Chapter 22
twenty-two
Ruining Surprises
Ayawn forces its way out of me and I try not to let the water in my eyes mess up my mascara. He still hasn’t called me. It’s well past nine and I’m just…here. He was so confident that he could summon me, but what if he can’t?
I stand up and do a quick set to get my blood pumping. I do my best to be quiet so I don’t alert Grandma and Ace to the fact that I’m still here. Everyone knew I was supposed to have a date with Rhaz tonight—everyone who knows he exists.
And yet here I am.
Punching thin air.
In my room.
Alone.
Did he forget?
Indignant heat surges up my chest to my face.
It’s a plausible explanation. He has his own bar to run, and plenty of distractions.
What if an IBMA officer is there?
The heat cools into guilty dread. Maybe he’s stuck with an inspection team, and he’s trying his best to just pass their judgement, whatever it entails.
I turn to the little mirror beside the door and look at myself again. My short hair is styled with some of Ace’s gel, but I kept the pink strands free and flowy.
I flap my lips and turn away from the mirror.
There’s only so many sets I can do before I get so sweaty my mascara runs, so I move to my laptop and start working on the website POS.
Nai Nai insists that she’s going to sell both cookies and tea.
So after dinner, Ace showed me how to set up an inventory, and now it’s a perfect distraction from the call I’m not getting from my demon boyfriend.
I set up a menu page that shows off our recent special, the Caramel Corona Crunch, with a nice picture I snapped from my phone. I had to make the dang drink six times before I felt it was picture-worthy. That was a lot of coffee to drink. Good thing that was hours ago…
I yawn again and look at the glowing tattoo on my wrist.
No sensation moves through me like when Rhaz touched my name on his forearm. No feeling at all stems from looking at it. Only frustration.
Maybe I should check on him. Maybe the skreet are back and he needs my help!
I jump to my feet at the thought, itching to fight. I’m ready for a rematch with those creepy cockroaches. I’ll astral project into the space behind the bar and just poke around. If there’s one of those interdimensional magic officers there, I can dip out quick without being noticed. Hopefully.
I blow all the breath out of my lungs and shake out my limbs. My eyes roll back and my body goes ramrod straight as my spirit pours out into the astral plane. The world becomes a neon utopia, everything bright and glistening against deep shadows of the space between.
I dive through the floor and find the door to the bar right where it should be. But the last time I did that, I manifested a body there. No…I don’t want to do that. I just want to peek inside, not go inside.
A window is what I need.
I go to the door to the street, but a shimmering red light rebuffs me. It’s warm, and I remember Rhazan can’t leave—and I’m using his power. If only I knew how to separate him from me. But that’s for another time.
There’s technically a window under the bar. The glass case where we’re going to display Nai Nai’s treats. Yeah, that could work!
I fly over the door that leads to his realm and move behind the bar. I float just above the ground and position myself behind the glass. It’s dark on the other side, the obsidian glass walls glowing from within. I lean closer and look to the left, then right.
I suck in a gasp as I take in all the details of the decorated bar. Candlelight flickers on a table set with a deep red cloth, and two chairs are placed side by side.
The sound of Rhaz’s voice vibrates through the glass. He’s animated. Excited.
Rhazan approaches the table with a covered bamboo steamer and my stomach swoops at the sight of him.
His hair is pulled back with fancy gold pins, and his horns are decorated with golden rings.
He’s wearing a collared black shirt with two buttons undone at the top, and there’s a little kerchief in his pocket with golden embroidery.
He’s wearing gold bangles like me, and even his tail is dressed up in the shiny metal.
He’s so regal.
The blue demon—Apollo!—sets a dish of something that looks like noodles down beside the steamer.
“You think she’ll like all this?” Rhaz asks with a wince.
“Definitely,” Sylvia says as she sets a bottle and two glasses down.
Apollo grips his shoulder. “Trust me, brother, it’s delicious.”
“But what if she doesn’t like this? The setup, the tablecloth? What if she doesn’t like what I’m wearing?”
He grumbles in frustration and my heart melts a little.
Sylvia hangs off Apollo’s arm and smiles up at Rhaz. “She’s going to love—”
He holds his hand up to quiet her as his nostrils flare. His gaze narrows, immediately falling on me. I don’t have time to back away from the glass before I’m pinned under his molten stare.
