I made a face. “That sounds painful and wet. Not to mention the chance of catching a cold.” We exited my apartment, and I locked up before following her down the stairs. “So, where are we heading to? And can we stop and eat first? Celestial sex really works up an appetite.”
Mandy shook her head. “You and your stomach.” We got in the car, and she sighed, glancing at her phone. “I have to wait for a warrant anyway, in case this Jack guy ends up not cooperating.”
“Gonna be hard to cooperate when he’s dead,” I reminded her, clicking my seatbelt.
“We don’t know that for sure.” Mandy shot me a look. “Where do you want to eat?”
“Burritos?” I asked and then added, “And we do know for sure, Gabriel said so.”
“Fine. He’s dead. We don’t have an autopsy showing that, so we still have to do it by the book.” Mandy pulled out of the driveway and down the street. “Didn’t you just have a burrito for breakfast?”
“So?” I shrugged. “I like Mexican. Breakfast or lunch. Besides, I need some alcohol to kill some of this” - I shook my jittery hands - “energy.”
“Sure you don’t want a cigarette?” Mandy glanced over at me with a smirk.
“Why? Do you have one?”
“No, and that’s so bad for your health.” Her lip curled in disgust.
“And so is drinking, but we’re all gonna die sometime.” I lifted a shoulder and dropped it.
Mandy pulled into the Del Macho Taco parking lot. “You know, eating fast food will kill you just as fast as alcohol or tobacco. You’re starting to look a little, well, hippy.”
“What?” I exclaimed, glancing down at my hips. “I am not.” Mandy chuckled, and I glared. “You’re evil you know that?”
“Hey, I’m not the one going to pound town with a bunch of angels,” Mandy countered as she pointed a finger at me.
“One.” I held up a finger. “One angel. I’m going to pound town with one angel.”
“For now.”
What could I say? She was right. The moment I had the chance to get with Gabriel or Lucifer, I didn’t see myself saying no. I didn’t think I had the willpower to choose just one of them if it ever came down to it.
Michael had his domineering personality that had me wanting to bend over and say, “Spank me, please.” I wanted to be the naughty secretary in his billionaire CEO. Whatever he wanted me to do, I’d do it. Probably why he wore the big angel pants up there. He was used to giving the commands.
Lucifer, on the other hand, could command my panties with one look. That guy had some serious game. I had no doubt if Lucifer were solid, he would have his own harem of women chasing after him. Probably why there were satanic cults. They’d gotten a glimpse of his sexiness, and that was that.
Now, Gabriel was a different story. I didn’t see him being the type to need to be in control. He seemed more like the wine and dine kind. Don’t get me wrong, Gabriel could perv out with the best of them. The number of times I’d caught him staring at my boobs - I didn’t have enough fingers. Nevertheless, Gabriel would be a gentleman about it, I was sure.
“What are we talking about?” Gabriel’s voice came from behind me, making me jump in my seat, my hand to my heart.
Turning around, I glared at him. “Don’t do that!”
Gabriel gave me a sheepish grin. “Sorry, I thought you were expecting me.”
“Is someone back there?” Mandy twisted in her seat to stare in the backseat. “Is Michael back?”
“No,” I grumbled. “Gabriel just about gave me a heart attack.”
“Gabriel?” Mandy raised a brow. “He’s the one who can see the future, right?”
“Yeah,” I said at the same time that Gabriel said, “No.”
Of course, Mandy didn’t hear his answer, and I didn’t let him explain more as Mandy pulled up to the drive-thru menu. “I want a number six and a number 12 with no tomatoes and a margarita.” Mandy gave me a warning look, and I sighed. “Fine, nix the margarita, but we are getting trashed after this tonight. This is my day off, remember?”
Mandy relayed my order to the little person in the box. Just as we are about to move up in the line, the car fizzled and died.
“What the hell?” Mandy yelled, trying to crank her car again.
I twisted in my seat to see a pouting Gabriel. “Really? You’re like a million years old, and you’re going to throw a temper tantrum?”
“I’m not a fortune teller. I don’t see the future,” Gabriel snapped, his large muscular arms crossed over his chest making them bulge. I’d have been drooling had he not been acting like a child. A big sexy man-child.
“Fine, you’re not a fortune teller,” I quipped with an irritated growl. When he refused to turn the car back on, I turned to Mandy. “Gabriel wants you to know, he’s not a fortune teller. He’s a …?” I glanced back at him, waving a hand at him.
“A seer.”
“A seer?” My brow furrowed, and my head angled to the side. “How’s that any different than a fortune teller or a psychic?”
“There’s a big difference.” Gabriel leaned forward, his hands on each of our headrests. “I don’t just see the future, but the past and present too.”
“What’d he say?” Mandy asked, giving up on trying the car back on. We were lucky we were the only ones in the drive-thru at the moment.
I repeated back to her what he said.
Mandy’s face scrunched up. “So, does that mean if he wanted to, he could see what happened with you and Michael?”
I glared at Mandy, but it was too late.
“What happened with Michael?” Gabriel asked, a curious expression on his face. Before I could open my mouth to make something up, Gabriel had a dazed look in his eyes. Then as soon as it came it changed, his eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. “Michael was solid?”
“Yeah but —” I started but was cut off again by Gabriel.
“You had sex with Michael!”
My mouth snapped shut and glowered at my best friend. “Thanks a lot.”
15
“I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but I’m sorry,” Mandy complained as I stuffed my face full of Mexican food.
Gabriel had finally turned Mandy’s car back on, and we were on our way to the police station, where hopefully we had a warrant to go after Dead Jack.
“It’s not her fault.” Gabriel leaned forward from the back seat. “You shouldn’t let her take all the guilt. It’s you after all who was keeping secrets.”
I didn’t look at him but kept putting food in my mouth. If I couldn’t talk, then I didn’t have to explain. Which was something Gabriel was trying really hard to get me to do. I didn’t know why he didn’t just use his seer powers and see what happened. He was the one after all complaining about being lumped in with fortune tellers.
Men.
“You really shouldn’t be keeping secrets from them anyway.” Mandy glanced my way, but I ignored her, the bean and spicy meat combination my sole focus. “You say you like these guys, but if that were true, wouldn’t you want to get with them as soon as you can?”
If I had laser vision, I would use it right now to melt in Mandy’s brain. She just didn’t know when to stop talking sometimes. What next? She was going to reveal my darkest secrets from high school?
Believe me, if you think my ‘four ways with the angels’ dream was kinky, what I thought up during my hormonal teen years was way worse. We’re talking cartoon porn.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Mandy continued, glancing my way every once in a while with her puppy dog eyes, but I would not be swayed! “Plenty of women would kill to get half the attention you get from those guys.”
Gabriel laughed in my ear, a sound that made it hard to swallow. I grabbed my drink, sucking as much down through the straw as possible as I tried to talk.
“Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean you need to tell everyone,” I chastised Mandy and then turned my attention to Gabriel. “I wasn’t hiding it per se, Michael just wanted to check it out first. Make sure there aren’t any drawbacks.” Gabriel gave me a disbelieving look. I twisted around all the way and put my hand on top of his, well, more like inside, but you know what I mean. “I’m serious. It would kill me if something happened to you guys just because I wanted a little poke and tickle.”