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CHAPTER FOUR: THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS - PART THREE
Azel wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when they showed up to the party. He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy most dates invited to events like these. Who introduced their demon lover to their friends? Unless they wanted their friends to join in as more than friends. He’d done that several times.
He didn’t think that was what tonight was about.
“Look, we’ll just say hi to Katie and leave. In and out.” Harri was wringing her hands.
“Whatever you say, boss.” He looked around at the clusters of people talking and drinking. It looked… fun. Friendly. In a way Azel had never really experienced. In Hell, there’d never really been time to just hang out with friends. Everyone was too busy simply trying to survive. In the human world…
To be honest, it didn’t feel that much different. Both seemed eternally obsessed with the hustle, chasing some elusive measure of success never meant to be reached. Usually, by the end of a shift — waiting tables or serving drinks or hocking shoes or cellphones or, for one interminably long holiday season, personally engraved, non-denominational occasional ornaments — he was too exhausted to go anywhere or do much of anything.
And, even if he did, who would he go out with? His human coworkers, even if they were friendly at work, weren’t friends. They could never really trust him and he couldn’t really blame them for that. Demons had preyed on humans for too long; you couldn’t expect tensions to change just because a few laws had.
Even the magical folks he’d worked with in the past — fairies, werewolves, pucks, and the like — hadn’t really warmed up to him. It was hard to befriend and bond with humans, if you buddied up too close to their enemies.
He should have moved. Found a place with a higher demon or monster population or something. But he’d gone where he could find a job and a home. There hadn’t been a plethora of places open to him. And, even if he had, it wasn’t as if demons were, by nature, great at making friends, even with each other.
Stifling a sigh as he walked through the bar, he could feel people’s gazes on him. Taking in his wings and horns, his skin and eyes. A demon in their midst. He couldn’t quite hear, so much as feel, whispers as he passed. Nothing like being the only demon in the room. He fought the urge to ruffle his hair or shrink in on himself, knowing there really wasn’t a point. Short of an illegal glamour, there wasn’t a thing he could do to hide what he was.
Azel looked up, when Harri laid a reassuring hand on his arm. She smiled at him, though the shaky, nervous tilt of her lips was less comforting than her touch. “It’ll be fine.”
He gave a nod of his head, her unease reminding him of his role tonight. That’s right. It would be. It’d be better than fine; it’d be fucking fantastic. The best night of her life. Because it was his job to make it so. Right. So. “Is there anything you want me to say? Do? Be?”
She blinked up at him, confused. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I’m your fake boyfriend; I can be anyone you want me to be. Generously wealthy — though you might need to spot me some cash.” He winced. “Or the dark, mysterious kind. Aloof but always watching. Or maybe you’d prefer someone dotingly affectionate.” Yeah, the gentlemanly type. “Or—”
“Just be you.” She shook her head. “I don’t need you to put on a show or anything; just, you know…” She waved her hands. “Be here. Have a drink. Say hi.”
Just be you. Azel wasn’t even sure he knew who that was.
“Harri!” They both turned when a woman who looked like a taller, bolder version of Harri made her way toward them.
“Oh God, here we go,” Harri said with a somewhat panicked look on her face. She shot an apologetic look at Azel. “Look, I’m so sorry for whatever’s about to happen. Katie can be blunt, but she means well.”
Before Azel could respond, the woman rushed up to sweep Harri into her arms. “Oh, thank God, you’re here!” She turned to see Azel standing there next to them. “Opps, sorry, is that okay to say around you?”
Azel’s wings pulled in tighter around himself. He shook his head. “It’s fine.” Honestly, even as a demon, he didn’t really think about God too much. Not anymore than anyone else thought about the boss of a rival organization or company. Even back in the day, Azel had been too far down the celestial ladder to matter much to the higher-ups, which meant they hadn’t much mattered to him either.
The woman held out her hand. “I’m Katie, the cousin. And you must be the d…” Her eyes widened as her words trailed off. “...date.”
