14. Matteo Steals Another Chunk of Luke’s Heart
Matteo Steals Another Chunk of Luke’s Heart
LUKE
S chool felt like a relief after the recent insanity at the house. He almost wished he could tell Harper everything he’d learned about the demons he was living with, but while Harper trusted him in a lot of things, he didn’t think she’d believe him when it came to his roommates being demons.
Not that he would blame her. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it either.
It did explain a lot of the weird shit that had happened around that place, though.
As he reached the campus, he found himself checking over his shoulder more than once to make sure he didn’t spot anything…
strange. But as soon as he realized what he was doing, he smacked his own forehead.
Azroth and the other demons had never given a hint that they followed him to class. Why would they start now?
No, they didn’t need to follow him, because Azroth could send the crows. He glanced up at the trees but didn’t see the usual murder that watched him. Maybe Azroth and the others were giving him space in which to digest this new, earth-shattering information.
“Luke!”
That was Matteo’s voice.
Luke attempted to spin toward the speaker, but as he turned, he tripped over his own feet and ended up on his ass.
Thankfully, he fell on the grass rather than the sidewalk.
He gazed up to see Matteo come to a hard stop and watch him with his mouth hanging open as if he couldn’t believe Luke was capable of that level of clumsiness.
Great. Just great. He’d managed to erase any and all cool points he’d attained during their short grocery shopping chat. Luke could imagine Matteo turning and heading in the opposite direction, so he would not have to deal with Luke and his nonsense any longer.
Of course, Matteo didn’t do that because he was too nice of a guy. When he broke free of his shock, he ran the rest of the way to Luke, dropping to his knees beside him.
“Are you okay?” Matteo demanded, his voice full of worry.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Just an idiot.”
“No! That was my fault. I surprised you, right?”
Luke stared up at those soft eyes and sweet smile, and swooned yet again for him. How the hell did he get so lucky as to have Matteo willing to talk to him?
“ Um , no, not your fault. Really, I’m clumsy. I trip over my own feet all the time.”
“Oh. Okay. Here, let me help you up.” Matteo shot up to his feet and held out his hand with his sunny grin warming Luke’s soul like a bright shot of summer.
While praying his palm wasn’t sweaty, Luke took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled up.
Matteo’s hand was cool and dry. His grip was wonderfully firm, as if he wanted to hold on to Luke and keep him safe.
Luke attempted to shove aside the feeling that Matteo had released his hand slowly, in such a way that the tips of his fingers dragged along Luke’s fingers, creating an extra thrill.
That was all in his imagination. Had to be.
“Sorry I haven’t texted recently.” Matteo took a step back. His smirk wobbled, but it steadied after a heartbeat.
“No, me too. It’s been…busy.”
The usual things, Luke thought. Work, classes, demons trying to scare him to death and then officially taking him in as their roommate. More than enough to keep anyone busy.
“Right?” Matteo said with an exaggerated groan. “I feel like the semester just started and now we’re already talking about exams and whether I’m behind on papers that aren’t due for another three weeks.”
“Meetings with my advisor and fine-tuning my thesis,” Luke murmured in agreement.
“And why am I always behind on my reading? All I’m doing is reading and writing papers. How can I be behind if I’m always reading?”
Luke huffed out a soft laugh. He understood that feeling. During every break at work and on every bus he took, he was trying to catch up on all his reading.
Unfortunately, their awkward conversation ground to a painful stop when Luke struggled to figure out what to add. Nothing was coming to mind. Was this where he should make a joke? Or introduce a new topic? Was it too soon to ask him out on a date?
Shit, yes! Way too early for that.
“Were you headed to class now?” Matteo inquired.
“Yeah.”
“Oh! Sorry. I should let you go.”
“Are you heading to class?” Luke blurted out, trying to keep Matteo there for a couple of minutes more.
Matteo shook his head. “I’ve got an hour before my class. I was going to read in the library for a while. My dorm is way too noisy for studying.”
“That’s gotta suck.”
“You said you were renting a room in a house, right? Do you have roommates? Is it noisy?”
