Sloth

by L-J Baker

  "Of course." He stood there for a moment longer, expecting Toby to introduce them. He didn't. So Luc extended a hand in her direction and took the lead. "Lucifer Morningstar. I own this place."

  "Talia Holt. Just here for the free Wi-Fi and drinks." She took his hand and shook, batting her lashes a few times, then looked away.

  "Always happy to meet another computer whiz. Toby tells me nothing about you."

  She laughed. It was a cute laugh. The kind you wanted to listen to again just to see if it always sounded like that.

  "What would you like to know?"

  "Everything." Luc slipped into the booth beside her and hoped she wouldn't think he was some sort of creep.

  She turned to face him and her small smile told him she was both cautious and intrigued. "Well, maybe after we're done working here, you and I can get a drink and get to know each other?"

  "I'd like that very much." Luc held her stare a moment longer, then excused himself. She was interested. That was a good start. More than that would have been pushy, and with Toby there, awkward. His connection to Amanda already made things a bit odd.

  Hopefully, Toby wasn't holding on to hard feelings that would color the way his friend saw Luc. He would find out soon enough though.

  ***

  "I can't believe you worked through that glitch so easily. I've been struggling with that for weeks." Toby clicked the top of his laptop closed and leaned back in the seat.

  "I can't believe I'm out of bed and dressed this early." She still didn't know why she agreed to work on this project with Toby. It was like her mouth was possessed last night and agreed without her permission. She had to admit though, it wasn't as bad as she thought.

  "And you have a date."

  "A date?" Talia tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. If he tried to set her up she was going to flip out on him.

  "Yeah, with Luc? My boss? You asked him to have a drink? Does any of this sound familiar?"

  Shit.

  For a moment, she'd thought she imagined the whole interaction. The guy was hot, and the way he looked at her gave her feelings she thought were pushed down so deep they would never return, but she didn't date. Certainly she didn't date friends of Toby's.

  Not that this guy was his friend.

  It was his boss and that had to be different.

  Didn't it?

  "I'm sure he has more important things to do." Talia started packing up her things. She couldn't really have a drink with that guy. He probably hadn't even taken her seriously.

  "No, actually, I think he's waiting for you at the bar. He's been looking over here every five minutes for the last half hour." Toby put his hand on hers and grew serious. "I know what you've been through, but Luc's a good guy. You have nothing to worry about."

  That was easy for Toby to say.

  "He's your boss. You probably don't even know him that well." She shook her head.

  "He briefly dated Amanda, so I know him quite well. You can talk to her if you like."

  "Amanda, your roommate?"

  "Yeah. You remember her, right?"

  "Pushy blond girl?"

  "That's her."

  "Yeah, I remember her. Why only briefly?"

  "Huh?"

  "You said they dated briefly. Why did it end?"

  "Oh, nothing he did wrong. Amanda just wasn't in the right place for a relationship. She's kind of a mess."

  "Cute though." Talia shot him a half-smile, then looked away.

  Toby raised one eyebrow and paused. "You into girls?"

  "I'm into whatever." Talia shrugged. These days she wasn't into anything, but even if she were, she had no intention of choosing based on gender. Not that she didn't feel that familiar pull of sexual attraction when she looked at someone like Toby's boss. She wasn't completely dead inside. She just couldn't stop thinking about things she knew were better left in the past.

  "I've only seen you with guys."

  "To be fair, you only ever had guys hanging around back in college. I dated a girl and a gender fluid person back then, you just weren't around for it." Talia shrugged again and latched her messenger bag. "I better go."

  "Aren't you forgetting something?" Toby nodded his head in the direction of his boss, who was now looking right at them.

  Dammit.

  The guy held up a drink and smiled. He was waiting for her. He had taken her offer serious and it would make her a real shit to back out now.

  "Right."

  It was one drink. That was all she promised, so she wouldn't feel bad ending it after that. She certainly had no intention of taking it further.

  Toby stood and slipped his bag over his shoulder. "He's a decent guy. I promise."

  Talia didn't get that feeling. He might not set out to hurt her, but she got more of a bad boy vibe off him. Bad boys were not her thing. She wasn't even sure if boys in general were her thing these days. Despite the spark she felt when their hands touched, and the heat that passed through her when he looked into her eyes, it wasn't something she needed in her life right now.

  At least that was what she told herself as she headed in his direction.

  "What can I get you?" Luc put his glass down on the counter, reached behind the bar to grab her one, and waited for her to settle on the barstool next to him.

  "Beer is good." She wasn't one for hard liquor and asking for a soda seemed a bit too odd. He would probably think she was a recovering alcoholic. Not that it mattered what he thought.

  Except it did.

  "Got it."

  She watched him stretch behind the bar with her glass and fill it to the top. She was more interested in the tight muscle that bunched under his shirt, and the line of his body in that position, than the beer. He was graceful in a position that would have made her fall over and land on her ass. Not that she was clumsy. You had to have great hand-eye coordination to be a decent gamer. It was just a far reach and she wasn't even remotely tall enough to make it.

