Page 36 of The Death God
He was, but it was clear he didn’t see it. Gregory gave him a quick peck before breaking away. He should work casual kissing into the day’s schedule. If they had a schedule.
He tugged at Thanatos’ hand and exited the room and crossed over into the kitchen. It was empty. Gregory blew out a breath of relief, but at the same time, he needed to talk to Rufus.
“What are you in the mood for?” He walked over to the refrigerator and peeked inside.
“I was gonna make a Cajun chicken recipe I saved on Pinterest.” Thanatos reached past him for a bowl with chicken fillets, and Gregory narrowed his eyes at him.
“When did you have time to plan?”
“While I was baking.” He looked around the kitchen and sighed. The breakfast dishes were on the counter, and there were a few added cups and glasses Gregory hadn’t seen when they’d gone to his room. Did no one clean in this house? He grimaced as he realized he hadn’t either. He’d emptied the dishwasher a time or two during the months they’d lived here, but that was all. He glanced at Thanatos, suspecting he was the one doing all the work in the kitchen.
“Gregory?” Rufus walked into the kitchen, his gaze sweeping over them before meeting Gregory’s eyes. He didn’t need more than a fraction of a second to know something had happened.
“What is it?”
Rufus held up the phone. “Alaric. The event is canceled, and he’s on his way here with his second and one more person. They’ll be here in about an hour.”
“Did you talk to him?” Rufus didn’t talk to anyone, simply having Alaric know Rufus was alive was bad, having him a phone call away was disastrous. Maybe they should kill Silas. They couldn’t have someone handing out their phone numbers, for fuck’s sake. “We need to change your number.”
Rufus nodded. “There is no hiding now, though.”
No, they couldn’t run from the castle. They needed to turn this into a fortress, and to do it they needed money. “Why is he coming here?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t pick up when he called, but he left a voicemail. There were more growls than words, so my guess is something has gone to hell.”
“Do you think they like chicken?” Thanatos looked between them, cradling the bowl with thawed chicken fillets. “I think it’s enough for three more people. I’ll make some side dishes, we have bread, and I’ll make a salad. Maybe they like beans?” He peered at them. “There are beans in the freezer, but I don’t think Jaki, Minerva or Prophecy will eat beans. It’s the signature veggie of the house of horrors. Green beans cooked until they turned gray almost every day.” He scrunched his nose, and Gregory wanted to kiss him. There was what most likely would turn out to be a major crisis, and he was talking about food.
Rufus glanced at Gregory, a stunned expression on his face, and Gregory did his best not to laugh. “Could throw them off their game; invite them for dinner.”
Rufus nodded. “Yeah, good idea.” Then he looked at Thanatos. “They’re werewolves, they’ll eat anything, and in large quantities.”
“Oh, I’ll do what I can.”
Gregory couldn’t hold off any longer. He leaned in and kissed Thanatos’ cheek before grabbing Rufus’ arm. “I need a word. Is Jaki in your room?”
“No, he and Minerva are outside. He was talking about fixing the kitchen garden.”
Gregory walked in the direction of Jaki and Rufus’ room. “Do they know anything about gardening?”
“I don’t think either of them wants to garden, more like they want something pretty to look at when they peek out the window.”
“Which entails gardening.”
“They’ll realize in due time.” Rufus shrugged and opened the door to their room and motioned for Gregory to enter. “What’s going on?”
“How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Thanatos kneed me in the balls because something I said threw him into a panic attack.”
Rufus frowned at him. “Jaki didn’t have a choice. I forced him.”
“To form a bond perhaps, but you didn’t force anything else, and he doesn’t shy away from you or knee you in the balls.”
“Trust. But it takes time. Jaki didn’t have any positive experiences with touch. Like at all. No body contact is allowed in the house of horrors. The only time anyone touched them was when clients forced them, or guards beat them for misbehaving.”
Gregory nodded. Thanatos didn’t shy away when he touched him now, not if he was prepared, but he had in the beginning.
