Page 43 of Double Shot

Dan withdrew his hand with another easy shrug. “No problem. I get it. You’re welcome to come back later today with your friend. But if you two did go for the place, when would you be able to move in?”

“Me? Straight away,” I said, far too eagerly. “As soon as possible, honestly. And Nat would be here in a couple of months.”

“That suits me just fine. Honestly, I just can’t wait to get my ass permanently in Rafe’s place. His bed is so much comfier than mine and we already spend most nights there. Hey, do you want the place furnished?” he asked as we began heading back downstairs. “’Cause I don’t need to take much of my stuff with me…”

“Really? That would be amazing. I just rent a room right now so I don’t have anything, and I wouldn’t be able to afford to buy furniture for a whole house. Nat has some stuff, but his studio apartment came furnished too.”

“Sure.” Dan looked and sounded relieved that he didn’t have to find a place for all his stuff. It reminded me a lot of Nat—he always managed to find a way to achieve the most with the bare minimum effort too.

“So if you just give me the date you want to move in, I’ll make sure I’m fully gone by then. Except for the wigs,” Dan was saying. “Let me go grab my phone so I can send over the lease agreement for you to look at…”

“Thank you.” I pulled out my phone just as he wandered off to find his, and noticed that Nat had replied. When I saw it was a voice note, muscle memory had me hitting play before I remembered I wasn’t actually alone.

“YOU FUCKED A HUNKY WEREWOLF IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR DATE?!” Nat’s screeching voice came blaring out of my phone just as Dan returned from the kitchen. At the same moment, the front door opened right behind me and a ghoul with pastel lavender hair wearing a shirt and tie, a backpack slung over one shoulder, walked into the house.

Face on fire, I jabbed repeatedly at the pause button to cut off Nat’s voice then stuffed my phone back into my pocket, breathing hard. Neither Dan nor the ghoul spoke for a few seconds, then the latter cleared his throat, still holding the handle of the open front door.

“Just… thought I’d stop by on my lunch break.”

Dan snorted in amusement, then sauntered forward. “Hey, kitten. I was just about to show Klaus the lease agreement. He’s interested in the place.”

Pale green eyes turned to me just as Dan dropped a kiss on the ghoul’s cheek. “Oh. Right. You’re going to rent the house?” he asked me politely.

“I’d love to,” I told him eagerly. “My best friend who’d be moving in too just needs to see the place first. Um”—I blushed and offered them both a tentative smile as I gestured at my phone—“sorry about the… My friend was just… I went on a date last night and—”

“Sounds like it was a fun night.” Dan smirked at me. “I remember those days.”

“Better not be remembering them too fucking hard,” Rafe growled, glaring at his boyfriend.

“Just makes me even more grateful for what I have now, kitten,” Dan told him smoothly but with sincerity, wrapping a muscular arm around the ghoul’s narrow waist.

I sighed, gazing at them. “What you two have is so much better, trust me.”

“Yeah.” Dan looked down at Rafe again with a loving expression, tugging him closer. “Guess what, kitten. Klaus is happy for me to keep all my wigs here in exchange for a discount on the rent for the first couple of months. Until his friend is ready to move in.”

“Oh. Right.” Rafe gave me a tiny smile. He seemed far more reserved than Dan. “That’s very nice of you. Thanks.”

“No problem.” I beamed back at him. “I know it’s not set in stone yet, but I’m sure Nat will love the place as much as I do, and oh my god, I’m so looking forward to being neighbours. I’ve never been friends with my neighbours before. In the city, you kind of don’t look at other people if you can help it, you know? And the couple who live next door to the apartment I’m in right now are really old and hit the walls with brooms if I so much as roll over in bed at night and my mattress creaks. And the thing is, they both wear hearing aids, so… why don’t they just, like, turn them down or take them out or whatever at night? But they kind of scare me so I don’t want to suggest it to them. And the guy who lives on the floor above us is a gargoyle who’s trying to become a breakdancer, so… you can imagine what that’s like.”

“Aw, that sounds bad.” Dan gave me a sympathetic look. “Don’t you worry, sugar, we’ll be the friendliest neighbours you could ask for.”

Rafe side-eyed him in mild alarm but said nothing.

“And we’re nice and quiet,” Dan added, then side-eyed Rafe back with a smirk.

The ghoul snorted. “You are now.”

“And you’re a little less quiet now, kitten,” Dan replied in a murmur, his smirk widening as Rafe’s cheeks darkened.

Ugh, I was so jealous of what they had. All lovey-dovey and sweet and devoted, but still clearly ridiculously horny for each other, even if Rafe was a little more reserved about showing it.

Ten minutes later, after I’d gone over some details with them both, Dan opened the front door to show me out.

“So we’ll see you later with your friend,” he said cheerfully. “And if it all goes well, we can aim for you to move in in a few weeks.”

“Sounds great.” I glanced around at the front porch as I stepped outside. Oh Lucifer, soon it would be my front porch. All cute and nice. I could decorate it however I wanted. I could put string lights everywhere. Nat was definitely going to love the place as much as me, for the hunky eye candy living next door if nothing else, so I didn’t bother trying to temper my excitement anymore. It was affordable, clean, a nice size, and a whole house.

One way or another, Nat and I were going to live here. Together. Finally. I’d been wanting to live with my best friend for years.