal with his fingers lightly on the small of my back. Someone was definitely feeling possessive. Crap. I was barely able to deal with all of the emotions and feelings the guys had already subjected me to. I did not know how to deal with a jealous vampire. Especially since it wasn't like I could just turn off whatever was pulling me toward Ezra. If I could have, I would have turned away from Ezra right then. I did not want to cause any strife, but I already knew, soul deep, that it would be physically impossible.
Just because I knew it would be impossible didn't mean I wasn't about to try though. Fuck.
I tried start up some sort of conversation so I could get my mind off of the soul crushing ache of not touching Ezra. "So, Ezra confirmed that Sabian is in trouble and he's going to help me get him back," I explained when I put the pizza in the oven on warm to keep until Aaron got home. Ezra's appearance may have interrupted our game night, which wouldn't please Mal any, either.
"How?" Mal asked, voice tight.
Ezra sat on one of my bar stools and laced his fingers together.
I leaned into Mal, and he put his arm around me. I was practically vibrating with the distance between Ezra and me but Mal's comforting presence helped to some degree.
"I believe what happened was that when Price banished all of the demons the enemy grabbed Sabian and now has him imprisoned. I can't directly go and get him back because he's in enemy territory, so I need Price to come with me. She'll be able to get in where I can't, and she will be able to use many of her abilities while she's there."
"You want to take her to hell?" Mal's arm tightened around me.
"Yes."
"There's no other way?"
"I've been trying to find one since I discovered he was captured. This is the simplest and safest way that I've been able to come up with. Her innate abilities will be useful."
"Well, I never thought I'd hear the words simple and safe in the same thought with taking a human to hell," Mal said.
I still couldn't get words to form on my lips. Would I go to hell to get Sabian back? Absolutely. Did the idea terrify me? Well, it had me terrified speechless. My normal sarcasm had completely failed me.
"It is far safer for me to take her than you might expect." Ezra sounded a bit defensive at that and I got the impression that while he was trying to play nice with Mal, his patience was wearing thin.
Mal didn't reply right away.
"So, uh, you said you had something you needed my help with?" I didn't mention that it was in exchange for Ezra's help getting Sabian. Mal was ticked off enough as it was.
"Yes. This is relatively simple. You may recall I thought this little incursion was related to something larger. A group of, shall we say, concerned individuals, are getting together in a few days in New York to share information. We want to see if we can spot any patterns and discover who or what might be involved. I want Price to come along. If nothing else, the information will be useful for her in the future."
"Then you take her to hell and get Sabian back?"
"Yes."
Mal and Ezra glared at each other and I wasn't sure how to break up the tension. Fortunately, the front door opened just then. Mal's gaze flicked over in that direction but he didn't otherwise react, so I assumed it was Aaron.
Mayhem also perked his ears forward and wagged his fluffy little tail, so I relaxed.
Moments later Aaron came into the living room and his attention went straight to Ezra, who had twisted around on the bar stool to observe the other man.
Aaron, looking alarmed, glanced over at me and Mal where we still stood next to the oven.
"Aaron, I don't think you've met Prince Ezra," I said, forcing myself to throw the honorific in front of the demon's name.
"Hi," Aaron said tightly, clearly not sure what to do with himself when confronted by a demonic prince.
"Ezra is going to help us get Sabian back," Mal explained, voice softer than it had been. Maybe he was trying to help Aaron relax a little.
"Oh, good." Aaron's shoulders did ease a bit.
Of course, no one had anything to say after that, so the silence stretched uncomfortably.
Ezra finally broke the silence. "If you're coming with me, I'll pick you up in the morning."
"How long is Chris going to be gone?" Mal asked.
"I don't know. Possibly a week. Hopefully, it won't take longer than that to retrieve Sabian," Ezra answered.
"How are we getting to New York?" A week. I hadn't been gone for more than a day or two here and there since I'd taken over the pizza parlor. I'd need to let Billy know I was going to be seriously out of touch. I doubted I'd have cell reception in hell. Was I really going to hell? I mean, I suppose I'd expected to get sent there one day, but not while I was alive.
"Airplane," Ezra replied as if that was so obvious it was almost painful for him to answer.
"Right. Well. Uh. Great. What time?"
"Ten."
"See you then, mate."
Ezra stood and I went to see him out. Mal followed and Aaron and Mayhem trailed along behind.
Ezra held my gaze for a long moment before he turned and left the house. We all watched him get in his car and drive away before I managed to take a few breaths.
"Hey, Mal, where's your car?"
"In the shop. Check engine light came on, so Aaron gave me a ride back over here."
"Oh."
"I'm guessing there's more to this than just Ezra helping us get Sabian back? Mal, you're wound tighter than a clock." Aaron put his hand on my shoulder.
The insane pull toward the demon eased and I sighed in relief and wrapped myself around Aaron. He returned my hug.
"You okay, Chris?"
"Yeah. Well, no." I kept a hold of Aaron's hand as I pulled them back toward the kitchen. I wasn't hungry, but I imagined Aaron was.
"So what's up?"