“Jade,” he growls and the tattoo on my arm flares.
He reaches into a cloud of black smoke and I feel a hand around my throat—my real throat. I’m ripped back into my plane, gasping as the heat of his palm fully encircles my neck. I grab his hand, trying to pry it off, but there’s no use.
The air around my body shivers, battering me with cold, hot, cold, hot. A deep vibration hits me to the core and the world around me melts away. The walls bleed up from the floor and I’m in the obsidian bar, standing in front of a very pissed Rhaz. His grip tightens and his eyes darken.
I should’ve waited.
I’ve ruined it.
Shame burns in my cheeks. I drop my gaze.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t wait,” I say. “I thought maybe you were in trouble with the skreet.”
The collective silence raises the hair on my arm. I glance up through my overly thick lashes to gauge his expression.
His coal eyes burn bright, but his face is stony. Muscles feather in his jaw as he peruses me. The lava-like scars below his shirt flare to life, thrumming with my pulse. We’re in sync.
“Leave,” he says, releasing my throat.
My ribs cinch together and I nod. “Sorry.”
“Not you,” he growls.
Sylvia grins broadly and elbows Apollo. “Yeah, we have things to do.”
Apollo pulls her close and gives me a little wink. “Enjoy the hot buns.”
Mist wraps around them and they disappear with a bloop.
Rhazan stares at me, his fists clenched.
I feel like a rabbit caught in the gaze of a dragon.
Icy fear trickles down my neck, and it’s the first time I’ve felt afraid since we first met.
I try to swallow the sensation, but it only grows in my gut.
The longer he stares, the more I feel the need to run.
I take a single step back.
His lip twitches, revealing the tip of his fang.
“Don’t,” he warns in a husky whisper.
Fuck. The heat that warning sends to my core is unbearable. I want him to hunt me like prey. I want to see him unleashed.
I take another step back, then bolt, turning for the fight room. I don’t hear him move, but I feel it. The fire behind me is immense and all-consuming. I don’t even make it to the door before his arms are around my middle. I yelp as he draws me back into him, pressing us together.
The heat that was once oppressive and painful is exciting, comforting, but still just on the edge of too much. Like I might combust in the best kind of way if I don’t keep myself in check. It makes me squirm.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“What are you doing?” he breaths against my neck and I shiver. “Leaving before having a meal? Coming before I’ve called? These are punishable offenses…”
My knees tremble at the word.
“Punishable,” I whimper.
“Correct,” he says.
Gravity leaves me and I’m in his arms. I don’t fight.
I don’t want to. He hauls me over his shoulder like a sack of rice and secures me with an arm across my bare thighs.
A clap rings out and my left cheek burns, making me yelp.
Rhaz’s hand lingers on my ass, his finger trailing the line of my brand-new silky panties.
“How should I punish the thief of joy? The destroyer of the dinner surprise?” he muses, and another clap stings my other cheek.
I moan at the heat left in its wake. I love his punishment just as much as his pleasure.
He hefts me off his shoulder and sets me in a chair…backwards. With my skirt hiked up and my legs spread, I feel the heat of the air against my center. The thought of being so bared makes me whimper.
Fiery chains snake around my legs, tethering me to the chair before I can escape. Rhaz holds my wrists overhead and more chains latch me to the ceiling. He grumbles, but not in satisfaction. I yearn to hear him pleased.
“Not enough,” he mumbles.
The chair shifts under me, transforming with a flick of his fiery fingers.
The obsidian back crunches and grinds down into a bar that spreads my knees, leaving me even more bared to him.
The chair legs spread farther apart until my skirt is bunched at my hips and my thighs are truly stretched.
I wriggle, but there isn’t an inch of give in anything.
“Nice magic trick,” I say with heady anticipation.
He smiles the way I imagine that a dragon would before snapping the rabbit in its jaws. “I have an array of tools to help me exact my punishment, and I’ll use as many of them tonight as I need to until you apologize.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, quickly. “There, now can we have dinner?”
“You’re not sorry. Not yet.” He cocks his head and his grin widens. “But you will be.”