10. Sabotage
Metice climbed into the car after the attendant returned to his post and gave the two of us a suspicious stare. He clearly recognized me from moments before when I’d picked up my car.
“Is everything okay?” He lumbered over.
“It’s fine,” Metice muttered as he got into the car.
Too irritated by his presence, I put the car in drive and took off, forgetting all about my scarf. I grumbled a string of complaints to myself, refusing to speak to him. Whenever I felt my blood pressure rising, I slapped my hand on the steering wheel. I did it so many times, my palm felt sore. The demon sat next to me, unbothered by my outbursts as we dove together in silence, not a word spoken until we pulled into my garage.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” The second the car was parked, I jumped out and ran around to his side, swinging his door open.
“Rayna.” He leaned forward, and I swear, the ancestors claimed my hand, because I couldn’t remember deciding to slap him, but that’s exactly what I did. Then, I cursed my foolishness, because my hand was already burning.
Metice gripped the door and gritted his teeth. “What was that for?”
“That was for me putting two and two together and finding your demonic ass scaring off my dates. Why would you do that?” I shoved my finger in his face. “Here I was, thinking something was wrong with me, and the entire time, you’re chasing off the few good men still on Earth? Is there something wrong with your brain? Did you suffer a head injury I don’t know about?”
“Am I allowed to speak, or are you going to slap me again?” He rubbed his jaw. “Damn, that actually stings.”
“I’m not sure. Let’s try it and find out.” I threw my hands on my hips and waited for him to speak again.
“I-”
“I don’t want to hear it!” I threw my hand up in his face, turned, and went into the house.
“You can’t be that upset.” Metice entered behind me as I entered the code to stop the alarm from sounding.
“Don’t tell me how upset I can be when you’ve been sneaking around my back and ruining my already struggling dating life.”
“Ruining?” he laughed. “Are you really upset to be missing out on that guy? I thought you had higher standards than that.”
“Excuse me?”
“He spent the entire date talking about himself and hardly noticed you hadn’t responded. How many questions did he ask you about yourself? I’ll wait while you count.”
“I-” I stomped my foot. “What is your point?”
“My point is that he didn’t even care enough to notice when you left your scarf.” Metice opened the black peacoat he wore and pulled out my scarf. “Now, tell me why you would be upset about not hearing from a man who could be so careless with you?”
“That should be for me to decide, not you.” I removed my coat and placed it on the table in the foyer. “What are you doing here, anyway? It’s been months.”
“It has,” he agreed.
“You said I would have a demon-free life.” I reminded him.
“I didn’t lie about that. I had no intention of being a part of your life again. You came back and saw me.”
“No intention of being a part of my life, and yet you’re making decisions about who I should and shouldn’t date?” I pulled my fresh braids from the heavy top bun and sighed at the relief. I would have never attempted the style so soon after getting the braids done, but the cool winter air helped ease the pain. “How can you call this demon free after doing what you did?”
“Hmm.” He smiled and reached out to touch the braids that fell around my face. “I like your hair like that.”
“Metice.” I slapped his hand away. “Answer my question.”
“Rayna.” He dropped his voice into his chest and stretched the syllables of my name. It was something he’d started when I was in his home, and it drove me crazy—not that I told him that.
“Don’t do that. Don’t say my name like that.” I moved away from him. “Just answer the question.”
“How did I say your name?” He followed me down the hall. “Tell me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I avoided the question and turned, flipping the switch to light the living room as I headed further into my home.
“You’re upset, and rightfully so,” he announced, as if I needed his approval.
“I didn’t ask you if I was right to be upset. Why are you back here? Did something happen? Was there a demon here?”
“No, there wasn’t. The spell worked.” He alleviated my growing concern. “Everything is fine.”
“Okay, so what am I missing then?”
“I-” he hesitated.
“What?” I snapped. “Drop the act. You’re not this damn shy.”
“I missed you, okay?” he admitted then watched as the shock colored my face.
“You missed me?” I repeated his words to him. “Did I hear that correctly?”
“Is that so hard to believe?” he asked. “Or are you used to the human men who don’t tell you such things?”
