Damaged Gods

It seems that the Book of Debt’s algorithms reward freshness.

I pause my massage, my eyes still drawn to the muscles of his back. And then I dip my fingers into the pot of soothing paste, and begin working it into them.

Pell stirs at this change and sleepily looks over his shoulder at me. “What are you doing?”

“The hornjob is over. The Book of Debt said so. But I figured you could use a back massage too. You’re kinda tense.”

He just stares at me.

“Should I not?”

Then he puts his head back down and mumbles something that I assume is permission.

I hold my breath, waiting for his reaction as my fingers resume their workings. I push into the tight muscles and he groans. But not with the satisfaction of the hornjob. It’s more of a painful reaction.

“Am I hurting you?” He shakes his head, so I keep going. I press my fingertips into the long muscles that line either side of his spine, sliding them up and down.

He groans again.

“Are you sure I’m not hurting you?”

“Pie.”

“What?”

“Look at the book. Then you tell me if it hurts.”

I glance over at the book and there are three lines of debt lit up purple. I can’t hide the chuckle. “I guess it feels good then.”

“So fucking good,” he whispers.

It’s such a small thing, too. A back massage. I mean, this is something couples do on the regular in the real world, right? But he’s been here for two thousand years with no woman. And assuming he’s not into men and didn’t have affairs or get hornjobs and back massages from any of his other caretakers, that… sucks.

This makes me want to do a good job. I’m not any kind of expert on massages, but it’s not that hard to find the tight muscles. And he’s got so many of them, by the time I’ve gone over every square inch of his back, my hands are actually cramping.

I stop to shake them out and then, exhausted, I sit down on the extra length of stone bench behind him.

He lazily turns to the side and peeps at me from under his hooded eyelids. “Tired?”

I nod and laugh a little as I shake out my hands. “I’ve got a cramp.”

He sits up, turns, and suddenly he’s straddling the stone bench, facing me.

I’m so surprised when he reaches for my hands, I pull them away. “What are you doing?”

He grabs one back and start pushing on my palms as one corner of his mouth lifts up in a half smile. “You ask way too many questions.”

“Oh.” It comes out with my breath. And then I don’t know what to do. Let him massage my cramped hands? Or stop this before it turns into something too much?

I let him keep going and I’m almost immediately sorry when he just… stares at me, looking straight into my eyes like he’s some sort of charmer and this is his superpower. Because his intense yellow-orange gaze renders me speechless and paralyzed.

“You don’t like it?” The other side of his mouth lifts up now. And he’s wearing a full-on smile.

“I like it.” I barely manage to get those words out because my whole body is suddenly on fire. Almost the same way it was back in the restaurant with Russ.

“Wait.” I pull my hand away. “Just…” I have to take a deep breath. “Just hold on. I have to tell you something.”

“You really are magic and you’re gonna take on Grant and save me and the sanctuary?”

“What?” A laugh bursts out of my mouth before I can stop it. “No. Definitely not.”

He shrugs. “A guy can dream, right?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I just gave you the best hornjob you’ve ever had and you’re thinking about the stupid curse?”

“First of all”—he points at me—“I love that word.” He licks his lips like he wants to taste me. “Hornjob is the very best thing about this day. And second, I’m always thinking about that stupid curse.” I open my mouth to say something back, but he presses his flat palm towards me. “You can’t hold that against me. I’ve been here for two thousand years.”

“OK. Then I won’t.”

“Good. Now seriously, what were you gonna say?”

“Well.” Where to start? “When I was with Russ, I got all heated up and hot. Like, he was checking me for fever and everything.” Pell’s face changes instantly. So I hurry past this and get to the point. “I got all hot then, and now I’m getting all hot again, so I’m thinking… this… what I’m feeling right now, it’s part of the spell I put on myself.”

Now he looks confused. “And you think this why?”

“Grant fucked up the books, remember? I think I put a love spell on myself.”

“No. I mean… why are you thinking about this now?”

“Oh.” Shit. “Well. You’re making me hot, and he was making me hot, so it’s… the love spell.”