Accidentaly Divine Read online

  But Houston was strong as an ox, stronger still as a demon, and as he pulled back, he dragged her halfway across the floor, tearing her flesh, scraping it against the rough cement floor.

  Dex’s breathing had become loud, choppy, like a fish out of water. Even over the sound of her body dragging across the floor, she heard him gasp.

  Panic set in, her knuckles white as George sank her fingers further into the feathers and her heart beat so hard, it was sure to fall out of her chest. “Give me these damn wings!”

  “Give her those damn wings!” a male voice echoed with an earth-shattering roar that made the very room shake.

  Houston let go in shock and surprise, falling backward as someone in a white robe swept through the basement to stand over her father in a menacing posture, puffs of white smoke surrounding his gold-sandaled feet, a glow so bright, it almost hurt to look at him.

  Titus. Oh, thank God it was Titus.

  She crawled her way to Dex, lifting him up in her arms to hold him against her, pressing her cheek to his face.

  Titus sat on his haunches in front of a suddenly meek, trembling Houston. “You, buddy, have been very bad. Super not okay.” He scooped up the blade, a shiny gold, and dropped it in his pocket. “Where’d you get this? Tsk-tsk. You could hurt someone, you know.”

  Dex coughed and sputtered seconds before he took a long, deep breath. The man who’d offered up his life for hers was alive.

  Thank God.

  “Dex!” she cried, pushing his hair from his face. “I’m sorry! I’m really sorry about what I said! I was wrong. You were right about Effie. You were right! I don’t care if you didn’t tell me I wasn’t supposed to die. I don’t care if no one knows about me upstairs! I don’t care if you kept me a secret. I don’t care…” She showered kisses along his jaw, burying her face in his neck.

  “So he told you?” Titus asked as he looked down at them, her struggling father thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “And I was kind of awful, even though it’s done nothing but make my life better. I said some horrible things.”

  Titus nodded, but then he frowned. “Wait—did he tell you he wanted to take responsibility right from the start?”

  She blinked up at the angel in surprise. “No. He didn’t say that at all. He took full responsibility.”

  Titus popped his lips and pinched a struggling Houston’s thigh. “Aw, shoot, newb. He wanted to tell on himself from the start. I mean, yeah, he saved you the heartache of months in the hospital and multiple surgeries, and he shouldn’t have. But I’m kinda glad now he did, because you’re one stellar catch. But I did a selfish thing and asked him not to tell anyone upstairs you were an angel. Told him I could sneak you in up there, and I’m gonna, no prob. Promise. But he did it as a favor to me. I need him here on the ground, George. If he’d snitched on himself, because he can’t help but be anything but honorable, he’d have screwed me royally.”

  Dex’s eyes opened then and he looked up at George. “I’m sorry I was such an ass. I shouldn’t have projected my sensitivities about Effie’s death on you. I got a little militant because it’s a trigger.” Pushing out of her arms, he sat up and grabbed her hand. “Can you forgive me?”

  She smiled at him, her heart warming. “Only if you forgive me for getting angry over something that’s made my life infinitely better. Why didn’t you just tell me Titus was the one who asked you not to say anything until he could find me a place upstairs?”

  “Because he’s a good egg,” Titus said with a soft smile. “That’s just who my Dexie is. A good egg.”

  “Forget about it,” Dex said, smiling at her. “It’s over now.” He leaned forward and hovered close to her lips. “Do over?” he asked, before pressing a gentle kiss to her mouth.

  “Aww, look. Mom and Dad made up, guys,” Nina crowed as she came running down the steps to frown at Titus. “Wait, who the fuck are you?”

  “I’m your biggest fan, Nina Blackman-Statleon,” Titus said with a deep chuckle. And then he did something as off the wall as he was. He used one hand to cup the back of her neck and kiss her full on the mouth.

  Wanda, Marty, and Darnell howled with laughter, all of them entering the basement to crowd around Dex and George.

  Nina yanked her mouth from his and frowned, but she didn’t eat his face off. That was a good sign. “I’ll ask again, who the fuck are you?”

