Page 59 of I Accidentally Summoned a Demon Boyfriend

“Yeah, well, here I am.” I threw my hand up. “Are you going to let me in or leave me standing out here in the cold?”

“I guess I don’t want you to freeze to death. If you do that, then I can’t shit talk you for disappearing again.” She stuck her tongue out at me and then stepped aside, waving me forward. “Come in.”

“Thank you.” I straightened, took a step forward, and the expressions of pain I held back had to have colored every inch of my face, because Keri freaked out.

“What happened to you? Are you hurt? Why are you moving like that?” She closed the door behind me and then fluttered her hands around my body, as if she could energetically heal my wounds. “Is your face busted up? Did you get into a fight?”

Her questions came with each step I took into her home and down the short hall to her couch, where I finally sat before answering. I figured once I sat down, she couldn’t cart my ass out of her house to the emergency room.

“I’m fine, Keri.” I winced as I adjusted the pillow behind my back. “Just had a little fall. You know how it is when it’s winter here. People fall left and right.”

“Yeah, when it’s icy outside. We haven’t even had our first real snow yet.” Keri crossed her arms. “You need to go to the hospital and let a doctor look at you. You may have broken something.”

“I’m fine.” I waved off her concerns and shifted my ass until I found a position that was least painful.

“Where did it happen?” There was the lawyer side of her brain kicking in. I always knew when Keri started searching for a case by her narrowed eyes and the way her left hand twitched, ready to take notes. “Tell me. Was it at home, at an establishment? Have you been out on any new dates? Don’t tell me one of those weird ass men had something to do with this. I will call the girls, and we’ll find his ass.”

“Look, I’m fine. It was just a minor fall.” I wasn’t technically lying. “I’ll go and see a doctor, but can we just chill for a bit?”

“Rayna.” She sat across from me in the armchair. “I don’t know. If your mama knew about this, she’d be cursing my ass out for not forcing you to go right now.”

“Please, Keri.” I rolled my eyes. She knew damn well my mom wasn’t that overbearing. If nothing else, she’d be mad I didn’t make an appointment with my own doctor. My mother was no fan of emergency rooms.

“Wait, what’s really going on?” She paused, leaning back as she narrowed her eyes. “Something is different about you.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re in pain, yes, but you got that glow about you and…” She stood and crossed the room to get in my face. “Your skin is clear! You always have acne, and you said that for the women in your family, your skin is all irritated unless you’re having sex! You’re having sex, aren’t you? Is that how you hurt your ass? Was this a rough sex injury? Wait, you’re into that BDSM stuff?”

“Okay, you’re going off the deep end.” I laughed at her. “BDSM? Really?”

“Well then, what is it? And tell me the truth, Rayna.” Keri was so close to me, I could smell the chocolate coming from her breath and see the traces of the sweet treat still on her tongue.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I tried to tell you. I just didn’t want to be alone.” I dropped my shoulders. “I wish this was easier. If you really want to know, I need you to listen without judgement. The shit is going to sound crazy. You’re going to want to tell me to call my therapist. I get it. But right now, I just want to be a woman dishing crazy drama to her friend. I want my friend to ignore how outlandish this shit sounds, pour me a glass of wine, and let me vent. Can you do that?”

“Why wouldn’t I believe you?” She leaned back from me and scanned my full body, like the secrets were tattooed on my flesh.

“Keri, can you do that?” It probably wasn’t a great idea to drink in my condition, but it made no difference to me. I told myself the wine would ease the pain. It might have also thinned out my blood and caused my injuries to worsen, but apparently, I was magical, so maybe things worked differently for me.

“Yes, of course.” She straightened. “Getting the wine now!”

I spent the next several hours sipping wine and telling Keri every detail I could remember, from the first time I met Metice, to multiple demon attacks, to being dragged to hell, to banging a demoness and fighting his crazy ex. Every juicy detail, and my friend hung on every word. Before the wine kicked in, she looked concerned but kept her comments to herself. By her fourth glass, she was shouting jokes about my lesbian lover and asking if I would ever see her again.

“So that’s what your life has been?” she asked as she emptied another bottle of wine into her cup. “A demon with a rotating dick.”

“Everything I’ve told you, and that’s what you’re hung up on?”

“Well, hell, aren’t you? I mean, you can call him whenever you want, right? Then he shows up and takes care of you?” She waggled her brows and then dropped her eyes to the glass in her hand. “I wish my man would come when I commanded.”

“Is everything okay with you two?” That comment caught my attention. I hadn’t talked to Keri in a while, and I figured she was still happy in her new love, but it sounded like I wasn’t the only one with a troublesome man on my hands.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just out of the honeymoon stage.” She held her glass to her lips but put it down without drinking. “We had our first fight, but it was nothing. Still a little tense, but we’ll be okay.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” It would be good to talk about someone else for a change. Metice said how he didn’t think Keri was a good friend to me, but the same could be said about me. I got lost in my new world—granted, what I dealt with was a lot more of a mind fuck, but still. I cared about Keri and wanted her to be okay.

“Actually, no.” She saw my face drop and quickly added, “It’s just that, he’s the one, Rayna. This is my guy, and I don’t want to be airing out our dirty laundry every time I get with my girls. You know how it is when you constantly listen to your friend complain about a man and then they end up getting married? Everyone rolling their eyes as the bride strolls down the aisle. I don’t want that.”

We caught each other’s eyes and blurted out at the same time, “Tricia!”

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