“We’reon the run from multiple agencies. This is a team effort, lackey,” Cass says, and JJ grins at him. “And Maggie wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t think it was safe. Like she said, I wasn’t beating the ‘shacked up with a hunter’ allegations anytime soon.” He tilts his head to one side, pressing a soft kiss against JJ’s cheek. “And half of Redwater knows we’re dating at this point, anyway. Might as well make it official.”
JJ’s eyes dance. “Like,officialofficial?”
Cass makes a show of checking his watch. “The pancake house in Las Vegas is open. I could rift us there right now.”
JJ laughs, placing the birth certificate on their new end table—or, more accurately,Obie’send table. Cass never imagined that all three of his Redwater houses would get compromised within three months, but Roma Gutierrez—and, by extension, the Sanctum—knows about his two safe houses, and his legal address is public record.
Better to be somewhere unexpected. Fortunately, Cass is lucky enough to have a friend who owns roughly a third of Redwater. Obie insisted on putting Cass up in his safest safe house free of charge, although Cass is planning to slip him a few thousand dollars as thanks in a couple of weeks.
For now, though, he’s just relieved that he, JJ, and Desi have somewhere secure—and heavily warded—to lay their heads. It’s about as large as his legal house, if a bit more nondescript, but that’s okay. Desi has decorated it extensively with her rapidly growing plushie collection, Cass retrieved their punching bag and all the undamaged furniture from his other house, JJ is having way too much fun shopping for wall art and fluffy rugs?—
They’re making it their own. In a way, Cass actually likes that they’re starting fresh. Now, it’s not Cass’s house that JJ and Desi moved into—it’stheirhouse, one that they’re building together.
He can’t imagine anything better.
“And, um.” JJ’s eyes shift to Cass. “Speaking of the pancake house?”
Cass’s eyebrows shoot up. “We’ll need at least one witness who’s eighteen or older, but I think we should invite both EzandObie. And Desi will be our flower girl, of course—or our maple syrup girl, or whatever they do there. Want me to call them?”
JJ presses his lips together like he’s trying not to smile. “I didn’t mean right now, Cass.”
“Well, I’m not saying no, so…”
“Actually, I was wondering—” JJ cuts himself off. Traces the raised lettering of Desi’s last name. “When we get married—someday,not today—do we want to hyphenate our last names like this? ‘Jackson-Chin’? Or—or we could do ‘Chin-Jackson,’ or we could keep our last names, or…”
“First of all,” Cass says, “‘Chin-Jackson’ doesn’t soundnearlyas good as ‘Jackson-Chin.’”
“Well, I wasn’t about to come right out andsayit, but?—”
“And secondly…” Cass intertwines his fingers with JJ’s, squeezing lightly. “‘Jackson-Chin’ works for me, but I also think ‘Cassius Jackson’ has a nice ring to it. I might just take your last name. Carry on your family’s legacy, you know?”
JJ’s smile softens. “That would be really nice,” he whispers, and he squeezes Cass’s hand back. “I think my parents would’ve liked you. They wouldn’t have liked the age gap, but they would’ve liked you.”
“Well, what self-respecting parents would approve of a two-hundred-year age gap? It’s ridiculous, JJ.”
“Lucy would’ve thought you were cool, too,” JJ continues, his eyes turning wistful. “And she would’velovedhaving a niece.”
Cass’s heart twists. JJ quietly told Cass the other day that Lucy would’ve turned eighteen this month, and Cass is already planning to light a few candles to commemorate the occasion. “Desi would’ve loved having another aunt, too. And I imagine Lucy would’ve been thrilled to have a baby dragon named after her.”
“Oh, absolutely,” JJ says, and suddenly, his eyes light up. “Wait. Everybody calls me ‘JJ,’ and Lucy was starting to go by ‘LJ’ with her friends, so—so does that mean you’ll be ‘CJ’?”
Cass opens his mouth, closes it, and says, “All right. Forget everything I just said. We’re hyphenating.”
JJ throws back his head and laughs. “Wow. That quick, huh?”
“I can andwillmurder anyone who tries to call me ‘CJ,’” Cass says emphatically. “I’m over two hundred years old, JJ. I may be half-human now, but I willnotsubmit to your ludicrous nicknaming culture.”
JJ’s smile wavers, and Cass fights back a wince. He knows that JJ still blames himself for Cass’s current situation, much as Cass tries to convince him otherwise. They’re both surviving, obviously, but?—
But it’s just hard sometimes.
Having human limitations is equal parts illuminating and frustrating. JJ has to remind Cass to drink water at least twice a day, because he’ll forget and then wonder why he feels so lightheaded, and actuallyneedingto eat instead of simply enjoying the experience is highly unpleasant.
Not to mention the bathroom situation. Cass really isn’t a fan of how often his bladder simply decides that it’s time to be attended to. Zero out of ten, wouldnotrecommend.
Some parts are better than others, though. Even though he hates that he’s required to sleep now, he’s sort of enjoying the acid trip of trying to remember his dreams. And late-night cuddles with JJ just hit different when Cass is drowsy and content.
Even though JJ usually isn’t drowsy anymore. “Speaking of humans and demons and our assorted idiosyncrasies,” Cass says, eyeing JJ carefully. “How areyoufeeling?”