Demon. Azel smiled and gently took her hand. “Azel Brimm. Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”
Katie, still holding his hand, looked him up and down, her gaze taking in all of him with a mix of burning curiosity, wary interest, and just a touch of lustful approval. “It’s nice to meet you too; I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Really.” Harri rolled her eyes. “Wonder from whom.”
Katie waved that off with a smile. “Doesn’t matter now.” Grabbing them both by the arm, she pulled them over to the bar. “Now that you’re here, Harri, can you go help Jack set up the karaoke machine? They’re having trouble with it.”
“But—”
“I’ll keep Azel company while you’re gone.” Katie grinned as she let her cousin go to grab his arm with both hands. “Get him a drink. Ask him some get to know you questions. Run a background check, a blood test, and a quick credit scan. The usual.”
“Katie,” Harri warned, narrowing her eyes over her glasses in a way that had Azel standing straighter. “Be nice.”
Katie put on a show of looking offended. “Me?” She scoffed. “I’m always nice.” She shrugged. “But I also promised your mother I’d be thorough.” She waved Harri away. “Go help Jack and I’ll make sure your date has a drink waiting for you when you come back.”
Harri rolled her eyes at the woman before turning to Azel. “I’ll be right back; you’ll be okay?”
After a lifetime of reading people — using their secret wants to cater to them — it was strange to have someone ask, to care, much about him. He shook his head. “I’ll be okay.”
They both watched Harri walk off toward the befuddled group on the stage tripping over wires and cables. “So,” Katie said to him, “let’s get you a drink.” She gestured to the bar. “There’s beer and soda in the coolers and, if you want to make yourself something, anything on the bar is free game, just don’t touch anything behind the counter.”
Azel nodded and walked up to the bar and studied the bottles of fairly mid-tier booze. He raised an eyebrow. “Can I get you a drink?”
Katie waved him off. “I’ve been sticking to beer. The only one who knows how to mix a proper drink here is the owner and he’s running around making sure no one burns the place to the ground.”
Azel shrugged and turned a bottle of gin to read the label. “I don’t know about proper, but I used to be a bartender so, if you tell me what you want, I can probably make it for you.”
Katie raised an eyebrow. “How about a martini?”
Azel nodded. “Can do.”
As he moved along the counter to find his ingredients, she studied him. “So you used to be a bartender; what do you do now?”
Azel fought the urge to wince. Humans fucking loved that question. As if what they did for money defined who they were. No wonder they condemned demons so much, so sure they were nothing more than the terrible task they’d been commanded to perform.
Just be you. That’s what Harri had told him. But there was being himself and there was the truth. And Azel had never been very fond of the straight truth. “I’m self-employed at the moment.”
Katie watched him build her drink with a keen eye. “Self-employed? Doing what? Exactly.”
He shrugged and handed her the drink. “Whatever needs doing. Odd jobs mostly.” This job was certainly odd.
Katie tapped her finger against the glass, still studying him. “You have a website?”
He shook his head. “Word of mouth mostly.”
“And you’re successful doing just that?”
He smiled at her smoothly. “So far.”
“Harri works as some kind of super savvy specialist at a tech consultant firm, you know.” He didn’t, though he’d never let it show on his face. “Makes a pretty penny going into all those big-wig finance and securities businesses to set up and fix their systems.” She looked at him shrewdly. “Must be nice to have a girlfriend who’s so… financially steady.”
Azel paused, pursed his lips thoughtfully as he poured his own drink. “We’ve gone on exactly two dates now. On the first, I paid for the coffee.” Harri had reimbursed him for it later, but the statement still held true enough. “And, on the second,” he said, raising his glass, “drinks are on you, I suppose.” He took a sip.
Katie smiled and tasted her own drink, murmuring approvingly. Of his answer or the drink, he couldn’t be sure. “So how did you two meet?”
He nodded, prepared for this question. “We met at a bar. I gave her my number.”
Katie looked at him skeptically. “You picked up my cousin at a bar?”