“I’m ignoring that comment for now, because I’m still stuck on the part where you miss me.”
“For you, it’s been a few months. For me, it’s just a few weeks. I checked on you the first few days, like I said I would. Then, I waited for you to call out to me, for you to need me. Days went by, and nothing. I couldn’t take it anymore. So I came back, and when I get here, I find you on a date with a guy who looks like an armpit.” He grunted. “I get it. For you, it’s been long enough to move on, but for me, it’s a punch to the gut to see you here with someone else.”
“An armpit?” I thought about who he could have meant. “Jericho?”
“Yes.” He grunted. “How could you even consider being with someone like that?”
“Wait. Were you jealous?” I snorted, not because I thought it was funny, but because sometimes, when my nerves got the best of me, my brain’s solution for release was laughter. I immediately regretted it when his brow furrowed.
“Jealous? No. Embarrassed is more like it.”
“You were embarrassed? Why?”
“For you. Why would you even be seen in public with him?”
“I can’t believe this. You have the nerve to do what you did and then lecture me about the men I chose to spend my time with.” I paused. “Wait. What was wrong with the doctor?”
“Could you not smell his breath? It damn near knocked me over.” He waved his hand in front of his nose. “Almost passed out when I talked to him.”
“What did you say to them?” I ignored the childish comment. The doctor’s breath was fine; Metice was being an asshole.
“Honestly, it didn’t take much. A light threat, and they were gone.” He shrugged. “See, you should choose better. A better man would have at least told you what happened. A good man wouldn’t have allowed empty threats to stop him from being with you.”
“This is unbelievable.” There I was, standing in my home, listening to a demon I once thought I made up tell me about how I had to choose better men, as if women didn’t hear that shit enough. “What do you want me to do?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You just admitted to sabotaging me. Is this something you plan to keep doing?”
“If you keep dating losers, yes.” He stood in the hall, jacket open, staring at me like he hadn’t just confessed to being a stalker.
“And the alternative is what? Stay single forever? Date a demon from another world?” I threw my hands up. “Give me a break.”
“How is it that someone who is so impressive, someone with so much life under your belt, deals with such ridiculous men?” His brow furrowed as he tried to understand the logic behind my situation. “Why do you put yourself through that?”
“What else would you have me do, Metice?” I asked. “Look, I’m sure it’s easy for you to sit there looking how you do. You’re obviously a desired demon from your world. You’re probably used to having the best of the best throw themselves at you, but it’s different here. It’s different for me. The dating landscape is not what it used to be.”
I threw my hands up, already frustrated with the topic, but continued.
“Throw on top of that toxic recipe that I’m a black woman in the world that tells me every damn day that no matter how impressive I am, I’m unwanted. If I step outside of my race, I’m a traitor to my people. But then I’m finding more and more often that the black men, the men who should want me, who should uplift me, don’t. Not the way I am. They’re stuck on having women be submissive, but they give us nothing to submit to.
“They taught us to be successful, to strive for greatness and build something for ourselves. I did what they said, checked all the boxes. Successful in my field, check. Money and a beautiful home, check. Hobbies and talents, check. You see that as a great thing, but guess what? To a lot of men, it’s all a red flag. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just black men. We get it from every side.
“So many of them feel threatened by a woman who has her own. You know, I was on a date with the guy who told me I should pay since I was so successful. Then he went on and on about how he didn’t even understand why I was dating. I had everything; I didn’t need a man.
“It’s crazy to think that achieving my dreams and being good at what I do is held against me. And now, every time I log onto a social media app, all I see are people saying if you haven’t had a relationship or snagged a man by now, you might as well give up, because the current and future generations are all but lost for.”
“And after all that, you still try the date. Why?” he asked, genuine concern coloring his face.
“Metice, I don’t want to believe it. There has to be something out there, right? Someone who wants what I want. Like, all of this wasn’t for nothing. I know there are men out there who still want love and appreciate a good woman. I know there are men who aren’t threatened by their partner’s success. It’s just harder to find them. Just gotta dig through the muck of men fighting to hold on to a relationship type that no longer has a place in our world.”
