Also, with the escrow company sending him the payment for the Piñon Drive house sometime tomorrow, that meant he’d have plenty of liquid funds to step in and pay cash if he did manage to have the winning bid.
“Will you help me with the bidding?” he asked. The auction was being held online, but this would be the first time he’d done anything like this, and he thought it would be good to have her there for moral support.
Delia’s head tilted to one side, and he thought her expression was one of genuine regret. “I can’t — I already had a couple of showings scheduled with a new client when I found out about the auction. But you’ll do fine on your own. Just make sure you don’t go over $375. That place is going to need at least another sixty or seventy thousand in renovation costs, and you’ll price yourself out of that neighborhood if you go too crazy.”
Just another thing he loved about her. She was an awesome fellow demon slayer — and she had a brain for real estate unlike few other people he’d met.
“Got it,” he said. Honestly, it shouldn’t be that big a deal. This particular auction was the kind where you put in your best bid and hoped it would be enough, not the sort where you had to hover over your computer and keep bidding up in increments at the last minute. “Some cheese?”
They both created little plates of nibbles for themselves, and for a moment or two, they ate quietly and drank champagne, both of them content to enjoy the moment. But then he glimpsed a twinkle in her sea-colored eyes again.
“You would have had more money to put into the project if you hadn’t given all your tournament winnings away.”
Because of that glint he’d caught in her eyes, he knew she was teasing him just a little. After all, it didn’t really matter where the money came from for a reno project; you still needed to stick to the budget no matter what.
“I didn’t want to keep it,” he said. “Sure, I know the casino was just a pawn in Aegis Holdings’ — and Hank Bowers’ — plans, but that money felt tainted to me. Much better to give it away.”
The whole fifty grand had gone straight to Desert Paws Animal Rescue, a local charity that made sure stray dogs went to loving homes and which also sponsored free and low-cost spay and neuter clinics. Caleb didn’t feel entirely settled enough yet to get a dog…even as he still couldn’t help missing Riley, the German shepherd who’d been his constant companion when he was growing up…but he thought giving a large donation to an organization that worked hard to make pets’ lives better was a good way to show his love for animals.
Maybe a little strange for a part demon, but…as he’d pointed out to Delia on more than one occasion…he was far more human than he was demon.
He’d made sure the donation was anonymous, of course. This wasn’t about getting adulation for his good works, or whatever. She was the only person he’d told, mostly because she’d asked him point-blank what he planned to do with the prize money and he’d immediately responded that it was going to charity.
“Well, it went to a good cause,” she agreed. “And I can see why you might have felt hinky about keeping the money. Have you heard anything about Hank or the other people who were involved in the scheme?”
Because while some had appeared to be true demons and had promptly disappeared straight back to Hell, others, like Hank Bowers, had reverted to their human forms once the demons that had possessed them had been vanquished.
“Hank’s still in the hospital,” Caleb said. “Ty made up a story about him having a heart attack to explain why he collapsed in the middle of the casino like that, but it turns out his real story wasn’t too far from the truth. I think Hank’s human body couldn’t handle the stresses the possession put on it, let alone all those crazy energy fluxes during the final round of the tournament. He had a stroke, and from what I’ve heard, he’s probably going to get moved to a convalescent facility soon. It doesn’t sound as if there’s much hope for any real improvement.”
And he wasn’t sure what to feel about that. Caleb didn’t know how Hank had gotten involved with Aegis Holdings — had he agreed to the possession in exchange for power and wealth, or had he been yet another innocent victim of demonic machinations? — but whatever the truth of the matter, no one deserved to end up in such horrible circumstances.
“That’s awful,” Delia said, sympathy clear in every plane and angle of her lovely face. “I had no idea.”
No, because she’d been crazy busy this past month. Her parents had come back from their anniversary trip to Hawaii about five days after all the insanity at the Desert Paradise poker tournament, but even though Delia no longer had to carry the whole load of Dunne & Dunne Realty on her shoulders, it sounded as though business had picked up, with a lot of people trying to find properties and close on them before the real heat of the summer descended.
“It’s not good,” Caleb agreed. Although it felt a little strange to be sipping champagne while discussing such a grim topic, he wasn’t about to let the Cristal go flat.
So he drank some more and popped a few cashews in his mouth…and hoped she wouldn’t ask about the person he really didn’t want to discuss.
Aaron Sanchez.
Sure, there hadn’t been anything going on between him and Delia, not really, but Caleb kind of hated that she’d gone out with the guy for drinks. He didn’t have a single claim on her other than friendship, but….
However, revealing how that one not-quite date still rankled would only make him sound like some kind of possessive jerk, so he knew he’d have to be as neutral as possible when discussing the man.
“And Aaron?” Delia prompted, just as he’d feared she would. “I know Ty said he collapsed, but I haven’t heard anything from Aaron at all. Do you think he’s in the hospital, too?”
Well, at least he could relieve some of her fears on that topic. “Not that I know of,” Caleb replied. “He wasn’t possessed nearly as long as Hank Bowers — and is several decades younger — so from what I was able to gather, the paramedics checked him on the scene and let him go. I don’t know what happened to him after that.”
“Oh.”
Expression thoughtful, she put a slice of Humboldt Fog cheese on a rosemary cracker, bit into it, and then washed down the morsel with a swallow of champagne.
“You haven’t heard from him?” Caleb asked next. Maybe that question might have sounded a little too desperate, but he needed to know…although he guessed Delia would have probably mentioned it if Aaron had reached out to her.
She shook her head as she set down her champagne flute. “No. I suppose I could have contacted the agency where he works to find out if he was okay, but I’ve just been so busy and….”
The words trailed off, both her tone and her expression somewhat uncertain, as if she honestly didn’t know for sure whether she could unearth a concrete justification as to why she hadn’t followed up to determine whether Aaron Sanchez was all right.