  “Titus is the name, Vampire Lady, and I know all about you. We know about all of you upstairs, and I’m here to tell you, sweet work you guys do. Big, big fan.”

  “Dex!” Marty cried, helping both George and Dex up. “Oh, my God, I’m sorry. We lost you and then the weirdest thing happened—”

  “Demon force field?” Titus asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Sure enough, Boss,” Darnell said as he gave George’s shoulder a squeeze. “Couldn’t get anywhere near the house. None of us could.”

  “A demon force field?” George asked, clinging ton Dex’s hand. “Is this for real?”

  Why wouldn’t it be real, George. You have wings, for the love of tricycles.

  Titus nodded his red head. “Uh-huh. Oh, yeah, it’s real. He must have cast a spell designed to keep everyone out. Is that what you did, buddy? Did you make with the magic like a big boy?”

  Houston struggled some more, grunting and seething, but Titus’s iron grip around the bend in his knees didn’t leave him much room to wiggle.

  “But then how did Dex get in?” Wanda asked as, ever the mom, she dabbed at George’s scratches with some spit and a tissue.

  “He teleported,” Dex said with a tired voice. “I guess I sort of bypassed it.”

  Suddenly, Nina leaned down and grabbed Houston by the hair, yanking his head upward, making him struggle. “So you’re the fuck that hurt my Wings? I oughta eat your innards, but I’m here to tell you, you spineless freak, come for her? Look for me. Got that, you piece of shit? I’ll kill you and I’ll like it.” Then she flashed her fangs at him, and this time, no one stopped her.

  Houston recoiled, only making Titus tighten his grip. “Okay, Gorgeous George, I’d love to stay and chat about what a brave little lady you are, but I hafta split because, well, dirty demon needs disposing. Catch you all later?” he asked, swatting at Houston, who’d begun to try and twist his way out of Titus’s grip.

  George stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to Titus’s cheek. “Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

  “You bet, newb. See you later.” He winked before he was gone.

  “Where the fuck did you go, Dex? We couldn’t find you, and then we couldn’t get past this force field or whatever the fuck it was. I think I dislocated my damn shoulder trying to bust my way in,” Nina groused. “What the hell were you thinking, coming down here alone?”

  His smile was grim but relieved. “I was thinking George sounded scared and the sooner I got in here, the less scared she might be? I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, but it was sort of an emergency.”

  Nina flicked her fingers in his face. “Shut the fuck up, Angel. And you,” she said, pointing to George. “What the hell were you thinking by leaving us all that fucking money? Didn’t I tell you I don’t need your GD money?”

  She wrapped her arms around the vampire’s waist and hugged her. “You couldn’t use a zillion dollars, Tower of Terror? Who couldn’t use a zillion dollars?”

  Nina tugged her hair. “That’s not what I want to know. I want to know why you’d even think you needed to leave it anywhere?”

  “You scared us, George,” Wanda said, hugging her from behind.

  “Yeah. You scared us,” Marty echoed, hugging Wanda’s back so they were one big paranormal sandwich.

  Darnell mushed himself up against Marty, wrapping his long arms around them all. “I was scared, too. Glad you’re okay.”

  George smiled, closing her eyes and allowing their warmth to seep into her bones. “How did you find out about the money?”

  “
Your phone. You dropped it at Effie’s. We saw the texts,” Dex said softly.

  “I didn’t do it because I knew my nutso father was going to kidnap me. I did it because I’d been planning on doing it for a little while. I knew you’d put it to good use. I was planning ahead on the off chance I’m not so immortal after all. Effie gave me a lot to think about. I was just getting my ducks in a row.”

  “Well, don’t do that shit again, Wings. You got that?” Nina smiled down at her, despite her harsh order, and tweaked her cheek.

  She grinned at her new friend. “I won’t do that shit again. Swear it, Vampire Lady.”

  “Good. Now all of you, get the fuck off me. Enough of this huggy bullshit.”

  She laughed as everyone dispersed, blowing a kiss to her favorite vampire of all time before they each began filing upstairs, leaving Dex and George.

