Page 63 of Kill Me Again: Psychics

“Do I get to meet him?”

“I guess so.”

“The four of us could do dinner. Unless… you don’t want Asher there. I know things between you have been strained, and I recognize that he’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”

“Who insisted you give Asher a chance?”

“You did.”

“Who listed all of Asher’s physical attributes when you were blind to them?”

Calisto set a plate of scrambled eggs on toast in front of me, along with a knife and fork. “I was never blind to Asher’s good looks. Far from it. He was just intense.”

“He still is.”

“And sex does not automatically mean you’re in it for the long haul.” He sat opposite me and tucked into his own plate. “Which you know, because you’ve been making up for lost time.” He grinned. “But now there’s Lake.” He said Lake’s name as reverently as if he were the second coming of Christ. “Tell me about him.”

“He has a lot of tattoos,” I lied.

Calisto paused mid-chew. “Tattoos are good. I’ve never been into them personally, but a lot of people like them. Asher doesn’t have any.”

“The needle would probably break.”

Calisto’s eyes narrowed. “You sound like John.” His relationship with Asher had brought out a feisty side. You could mock Calisto all you wanted, but go after Asher and he came out swinging for his boyfriend. It was undeniably sweet.

“Not because he’s made of ice,” I said innocently. “Just because the needle would be too scared of getting it wrong.”

“Lake?” Calisto prompted, reminding me that Asher wasn’t the topic under discussion.

“He has a facial tattoo.”

“Oh. That’s very… individualistic. Good for him. It takes a brave man to stand out from the crowd.”

“He has a pierced cock.”

“I’ve heard that can make things very pleasurable.”

I chewed while I considered what might finally prove a breaking point for Calisto. ”He’s been in prison.”

It took Calisto a while to swallow his mouthful of food. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

“Not for anything major,” I added. “Just armed robbery. Only one person died.”

Calisto put his knife and fork down. “This is all bullshit, isn’t it?”

I gave in to laughter and eventually he joined in. It felt good—great, actually—to laugh with Calisto again. “He’s a historian. He writes books and teaches. No tattoos. No piercings. He’s never been to prison, and if you and he were in a niceness competition, he might not win, but he’d give you some stiff competition.”

“He sounds perfect.”

“He is.”

“So what’s your plan, Baxter?”

I thought about my answer for a few seconds. “Build something with Lake. Convince his sister that I’m not evil incarnate. Get over having been dead and get on with the rest of my life. Tell my parents I’m back in the land of the living and see if that interests them at all. Ride out this work suspension and hope Cade’s generous enough to let me prove I’m not a complete fuck-up.”

“That’s a long list.”

“One thing at a time,” I said, my voice sounding suspiciously like Lake’s.