Page 27 of Providence

“It would not be best for me to stay with the Fallen.”

Well. Okay then. I made pancakes, because they were Sera’s favorite, and because I loved the way Sera watched my ass when I stood in front of the stove. I desperately wanted to lay her out over the kitchen island, bury my face between her thighs, and eat her for breakfast.

Goliath eventually emerged downstairs, the baby clutched to his chest, his gun in his hand. He lifted it when he spotted Raphael in the kitchen, but Judas gave a soft shake to his head. “G, we have a houseguest for a little while. Play nice.”

Goliath’s eyes ping-ponged between us all, his body gently swaying with the baby in his arms. Jesus, who ever thought that Goliath, that big, mean motherfucker, would end up being so damn paternal? I would have bet my left testicle that he would have gone on a month long bender and not come back until he’d killed his liver.

Maybe it was the shitshow of Madoc’s birth. Maybe it was the fact that Sera was wearing on him. Whatever it was, I couldn’t be happier for my Brother. Now I just had to hope he didn’t fuck it up. But judging by the way he wouldn’t look Sera in the eye, I didn’t hold out much hope on that one either.

Raphael’s eyes drifted to the baby, a world of feeling in them, but then he went back to looking at his hands where they rested on the breakfast bar.

Damn, this fucker knew how to bring down the mood of the place. Serendipity went and sat next to him, and when I put two plates of pancakes in front of them, Raphael looked at them like they were rattlesnakes.

I leaned forward and took Sera’s lips with my own. I needed to find a reason to be alone with her today. I was like an addict, and her body was my fix. I got the shakes if I went without it for too long. But I had to work, then I had to get to the Clubhouse this afternoon to check on my Brothers now they were allowed back. There’d been some grumbling, especially when they realized none of us were residing at the Clubhouse itself any more. We still all had our rooms there, but we always found a reason to come home, to spend time with Sera. She was like the fucking sun, and I couldn’t help but be pulled into her orbit.

Sera tipped syrup over her pancakes, adding a huge dollop of butter. “Ever had pancakes before, Raph?”

He raised his eyebrows at the shortening of his name, the first sign of personality I’d seen in him since he stood up to Luc when Sera was dying. “I can’t say I have. Angels do not need sustenance the way humans do.”

She leaned over him, pouring syrup over his pancakes too. “There is a lot to be said for the ingenuity of the human race. They have such short lives.” I didn’t imagine her eyes sliding to the backyard, to where Marco and the kids played in their Hellish Treehouse. “But they make up for it by appreciating even the smallest of sensations. The sun against their face, the taste of fluffy pastries dripping in the sweetness of maple syrup.” She pushed a knife and fork at him, and he picked them up, slicing into his breakfast with the hands of a surgeon. He moaned a little, and I grinned from where I was flipping more pancakes.

“There is no shame in allowing yourself the pleasure provided by the world.” Ah, so Sera noted the pink tinge to the tips of his wings too. I didn’t think he’d completely fallen, but he was definitely on a downward descent. I just couldn’t decide if Lucifer wanted us to drag him the rest of the way down, or prop him back up.

Raphael didn’t answer, just eating his pancakes in silence. Sera looked up at me, her eyes filled with pity for the Archangel. She was softer than she pretended to be, my fucking angel.

God, I loved her.

I came back around, and kissed her on the temple. “I have to go to work,” I sighed, and she pouted.

“I should come in and get a tattoo? Maybe the Damnation horse head right on my-”

“Dippy,” Judas growled, and Sera laughed. Judas shook his head, a small smile curving his lips.

She grinned and I kissed her once more because I couldn’t help it. “Anytime, Babe. As long as I get to pick the place. I’ll have to search the canvas very thoroughly for the perfect place.” I leaned forward and nipped her earlobe. “With my tongue.”

She shuddered, and I pulled away, walking smugly out of the room, her eyes on my body like lasers. Goliath followed me out of the room, the baby still in his arms.

I held my hands out for Madoc and he passed him over easily. “What the fuck is with the celestial chicken in our kitchen?” he growled, and I barked out a laugh. I’d forgotten he’d once been a funny fucker, before Laura’s death had stolen everything from him.

I made cutesy faces at the baby. “He was Luc’s price for saving Sera. He has to stay with us for however long he needs to. It appears perhaps the mighty Archangel is on a downward trajectory?”

Goliath frowned. “I can’t protect them if the enemy is in our damn house, Cain.”

I frowned. My gut said Raphael was alright. He was a healer, after all, and he’d saved them already. If he wanted them dead, he could have just refused Lucifer’s request. He was well within his rights. I would have hated him with every fiber of my being, but it wouldn’t have been unexpected. “I don’t think he’s a threat, but I think two of us should switch between their rooms every night. I’ll talk to Judas.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not sleeping in her room.”

I laughed. “Aw, are you worried about your virtue?”

The baby started to grumble and Goliath took him back. “Don’t make me punch you in your ugly fucking face,” he growled, and I grinned. I watched him storm away. Yep. He was crumbling under the force of Sera’s personality.

I got ready for work and thought about how I was going to steal Sera away and make her scream my name for hours and hours.

14

Marco

There was an Archangel having a tea party with my daughter. What the fuck even is my life?

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