  Luc slipped back and placed the drink in front of Talia, then waited for her to pick it up. "What shall we drink to?" He held up his glass, ready to tap it against hers.

  "Not being in the zombie apocalypse?" Because there was nothing less ridiculous she could have said.

  The corner of his mouth came up into a quirky half-smile and he clinked his glass against hers. "To not being in the zombie apocalypse."

  They each took a sip off their drinks and placed them back down. Here was the awkward part. Talia hadn't missed that element of going out and dating.

  "So you're a programmer?" Luc looked down at the messenger bag that still hung around her body.

  "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

  "What else might you consider yourself?"

  "A gamer mostly. I haven't done programming since my college days. I was studying to be an electrical engineer, but that didn't work out." She waited for the judgment, but it never came.

  "I've never been very good at video games. It's great that you live in a time where you can make money off doing what you love."

  "Yeah." She took another sip off her beer. It wasn't really the response she'd expected, especially from someone who clearly had his shit in life together. Normally, when she told people she was a gamer, she got eye rolls, or the typical comments that basically said she didn't really work, or how it must be nice to stay home and do nothing all day.

  So maybe lately it had been true. She hadn't been doing much work, or making much money. But that wasn't the fault of her career choice. She was just lazy. Plenty of people did well as gamers. She knew she could if she tried.

  "How do you and Toby know each other?"

  "We were in college together. There was a group of us that used to get together and write code and shit." Talia took a long pull off her beer. She preferred not to think about those days, or how her life changed forever because of them. "What about you? Did you always want to run a club?"

  "No." Luc turned his stool to the side and leaned back against the bar. "It to
ok me a while to get to this place. Sometimes I still wonder if it was the right choice."

  "But you're happy doing it?" She faced him, actually curious to hear his answer.

  "Yes, I mean, I was until recently. I guess sometimes things happen that make you rethink everything you thought you knew." He grew serious for a moment, then shook it off and turned back toward her. "Sorry. I don't mean to give you the wrong impression. I do love running this club. It's been a great experience."

  "But you want a change?"

  "I'm not sure I want one. Maybe more like circumstance are forcing me to need one. Not even necessarily with my work, but in my life."

  Talia understood that. She didn't want to be there in that club, working, being around people, but she also didn't want her brother on her back every day bitching at her to pull her weight. Not that she couldn't pull her weight from home, but it was too easy to say screw it, and take a nap instead.

  "I get that."

  "I was under the impression that Toby was some sort of wizard with computers. If he's asked you to help him with his app, does that mean you're pretty good too?" He turned to look at her, dragging his eyes down her body for a brief moment, then turned back to look off into the distance. It was a move she normally would have felt uncomfortable with, but with him, she didn't mind. She had checked him out first, after all.

  "Toby only hopes to be like me one day." She snorted. "He's more like a junior wizard. Maybe an apprentice."

  "So what does that make you? A demigod?"

  "A programming demigod. I think I like that." She giggled, imagining adding that to her profiles under job title.

  Luc's mouth pulled into a full smile and his eyes twinkled. Talia fought the urge to keep looking at his lips and took another sip off her beer instead. She should get out of there. Finish off her beer, make an excuse, and leave. But she didn't.

  "Tell me about the app you're working on." He turned back toward her again and waited for her to answer. His look was intense, like he was trying to see into her soul. It was uncomfortable and brought out a vulnerability in her that she tried to avoid these days.

  But she stayed.

  "It's a video game. Nothing too exciting."

  "Oh, I doubt that."

  "Maybe a little exciting." She shrugged. "I'm more of a pc gamer. Mobile games don't get me going the same."

  Luc opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. His smile told her enough. It also brought out a heat in her cheeks that she hoped he hadn't noticed.

  "As far as mobile games go," she said, trying to steer the conversation away from any innuendo. "It's not bad. I think it will do well if he can get the kinks worked out. Tough market though. There's so much out there."

  "I guess that's what he has you for then. To work out his kinks." He pressed his lips together, clearly holding back a laugh.

  "Toby has always been like a little brother. Besides, I'm not his type."

  "Oh, I know. I am."

  She raised one eyebrow. "Oh? Should I know something about you two?"

  "Funny." Luc shifted on the stool and finished off the last of his drink. "He flirted with me relentlessly when we first met. He seems content with his current guy though."

  "I don't know much about Zach, but he beams when he talks about him."

  "I've seen him around lately. The way those two look at one another is… special."

  "Do I detect a bit of envy?" She poked him in the arm and he met her eyes.

  "Maybe."

  There was something so real in that moment. It pulled her in, like the flash of a bolt of lightning, and made her jump back, like the crack of the thunder coming in behind it. She wanted to ask him more, to dig into that soft place inside him where that one word came from. She wanted to connect with that part that wanted more, to feel that longing once again, to enjoy having a drink with someone she was attracted to, without fear.

  The silence hung between them for a long moment. Neither moved, or spoke, or had any intention of breaking it. She wondered how long it would go on and not feel uncomfortable. She wanted to find out, to stay there with him in that place until they had no choice but to move on.

  But the universe had other intentions.

