17 #3
“Watch where you’re going, asshole.” A sharp, irritated voice snapped as the man it came from stared directly at us, as if he was lingering in our shadow and waiting for the perfect opportunity to show himself.
A dark red splash from his cranberry cocktail was already spreading across the front of his shirt.
“Sorry, I—”
Ren’s words were cut off as the recognition hit us both like a punch to the chest. Standing in the wash of neon and strobe lights was a man with blue eyes, sharp with irritation and all-too-familiar confidence.
His tanned skin and clean-cut face were framed by tousled chestnut hair that looked like it belonged on magazine covers.
Designer clothes clung to him like a second skin, and somehow he still managed to radiate that same effortless, arrogant charm I remembered far too well.
Of all the people in Salem, of course it had to be my ex-boyfriend.
“S-Sly?” I pulled Ren away, but he stepped between me and my ex as if to protect me from being caught in the crossfire.
Sly’s eyes glittered with amusement as he stepped closer. “Well, if it isn’t Theo. Fancy meeting you here,” he said, although his tone told me this whole thing was intentional. He must have been following me, my magic trying to warn me about the threat.
Sly’s gaze lingered on Ren. “You always loved going around rescuing ugly and pathetic demons. Tell me, do you ever get tired of collecting trash?”
There were two people standing on either side of Sly, both looking entirely too comfortable there.
The woman beside him was a dryad, her auburn hair threaded with ivy and tiny white blossoms despite the dead of winter.
She laughed a little too eagerly at whatever Sly said, her fingers curled possessively around his sleeve.
The man beside her was more difficult to identify.
Something about him felt wrong. His thick glasses hid his pale eyes that seemed to catch on people, absorbing details with unnerving intensity, and his attention lingered on me as though he were cataloging every feature for later use.
One slender hand reached possessively around Sly’s waist.
“Theo, you say? So this is the infamous ex of yours.” His gaze drifted over me, curious at first before settling into something colder. “You’re right. He’s nothing special.”
I stiffened. “We don’t want trouble, Sly. It was an accident. I’ll give you some money to dry-clean your shirt and we’ll get out of here.”
The dryad clicked her tongue, then began dabbing his chest with a thin cocktail napkin to blot out the stain.
I reached around to pull my wallet out of my back pocket when Sly held up his hand, motioning for me to stop.
That was when I saw it. A sleek black ring, simple at first glance, but also familiar.
My stomach dropped. It was the same type of ring Leon had been wearing, as well as all the members of the rift wardens.
“Like you could even afford my dry-cleaning bill,” Sly said lightly, catching my stare at his hands and smirking. “Oh, do you miss these, Theo?” He wiggled his fingers in my face. “Has your little pet demon not found that sensitive spot that makes you scream—”
“Fuck off, you bastard,” Ren snapped. “Theo’s not some toy for your amusement, and he’s a better man than you could ever hope to be. He’s stronger, smarter, and far more honorable than the selfish piece of shit you’ve always been.”
I shifted behind Ren, utterly in shock. I could tell he was struggling to restrain himself from punching Sly in front of the crowd of drunk dancers around us.
“Oh, really? You know,” Sly began as he closed in around us, “in the beginning, I had a lot of fun with him. The video games, the movie nights together. But that got boring after a while. He got boring. In every way except one. The things you can do with that tongue of his …” Sly shivered.
“Of all the people I’ve fucked over the years, men and women, no one ever came close to pleasuring me quite like Theo.
It’s the one and only thing I miss about our relationship. ”
“You fucking piece of—”
“Come on, Ren. It’s fine. We’re leaving.” I tugged him along through the crowd. Sly was up to something, and I wanted no part of it.
“If you ever find your boy isn’t giving you enough excitement, you know where to find me. I’ll remind that greedy hole of yours what it’s like to be with a real man.”
Irritation rippled through me, and I snapped back at his teasing words. “The only thing I remember about having sex with you is how fast it was over. Tell me, what do your partners think of you now that you no longer have that kinky sex drug I brewed up? Can you even get it up anymore?”
The music was too loud for most people around us to hear, but Sly’s smirk vanished into a nervous frown as his face turned bright red and his gaze darted around the room.
As Ren and I walked away, I let a trace of my magic slip from my fingertips.
We didn’t look back, but the gut-wrenching sound of Sly retching cut through the music, making the entire dance floor freeze and gasp with disgust.