Page 77 of Demon's Desire

“But that’s exactly what happened.” He smirked and grabbed my hands, pulling them away so he could kiss me.

I kissed him back before pulling away. “Um… alright. Well I’m going to get dressed and do some laundry today, since my clothes from yesterday still smell like smoke.”

He nodded, a satisfied smirk on his face. “Alright.”

I played some music to distract myself while I started getting ready for the day. Of course he stayed right beside me the entire time, but at least he didn’t keep trying to kiss me. Not that I particularly minded. I guess it was just something I was going to have to seriously think about. I didn’t want to lead him on. But did that mean that I wanted something more?

I tried not to focus on it. Kelly got back that afternoon and I told her about the job. She was very excited for me, but I could tell that she was also relieved that she wouldn’t be on the hook for rent forever as well.

“Kelly?” I asked as I finished up getting ready for work that evening. I had some casual makeup on and my hair in a bun, and I wore a nice pair of jeans and a black turtleneck, just something basic until I knew what the vibe of the bar was. “Do you want to come tonight? Just to keep me company during my first shift?”

“Um…” She looked around the living room before looking back at me. “Is Soul coming?”

I shrugged. “He’ll have to. It’s in Logan Square. It’s too far for us to be apart. Besides, he’ll probably have fun bugging people at the bar. But I already told him he isn’t allowed to mess with employees.”

“Where is he right now?” she asked.

“Oh, I made him take a shower. He still smelled a little bit like smoke.” I rolled my eyes as I sat on the couch beside her. “He says that demons don’t need to shower. I told him he isn’t sleeping in a bed with me until he showers, especially since I washed my sheets today.”

“Right,” she muttered. “Listen, I need to talk to you about him. You two are getting really close…”

I pursed my lips and nodded slowly. I hadn’t actually told her just how close we’d gotten. “Yeah, actually–”

“And I know you don’t agree with me,” she cut me off, “but I think it’s dangerous. His presence, everything about him puts you in danger. Hell, if he tries to hug you too hard, he might slice you open with his claws. Not to mention that there’s someone out to get him, which puts both of us in danger. The whole thing is… I just don’t like it. And I want to make sure that you have some kind of exit strategy, some way to break your bond and separate, even if that means… you know.”

“Killing him?” I frowned suddenly. “I won’t do that. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s sweet and he’s funny and he isn’t dangerous. And sure, he can be a handful, but he really cares about us–”

“You talk about him like he’s your boyfriend,” she pointed out.

I looked down quickly before looking back up at her. “Listen… Do you remember the other night? When you were at your friend’s overnight?”

Kelly raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Why? What happened? Did you get hurt?”

“No.” I shook my head quickly. “No… Um… There were these guys that harassed me on the way home from the bar after my interview. Soul stepped in and protected me and it was sweet. And… when we got back here, the two of us… we sort of slept–”

“Don’t fucking finish that sentence!” She suddenly covered her eyes. “Holy shit! I can’t even look at you! You fucked a demon? You fucked a supernatural creature?!”

“I mean, yeah–” I started to explain, but she interrupted me again.

“I can’t believe this!” she gasped. “Are you dating? Are you in love? Did it hurt?!”

I chuckled and shook my head. “I don’t know what we are. I need to talk to him about it. But I wouldn’t even be questioning it if he were human. I’d have started dating him days ago. And I know he’s not human, but… I don’t know… That doesn’t seem like a good reason to reject him anymore.”

“It doesn’t?” she cried. “You’re ridiculous. You’re disgusting. I’m going to be sick.”

“Stop!” I laughed, taking her hand. I could tell by her tone of voice that the drama was turned up for comedic effect. She was just teasing, mostly. But a part of me was still worried. “Listen. I know you don’t like him. But whether we become demon-boyfriend and human-girlfriend or not, he’s a part of my life now… a big one. So I just… don’t like feeling like you two are going to kill each other any second. Can you find a way to… at least tolerate him?”

She looked at me like she thought I had lost my mind. She probably thought that I had. But she was still my best friend, and I could see the desire to see me be happy overtake any animosity she held toward Soul. Or at least most of it, anyway.

“Alright.” She sighed. “Let’s all go to the bar tonight then. But I’m getting drunk, so you’re driving my car back.”

I smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you…”

She hugged me back. “You’re welcome. But please don’t sleep with any other monsters without consulting me first, okay?”

“Okay.” I chuckled and pulled back. “Um… On the subject of ‘other monsters’ though, that reminds me of something.”

“Oh, this won’t be good,” she muttered, sitting back.