“I guess that makes sense if you didn’t date, you wouldn’t be sitting here talking to me now.” He shook his head. “I don’t want you dating these men. You shouldn’t be putting yourself at risk for such morons.”
“Wait, is that what you want?” I dropped my hands to my side. “Do you want to date me?”
“No,” he muttered after a long pause.
“Stop lying. You hesitated.” I pointed at him and then started singing as I teased him. “You like me, don’t you? You want to date me. You want to be my boyfriend, don’t you?”
“You need to eat.” He ignored my question.
“What?” I dropped my hand. “I just got back from dinner.”
“You went to dinner, but you didn’t eat,” he corrected me. “He ordered for you without asking your opinion. You didn’t like it. I know that because you moved the food around, then stared off into space while he rattled on. You didn’t eat. Rayna, you need to eat.”
“Don’t change the topic,” I fussed. “You’re trying to distract me with food, but I know the truth now.”
He walked around me, picking up my coat from the table and heading for the living room. I watched him ignore me, open the closet, and hang up both our coats, securing my scarf with my coat. Then, still ignoring me, he headed for the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” I followed him.
“Making sure you eat.” He pointed to the bar stool by the island. “Sit and hush.”
“Excuse me?” I rolled my neck. “Don’t order me around in my own home.”
“I know you like to talk, but can you just not right now?” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You better be glad you’re making me dinner, or I would kick your ass out.” I snapped my fingers in his face.
“Right.” He chuckled.
“Do you even know what you’re doing? Can you cook human food?”
“You agreed to be quiet.”
“Fine.” I threw my hands up and watched as the demon moved around my kitchen. “You sure you know what you’re doing? I don’t want my house to burn down.”
I expected him to be a clumsy mess in the kitchen. The entire time I was in his home, I didn’t see him cook. I didn’t even spend time in the small kitchen he had. Whenever we did eat, he went out for food. But he surprised me. Metice moved around the kitchen like a trained chef, only speaking to me when there was something he needed that he couldn’t find.
Thirty minutes later, he sat a plate of tacos and rice in front of me and stepped back.
“Try it.” He nodded.
“If I die…” I frowned, pretending like the look and smell of the food didn’t make my mouth water.
“Don’t be dramatic.” Metice picked up a taco from the plate and held it to my lips. “Take a bite.”
I scrutinized the chopped steak inside, looked up into his dark eyes, and then sunk my teeth into the tortilla. Damn it if it wasn’t the best damn taco I ever had. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and my legs bounced hidden by the counter.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s alright.” I said and took another bite. “Is there more?”
“Why would you want more if it’s just alright?” He fed me the last bite, and I licked the juice from his fingertips.
“Hush and make me another taco.” I grinned around the bite. “How did you learn to make this?”
“I told you I come to other worlds to study,” he explained as he served me another taco. “While I’m there, I immerse myself in the cultures and learn as much as I can.”
“When did you learn to make tacos?”
“Recently.”
“Oh?” My eyes widened as I scooped up a spoonful of rice.
“You’re always going to that taco place by the pond. Why you would continue to go there after being attacked there confuses me,” he admitted. So he had done more than just watch me on my dates. This man is obsessed!
“It’s my favorite.” I should have been alarmed by his admission that he’d known my habits, but I felt comforted. All that time I thought he’d forgotten about me, he hadn’t.
“Well, these can be your favorite now.” He placed another taco on my plate. “Are you done being mad?”
“No.” I shook my head and put a spoonful of rice in my mouth.
“Have another taco.” He pointed to the food in front of me. “Maybe that will help.”
I did. In fact, I had three more before the button on my pants threatened to pop. Instead of embarrassing myself, I pushed away from the table and refused the next offered bite.
“I’m stuffed. Oh man, I can’t eat anymore.” I waved my hands in surrender. “Make sure you put that up so I can eat it tomorrow.”
“You’re making me do the dishes as well?”
“I didn’t ask you to cook.” I shrugged.
