Chapter 5 #2
And that was the beginning of the end. The tea tasting was every bit as magical as I’d hoped it would be.
I’d dressed in a gauzy dress that floated around me like the falling petals.
He’d worn a linen shirt that didn’t entirely hide his perfectly sculpted body.
We’d held hands. Drank tea. And kissed beneath the arbor while the world sang of happiness.
When I went in to work that night, there was a horrible stand-off between me and my roommate, Ecstasy, who had known Dorian for years, so why was he dating me instead of her? If he was going to date dancers…
I expected him to deny that we were dating. I mean, yes, we’d kissed, but that wasn’t worth writing home about. Particularly since I had no home.
“If you have a problem with the way I run my club,” he said in a low voice with an unfamiliar edge, “You can leave.”
She tossed her hair, the blue sparkly extensions particularly dramatic.
“No, I have no problem with the way you run your club. On a completely unrelated note,” she said, turning to me, with fury flashing in her eyes.
“I want you out of my apartment. My name’s on the lease and I’ve decided to go in another direction.
I guess you’ll have to find someone else to put up with your magical aura. ”
And this from a girl with sparkles.
Dorian slipped his hand on my lower back, bracing me. “Perfect. Cherry was moving in with me anyway.”
I stopped breathing. Everyone stopped breathing. Ecstasy’s face went five different shades of outraged before she spun around and left me standing there, feeling like my world got turned inside out.
“I’m moving in with you?” I asked, looking up at him. He was so handsome, strong, basically flawless. Was he serious about this? Was it the kiss? Had he liked kissing me?
He gave me a slight smile. “Why not?” His smile was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
Why not? Really?
Well, I’d lived with him when he found out that I was staying in my car so I knew for a fact that he was a much better roommate than Ecstasy.
He kept things clean, organized, and didn’t mind my messes in the kitchen when I made elaborate dessert, or when I spread out my books for my homework all over the elegant coffee table.
Ecstasy was always either complaining about my weird costumes, weird dances, or weird taste in men.
The last one wasn’t fair. I didn’t like the men who knew me from the club, particularly the last one who threatened to blow up the building if I didn’t date him.
If I lived with Dorian, men would be much less likely to stalk me. And he was such great company. And that kiss…
“If you sure you wouldn’t…”
“I wouldn’t. Let’s get your stuff before Ecstasy throws it out the window.”
I shook my head and refocused on the moment.
On my office where I ran my little kingdom.
Finally, I had my papers in order, texted Roberta thanks for her hard work, wired the bonuses to all the employees for a launch well done, and then got my papers together and went to find Straldi.
He was spinning from his webbed feet from one of the aerialist hoops.
His tentacles seemed to enjoy flying in the wind.
I stood on the floor beneath him, living in the weirdness until I cleared my throat. “If you’re ready to go…”
He flipped down, over twelve feet, landed easily then slipped on his shoes and nodded at me. “Sure thing.”
I blinked at him, trying to stay cool and not scream or faint. Or pee myself. High goals. “Can I hire you for my next underwater theme?”
“Sure. And for Halloween. I can be quite scary when I put effort into it.” He winked at me while his tentacles wiggled, but somehow I didn’t shudder. He was a sensitive soul and I was super chill.
I gave him a polite smile. “I appreciate the offer.”
“And the young demon, he’s surprisingly good with humans. He probably wouldn’t accidentally take a bite out of any customers.”
“He’s good with humans? Dorian said that he might accidentally rip out my spine.”
He snorted. “Maybe he doesn’t want you to let your guard down around other demons. Most demons are very, very bad with humans. Drigo’s the exception, at least until baby demon came along. He thinks humans are cute, like kittens or something.”
I nodded at him as I let us out of the kitchen side door. “You like kittens?”
“Fluffy snuggly kittens are absolutely sweet.”
“Catherine will give you a lecture about kittens growing up into cats.”
“Catherine?”
I shrugged. “She was there last night. You probably didn’t notice her.”
“The quiet one? I noticed her, all right. It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.
Also, the way she noticed right away who was the most dangerous, who was the most unstable, and moved according to that knowledge almost instinctively.
Very good qualities for a human to have if she’s going to wander into places like the Den. ”
“Yes, she’s very competent.”
“What does she do?”
“She’s a private detective. She used to work on the police force, but she was fired for…I shouldn’t be telling you her personal business.”
“Something about being incorruptible, I’d bet. She had that look about her, too upright to be in a place like that. You also had that look, only also terrified. Honey said it was to celebrate your upcoming wedding?”
I gurgled and beamed brightly at him. “She did say that.”
“Will the guy mind you working so many hours in the den’s bowels?”
I looked down the sidewalk and coming towards me was Maurice. Could I use him as my supposed fiancé to keep distance from Dorian?
Maurice’s expression warmed when he saw me looking at him. No. I wasn’t getting tangled up with any men. Absolutely not. “I’m not seeing anyone,” I said firmly and walked towards the passenger’s door of Straldi’s blue car, waiting for him to open it.
“Candy? I hardly recognized you without your costuming, but of course you’re as lovely as ever,” Maurice said, taking my hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it.
He was using his Cajun charm on me, but after seeing Dorian’s bare chest, both glamoured and demon king, it wasn’t as impressive for some reason.
I tugged my hand away from him. “Thank you. Thanks again for all your hard work to make last night a success. Jack, this is Maurice, a fellow confection specialist. We have a lunch appointment, so I can’t stay and chat. You can text me if we need to work out any problems.”
Straldi glanced from me to Maurice before he opened the door of his pretty sports car and gave Maurice a regal nod.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he purred in an accent that made Maurice’s sound cheap.
“We must rush if we’re to beat traffic. In you go, darling.
” He helped me in with way too much care, then closed the door, saying something else to Maurice that I didn’t hear before sauntering around the car and sliding in beside me.
He pulled out too fast, pressing me against the seat while I tried to organize my thoughts. Leaving my shop took a lot of effort and concentration, just like dealing with Maurice. I was all out of effort and concentration so I closed my eyes and trusted Straldi to get me wherever we were going.
“He won’t do,” he finally said.
“He makes excellent cakes,” I murmured.
“That, I believe.”
“Where did you come up with the accent? It was very nice.”
“You don’t prefer the ink’s?”
“Ink? Like an octopus?” I asked, opening my eyes and seeing that we were only a few blocks away from the warehouse.
“Like an incubus. You know, the demons who love to feed on beautiful virgins.”
I frowned at him. “Dorian is a succubus?”
“Maurice is a demon. Not the same kind as Drigo, but few are. Only one I know of, in fact. That youngling who will almost certainly not accidentally rip out your spine.”
I stared at him then craned my neck to try and get a good look at the pastry chef. We were too far away to see anything. “You’re joking. He does pastry, not sexiness.”
Strigo snorted. “Really? Interesting that you’re immune to the ink’s allure. I am absolutely not joking. I wouldn’t want you to throw up in my car just for a laugh.”
My stomach was queasy now that he mentioned it. There was something so absolutely awful about the idea of feeding on my desire like a soulless vampire. Or a soulless demon, I suppose.
“Here we are. Now I’m going to go take a nap. Watching you is exhausting.” He got out and walked towards the building, leaving me there in the car to have a mini-meltdown.
Was Maurice actually a demon? It wasn’t possible for one person to know two demons in one lifetime.
I took a shaky breath and got out of the car, closing the door firmly behind me.
Nonsense. I was going to meet the young demon and find out whether or not he was my baby. The more demons the merrier. Gulp.