Azel nodded. “She was there with a friend from work, who had to leave early. I asked if I could join her.”
“And she let you?”
Azel shrugged. “I offered to get her a drink.” When Katie scoffed in utter disbelief, he grinned. “A soda.”
Katie nodded. “That sounds like Harri.”
He smiled warmly at the memory. “It does.”
Katie, clearly a practiced reader of people herself, leveled a look at him. “So I promised my cousin that you’d have a drink waiting for her. What are you, Mr. Bartender Extraordinaire, making for her?”
Azel thought about Harri’s coffee order — a latte with an extra shot of espresso and hazelnut syrup. She liked caffeine and sugar. Reaching down into the coolers, he pulled out an energy drink and a ginger ale. Pouring those with a splash of grenadine, he finished it off with a Maraschino cherry and a lime wedge. A non-alcoholic yet still adult version of a Shirley Temple. A Surely Tempted. He held it up to Katie for inspection.
With an amused smirk, Katie nodded. “All right, last question: why Harri?”
Azel furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
Katie shot him a stern look. “I love my cousin; she’s the greatest. She’s the smartest, most capable person I know. Nicer than she should be. But we both know that she isn’t the type you hit on in a bar.” She narrowed her gaze. “So why my cousin?”
Why Harri? Feeling irritated at the question for some reason, Azel frowned. Katie wasn’t wrong; Harri wasn’t the kind of woman to pick up dates at a bar. She didn’t dress to impress. Didn’t style herself with products or makeup to attract. Physically, she was the type who blended in with the background. A wallflower at her finest.
But he had been drawn to her. Had, once he’d finally seen her, not been able to look away. Why? Azel looked up at the stage, watching Harri crouch down as she handily helped hook up equipment, saving the party for someone she likely didn’t even know. “She looked like she could use someone who put her wants first.”
A pleasantly surprised look crossed Katie’s face before she nodded. “Be careful with her. Harri doesn’t date much. And usually only because some guy pursues her.” She frowns. “Not all of them have… had her best interests at heart. And, with her being such a people-pleaser, we’re all a little protective.”
He’d assumed as much. “Understood.” Curious, he wondered how Nate fit into all this. A person didn’t hire a fake boyfriend to make a guy back off, if he wasn’t, at some level, a threat. Yet he’d made it past inspection. Was, presumably, liked and welcomed by these people. Harri’s people. Azel frowned.
But before he could even begin to think of a way to ask about it, the woman inexplicably burst out in a truly ear-piercing squeal. Gesturing wildly, Katie shouted. “Emma, Carrie, come meet Harri’s new guy!”
Azel’s eyes widened as two more women approached. Offering to make them drinks as well, a cosmo and an amaretto sour, he let them pepper him with more questions — easier ones, like what he thought of the party and where he’d learned to mix drinks.
Thankfully, by the time both women had drinks in hand, Harri came back, wiping her hands together. “Karaoke is all set to go.”
He handed her a napkin from the counter as the women cheered. Katie grinned. “Great! Then how about we kick things off?”
Harri crumpled the used napkin and pocketed it. “You guys have fun.”
“C’mon, Harri, you have to sing with us,” the cosmo begged.
“You love to sing,” the amaretto sour chimed in.
Harri shook her head. “In the shower or the car. Not in front of a crowd.”
“One song,” Katie pleaded. “Just to show these guys how it’s done.”
Azel could see the exact moment, Harri caved to the group of women. The crack in her composure and the slight flicker of defeat in her eyes. He thought about saving her, reminding her about their dinner plans maybe, but the way she crumbled for her friends amused him.
Besides, underneath all the nerves, he could sense her excitement to be among these people again. She’d missed them. She felt safe surrounded by them, turning those nerves into fizzy bubbles inside her — uncomfortable, sure, but not unpleasant. So he grinned and handed her the mocktail he’d made her. “Here, drink this fast, then it won’t seem so scary.”
