Date from Hell
Page 8
“You can talk to it, too,” said Archer. He decided to put his arm around Kev’s shoulders after all. Kev leaned into him immediately.
“It’s not just that. I…really liked you ordering me around. It was hot, a lot better than the way the other demons did it.”
Archer didn’t bother to point out Kev wasn’t a demon any more. He’d get used to it on his own.
“I trust you. I like trusting you. And I like not having to decide everything. That was part of what was great about soul deals. You could always give people what they wanted. And it felt great.”
“I don’t want to tell you how to live your life,” said Archer. “Especially now that you finally have it back.”
“I’m too tired to deal with this now,” said Kev, then snorted. “Too tired. I’ve been tired forever. You think I can get a good night’s rest here?”
“If you don’t snore too loud. Otherwise I’ll probably kick you,” said Archer.
Kev looked up at him, and there was something very nice in his eyes. Archer could tell he approved of this arrangement.
“I told you I wasn’t going to make you sleep on the couch. Besides, that’s where Shredinger sleeps when I kick him out of the bedroom.”
“Yeah, but you said that to get out of saying that you lov—”
“I’m too tired to deal with this now,” said Archer, and released Kev, and stood. “I don’t want to jump into anything too fast.”
“Okay,” said Kev, but he sounded sad. “But could you at least tell me what to do tonight? I don’t even know how to feed myself here. I’m starving.”
“All right,” said Archer. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “You are going to love tasting food again. I was thinking we’d pick up something to eat because I’m not cooking after that hellhole we just went through.” He held out a hand to Kev to help the man stand. “After that I want to drop by the hospital and see my brother.”
“It sounded like they still weren’t letting his girlfriend in,” said Kev, accepting the help up.
“We can work on them.”
“We?”
“I think I can introduce my family to my boyfriend now that Ryan’s out of danger,” said Archer. He watched Kev’s expression as it shifted from confusion to understanding and then excitement. “So be on your best behavior.”
“Never had a boyfriend before.”
“Good. Then you don’t have all the wrong ideas in your head.” Archer leaned in, kissed him. Kev responded with similar gentleness and Archer had to wrap his arms around Kev, pull him closer. To think that his less-than-stellar decision to trade his soul paid off so much…Not only was his brother going to be all right, he’d found Kev.
“It’s good to be alive,” said Kev.
Archer smiled. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
THE END
ABOUT GARETH VAUGHN
Things Gareth Vaughn is terrible at: Whistling. Card games. Writing bios. Not adopting cats.
Things Gareth Vaughn is okay at: Snow shoveling. Star Trek trivia. Writing stories. Fishing cat toys from under the couch.
For more information, visit twitter.com/gareth_vaughn.
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