Page 22 of Claiming a Demon

“Yes. I apologize in advance for those two.”

“Rude,” Tyler commented.

I finally pulled away from Zach, setting him on his feet so I could face the devious duo. These two were made for each other. They pulled pranks and made dirty jokes and just generally were mildly irritating. I swore they fed off each other’s energy. When Tyler was having problems with a stalker, they decided the best way to handle it was by pranking the guy until he gave in. I would’ve argued against the harebrained idea if I thought they’d listen. It still surprised me that it actually worked. Sort of. It drew enough attention to get the council involved anyway.

“Holy crap. You’re a tiny little thing, aren’t you?”

I shot Felix a dirty look, but Zach popped off a response before I could say anything. “The best things come in small packages.”

Tyler snorted. “I beg to differ, but, hey, to each their own. So, are you the guy who's been making Mal late for poker the past few weeks?”

Zach shot me a confused look. “I thought your appointments ended before poker.”

“They did. But then we got dinner afterwards. It’s fine. They can start without me.”

Zach scrunched his nose. “I can’t tell if I should be happy or feel bad for keeping you from your friends.”

“Go with the first one. No one actually cares if he’s late. At least he shows up,” Felix commented with a scowl.

I couldn’t roll my eyes hard enough. “Are you really still mad at Callum?”

He waved his hands around, an incredulous look on his face. “He said he’d stop ditching us for his mate and he still only showed up once in the last three weeks! How does that not drive you nuts?”

I could point out that Callum didn’t come because his mate, Brandon, was so bad at poker, it wasn’t fair for him to play. Callum didn't want to take part if Brandon wouldn’t enjoy himself. But I didn't have the energy to deal with Felix right now. Listening to poison was draining, and I still felt guilty for what happened with Zach. He lost two clients because of me.

“Woah. What happened to him?” Tyler murmured, an edge of concern in his voice, elbowing Felix to stop his rant.

Zach’s hand rested on my arm supportively as he explained. “Some old bitch said some not nice things at my work. He’s got every right to be upset about that.”

That made Felix pause. He stepped up to me, squeezing my shoulder until I looked him in the eye. “You okay?”

I wanted to shrug, but I liked his and Zach’s comfort too much to move.

“It happens. She bothered me less than the trouble I caused for Zach.”

“I told you, that wasn’t your fault. We would’ve had to drop you as my client anyway. I just forgot to mention it before. It’s not that big a deal,” Zach reassured me.

“Wait, wait. You’ve said client more than once and it sounds off. What kind of client, exactly?” Tyler asked, coming closer like he was trying to keep it a secret. Zach rolled his eyes.

“I’m a massage therapist. I’ve been helping Mal once a week, but I’m not allowed to date clients. Things kind of happened between us and I forgot to mention it to my boss until I was screaming at that old bitch in the middle of the lobby. Since it’s only really been a day since we got together, she let me off with a warning and Mal was dropped as my client.”

Felix’s eyebrows shot up. “You get massages? Dude, unfair. Why didn’t you invite me?”

Of course, that was all he cared about. Really, he was the easiest to talk to about things like this because he was so easy going. He didn’t take offense to anything and wouldn’t be serious unless he absolutely had to. I considered waiting until tonight and just coming out with it all at once, but Zach shot me an encouraging look and I decided it was better just to start now.

“I started going to Zach after my dad got sick,” I murmured.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ZACHARIAH

When Mal confessed to me why he hadn’t told his friends about his dad, I honestly never expected him to say anything to them. I understood, having people who knew how things would likely end would be hard to face for anyone. But I also wanted him to have all the support he needed. Since I didn’t know anything about demon illnesses, I wasn’t sure how much help I’d be. I’d still do everything I could, but his friends would know better how to help.

“Seriously? With what?” the demon asked. We hadn’t actually gotten around to introductions and I wasn’t about to interrupt to ask.

“Shadow Plague,” Mal murmured quietly, almost like he didn’t want to admit it out loud. And I saw immediately why he wanted to keep it to himself. His friend’s face went pale, which I didn’t realize was possible given that they were both different shades of red. But his face definitely went pale, and he looked really worried. Mal avoided his gaze, frowning at the alley wall.

“Mal… I’m so sorry, man.”

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