I let go of Aaron's hand so I could pull the pizza out of the oven. Some of the insane pull toward Ezra returned, but it was lessened. Something about Aaron's angelic nature dampened the demon's effect on me. Neat. I also couldn't go through life attached to Aaron's hip. I was going to have to figure something out.
"Okay, so somehow Ezra is in favor with someone more powerful than him right now. Probably something to do with helping us stop that other demon prince from whatever they were up to. He got a pass out of hell that didn't require a summons. Probably to attend that meeting, if nothing else. He's going to then take me back to hell and help me get Sabian back."
"That's insane," Aaron blurted after a moment to digest my words.
"Yeah, it's batshit, but I gotta get Sabian back." I put the pizza on the table. Aaron got a couple of plates for us and Mal grabbed the six pack of beer out of the fridge.
"He does not seem to have totally relinquished his claim on you," Mal grumbled once we were all seated, tone dark. "Are you certain he doesn't want to take you back to hell just to keep you there?"
I shuddered. "Whatever that's all about, I think Ezra was as surprised as I was. And if he tries to keep me in hell, Ezra will have a fight on his hands he's not prepared for." I hoped I could back up my bold claim, anyway.
"What do you mean?" Aaron asked around a bite of pizza.
"It's nearly physically painful for me to not be touching him. It's something demonic I'm sure because that eased up as soon as I touched you. So yay for angel blood, I guess." I clutched my beer and sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to do about it. I don't think he does, either."
Mal brushed his knuckles along my cheek. "I guess we do have him to thank for you being alive. I wasn't expecting to have to deal so directly with Ezra again. Probably naïve. We had already determined that whatever plot was going on would likely involve us one way or another."
"What do you think he intends?" Aaron leaned back in his chair.
"Best guess, he wants Chris all to himself," Mal replied with a possessive growl to his voice that tightened my stomach and almost pulled a whimper from me.
"What do you want?" Aaron directed his attention to me.
"Look, I'm not giving either of you, or Sabian, up. No matter what Ezra wants or how badly being around him is wrecking me right now."
"Well, that's a relief," Aaron replied. "I wasn't interested in giving you up, either." He grinned at me.
I smiled weakly back before glancing at Mal. The vampire was contemplating the pint glass he held.
"Mal?"
He looked up and held my gaze for a moment before taking a breath. "I'd tell him to take a hike, but we need to rescue Sabian, and he probably is our best chance at getting the incubus back. And we don't want to piss him off. I suppose as long as he understands we're not handing you over to him for good, it'll be fine."
"I feel like we're having two conversations here," I said.
"Do you think you're going to be able to keep your hands off of him?" Mal replied, rather bluntly.
Okay, so we were having that conversation.
"Won't lie, it'll be tough to not touch him when he's around. Painful even, unless we can figure out some way to tone that down. As far as fucking him, I guess that depends on how much of an ass he's being. Problem there is, he's already been a pretty good house guest, so I don't exactly have ill feelings toward him." I shrugged. "I'll keep to myself if I have to. Not going to do something we aren't all okay with. Truth is, I don't even know that I'm interested in him like that. The overwhelming need to touch him is a little distracting from everything else. Hell, I don't even know if he's interested in me for anything other than what I can help him with or add to his st
atus or whatever. He was pretty averse to all the touching when he was possessing me." Not that the aversion had stopped him from nearly constantly touching me. Or however that worked when a demon was in possession of your body and not trying to take you over.
"Didn't seem to stop him," Mal stated, obviously remembering that, as well.
I shrugged. "Blame Sabian?"
That broke the tension a bit and Mal chuckled. "Well, I know the incubus is all for anything having to do with sex as long as he gets to keep you."
"I just hope we can get him back."
"Okay, so we're more worried about Ezra and Chris and their relationship than we are her going to hell?" Aaron said. "Cause from where I'm sitting, screw the demon if you want, literally I mean. He's been on our side already and it'd be great to keep him there and I don't think I mind it nearly as much as Mal does. Going to hell seems to be the bigger thing."
"I was trying not to think about it," I pointed out.
"Fair," Aaron replied. "I suppose we just…what? Hope for the best?"
"That may be all we can do, anyway." I shrugged. "I don't have any way to prepare for something like this."
Mal leaned back in his chair, lines creasing his brow as he thought. "You may be right." He sighed. "I just don't want to lose you."
"High on my list of things to not do, Mal. Get lost that is. Or lose either of the two of you. We gotta get Sabian though and Ezra will help. If you have any other ideas, I'm willing to listen."
"Think he could take one of us along, too?" Aaron tapped his fingers on the table, thinking.
"Somehow, I doubt he's going to be willing to take you, Aaron. At least on this trip. And I seriously hope there's not another." I shivered.
"The way things are going," Mal said. "I wouldn't hold your breath."
"Thanks, mate."
He smiled. "Let me look into a few things before you take off tomorrow."
"Does that mean no game?" Aaron sounded disappointed.
The vampire grinned. "We could play for a couple of hours, but it won't be as long as normal."
Mal loved roleplaying, and both Aaron and I were really starting to enjoy our weekly sessions. If Ezra had shown more interest in the activity, Mal might not have been as annoyed by the idea of sharing me with the demon prince. I half thought that Mal had encouraged me to start dating Aaron so we'd have another person to play with.