Claiming a Demon (Dallying with Demons Book 3)

Chapter 6

I gaveMal his first massage free, since I basically bullied him into it. He tried to argue with me, but I shut down the computer with a wink and hurried away to clean the room up before we left. I checked each room, the bathroom, and the meditation room in case there were any more clients still making their way out, and shut down all the sound machines. The rest of the team had already dealt with everything else, so I hurried out to meet Mal and beamed at him when I found him still waiting for me.

“I’m starving. It’s a good thing my favorite restaurant is on my way home. Are you hungry?”

Hanging out with clients wasn’t against the rules. Sleeping with them was, but I wasn’t looking for a hookup with the quiet demon. At least, not yet. He was hotter than sin. I nearly started drooling, seeing all those muscles up close during his massage. But he was also a client and had shown no interest in me. I put my little crush away and offered him a friendly smile as he followed me outside and I locked the spa up behind us. He didn’t outright agree to come to dinner with me, but he didn”t disagree either. I took him following me as his agreement and bounced down the street towards the Hat. It was a fun little fusion restaurant. There were the classics, like Asian tacos, but there were also healthier alternatives and the most amazing sushi burritos on the planet. I had a skip in my step as we made our way there, already running through my usual order in my head.

“You’re different at work.”

Mal’s quiet voice caught my attention, and I spun around to face him, walking backwards so we wouldn’t have to stop. I was too hungry to dilly dally.

“How so?”

“You’re more calm there.”

I chuckled, bobbing my head. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s one of the reasons I work there. It’s the only place I can really make my mind go quiet. But when I’m done, all the energy I suppressed while I was there sometimes comes bursting out and I just gotta move around a bit. I swear, I’m not crazy.”

I added in that last bit because people sometimes gave me funny looks at how much I bounced around. I’d had exes ask if I needed to be on medication before and too many comments to count from teachers and friends about how I could power a city with my energy alone. It meant I went through a lot of friends, since some people said I was exhausting, but the select few who stuck around accepted me for how I was. I really hoped Mal wouldn’t be like the others.

If he was bothered by it, he didn’t mention it. His face was back to that mask of stoicism, though now it had an underlayer of calm to it. Knowing I had a part in that made me grin and I grabbed his hand, tugging him towards the crosswalk.

“Not much farther. This place is great. And there are plenty of options for all kinds of diets.” I didn’t know anything about demons to say what they could eat, but he didn”t seem worried about it, so I wouldn’t worry either.

The restaurant was small, a little hole in the wall tucked between a hair salon and a chain restaurant, but it was still popular during rush hours. Luckily, my shift ended right after the rush, so there was never a line when I came in. I pushed inside, waving at the man behind the counter.

“Zach! I was wondering if you’d be in this week. The usual?”

I beamed. “Yep. But give us a minute so my friend can look at the menu.”

Juan ran this restaurant with his best friend straight out of high school. It started as a food truck and gradually grew so popular that they could afford to move here. I’d been around since opening day and came by so often, they both knew my order by heart. I turned to Mal, pointing at the menu.

“The menu’s not huge, so it’s easier to choose.”

Mal didn’t even glance at it. He just looked at me, one shoulder coming up in a shrug. “I’ll have what you’re having.”

Juan pursed his lips with a frown. “As long as you’re okay with spicy foods. I swear, Zach’s food choices make even me sweat sometimes.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Shut up. This one isn’t that bad. And you’re the one who makes the spicy tuna.”

Juan snickered, moving to make our burritos, while I guided Mal to a table in the corner. I liked it because it was closer to the kitchen so I could chat with Juan and Derrick on their down time. When the restaurant wasn’t busy, it was my spot and nothing Derrick said would change that fact.

Mal looked around curiously, his eyes finally glossing over the menu. I hoped he’d like what I chose, but I didn”t know him well enough to say whether he would or not. I fidgeted in my seat, flitting away to grab us some sodas when I couldn’t sit still.

