“I know.”
There was a strained pause as Mace searched Blade’s face, getting a bead on his emotions. Blade wished him luck with that, because they were all over the place. “And you know I don’t want to hurt or disrespectyou, either.”
“Yeah,” Blade croaked.
Mace moved closer and lightly dropped his hand on Blade’s shoulder. “If you truly don’t want me to do this, I won’t.”
A comforting, warm sensation spread through Blade’s chest. Their friendship had never been tested until now…and Mace was trying to make it right. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
Relief filled him, and for a long moment, Blade considered taking Mace up on that. But man, what a selfish, greedy move. He wanted Scotty for himself, even while knowing that she wasn’t his and never would be. She couldn’t be. All he would ever have was one small piece of her. One frantic but amazing night of bliss.
How could he justify keeping Mace from having the same?
He couldn’t. Blade loved Mace and Scotty too much to say no to something that might set them all right. And once it was over, they neverhad to think about it again.
He just had to get through those couple of hours of knowing what was happening in Mace’s bedroom.
Closing his eyes, he shook his head. “I want you to do it. Just…don’t tell me about it, okay? No details.”
“Me?” Mace said lightly. “I never kiss and tell.”
Blade rolled his eyes. “Youalwayskiss and tell.”
“Only when things get kinky.”
“And I repeat, youalwayskiss and tell.”
Before Mace could think of a comeback, the door opened, and Scotty poked her head outside. “Everything okay?”
Mace and Blade nodded in unison. “We’re good,” they both said, and Blade felt a rush of relief. They were already falling back into sync.
“For real,” Blade added.
He didn’t like the glint of doubt in Scotty’s eyes. For this to work, the three of them had to be all-in. Mace’s mother had always touted the power of the mindset, the idea that one could manifest their wishes through positive energy and action. Of course, she’d been a Memitim, a guardian angel for those deemed critical to the future—for goodorbad—so she was full of light and sparkles and cheery affirmations.
But Idess’s father was also the Grim Reaper, so when she wasn’t unicorns and rainbows, she was fire and fury. Mace had gotten a touch of that. Slow to anger but scorched-earth vengeance in an instant.
“Thank gods.” She stepped out. “I’m meeting my sister and Raika, so I’m gonna go.” She grinned, the first genuine one he’d seen since Alaska. And he knew they were doing the right thing. “I’m glad we talked. See ya!”
They watched her take off, and then Mace punched Blade in the shoulder. “Wanna play some old-school GTA?”
He shrugged. “Sure.” Getting some aggression out with Grand Theft Auto sounded good. Plus, he could beat Mace about half the time. “We should invite Crux too.”
“You go get him. I’ll make some popcorn.”
Sounded good. Finally, something sounded good.
Chapter 23
Aleka and Raika were waiting for Scotty when she arrived at Pizzeria Inferno in downtown Sydney. Since Australia had been ceded to demons by humans, it now flourished as a demon Disneyland, its provinces divided into five Tiers according to the Ufelskala scale of evil. Sydney sat squarely in Ufelskala Tier One territory, considered generally safe. Even a handful of humans lived there.
“We ordered for you,” Raika said as Scotty took a seat. “Your favorite. Onions, lard, and blood clots.”
“Gross.” That was Raika’s favorite. Scotty loved Raika to death, but growing up in a realm drenched in evil had definitely impacted her life. Or maybe it was being born in Sheoul. Or perhaps her Grim Reaper DNA. Whatever. She was weird. “Aleka would never let you order it for me.”
“To her credit,” Aleka said as she put aside her ever-present planner, “she did try to order it for us. But we settled on a pepperoni to share, and she got a nasty pizza to take home with her.” She looked across the table at Scotty. “Sounded like you wanted to talk about something. Does it have to do with what we talked about the other day?”
