Page 8 of Under My Bed

I didn't like her standing up to me. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

"I'll just spend a longer time at the studio and do my work there, so you don't shut off my computer in the middle of my editing. Maybe I'll even put out an ad for more male boudoirs too since—oof!" I did let her finish by pulling her off the wall and slamming her again.

"If you dare look at another naked human male, I will hunt him down and tear his stupid appendage off and fuck you with it." Okay, I wouldn't do that, but I had to make a threat to scare her.

Also, I don't know why, but the thought of her looking at other men made my blood boil with rage. No, I wasn't jealous—I couldn't be. Me, a shadow demon prince, jealous of a pathetic human male who had nothing against me? How fucking ridiculous. I just didn't like her looking at other males, especially ones with little to no clothes on.

I mean, watching her edit those stupid photos of hers already made me angry, which gave me more reasons to shut her device off when she was working on such things. I already didn't like it when she did those stupid photos with families and shit because they had men in them, so those stupid male boudoirs or whatever the fuck they're called really grated my nerves the wrong way.

Laughing softly with a smile of disbelief, she looked up at me. "Oh my God—"

"Do not bring him into this." I groaned with a roll of my eyes, not that she could tell because, again, my face was hidden with a shadowy veil—it always was.

"You're jealous. That is so funny." She snickered with an amused little smirk on her face. "What? Afraid I might leave you for someone who can actually do something to me? Someone who isn't an annoying little brat vying for attention? Someone—mhmmfph!"

What. The. Actual. Living. Fuck.

9

Stella

Holy fucking shit.

What do I do? What are you supposed to do when a demon fucking kisses you!?

Do I kiss back? Am I supposed to kiss back? Was I allowed to kiss back?

I mean, did I want to kiss him back? It wasn't a bad kiss… Not that I would admit that out loud to him because he didn't need the ego boost or anything like that. But damn, this kiss got better and better by the second.

Before I could definitively decide, the warmth of his lips escaped me along with his presence. "What the… Hey! I didn't kiss back… Demon, come back!" Great, I didn't even know his name to summon him, if that's how it even worked.

Letting out a frustrated shout and huff, I crossed my arms. "You're such an asshole!" I shouted into the air, hoping he heard me.

Grumbling to myself, I picked up the plastic vase to set it back on the table before going back to replacing all my breakable things with plastic versions of them. Yes, I had to replace all my nice dishes and bowls with damn plastic ones. I didn't mind it too much; it just kind of looked a little tacky, but hey, it beats shelling out money every other day to replace things because the demon decided to be a toddler and empty out my cupboards.

Even though I kept myself occupied, I couldn't help but think about what happened. Never in my life would I have expected something like that, mainly because I couldn't see or read his damn face. So, I could never tell what went on with the demon. Let me correct myself; I never saw anything besides his crazed grin or smug smirk when he showed it to me. Other than that, I had no idea what the rest of his face looked like. Wait! What if he didn't have a face?! What if that's why he kept it covered? No, that made no sense because he had a mouth… Unless the mouth was some creation?

No, the mouth was real. I felt his—surprisingly—deliciously soft lips against mine just earlier. I couldn't lie, demon or not; his lips felt amazing, and so did his taste. It sounds kind of gross, but he tasted a little ashy…? Stoney? Mountainy? It's as if the smell of fresh rain was a taste; that's what his lips tasted like. Or maybe he just tasted like a rock, who knows. Either way, I liked it, and I wanted more.

I just had to be patient; my chances would show up sooner or later. There hasn't been a day that's gone by without him popping up every other hour or so. Actually, I don't think he's ever gone a full twelve hours without doing something.

Most of the time, it was harmless. Actually, now that I thought about it, all he did was relatively harmless. I mean, throwing objects at me might not seem so, but he never threw them hard enough to do real damage. Most I've ever gotten from his antics were a bruised ego and physical bruises. Well, and a scare, of course.

No matter how accustomed I've become, him appearing out of nowhere around a corner or in a mirror if I looked away and looked back still got me sometimes. Yes, he still managed to startle me, even if I anticipated it nearly every second.

No matter, adapting to him wasn't an issue for me, but I still had to figure out a way to deal with him if I wanted to turn the spare room into a studio as I had planned when I bought this house. Eventually, I wanted to do photoshoots at my own home to save money on a studio rental. Plus, if I had my own private studio, then I could buy and use whatever furniture I wanted and needed without consulting anyone else. Unlike now, where the studio I rented was shared with a few other artists, everything we did had to go by vote and a schedule. Oh, and I could finally have a fully open schedule!

The main reason why I searched for a house instead of an apartment was because I wanted to run my own studio out of the place, and I wanted to have a space to call my own that I actually owned.

This place was perfect and more than what I could ever hope for. I mean, it would have been perfect if it didn't come with an unwanted roommate who spent every hour of every day tormenting me with childish antics. He probably wouldn't be so bad if he were a nice demon. Actually, could demons be nice? Or decent? Or would that go against their nature?

Sighing, I ran a tired hand through my hair to put it up in a messy ponytail. "Hey! Do you want dinner?" I usually didn't ask him, but I felt he might not devour whatever food I made tonight. I didn't want to make extra and leave it there to spoil.

It was silly to make food for a demon, but he started it. I made some food once, and when I turned around to grab something, he gobbled the whole thing up without a word. After that first incident, he always ate my food, like all of it. So, I had gotten into the habit of making a second serving or some extra for him to have, which he always ate.

SLAM!

All the drawers and cupboard doors in the kitchen opened and slammed shut simultaneously.

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