Chapter 29

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

DASH

I openedthe door to our apartment, carrying in our bags. Keir was still outside on the phone with Amelie, catching up on what he’d missed during his week-long absence, not that I hadn’t told him everything on the flight home from Monterey.

At the small regional airport in Monterey, I’d checked to see if there was a flight to Minneapolis so I could persuade Lindsey to change her mind about being Lucy’s matron of honor, but Keir talked me out of it. “If Lindsey doesn’t want to do it, Mom wouldn’t want to force her, and you know that, love.”

Well, he had a point. Besides, I’d been asked to be Lucy’s man of honor, and I was elated. Lindsey needed to learn to be happy for her father instead of being a bitch.

I took our things back to the bedroom, dropping the duffels on the end of the bed before I went to the kitchen to get a beer. Thanksgiving had been nice. A quiet dinner with the four of us. Meeting some of Lenny and Lucy’s friends, and hearing about their travels. I hoped Keir and I were afforded that luxury someday, and I was looking forward to Christmas and their wedding.

We’d taken a tour of the club where the wedding would take place. The venue was nice and suited the two of them perfectly.

On Friday, Keir had gone with Lucy to help her pick between the two frocks she’d chosen for the wedding. Turns out he helped her pick a different dress entirely. She loved it, but she’d balked at the price. When he insisted that we were paying for it, Keir said there had been a bit of a dust-up at the shop, but eventually, she’d agreed.

Buying the dress was the least we could do for her with how great she’d been with the two of us. When we told her we’d set a date, Lucy had been over the moon.

“So, Mom, we have some news.” We were sitting at the bar on Thanksgiving, waiting for our table to be ready at the club. Lucy was giving us the juicy gossip about everyone who stopped to say hello, and I hadn’t laughed so much in a while.

Lucy turned to Keir and then glanced at me. I stood from my stool and walked behind my guy, placing my hand on the nape of his neck.

“Dash and I picked a wedding date. Just a small affair on New Year’s Eve. We’d love it if you’d come.” Hugs were exchanged, and we had champagne to celebrate the news. Now, we just had to figure out the details.

“Why is Lilith pacing the garden out back?”

I was immediately drawn from a nice memory and turned toward where Keir was standing in the bedroom doorway. He didn’t look mad, but he damn well didn’t look happy.

I then remembered her saying there was a problem we needed to handle when she’d helped us with the stupid mobsters in Gilbert. I wondered if Darryl ever found his way back home.

I walked over to Keir and kissed his lips. “Let’s go see what she wants. Anything coming up this week? Did Amelie say anything when you talked to her?”

“Uh, nothing coming up. Oh, Amelie notified Sacramento Valley that Horace’s daughter has been found, so they’ll send her a notice so she can choose a date for interment. I guess we should call Sibley or Keirnan to give them a little warning, huh?”

“Yeah. We also need to go to the bank on Monday to check Horace’s safe-deposit box, so we know what’s there. We can wipe the memory of the person who helps us and then give Rachel the key so she can discover it for herself.” Seemed logical to me.

Keir nodded, and we proceeded down the back stairs to the garden.

Quinn was sitting on a bench with his phone while Lilith paced. She was talking to herself, or so I thought. I hoped to hell it wasn’t to a demon who wanted to kill me.

“Hello to the happy couple.” Why would I stop being a smartass?

“You! You started this whole thing, Dash Clegg. I’m going to wring your neck!” Lilith started for me, so I quickly slid behind Keir to get away from her.

Quinn stood between us, giving Lilith a big grin as he stopped her. “Lily, honey, I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill. Adon seemed happy. Why wouldn’t you want that for him?”

I was shocked to see my best friend taking in everything so calmly. It was a surprise he hadn’t gone into hiding when he found out his trans girlfriend was really a demon from Hell who had numerous vampire children and used to be Lucifer’s mistress. That’s a lot to take in for a guy.

“What’s wrong with Adonis?” Keir spoke up first, thankfully.

I knew Lilith wouldn’t kill him because he was the Gatekeeper. The way I understood it, anybody could be his key, so I was expendable.

“Nothing’s wrong—” Quinn was stepping out on a limb I wasn’t willing to follow him on, but I admired his guts.

“How can you say that, Quinn? My vampire son has fallen in love with a holy lycanthrope. They are sworn adversaries in the struggle of good and evil, not to mention that lycans kill vampires.”

I glanced at my friend and saw him roll his eyes. I hoped to hell Lilith didn’t see him. She could end him in a heartbeat.

“Wait. Adonis and Dr. Carl?” I tried to hold back my laugh, but it was impossible. I wondered who the hell made the first move in that relationship.

“Hey, don’t blame me. Adon was the one who came up with the idea that we needed a holy man to deal with the warlock. Jonas agreed with him and went out and found a holy man. Why didn’t you people know about Paxton De Vil? A warlock running around doing Nyx’s bidding, and nobody downstairs knew about it? Are you kidding me? What kind of place are you people running?”

It was half tongue-in-cheek, but seriously, shouldn’t they have seen De Vil coming and warned us? That was my beef with the whole angel-demon community.

Lilith sighed. “I understand they’re another balanced pair, as good-versus-evil goes, but why my son? I mean, come on, the princes of Hell have their own children. Why couldn’t one of them fall for a holy man?”