  Dex grabbed her hand. “So what do you say we get the hell out of here, too?”

  “I say, yes, please.”

  “Then let’s do it.” He pulled her toward the stairs, his warm hand wrapped around hers.

  But she tugged his hand, reminding Dex of something very important. “Hey, you offered up your life to save me. Are you insane?”

  “You did the same thing. Are you insane?”

  George laughed. “Point for you.”

  He leaned down and kissed her lips. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “And go where, now that you don’t have to babysit me anymore?”

  He shrugged with a carefree smile. “I dunno, but I say we talk about it and see where it goes.”

  His words made her toes curl in her shoes. Rather than give him an answer, she kissed him again before pulling him up the stairs and into the possibilities that awaited them.

  They were sitting on a cloud. A cloud. “Where are we?” she breathed, leaning against Dex’s strong body, secure in the knowledge that he’d promised she wouldn’t fall off.

  He smiled at her, her favorite thing about him. “Look down,” he instructed.

  As the fluffy whipped clouds parted, she did exactly that, seeing a gorgeous beach with white sand and turquoise water lapping at the shoreline.

  “Ohhh, it’s beautiful! Is that a part of upstairs?” She still hadn’t been upstairs, but she couldn’t wait to go.

  Dex chuckled, dropping a kiss on her lips that left her breathless. “No. If you can believe it, it’s even more beautiful up there. But forget that for now and look.”

  He pointed at a colorful lounge chair in blue and white at the edge of the water, where the setting sun cast shadows on the ocean.

  As she peered downward, she noted someone was sitting in the chair, their toes in the sand. It was clearly a woman indicated by the huge sunhat she wore, but George couldn’t see her face. “I don’t understand.”

  Squeezing her hand, Dex shifted position and said softly, “Just wait.”

  From the far end of the long stretch of sandy beach, a man and an older woman dressed in shorts with bare feet, walked arm and arm, smiling and laughing. They stopped where the woman on the chair sat, and the man reached out a tanned hand to her.

  She couldn’t see who the hand belonged to at first, but when the woman rose from her chair, her floral dress catching the breeze, she lifted her face to the sun, a beautiful peach flower in her free hand, making George gasp.

  “It’s Effie…”

  Dex nodded as he tucked her into his side. “It is.”

  “Wait, is that David?” she almost squealed, joy filling her soul to the brim.

  “Yeah,” Dex said warmly. “Yeah, it is.”

  “Oh, Dex,” she breathed. “He came to Cabo to be with her?”

  He nodded and smiled. “He did. She told him why she was coming, and he asked to be with her when she decided it was her time to go.”

  Gripping Dex’s arm, her heart exploded with happiness. “How wonderful! But who is the woman with him?”

  “David’s adoptive mother. She asked to come to support them both.”

  How selfless. How supportive and loving.

  George rested her head on Dex’s shoulder. Tears stung her eyes, but she was smiling. Effie, with the support of David and his adoptive mother, would be surrounded by love when she left this plane—so much love, and that was all that really mattered to George. That she leave knowing someone cared.

  The trio walked down along the beach arm in arm, their footprints quickly washed away by the incoming tide. They passed palm trees, swaying in what George imagined was a warm breeze, their fronds bending and dancing on the wind as their soft laughter rose upward.

  At the end of the long stretch, where little huts dotted the horizon, a man held his arms out and to David, embracing him when he walked into them.

  “David’s husband?”

  Dex dropped a kiss on her wet cheek. “Yep.”

  As David’s husband joined the trio, they all linked arms and walked toward the huts, the butterball sun tucking itself into its resting place for the night, shining one last time on their backs before setting.

  Effie stopped for a moment and held up the peach flower to the sky, and she mouthed the words thank you, before she dropped the bud in the ocean.

  When they all faded into the distance, Dex waved his hand as though he were turning the page of a book and the scene disappeared, leaving them on a cloud, high above the world.

  He tipped her chin up with his finger to gaze into her eyes. “You okay?”

