Page 28 of Blaze

The peace is disturbed by the rumble of a plane soaring high above. I watch it, the pale vapor trail the only thing marring the azure skies.

“Have you ever flown in a plane?” she asks.

I eye Kennedy, but she’s watching the plane above us while rolling the empty wine bottle between her hands. I look back up with a half shrug.

“Never saw the point,” I answer. “I don’t like the idea of being trapped in a metal tube. I’d rather be on the back of my bike, wind on my skin, in total control.”

She hums, but there’s no judgment in the sound. Only acceptance at my word.

“I guess it’s probably different for me, since I’m human. I used to have dreams of traveling all over the world. Sometimes I’d just fantasize about getting on a plane and not knowing the destination.”

The wistfulness in her voice overcomes my struggle to not look at her. I take the last swig of my beer before setting it to the side and crossing my arms over my knees.

“So why didn’t you?”

Her gaze drops from the sky to the water, a bitter half-smile on her lips. “Too scared, I guess.” Kennedy gives me a playful grin. “Not that someone like you knows what it means to be scared.”

I snort, shaking my head. If only she knew how many times terror drove me. I’m more familiar with the feeling than she can ever realize.

A thought strikes me and I eye her again, wanting to see her response. “Does it freak you out, knowing what I am?”

She looks at me again, the hypnotizing ripples on the water’s surface having drawn her away, and tilts her head. The smallest line furrows between her dark brows.

“You being a demon?” She doesn’t wait for an answer, shrugging. She sets the wine bottle down before hugging her legs to her chest, rubbing her shins unconsciously. “Not really. It’s honestly hard to believe, even though I saw the smoke coming off you and the fire in your eyes last night. But you don’t look that different than a human.”

I grunt. “Last night isn’t what I look like in my demon form, kitten,” I growl, danger infusing my voice. It’s not a threat, but she has no idea what I really am. How terrified she should really be of me. “If you saw me in my demon form, you wouldn’t be sitting here next to me.”

Kennedy is quiet, her face serious as she studies me. At least she’s not dismissing my words, like many would.

“Your name, Blaze, is that because of your demon form?” she asks unexpectedly.

“Yeah. All of us took our names from our forms.”

She nods in understanding, but then her eyes are clouded with confusion.

“What?” I prompt, surprised at my own curiosity about her thoughts.

“It’s nothing,” she tries to protest but at my blank look, she sighs and relents. “I just can’t figure out what Stubs’ name means then.”

A laugh bursts out of my chest, startling both of us. Of the things she could have said, I hadn’t thought of that one.

“That’s his name because when we were escaping what you call Hell, he lost his foot and part of his lower leg.” My jovial tone disguises the reality of those dark memories.

She snorts and shakes her head, clearly amused at the name that’d started as a joke and then stuck.

Silence returns between us but it feels natural. It’s as comfortable as it’d be with one of my brothers. Pleasant silence isn’t something I’ve experienced with a woman before.

There’s something intimate on a deep level, being able to just exist beside someone in the universe.

Kennedy isn’t for me. I don’t want a relationship that lasts longer than a night. Once we get the mafia and Light Justicars off her back, she’ll move on and forget all about me.

Knowing that shouldn’t make me as angry as it does.

I stand up, making Kennedy jolt from the sudden movement. I toe off my boots before sliding off my leather cut and dragging my shirt over my head.

Kennedy sputters below me. “What are you doing?”

“Taking a swim,” I answer and I make quick work of my belt and jeans, shoving them off my hips and letting them drop before stepping out of them.

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