“Are you okay?”

I flashed him a smile. “Yep. Hungry.” When one of his eyebrows raised ever so slightly, I fought back a laugh. “Are you really good at poker?”

That made him frown. “Why?”

I gestured to his face with a wave of my hand. “You’ve got a serious poker face going on. I wouldn’t want to be against you in a game.”

I left out the fact that I could read him. I wasn’t sure he’d be comfortable knowing that. We only just met.

“My friends and I play every week. I’d like to say I’m good, but I’ll never be able to beat Hendrix. He’s my roommate.”

“Huh. Does he have a poker face like you?” Maybe it was a demon thing to hide your emotions. I never met any demons before him, though I was friends with a few witches. They didn’t hide their emotions like Mal did.

“Sort of. His energy matches yours when you’re working. It’s hard to read someone that calm.”

Ah. That made sense. I knew I had a crap poker face because I was a bundle of energy and couldn’t keep that off my face. I never considered using my work mindset to hide it.

“I’d be curious to see that. My friends and I aren’t great at poker. We’re too easy to read.”

He was quiet for a moment, contemplative, before he offered, “Did you want to come play with us?”

Before I could answer him, Juan dropped off our burritos. He grabbed a chair, spinning it around and straddling it as he joined us. “If you’re offering to play poker with Zach, then there has to be a rule not to look at his face. It’s cruel when it’s so easy to read him,” he commented with a lazy smirk.

Narrowing my eyes, I stuck my tongue out at him. “Shut up. I’m not that bad. I’m not Derrick bad, at least.”

He snorted. “True. My best friend is many things, but a poker master isn’t one of them.” He turned to Mal, offering him his hand to shake. “I’m Juan. I’ve been friends with that little ball of energy since high school.”

“Malakai.”

They shook hands, but Mal looked uncomfortable. At least, that’s what I was picking up in the subtle shift of his energy and the tension in his jaw. The man would seriously be a poker master with that face.

“So where’d you two meet?”

“Abby’s place. I helped him find a gift for a friend’s engagement party,” I replied. I got the feeling that Mal wouldn’t offer that information on his own. He seemed to draw in on himself once Juan showed up. I wasn’t sure if he was shy or maybe a little untrusting of humans, but I figured if I spoke for him, he’d relax after a while.

“Ah. Yeah, no one gives better gifts than Zach. He’s the only one of our friends who takes notes when we offhand mention something we like.”

I scrunched my nose with a scowl. “Shut up. You’re making me seem weird. I just care about what you guys want. Is that so bad?”

The tension left Mal’s face after a while, but he didn’t offer much to the conversation. He listened intently, taking slow bites of his burrito as Juan and I argued about the friend code on meeting significant others. He’d been seeing a woman for a few weeks now and still hadn’t introduced her to his friends.

Hoping to draw Mal into the conversation, I turned to face him. “What do you think? How long do you wait before introducing your new relationship to your friends?”

“I’ve never had to do that,” he replied easily. That made me frown.

“Wait, never?”

He shrugged. “I don’t date much.”

He said it so easily, like it wasn’t a big deal. But I got the feeling there was more to that story. Mal was adorable and sweet. He deserved to have someone taking care of him.

If I was a little more full of myself, I might’ve pointed out that Mal offered to introduce me to his friends to play poker. But we weren’t dating, and I didn’t even know if he liked guys like that. It was hard to pick up vibes from a guy who masked his expression even while eating. Who eats the best damn sushi burrito on the planet without giving any indication on if they liked it or not? I mean, he finished it, but he didn’t make any expression that said he enjoyed it.

I kept that to myself, since I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. But secretly, I made a plan to figure Mal out. Whether or not he was into me, he deserved to be in a happy relationship. Like gift giving, I was good at matching personalities. I could find someone for him easily. I just had to put aside the fact that I wanted it to be me.