She took the glass gratefully even as she rolled her eyes. “Says the man not going on stage.”
“You want me to sing for you?” He raised an eyebrow.
She narrowed her gaze. “Would you?” She looked around the crowded bar. “In front of all these people.”
He shrugged. If it was what she wanted. “Sure.” He’d done far more for people he’d… liked far less.
She took a gulp of the beverage, making a sweet, savoring sound he hadn’t known he’d been waiting for. She flashed him a brief but brilliant smile. “Better not back out, just because I’m going first.”
He shook his head, as she took another deep swig, before taking her empty glass from her. “Go on. Have fun.”
She wrinkled her nose skeptically, even as she eagerly hurried to the stage to join her friends. With a low chuckle, Azel turned back to the bar to refill her glass. By the time they’d picked a song and the opening strains of some pop song started, Azel had finished the drink. He looked up as the four gathered around the mic to sing, their voices strong if not altogether in sync or in tune. His eyes focused on Harri, huddled in the middle, with the mic gripped in front of her as she looked at the lyrics, her friends, the lights, anywhere, but at the crowd of people who’d turned to watch.
From where he stood, Azel could feel the thrill of it all — the music, the lights, the stage, and her friends — pop her bubbling nerves, like tiny explosions that left her giddy and lightheaded and only a little bit shaken. Her voice, easy to pick out, trembled and cracked but also laughed as she sang the sugary sweet love song, making him smile.
“She looks good up there, doesn’t she?”
Azel didn’t turn. He’d known the man was here. Had felt Nate’s familiar jealousy sulking around since before Harri stepped on stage. “She does.”
“This reminds me of Katie’s last birthday.” Nate laughed. “There’s a karaoke place we like to go to. Harri and I did a duet by this artist.”
Had they? Azel sipped his drink. Wasn’t that… cute.
Nate smiled fondly at Harri. “She was so adorably nervous. It’d taken half a beer to get her up on stage with me and the other half to calm down afterward.”
Azel’s gaze shifted to look at the man. Good-looking enough, he supposed. Average height. Average build. Average features. The man was a study in perfectly packaged, polished blandness. If he’d seen the two together, before having known Harri, Azel would have thought them perfectly matched.
Now, having seen the subtle spark Harri hid beneath layers of beige, Azel wondered what she’d ever seen in this guy.
“When we were dating, we’d hang out with her friends all the time,” Nate said, crossing his arms over his chest with more arrogance than Azel thought someone like him capable of. “We’d all gotten so close over that time. Still are.”
Which might explain why Harri didn’t feel comfortable going out with her friends lately, now that she and Nate were done. As a demon, Azel was almost impressed by how elegantly the man had isolated Harri, invading her safest places.
As her fake boyfriend, it pissed him off.
“Her friends are such a big part of her life,” Nate continued, looking smug. “She belongs with them, don’t you think?” He narrowed his gaze at Azel, looking him up and down. “Belongs with us.”
And not Azel.
The man hadn’t said it. He hadn’t needed to. Yeah, one of these things was not like the others and, much as it rankled Azel, it wasn’t Nate. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see people whispering his way, their gossipy gazes sharp and cutting against his back. He wondered how many of them knew Harri. How many had seen her and Nate together. How many were quietly judging, measuring Azel next to her ex. He didn’t wonder which, between the two, would come out on top. Stiffening his shoulders and steadying his wings, he looked back to the stage to watch Harri warblingly belt out the last few notes with her friends.
Maybe she didn’t belong with someone like Azel. But Azel scoffed at this guy, whose need for Harri to make himself feel in any way remarkable felt cloying. “I may not know Harri’s friends well.” He shrugged. “I may not even know Harri all that well. Yet,” he said with a raised eyebrow at her ex. “But I’m pretty sure she belongs anywhere she damned well wants to be.” He grabbed both their glasses and turned away from Nate as the song came to a close. “Belongs with anyone she wants to be with.” And, without waiting for a response, Azel made his way to the stage.
READ PART FOUR
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