Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
“Can Ryder and I be present during the consult?” Gideon asked.
Sky immediately nodded. “Yes, definitely.”
“Can Fox be present as well?” Ryder added.
“Sure. I get it. You want a witch there that you already know and trust,” he agreed with a wave of his hand. “But three would have to be my limit. Too many people, and the ghost might not want to come out.”
“What will it cost to get rid of the ghost?”
Skylar paused, his nose crinkling up. “Well, that’s kind of variable. I’ll admit for humans, I usually charge a few hundred bucks. It kind of depends on how difficult the job is. However, when I am doing a job for others, like yourselves,” he said, nodding to him and Gideon, “I’m more open to different forms of payment.”
Maddox groaned beside him. “Fuck, you sound like you’re propositioning them to a threesome. Please tell me that’s not how you usually talk business.”
“What?” Sky squawked.
Gideon immediately fell into Ryder, laughing so hard he couldn’t catch his breath. Ryder sighed. The thought hadn’t crossed his mind, but Sky now looked horrified.
“No! I didn’t mean that!” Sky cried, punching Maddox in the shoulder as his friend laughed nearly as hard as Gideon. The necromancer sighed heavily and slumped in the booth. “What I mean is that others, like vampires, shifters, and witches, have access to things that humans don’t. Our friend, Red, does jobs occasionally for a wolf pack up north and they give him some of their wolf fur clippings. There are some baldness treatments that require shifter fur.”
“That’s so cool,” Gideon replied now that he’d stopped laughing.
“I usually have a running list of things I need or things I know others will buy off me. If you can get me something off the list, we’ll do a trade. If not”—Sky shrugged—“money works too. But I swear, we’ll agree on a price before I work. And even if it takes more than I initially thought, I won’t change the price.”
“He might sound like he’s an idiot, but he really is good at what he does and is always fair in his prices,” Maddox stated.
“Awww, I almost forgive you for ruining my drink,” Sky countered, smiling sweetly at his companion.
“But he’s still a petty bitch,” Maddox added.
Gideon cleared his throat, cutting off the last of his giggles. “Okay. Let’s do a consult.”
Both Gideon and Sky sat with their phones out, going back and forth. Gideon sent some money, and they worked on setting up a time when Gideon and Ryder were off work that coincided with Sky’s schedule. It was on the tip of his tongue to remind Gideon that Rafe would happily give him off any night he wanted to take care of this, but he didn’t want to disturb Gideon’s gleeful chatting or to throw around Rafe’s name. Just the mention of Winter had set off Maddox and Sky. Tossing out Rafe would make things worse.
“In the meantime,” Sky said as he tucked his phone away with a new client appointment, “do you have a place where you can stay?”
“He does,” Ryder interjected in a hard voice. His hand rested on Gideon’s thigh and squeezed.
“Do you think the ghost is dangerous?”
Sky ran a hand through his perfectly styled blond hair. “Probably not. This is more of a precaution, particularly since it seems to be very aware of you and wants to interact. In some rare cases, ghosts have become violent when they are ignored. I want to make sure you’re safe until I can inspect the situation.”
Gideon lifted his head and smiled broadly at Ryder. “Yeah, I’m safe.”
At one time, that was all Ryder had wanted in this world. Now that Gideon was right here, staring at him with those big, beautiful eyes of his, Ryder wanted more.
Chapter 7
Gideon
Talking to Sky had left him feeling better about the ghost situation.
At least, that was after he stopped freaking out about that hand that rose out of the fucking table and stole Maddox’s beer. What the hell kind of minion was that?
Nope. He didn’t want to know. The world was weird and scary enough without thinking about witches going around with minions that could reach through tables.
It sounded as if his ghost problem was going to be settled soon.
Which meant he needed to get his Ryder problem on solid ground.
All in all, Ryder had the boyfriend thing down pat. The man was sweet, attentive, and protective. But he’d been all of those things before their first kiss.
And other than some stolen kisses here and there, Ryder could be mistaken for treating him like a little brother. Gideon wanted to be desired.
Okay.
Fuck it.
Honesty time: He was horny, and he wanted Ryder to fuck him through the mattress. He wanted to be stretched, filled, marked, and fucked so thoroughly that he couldn’t walk the next night. He wanted to call in to work because his ass needed more recovery time.