Page 50 of Hellfire & Bowties
“Luc. It’s my choice. And let’s be honest, I’m not gonna fit in there. I was weird while I was alive. Most of those souls are people I wouldn’t have been friends with in real life. I fit here. I like it here.”
“You do?” Luc asked hopefully, stealing Oren’s heart all over again.
“I really do.” Oren bit his lip, dipping his lashes before looking straight at Luc. “I love you.”
He watched a billion different emotions rush over Luc’s face, until it settled on soft amazement at Oren’s words.
“I love you too,” Luc said, and Oren felt himself light up.
The confirmation settled that hopeful feeling that had been building in his chest since the moment he got here and got swept into a demonic whirlwind.
“I figured,” he said. “That’s why all this nonsense caught me off guard. You were actually going to send me away?”
“I wanted to do what’s right for you.” Luc shimmied off the bed, looking sheepish.
“What’s right for me is to be here, with you, and Beasty, and my friends,” Oren said, rolling his eyes. “Sleeping next to you is what’s right for me. Making sure you’re rested and happy is what’s right for me. Making sure this place runs as it should is what’s right for me.”
“This place ran fine…”
“Oh don’t even try that,” Oren scoffed. “It was a mess, and you and I and every demon under this roof knows that. You’d be lost without me.”
“Probably.”
“Certainly.”
Oren closed the distance between them and hopped up on his tiptoes to wrap his arms around Luc’s neck.
“I made your life so much better,” Oren said. “Just like you did mine. So there is no way I’m leaving. You’d mess up all my hard work, and I’d just sit in Heaven, wondering who’s doing the filing and just how wrong they’re doing it. That would beactualhell.”
“You’re literally the weirdest soul I’ve ever met,” Luc said matter-of-factly.
“Thank you.” Oren smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”
He let go and started toward the door, but Luc gripped his upper arm and pulled him back.
“We were in the middle of something fun, though,” he said, his voice all husky, and while usually Oren would have melted at the sound of it, he was still feeling some kind of way about almost being broken up with.
“We were.” He pulled his arm away. “But then you tried to break up with me, and it ruined the mood.”
“I didn’t break up with you,” Luc said.
“You didn’t because I saved you from it. Left to your own devices, you would have, so I’m gonna need you to sit down and think about your actions while I go and teach Kassel how to file.”
“Kassel isn’t allowed—”
“Ah, ah, ah.” Oren reached up to pinch Luc’s lips together, trapping his forked tongue between them. “Kassel is allowed whatever I tell him he’s allowed.”
“But—” Luc mumbled.
“Sit,” Oren ordered, and Luc folded himself onto the edge of the bed. “Think.”
He let go of Luc’s mouth after he followed the order and turned to walk away, startling when something small landed onhis shoulder. He jumped slightly in place, craning his neck only to come face-to-face with the smallest pixie-like creature.
It was about a foot tall and fragile looking. It had long, pale yellow hair, wide, dark gray eyes and transparent, gauzy wings fluttering behind it. It was chattering something at Oren in a language he didn’t understand, but it seemed cute, so he smiled at it, nodding along.
“Hi there,” he said when it paused to catch a breath, tiny chest heaving.
“Oren…” Luc called from behind him, voice wary.