  "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to need you in back," a curly-haired blond version of Luc said, putting his hand on Luc's shoulder with a frown. They had to be related. There was no other way to explain that level of ungodly beauty in two men in the same room. It was unnatural.

  "Can't it wait?" Luc looked from the guy, to Talia, and back to the guy.

  "Not really, no."

  "Fine. I'll meet you in my office."

  Luc looked at her for one last moment, then rose to his feet. "Have dinner with me?"

  One drink, she'd told herself, and that would be it. Yet she found herself nodding in agreement. She didn't want their conversation to end, even if it had only been a mutual silence that they'd shared before the interruption. So she agreed to dinner, without thinking what that meant.

  Without thinking at all.

  "Give me your phone."

  She did as he asked without even a pause. He texted himself, so they'd have each other's contact info, and handed it back. Before she could even process what happened, he disappeared with the other guy.

  ***

  "What?" Luc did his best to keep the irritation from his voice. Maybe it was for the best that they'd been interrupted. They'd only just met, and Luc was ready to open up to Talia and tell her every thought in his head. It was unnerving.

  "That gang that's been doing the break-ins," Az said. "They hit another place."

  "Where?"

  And why?

  It made sense that they'd hit the other places as a cover-up, to keep Luc from realizing they were really out for his safe. Now that it was clear, that Michael had to know Luc knew he was behind everything, it made no sense to keep hitting places. One of their original guys had already been nabbed by the police. It was time to cool off, to hide, and hope their guy didn't give them up.

  "Three blocks away, the finance consultant with that sign spinning dude. Sarah just called."

  Luc gritted his teeth. He didn't like that Az was on a first name basis with Detective Ward. He'd rather they stayed off the police radar. Not that they could at this point, thanks to Michael and these ridiculous robberies.

  "Anyone hurt?"

  "They beat one guy pretty bad, but no one killed this time. It was a sloppy job. My guess is that it was the original guys, not demons, but that's just a guess. Michael could be trying to throw us off again."

  "Has that dirtbag the cops nailed, given up his buddies?"

  "A few, yeah, but he said they had different guys on every job. Seemed like they were recruiting for each hit, never really using more than a few guys in common. There's someone setting each job up and I don't think that's Michael. It seems beneath him." Az slumped into a chair and scrubbed his hands over his face.

  "I agree." Luc leaned against the door frame and hooked his thumbs into his belt loops. "At the same time, he would have oversaw the whole organization, and I doubt he would be happy if they're continuing on without his say so."

  "So you think he knows what's going on?"

  "Or else whoever it is will have hell to pay when he catches up with them." Luc didn't need this shit. He was ready to send the whole lot of assholes to Hell to start their punishment early. What fun was it to be the devil if he couldn't live up to the stereotypes once in a while?

  "Sorry for interrupting with the new girl. I figured you'd want to know right away." Az looked back over his shoulder at Luc with an apologetic expression.

  "It's fine. This comes first."

  "Don't let Harley hear you say that."

  "For a minute there, I actually forgot about all this crap and just enjoyed being with her. I appreciate you bringing me back to my senses." Luc pushed off the door frame and went to sit behind his desk. "I need to keep my focus."

  Az sighed and closed his eye
s for a long moment. "Luc, there's no reason you can't deal with this mess and still find your soul mate. Harley is right."

  "I thought you were on my side with all this?" Luc poured a triple bourbon and took a large gulp before setting it down on the desk.

  "I never said that. I understand why you think you need to stop the game, but I don't agree with it." Az leaned forward in his chair and looked straight at Luc. "If you stop now, give up on what you want, you let Michael win. You know that, right?"

  Luc hadn't thought about it that way. The last thing he wanted was for Michael to win. That asshole caused the death of a few people he liked very much. He had Luc's space violated. He kidnapped and beat Harley, fully intending on killing her too. Not to mention the whole being responsible for him being cast from Heaven all those years ago.

  No, Luc wasn't about to let Michael have his way this time. Luc would fight back. He would find that asshole and make him pay for everything he'd done, as well as everything he was trying to do. There was no way Luc would give up the tablet to Michael and there was no way he would let him take what he wanted most.

  The game would continue.

  Luc would find his soul mate.

  He knew what that would mean in the end, thanks to the price he would have to pay his father for helping to save Harley, but there was no way around that. Luc would pay what he needed to pay, because Harley's life was worth any amount of happiness he might have to give up. For now, he would take what he could.

  And Michael would pay for the rest.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  "What the hell did I agree to?" Talia tossed clothes over her head onto the bed, hitting Sasha with several items. "He wants to cook for me. That means I'll be alone with him, in his apartment."

  "Yeah, so? Didn't Toby say he was a good guy?"

  "Toby never had dinner alone with him in his apartment, so what does he know?" Talia flopped down on the bed right in the middle of the clothes mountain. "I'll cancel. That's all. I'll tell him I changed my mind. We had one drink. I don't owe him anything. So what if we got along and it wasn't nearly as awful as I thought? That doesn't mean I have to have dinner with him."

  "Quit freaking out. This guy isn't—"