Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Now he was going to be lucky if he didn’t flunk out of graduate school. It had been a week since he’d last talked to Matteo, and he still couldn’t concentrate on his classes. He was behind on a paper he was supposed to be writing, and exams were right around the corner. He knew he needed to pull his head out of his ass and get back to work, but he couldn’t summon the energy or interest to do it.
No.
He had to study. Graduate school was fucking expensive. He’d worked too hard and sacrificed too much just to throw it all away. This weekend, he’d let himself mope and wallow in misery. Then on Monday, if he hadn’t heard from Matteo, he’d pick up his sorry ass and focus on studying. There was still time to salvage the semester.
He turned to shuffle along the sidewalk to the house and paused. The big, rambling mansion towered in front of him, little glimmers of light sneaking between the heavy curtains, giving it a welcoming glow. Well, at least it did to Luke. Everyone else just saw a creepy old murder house.
The demons had been really sweet and understanding during the last week. They’d tried to cheer him up and reassure him that Matteo would return. They’d given him space, and Azroth and Mullmag kept trying to feed him. He needed to pull himself out of his funk for his roommates. He didn’t want them to feel like this was their fault. It wasn’t Matteo’s fault either. Accepting helpful demons into your life was a complicated matter. Such a thing wasn’t going to work out for everyone.
With a sigh, Luke stumbled up the stairs to the house. As he pushed the door open, he was immediately hit with banging chaos and the acrid odor of something burning.
“Ahhhh! Fire! Fire! The salad is burning!” Annod’s panicked voice rang out through the house.
“Well, it will match the burned bread, at least,” Mullmag shouted.
“How is the salad burning? Where’s your fire extinguisher?”
Luke froze. He knew that voice. That was Matteo’s voice. But it couldn’t be Matteo because that would mean he was in the house. With the demons.
Yet, there was no mistaking it. That had to be Matteo’s wonderful, exasperated voice.
“Bath’tuk, open the windows!” Azroth barked. “Smoke is bad for humans.”
That settled it. Luke dropped his heavy bag of books at the door and raced through the house to the smoky kitchen, where he found all the demons in their natural form gathered around the island next to Matteo.
His beautiful, perfect Matteo with flushed cheeks, watery eyes, and messy hair all while wearing a cheery yellow apron.
“Matteo?” Luke gasped.
Matteo’s head snapped up, and he grinned. “Luke!” he greeted and then broke into a round of coughing.
“What’s going on? What are you doing here?”
“Can’t you tell?” Tog demanded. “We’re surprising you with a homemade dinner.”
Luke turned his attention to the smoldering array on the island. There was a pan of small, blackened squares he thought might have been bread at one time. Next to it was a melted bowl with more blackened bits and ash that could have been a salad at one time. Behind the assembled group on the stove was a bubbling cauldron that had hints of oregano and tomatoes in it.
“Did you make…spaghetti?” he inquired hesitantly.
Matteo laughed and hurried past the island toward Luke. “The demons and I tried. Your roommates insisted on helping.” He leaned close with a big smirk and said in a fake whisper, “They’re not very good at cooking.”
Luke watched him, and he could have sworn that under all of Matteo’s happiness was an edge of nervousness. His head snapped around to glare at Azroth. “What did you do? Did you mess with his memory?”
Azroth straightened, fluttering his wings slightly before wrapping them about his shoulders. “Absolutely not.”
“No! No! He didn’t. I swear.” Matteo frantically waved his hands in front of Luke’s face, drawing his gaze to him. “He came to see me at school. We had a long talk about you, and us, and demons. He helped me to realize that there are far worse people in this world than your roommates. I hoped we could try dating—”
There was no need for him to finish. Luke threw himself at Matteo, closing the short distance between them in a heartbeat to press his lips to Matteo’s. A small laugh was trapped between them as Matteo instantly wrapped Luke up and kissed him.
Luke’s heart soared, and all the horrible aches that had plagued him just minutes ago vanished. He had Matteo back.
Behind him, a great, ear-splitting cheer went up, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t ready to release Matteo yet. Part of him had given up all hope that he’d ever get to hold Matteo like this again. If this was a dream, he didn’t ever want to wake up.