Quite hard at that.
Not an intimate partner then.
Adam opened his mouth to speak when the Viking stepped back and took in Gabriel with a deep frown. ”Ah, now I see it… you’ve been cooped up with this little bird? Still, you could have fucking messaged me, because I was starting to think you died on me. Not cool,” the Viking said and shoved his finger at Adam’s breastbone.
So he was out to this man.
Denis. The Viking’s name was Denis.
Gabriel’s awkward smile was like a lure for Denis, who frowned, studying him for a couple of moments, which reminded Adam that while in his eyes Gabriel was a sleepy cutie, the reality was that he had a bruise on his forehead, and bags under the eyes.
“Okay. I won’t ask questions I don’t want answered,” Denis said, stroking his beard.
Adam relaxed and patted Denis’ shoulder. “We need to rest. But friend—” he squeezed the muscular shoulder as the sun lowered beyond the trees “We need new identities. And we need to run.”
Denis groaned, but invited them toward the door with a gesture. “Fuck you, dude. I was just about getting used to your shitty metal always playing on full blast.”
The joke sparked a memory of head-banging in a familiar room, and in that instant, Adam knew that he did indeed like heavy metal music, something he hadn’t been exposed to during his time at St. John’s.
But the past could wait. It was his future that mattered, so he put his arm around Gabriel and invited him into his life.
Denis pointed to Gabriel’s head when they walked into the most standard kitchen in the universe, mid-sized and with white cupboards. Farther on was a living area, but Adam was too focused on his apparent roommate to waste his time on a place he would soon leave behind.
“You want some frozen peas for tha—fucking hell!” Denis roared when Cloud’s white head popped through the top of the box in Gabriel’s arms.
Adam chuckled. “Come on, it’s just a pussy cat!”
Denis scowled. “It surprised me!”
Gabriel didn’t seem to have the energy to joke around and placed the box on the wooden table before settling in one of the chairs. “Not sure peas would make a difference so many hours later.”
He looked tired, and drained, and all Adam wanted was to take care of him forever. He leaned down and gave him a tender kiss. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll sort us out. What do you want on your toast?”
Gabriel’s lips crooked into a weak smile. “Peanut butter.”
Adam snorted and stroked his hair, overjoyed by his newfound sense of purpose. “The favorite dish of angels.”
EPILOGUE
ADAM
Angoulême, France
2 years later
Adam wiped sweat off his forehead, glad to finally park his dark blue Peugeot by the small market square. The pale facades of houses older than the town he’d been born in provided much-needed shade as he slid out onto the dusty surface around the old fountain featuring bronze cupids.
The day had been busy with deliveries, but he’d just fulfilled his final order this week and was relieved to sit on a bench by the trickling water. On days like this, when the sun streamed from the sky and he remembered that he was in France of all places, the reality of his murder spree was intangible. As if it hadn’t really happened, and he and Gabriel were a regular couple from the USA, looking for a new life in Europe.
The escape had cost them so much stress Gabriel now had a streak of gray hair on the side of his head, but he dyed it now anyway, covering up the bad memories. They’d obtained new identities, and ended up traveling on a cargo vessel to minimize the risk of leaving a digital trace, but a few months after the escape, they’d settled in the small French city of barely forty thousand people, supporting themselves with the stash of cash Adam had unearthed in his North Carolina home. Break-ins had been a lucrative business in Charlotte, NC. At least for someone of his skill.
Bit by bit, memories of his old life had trickled back, but his mind remained a sieve, which captured some moments from the past while others stayed a blurry mystery.
Twelve years ago, he’d ended up in Charlotte, NC after hitchhiking for several days, but while his mind couldn’t answer when and how he’d met Denis, he remembered sharing many good times with him. In many ways, the modern-day Viking had been Adam’s oldest, and best, friend. It was he who’d introduced Adam to a gang of professional burglars, and the two of them had lived together for most of their acquaintance, always remaining loyal to one another. Now, they barely remained in touch, for the sake of everyone’s safety.
If Denis wasn’t exaggerating, boys used to pass through Adam’s bed in a never-ending procession, especially in his late teens and early twenties when he’d drank too much and took too many drugs, trying to forget the horrors of his childhood. That had also been when he got so many tattoos, including the double set of wings on his back. He couldn’t remember if he chose the rings and eyes symbolizing biblically-accurate angels as protection from demonic forces, or because on some level he believed himself to be one, but it no longer mattered. All he cared about was that the ink didn’t stop him from getting a job as a driver and general help at the bakery where Gabriel worked as a pastry chef’s assistant.