Page 25 of Hell and Hexes
I rolled my dice and sighed. “The spit hits. The alien howls and dark holes appear along his green-skinned chest. Ebony, you’re next.”
The dryad squirmed in her chair. “I swing my sword with all the might of my ginormous biceps. Did I mention I have ginormous biceps? And six-pack abs?”
John rolled his eyes…. eye. “Yes. Several times.”
Ebony ignored him and rolled. “Twelve. Plus my bonuses.”
“Miss.” Everyone gasped at that, realizing how formidable their alien opponent truly was. “The alien opens his mouth and screams. The ground shakes, and everyone takes two points of damage and a negative one to their constitution.”
There was a knock on the door, and I pushed back my chair. “Pizza’s here. Let’s take a break, and we’ll resume once we all get a slice.”
I headed for the door, hoping that it wasn’t that poor blond guy that Lamira’s Pizzeria seemed to send every week. Lamira’s had the best wood-fired pizza, and they had the roasted red pepper topping that Trapper particularly enjoyed, but they were outside of the town wards and they were owned and operated solely by humans. Their delivery crew did include one coyote shifter, but for some reason he never got our orders. This poor blond human dude seemed to always be the unlucky guy who brought our pizza. Every time I opened the door and he got an eyeful of my friends, he’d freak out. I’d tip him big, and he'd practically throw the pizzas at me before racing for his car. As soon as he crossed the wards, he’d forget all about the pixie, Valkyrie, cyclops and other interesting beings in my living room, but I felt guilty about putting him through that every single week. Did repeated exposure to the magic of the wards do something to his brain? I really worried about that and probably should ask Bronwyn the next time I saw her.
I flung open the door, but instead of a human or a coyote shifter, the being at my doorway holding five pizza boxes was Eshu.
“You’re working for Lamira’s Pizzeria now?” I asked as I ushered him in.
“Nah. I saw the guy out front and figured I’d make the delivery for him.”
My eyes narrowed with suspicion as he plopped the pizza boxes on my kitchen island and lifted the lids. “Please tell me you paid him. And tipped him.”
“I’m told he won’t remember it after crossing the wards,” Eshu said with the most cheerful voice in the world.
I scowled and pulled out my phone, frantically making a payment on the app and adding in a tip. “Eshu, his boss will expect him to come back with cash. And tips are a major part of his income. That’s not cool.”
The demon-not-demon tilted his head, eyeing me with a puzzled expression.
“Here, Sylvie.” Ebony handed me a ten. “This is my share.”
The others also handed me cash, and I decided that it probablywasa good idea to pay this all online and just have everyone chip in. Who knew what that poor delivery guy remembered after heading back out of town? I didn’t want him getting in trouble because he couldn’t remember how much we gave him or where the credit card copies were.
“Hey, man. I’m Fernando.” The dragon reached out a beefy hand to shake Eshu’s.
“Eshu. Sylvie ismycouch-witch, so if any of you are planning on sleeping with her tonight, I’m letting you know you’ll have to fight me first.”
I felt my face heat up, but everyone in the room roared with laughter.
“Not like I haven’t tried.” Rio winked at me. Nymphs loved having sex with men, but it was women who they had lasting relationships with. And no, Rio had never hit on me. I was pretty sure I wasn’t her type and that she was just messing with Eshu right now.
John laughed. “You do know she’s a Perkins witch, right? She’ll curse you to the ends of the earth if you screw her over. And if that’s not enough, her sister will burn your pants off. That witch has got a fierce temper.”
“Oh, stop.” Bob shook his head. “This man, or whatever he is, should join our game. We could use someone new in the party. And, it’s about time Sylvie had an admirer. She’s pretty, for a witch.”
Not the smoothest compliment I’d ever had, but I took it. “It’s game night and sometimes we go to midnight,” I told Eshu. “You’re welcome to stay, or you could always come back after we’re done.”
Although I wasn’t sure how energetic I’d be after we wrapped up. This was night three that Eshu had sought me out, and I hated to have this be night three that I was too tired to do more than fall asleep on the couch five minutes after he’d gotten here.
Eshu turned and the intensity of his gaze startled me. “I would enjoy staying, meeting your friends, and playing your game with you, but I don’t want to interfere with your plans. If you would rather I come back, I will.”
I felt as if something shifted between us. This wasn’t just a booty call for him. He wanted to stay, hang out, game with us. I’d been assuming he was a total player and would want to keep what was between the two of us light and casual. Clearly, I’d been wrong.
It was up to me. Did I want things light and casual? I could tell him to come back later and set the terms for our relationship as friends with benefits, or I could ask him to stay and…what? Would that make him my boyfriend? Is that what I wanted?
“I can stand outside your door and wait for hours, maybe peering in the windows at you on occasion, just so I can catch a glimpse of your beauty,” he said, still with that intense expression on his face that countered his teasing tone.
“That’s weird, Eshu.” I laughed. Then I made a decision. “Stay. Hang with us. Eat pizza. We’ve got white garlic with roasted red pepper, four-cheese deep dish, meat-meat-meat, mushroom/spinach/gorgonzola, and double anchovy. What would you like?”
“What’s he eating?” Eshu looked over at Bob.
