Page 48 of Sinful Pride
“You know about the bet.”
“I know it all started because you wanted to see who was a better dom,” Tirael accused. “I overheard you talking when you thought I wasn’t paying attention.”
Raphael rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “We did that. But we don’t have a bet going on right now.”
Tirael didn’t look convinced.
“Look me in the eye and tell me there isn’t any kind of arrangement tied to your offers of a date.”
Raphael was opening his mouth to deny the accusation, but I saved the situation by cutting him off.
“There is.”
“Beelzebub!” Raphael hissed in a scandalized tone.
“But it’s not what you’re thinking, angel. After you left, we both realized we wanted something more as well. But would you believe us if we chased you immediately afterwards and told you we wanted to turn our sexcapades into something more?” Tirael shook his head. “Yeah. Neither did we.”
“We asked ourselves what if it was just a fling? A temporary interest?” Raphael said. “Pursuing you when we were unsure would only make things worse, and we didn’t want to hurt you.”
“What if Raphael got distracted by a pretty face when the next occasion comes around? We decided to test ourselves and each other for three months. If our interest didn’t stray after that time, we made a deal we would pursue you.”
“We don’t really have any bets, no prizes, or points, nothing like that,” Raphael interjected, “But the agreement between us gave us structure and time to go slowly enough to hopefully not mess up. I guess we are not doing great on that front, are we?”
“Our three months of getting to know you went quite well, if I say so myself. And you seemed to enjoy the gifts. Isn’t that right, Tirael?” The angel’s cheeks filled with pink as he nodded. “The moment it went wrong is where we wanted to jump into the dating part. Now that you know there’s nothing shady going on behind our dates, can we finally move forward?” I asked. My arched brow told everyone what I thought of all this talking. Ugh.
“Yes, everything’s fine now, right?” Raphael’s excitement returned to his voice after his sad dog routine.
“But you are still going to make me choose between the two of you…” Tirael said miserably.
So this was the crux of the matter. A misunderstanding. How quaint.
“It seems neither I nor Raphael asked you out properly.” I smiled with my sharp teeth on full display. “Because you seem to be working under a misconception.”
“We both want to date you!” Raphael blurted out.
“Both?” Tirael asked, wide-eyed. “At the same time?”
“it doesn’t have to be,” Raphael clarified. “That’s why we asked you on separate dates first. But eventually, yes. How about we try a double date today?”
“We want to be in a relationship with you together, if you think you can handle that.”
“There’s a phenomenal pizza place in the nearby town. Their stone oven pizza is to die for,” Tirael suggested slowly, as if he still couldn’t believe what was happening.
I smiled as if the meal I wanted to eat was Tirael.
“Lead the way. It’s high time for our first date.”
Chapter 18
Tirael
I was in the seventh heaven. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I was truly dating Beelzebub and Raphael. Me, a nobody angel!
You’re not a nobody anymore, a voice that sounded a bit like Hellion piped up in my head. You have an important job, status, and friends now.
Nowadays, my mind often switched between those self-produced put-downs and a clearer, more realistic, or maybe optimistic, outlook. It was a good exercise for me to try and see not only the bad points but the positives as well; to have more pride in myself. The reprograming was hard, but Zachariel reassured me that practice made perfect, so I did my exercises in self-confidence wholeheartedly, trying to unlearn my bad habits.
It helped that over the past month I went on dates with Raphael and Beelzebub—together and separately—at least once a week, sometimes more. They seemed to be genuine. I didn’t believe the softness on Raphael’s features when we took a rowboat to the middle of a lake and watched the dawning sunset together could be faked. And the glee Beelzebub showed when we cooperated in a game at the arcade, killing zombies left and right, was very authentic as well.