Luke opened his mouth, but the words got trapped in his throat. How the fuck was he supposed to answer that? Um… “Yeah, the owners of the house live there with me. Six of them. But they aren’t that noisy. At least, I don’t think so. I’m not home a lot because of work and school.”
“You have six roommates? It’s not crowded?”
“No, not at all. It’s an enormous house, so there’s plenty of room for us all. My room is up in the attic. It’s a lot of stairs, but I’ve got a ton of space to myself.”
“Wow, I’d love to see it.” Matteo’s eyes suddenly widened, and he clapped his hand over his mouth, but it did little to muffle his laughter. “Dude, I did not mean to invite myself over to your place. I’m sorry. I should go. You’ve got class.”
Matteo was turning and looking like he was going to run to the library before Luke could get his tongue to do anything useful. He reached out and caught the sleeve of Matteo’s jacket, stopping him from escaping.
“No, it’s okay. I…I need to talk to my landlord first. We never discussed guests. They’d probably be okay with it, but it’s only fair that I check and give them some warning.”
Especially since the demons now have this crazy idea that they want to play matchmaker.
“Cool. Cool.” The tension that had appeared on Matteo’s handsome face evaporated in an instant, and his easy smile returned.
“Ah! I almost forgot!” He pulled his backpack around on his shoulder so he could dig into one of the pockets.
After a couple of seconds, he withdrew a small bag of what looked to be trail mix and held it up in triumph.
“I bought this because you said that you feed the crows nuts. Do you think they’d like this? ”
For a moment, Luke could only stare in shock at Matteo. “You want to feed the crows?”
“Sure. I thought it might help show them I’m one of the good guys, so they won’t feel the need to go after me when they’re trying to protect you.”
Well, now that he knew Azroth was controlling the crows, and the goal was to get Matteo to fall for Luke, he doubted the crows would go after Matteo again. However, there was no way he could tell Matteo that and still sound sane.
“ Um …yeah…I think that would work.” Luke forced his gaze to the bag while chastising his wandering thoughts.
His brain was too busy humming and skipping through his head, refusing to do any real thinking.
After way too long, he registered what he was looking at. It was trail mix, but not a great one.
“This is…okay.”
“Not good? Tell the truth,” Matteo pressed.
“No, it’s okay. Just…if you buy another bag, make sure it’s unsalted. They don’t need that unnecessary sodium. Plus, don’t give them the chocolate pieces. If you’re searching for something for them, they are big fans of unshelled peanuts.”
“Got it. Makes sense.” Matteo tucked the bag away and zipped the pocket. “Get to class and learn important things. I’ll text you later.”
Luke waved good-bye, his legs unable to move as he watched Matteo jog away.
His heart was racing, his palms were sweating, and he was seriously considering fainting for good measure.
Matteo had talked to him. He’d bought the crows some nuts based on something Luke had said.
And he even wanted to come to his house.
A house full of demons.
That last part might not be a great idea.
He needed to think about that. While the demons could assume human form and refrain from scaring Matteo, did he want to take the risk? Azroth might be able to help rein in his compatriots.
Luke shuffled to his class, his brain turning over the pros and cons of allowing Matteo to come to his house.
It would be nice to talk to him without the prying eyes of society waiting to pounce on them and point out that Matteo shouldn’t be talking to a loser like him.
Luke was sure he might relax enough in private to sound like a knowledgeable human being.
On the other hand, the house had six demons determined to be love matchmakers.
This required a lot of careful thought and planning.
As a result, he might have heard only about a third of the professor’s lecture that day as his brain alternated between the scheming demons and Matteo’s sweet smile.
After gathering up his things at the end of class, Luke checked his phone for emails and found he had a text waiting for him from Matteo.
It was a selfie of him sitting on the ground with a giant grin on his face.
In the background were Banks and Dante, as they picked through a pile of nuts on the ground close to Matteo.
He’d actually gotten the crows to come to him for food, and he looked so damn proud of himself.
Fuck . He was already half in love with Matteo, and now the man was caring for his crows. Luke was sure of it. He didn’t stand a chance.