Keir and I both laughed, but I couldn’t let the chance for a dig go by. “Look in the mirror, Elvira. The heart wants what the heart wants. How serious is it?”

Quinn stood and wrapped Lilith in his arms. I wasn’t sure if it was to stop her from hurting us or to comfort her.

“They came by the shop the other day. The guys thought Carlos was cool, so I suggested we have dinner with them soon.”

Lilith rolled her eyes, but she kissed Quinn’s cheek. “He likes to tease me about this. It’s embarrassing to have your demonic offspring hook up with a white-lighter.”

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. “Come in for a drink?”

It wasn’t cold outside, but it was November. I was only wearing a cotton sweater, no jacket. I was still human—mostly.

“No thanks. We need to go. Talk soon.” With that, Lilith and Quinn left us, and Keir and I went back inside. I wondered when the shit would hit the fan and if there was a way to prepare in advance. I’d do whatever I could to protect my man.

December roaredin with a storm off the coast and a drastic temperature drop. The rain was non-stop for three days and temps were in the forties.

It would never be my favorite type of weather, but staying inside as we did allowed us to make up for lost sack time while we were apart and decorate the apartment for the upcoming holidays. I would never complain about that. I was in heaven.

The two of us had decided to have a very small ceremony in the rose garden behind the funeral home. Keir contacted his friends at Suncrest Cemetery to borrow a tent in case it rained, and we were considering the best way to celebrate our wedding without a lot of useless fanfare.

The second week of December, we had three guests—a mother and son who were killed in a car accident and an eighty-year-old man who died from a heart attack.

The mother and son funeral had been particularly hard on Keir. Anything to do with children was hard for him, so I attempted to help him as much as possible.

After the burial, I took him home, and we snuggled on the sectional, watching nineties rom-coms and eating junk food. It was all I could do for him, and it seemed like he appreciated my efforts.

The funeral for the older gentleman confirmed that there were still families who loved each other. They had the viewing catered at the funeral home, and we found out that Mr. Branson was a wonderful man who’d owned a tire company since he was twenty-one. His employees had worked for him for many years, and they were all loyal.

His wife had predeceased him by ten years, and his children—all six—had wonderful stories about their parents and their lives growing up. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

I sat in the kitchen one morning while Keir was dressing. We were going to get some supplies and go by the bank to check out the safe-deposit box of Horace Green.

We’d been notified by the Army that the interment would be next Wednesday at eight in the morning, so it was time to follow up on what the man was leaving to his daughter.

The phone for the funeral home rang, so I answered it. “Dearly & Son Funeral Home. Dash speaking.”

“Dash? It’s Keirnan Morton. How are you guys doing?”

“Hey, Keirnan. We’re good. How about you and Sibley? The pregnancy going well?” I hoped nothing tragic had happened. It was out of concern that I asked about it because I knew things could go wrong at any time during a pregnancy. Keir and I liked the couple a lot and only wanted the best for them.

“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s good. Look, I’m calling about Rachel. She got a notice from the Army regarding her father’s burial. I’m guessing you and Keir gave her name as next of kin. Naomi is losing her mind about it, but Sibley and I are bringing Rachel to California for the funeral. We’ll get there on Monday so Rachel can go to that job interview on Tuesday and then the burial on Wednesday. Will you guys come?”

“Of course we will, Keirnan. Do you think she’ll recognize Keir?” I could handle it if she did, but I wanted to be prepared.

“I don’t think so because she believed I was here the whole time. Maybe she’ll think we have similar features. That’s what I’m hoping anyway.”

I’d persuaded Betty and Ronald to forget everything that had happened when Keir was there, along with Darryl and the mobsters, so it remained to be seen how it would play out. Hopefully, Keirnan was right, and everyone just thought they had an uncanny resemblance.

“I think you’re right. She’ll probably have a lot of things on her mind, anyway. Give me a call when you guys get to town, and we’ll work out the details. Safe travels.”

We hung up, and I went in search of Keir. He was in the bathroom shaping up his short beard. He’d shaved it off in Iowa when he’d seen a picture of Keirnan, who was clean-shaven, and it had started growing back, which I loved. The rub of his stubble on my thighs when he gave me head drove me nuts, and I was glad he was growing it in again. That might help Rachel not recognize him.

“That was Keirnan. They’ll be coming with Rachel for the interment on Wednesday. She has a job interview on Tuesday, so they’ll be in town on Monday. I told him to call us, and we’ll figure out how to get together.”

Keir rinsed his razor and put it in the caddy to dry before he turned to me, a sexy expression on his gorgeous face. “Good. Uh, I wanna call Sacramento Valley and arrange to go look at Horace before Rachel gets there. He was embalmed well, so the decomp might not be bad if he was kept in the cooler at a proper temperature. But I can fix nearly any damage that might have taken place. Rachel deserves to see her father. He loved her very much, and she should be able to see his face to say goodbye.”

Hell, my eyes teared up at his words. My man was so eloquent in nearly everything he said and did. I was grateful to have him. Heaven knew he deserved better than me.

“Okay. Let’s go to the bank and see what we’re dealing with, shall we?”

I kissed his soft lips and turned to leave, taking the towel from around his waist. I glanced back to see his gorgeous naked body, and I bit my lip to keep from going after him. We had things to do, but he was my ultimate temptation. He always would be.

“Hey!”

“Hurry up.” I laughed as I left him so he could dress. It was one of the hardest things I’d done since I’d gotten him back.