Page 13 of Hellfire & Tinsel
He threw a hand out blindly to keep from braining himself on the demon’s rock-hard abs, only realizing belatedly that said hand was pressed mightily close to the leather-clad crotch of said demon. His fingers twitched, feelingheatradiating underneath his palm like a warm oven. The temptation to open it up and see what goodness was cooking inside was… He gasped, pulling away as if burned.
“Sorry, sorry!” he squeaked, cradling his hand under his chin. He glanced up at Kassel to see if he would smite him down. No, not smite. That was angels, wasn’t it? Drag him to Hell maybe? Just straight-up murder him?
Throughout his internal panic, Kassel simply stared at him, showing no indication he’d even noticed, let alone cared, which calmed Beau’s racing heart a little. He might as well have been a statue next to Beau. A gargoyle perched on the Notre Dame, gigantic and imposing, looking down on Beau, who wasn’t exactly short by human standards.
He’d noticed Kassel’s size the first time they’d met, of course—it was kind of hard to miss him taking up all the space in his tiny home. But he’d been so overcome with shock and joy he hadn’t properly taken in the details besides the eyes and height.
Like the tail, which had some sort of coarse hair only a shade darker than his skin growing along its entire surface. And the horns, which were liable to give Beau’s ceiling a free architectural makeover, poking out of long black hair that had a gorgeous curl to the ends. And all of that was wrapped in coarse, lavender skin and leather clothing with a distinct lack of shirts.
“So, loneliness,” Kassel said, interrupting his perusal and making him blush. “Clearly that is something we will have to work on in order for my summoning to be fulfilled.”
“And neither of us knows how.” Beau gave a little shrug, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his wayward hands around them. “Maybe we can just say we did it and that I’m not lonely anymore and that will be enough? Nobody has to know I’m lying.”
“The summoning needs to be fulfilled for me to be released. It can’t be cheated.” Kassel let out a small sigh.
“I don’t want to waste your time,” Beau said, the words bitter on his tongue. He knew the taste of that particular truth all too well. The fact that he just… didn’t matter.
“I prefer wasting time to Oren following me around providing monologues. So we can try to work this out between the two of us,” Kassel said.
The two of us.
It shouldn’t have made Beau’s heart sing. This was transactional. Kassel wasn’t really his friend. He was here because Beau had summoned him. But he was still here. For Beau.
No one else had ever been there just for him before.
“How do we do that?” Beau asked shyly.
“You know humanity better than I do. Why are they not lonely and you are?”
Beau frowned at the question and the lump it put into his throat.
He saw people around him on a daily basis and none of them ever looked like they were carrying the sadness on their shoulders the way he did. He knew it wasn’t strictly true. There were others who must have been just as lonely as he was, but it seemed he couldn’t find those people no matter how hard he tried. Instead, he was surrounded by the opposite: People with their phones ringing, answering calls and talking to someone. They shared lunch tables at work and seats on the bus in the mornings.
They had plans for after work.
He’d see them pushing shopping carts while someone else threw stuff in and double-checked their shopping list. He saw them buying popcorn to share at the movies and saving good spots for their friends on the grass when there were concerts in the park near Beau’s house.
Everyone always had someone next to them. For everything.
“They have someone with them,” he said finally, knowing it didn’t really answer the question. “They have people who text them just because they think of them and go grocery shopping with them because they want to share what they like. And do other fun things together just because. They just… have someone.”
He trailed off, refusing to allow himself to feel pathetic. There was nothing wrong with being alone. Didn’t mean there was anything wrong with him. He just hadn’t found his someone yet. He repeated those words in his head like a mantra.
“I do not own a phone so I can’t text you,” Kassel said. “However, I do believe I can accompany you to buy supplies.”
Beau felt his eyes widen at the words. He stared up at the demon, looking between all his eyes for a hint of a lie.
“You want to… go grocery shopping with me?”
“If that will help fulfill my summoning and make you feel less lonely.”
Beau’s lower lip trembled out as he tried to hold back tears. He hadn’t known he had any left in him. “That… makes sense,” Beau choked out, sniffling.
He was startled when Kassel reached out with two claws and grasped his wobbling chin between them to tilt his face up, holding it steady there with his palm. Beau froze in place, feeling tingles shoot all over him as his mind set off alarm bells.Someone is touching you. Someone is TOUCHING YOU.
When was the last time someone had even so much as brushed his shoulder on the bus? Let alone touched him with purpose. He was breathless withfeeling. So much feeling.
“This doesn’t appear to have made you happy. Or less lonely,” Kassel said.