“No wonder you’re single,” he fussed but started cleaning.
“Are you going back now?” I asked, watching him closely. He was doing a good job, so there was no need for me to pick at him, though it would have been fun.
“Do you want me to?” He looked over his shoulder at me.
I hesitated, but there was something I wanted to tell him, something I had to say. “You know, I got real close to convincing myself I made you up.”
“What?” He dried the last dish with the towel before placing it on the drying rack.
“I expected you to come back at least once. You didn’t.” I nodded. “Those first few days, every little sound scared the hell out of me. I figured it was either something coming to kill me, or you coming to make sure I was okay.”
“I didn’t know you expected me to come.” He walked around the table to sit next to me by the counter. “That wasn’t the plan.”
“I know it wasn’t, but it really broke me to think I could be so delusional,” I admitted. “Even went back to therapy.”
“Did it help?” The humor drained from his voice.
“Let’s just say it did.” I shrugged and dropped my eyes to my hands.
“It was hard for me too.” He placed his hand on my knee. “All I had was that damn denati to remember you by.”
“Piko!” I gasped. “Oh, is he okay? Are you taking care of him like you said you would?”
“Yes, the thing is fine. Finally got him to go outside to drop his rainbow shits.” He grumbled. “Disgusting little thing.”
“At least they smell good.” I nudged him in the side with my elbow.
“To you, maybe.” The corner of his lips lifted into a quick smile. “The stuff was everywhere. I ruined a few pairs of shoes stepping in it.”
“But you’re still taking care of him, so you must like him.” I teased.
“What if I did come back to see you?” He looked me in the eye, changing the subject.
“Metice.” My heart raced. That question opened a door to something dangerous.
“It’s strange, yes, but it’s better than what you’re doing now,” he reasoned.
“Dating a demon from another world is better?” I shook my head. “How do you come to that conclusion?”
“You’re already my soulmate.” He gripped the edge of my seat and pulled me closer to him. “It’s not much more than that.”
“Where is this coming from?” I asked. “You were so against even knowing me before.”
“I told you. I missed you,” he said.
“It’s more than that. Maybe you don’t want to tell me, and that’s okay, because I can’t date you, Metice. I can’t do that to myself.”
“I understand. It was a long shot.” His shoulders dropped. “Can you at least let me visit?”
“Metice.”
“I’m not asking for much. I just,” he pulled my hand into his, “Rayna, I want to know the person I’m tied to. I still haven’t found a solution to this. It doesn’t seem like you can feel me, but I feel you, every emotion you’ve gone through. Do you know how hard it was to stay away in the beginning? I felt your sadness, your confusion, even your anger. I wanted to fix that, but I couldn’t. So excuse me, but I want to know you. I don’t want you to feel those things again.”
“Do you think this is a good idea?” I couldn’t deny that little spark of excitement that started in my stomach. Could I have him in my life? Would it work? I knew damn well it wasn’t smart, but did that matter? I missed him. The only way I’d been able to deal with those feelings was to tell myself he hadn’t existed at all, but I knew it wasn’t true.
“Do you want me to lie so you’ll agree?” He grunted. “I’ll do it.”
“That’s not helpful.”
“Look, it won’t be easy, but this is what I want.” He paused. “If you don’t, I’ll respect that.”
“Will you leave my dates alone?” I raised a brow at him.
“I cannot promise that.” He shook his head. “If you’re going to date a human, they need to be worthy of you.”
“Damn it, Metice.” I slapped his shoulder, and he grabbed my wrist, then pulled me into him.
“Yes, Rayna?” He looked into my eyes, and when I didn’t answer, he kissed me.
Those full lips pressed against mine and erased all sense left in my head. Any doubt I had about his existence melted, disappeared, and I felt myself falling into the abyss of poor decisions. I let the fall happen.
My lips moved against his as I accepted the taste of his lips. He pulled me into his lap and held me while we continued kissing.
“Does that mean you want me to come back?”
“You better.” I nodded. “This is such a bad idea.”
“Yeah, it is.” Metice stood with me still in his arms and carried me to the bedroom.