  Wiping her tears away, she smiled up at him. “I’m very okay. I’m so glad Effie told David, I could burst. She reached out, and that’s all that matters to me. She made a connection David will always have, that she’ll take with her when she’s gone. That’s a beautiful thing.”

  Dex pulled her into his arms and kissed the tip of her nose, surely red from crying. “You’re a beautiful thing,” he said, before finding her lips and kissing her soundly.

  Epilogue

  Six months later…

  One newly minted warrior-ish guardian angel who’d finally found her purpose and continues to grab everything she can by the balls (okay, not everything) and is responsible for starting a program for her seniors to foster pets and volunteer two hours a week at The Fluffy Gates Rescue; another guardian angel, hot as the day is long and kind to boot, who loves animals, who’d also found his purpose beside the woman he fell in love with long before she knew he wasn’t really a barista; an impossibly gorgeous vampire with a potty mouth who has a brand-new addition to her family by the name of Waffles; an elegant halfsie who’s fostering a litter of kittens and up every two hours to bottle-feed them like the good mama she is; a pretty blonde werewolf who’s donating her time volunteering in the brand-new section of the rescue for disabled and abandoned pigs, and loving it; a teddy bear demon who comes to the rescue once a week to play with the animals and take them to their vet appointments; a gentle, broccoli-loving zombie who proudly shows off his tech skills and heads up the online foster program; a very British manservant troll with blue hair who insists upon bringing freshly made food once a week to the adoptees prepared in his new Instant pot; an outrageously large angel with red hair who enjoys a bit of the hair of the dog and a smoke, all gathered on a beautiful summer day at a ceremony/picnic to celebrate two very special people preparing to receive their permanent wings (phew!)…

  “Wings!” Nina shouted with a wave as the women made their way to the lush backyard through the arbor covered in roses at The Furry Gates Rescue.

  George threw herself at Nina, giving her a hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “Tower of Terror! I’m so happy to see you. Where’s Waffles?”

  She hitched a thumb over her shoulder at the playpen, where the French bulldog played with the other animals from the rescue. Having only two legs didn’t stop him from taking life by the britches. Nina had a wheelchair made for him and now he zoomed around with the rest of the dogs, his tongue lolling from his mouth, happy as a clam.

  And he adored Nina, Greg, Charlie, and especi
ally Carl. Every night he cuddled with Carl, who read him a bedtime story. Nina texted her pictures all the time, and it never failed to make George grin from ear to ear.

  “Hangin’ out with his buddies. So how ya been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in a fucking year.”

  She linked her arm through Nina’s and pulled her to deeper into the backyard, where they had sectioned off places for the animals according to their species and special needs.

  George grinned at her new friends. “You saw me just last week when you helped Wanda bring the foster kittens over for adoption day.”

  “Oh, those little beasts,” Wanda chirped on a chuckle and a sigh, pretty in her floral button-down dress and floppy sunhat with a big pink ribbon around the brim. “I miss them already.”

  Wanda looked beautifully tired, and with good reason. The kittens she’d fostered needed to be fed every two hours, but as a result of her love and care, they were healthy and happy and ready to be adopted.

  George winced and shot her a sheepish smile. “They really gave you a run for your money, huh?”

  She flapped her hands and smiled her warm smile. “Totally worth it. So where are they? Can I take a peek at my sweeties?”

  “Ohhh, you guys haven’t seen yet!” George said. “Did I tell you we were having housing built for each species?”

  “I wanna see,” Marty cooed, grabbing George’s hand, her bangle bracelets clinking in the sun.

  George led them to the new cat house, complete with heat and air conditioning. They’d had it custom built around a huge oak tree in the back, so the cats would have plenty of places to climb and scratching posts. Inside, it was sectioned off for the smaller weaning kittens, the ones with physical challenges, and the older, grumpier lot.

  “You did not,” Marty said as she laughed, looking at the plaque hanging on the outside of the shingled structure. “Catican? You called it Catican City?”

  George chuckled and pointed upward. “Just a little homage to Rome and the big guy who runs the show there.”