"No. Though he does have me spoiled," Iadmitted as I let him usher me inside.
The food smell worked its way into my nose and mystomach grumbled. I was looking forward to dinner.
The door chimed and Mayhem growled. I turned to seeNicki and Daed walk through the door, arm in arm and dressed far fancier thaneven Ezra and I were. What the fuck?
Both of them had aged far more than the ten or soyears since I'd seen them warranted, and I suspected their practices had hitthem hard. Assuming they'd kept up with the occult, which, since they werehere, I had to guess was the case. Daed was a flaming redhead, and that hadn'tchanged, but the sunken eyes and dark shadows under his eyes were new to me.
"You're keeping strange company these days,"Nicki said, eyeing Ezra.
Something told me she knew exactly who he was, andthat did not fill me with any sort of warm fuzzies. We'd parted on bad termsand I'd honestly hoped not to see her again. I didn't wish her or Daed ill,just wasn't interested in renewing the friendship.
"Not really," I replied, just in case theydidn't know Ezra was a demon. "What are you doing here, mate?" I eyedboth of them.
Ezra stepped up behind me, touching the small of myback, his warm fingers burning into my skin, not unpleasantly.
"Getting dinner. Isn't that why you're here?"
"Right, well, enjoy." I tried to disengage,hoping they would leave us alone, but no such luck.
"So, how's things, Price? And aren't you going tointroduce me to your friend?" Daed chided.
"Ezra, Daedalus," I gestured between the twoof them.
"Nice dress, think that's the fanciest I've everseen you," he sneered.
"Yeah, well, every now and again I clean up."I crossed my arms across my chest before I could stop myself from showing thatsign of discomfort.
"Daed, I don't like the clientele in here."Nicki tugged on his arm. "Let's go somewhere else."
She glared at Ezra, then shifted that glare to me.Daed nodded and they turned on their heels and left.
"What the fuck," I muttered once they hadleft. Glancing at Ezra led me to believe he had the same thought. "Can youread any minds or just mine?"
"Their thoughts are guarded in a way that makesme think someone did it deliberately. They certainly know more than yourknowledge of them suggests."
"Great."
"Let's worry about it later, Chris," hesaid. He gently touched my arm and led me toward the hostess, who wassurprisingly patiently waiting out our drama.
She led us to a table in the back. Quiet music played,and the acoustics were well planned, so conversations didn't carry. Still, Idoubted we'd be talking business here.
The hostess seated us, handed us menus, and told usour waitress would be with us shortly.
I perused the menu, noticed that nothing had prices,and was glad that Ezra was paying. "What should I get?"
"If you like steak, they're known for it."
"Okay." With that advice, I'd get the filet.
"Do you drink wine?"
"Yeah, on occasion."
"Preferences?"
"I don't drink wine that often."
He nodded. The waitress came, introduced herself asHolly, and Ezra took care of that part of the order.
I got the filet then Holly left to go put in ourorders.
"So…" I said to try and fill the silence,then realized I had no idea what to talk about. Guilt tugged at me. We shouldbe rescuing Sabian, not sitting here enjoying a fancy meal. Yet, this was theprice for Ezra's help, or so he said.
Ezra smiled. "What got you into pizza?"
I arched an eyebrow before smiling. "It was myparents' dream. Live in the desert and make the best pizza in town. So they didit. I just picked up where they left off when they were killed."
"Still, seems like you enjoy it."
I grinned. "It was better after I redecorated."
The demon chuckled. "The new additions to thedécor are a bit horrifying."
Laughing, I shook my head. "I had very little todo with that."
"I know." He smiled.
We were interrupted by the arrival of our wine, whichwas presented to us in some sort of wine ritual that I tried hard toappreciate. The wine itself was fantastic, and I let Ezra keep me talking aboutthe pizza shop. I got as far as lamenting that I was going to miss quote warnight and laughing about Mal's apparent disdain for the eighties when the foodarrived. He'd even distracted me from my guilt to some degree.
This was an event that did stop conversation. Thesteak melted in my mouth and I groaned in delight.
"Yeah, okay, this is delicious," I admittedafter a few decadent mouthfuls.
"I told you it would be worth dressing up."
"Yeah, for this I'll put on a dress."
Ezra smiled, pleased.
The meal passed in companionable silence, and then we letourselves be talked into dessert. I had to try the chocolate cake, and it wasjust as good as the steak had been.
"Well, I won't tell Mal," I said once we hadfinished our dinner, and were polishing off the last bit of our wine. "ButI think that was better than anything he's cooked so far. Of course, I haven'tset him loose on expensive steaks yet, so we'll have to see."
"He has a lot of talents," Ezra allowed.
I could tell he was trying to be charitable toward thevampire for me, which was a nice effort. He would have to try harder though, ifhe wanted in on our little group.
"Yeah. You should see him with a sword. He'steaching Aaron." I might have had to wipe away a bit of drool at thememory.
Ezra smiled. "I can imagine."
Probably because he could read my mind, but still…
"Shall we?" He held out his hand.
I let him take my hand and lead me back outside. Imissed my desert, but I resolved to enjoy myself while I was here.
We wandered, not really talking about anythingspecific, just people watching and killing time. We got a fair bit of looksourselves as we walked, and I was enjoying the swish of the fabric against mylegs.
In some ways I could get used to this.
Chapter 8
Price
I was surprisingly relaxed by the time we wandered backto the hotel.
"Would you care for a drink before
