Page 10 of In My Closet

"Why? You respond well to those stupid messages on your phone from those men?" And now I've pissed off the confused demon, just great.

Letting out another long groan, I rubbed at my aching temples. "You know, I'm not even going to get into it with you going through my phone right now because I do not have the time or the energy." I didn't bother looking at him when I spoke because I was just done with him right now. "Just… Leave me alone. I have a deadline I have to meet that I'm behind on."

I was not in the mood to edit right now, but I—

And leave it to Valphan's disdain to interrupt my train of thought. "Well, if you didn't waste your precious hours on those stupid men vying for attention who were obviously incompatible with you."

And there goes the boiling pot.

Sucking in a deep breath, I slowly turned my chair around to face him with a saccharine smile. "Is that jealousy I hear? That's not very befitting for such a high demon prince like you to be jealous of a mere human." Instead of explosive anger, I was seething and calm as I spoke to him. Those also weren't the words I wanted to throw at him either, but it would seem that I'd be procrastinating tonight. "Though, you've no one to blame for the icky green-eyed monster besides yourself."

Serves him right for going through my phone behind my back.

Scoffing, Valphan sat up straight and crossed his arms with a scowl on his face. "Well, I wouldn't be so offended if you didn't waste your time with trash like them. I mean, seriously? The man is forty and has no job or ambitions in life. Also, why on God's green earth are you going out with someone nearly twice your age who is literally going to go nowhere in life? Hm?"

"Oh, as if I'm better off with your ancient ass," I grumbled sardonically with a roll of my eyes.

"Excuse you?" Valphan snapped back with a mock offense.

"No, excuse you." I snarked, glaring at him softly. "I am nearly thirty, and he was only thirty-five." I corrected him with some sass and a scowl of my own. "And it's none of your business who I choose to entertain."

"It is very much my business because you are mine, so the only person you should be giving your attention and time to is me." Okay, maybe this little jealousy thing on him was kind of cute with how his face pouted with his glaring gray eyes. Annoying but slightly cute, just very slightly.

Crossing my arms, I leaned back in my seat with my legs crossed. "Oh, and like you're any better? Last I checked, you're an unemployed demon who lives in my closet." I quipped back with a smug smirk.

"Nah ah, correction cupcake, I am trapped in your closet. I do not choose to live in this place, but even if I did, it wouldn't be in a closet." Then, his face twisted with a cocky grin, baring his sharp teeth at me. "I'd be right in your bed next to you."

Letting out a frustrated scoff, I grabbed the first thing within reach—a spare pillow on my bed—and chucked it at Valphan with a grunt. "I will kick you to the floor," I grumbled with a soft glare.

Valphan's eyes sparkled with joy as he threw his head back in a hearty laugh. Then, with swift reflexes, he caught the large pillow before it could hit his face and held it close to his chest, sporting a wide smile on his lips. Stuffing his face into the soft surface, he rubbed into it while inhaling deeply—like I could literally hear him sniff my pillow!

Keeping his face obscured by the pillow, he spoke up. "Well, if I can have a pillow, then I'll be more than happy to sleep beside you like your mangy mutt." I barely made out his words because they were so muffled.

"You are so weird," I commented with a roll of my eyes as I watched Valphan snuggle the shit out of my pillow like a dog losing itself with its favorite blanket or bed.

Popping his head back up, he grins at me goofily as if he just smoked a whole bag of weed. "You smell sweet and homey, like burning firewood and caramel."

Okay, creepy and a little weird, a little specific, but I couldn't argue with him because it was kind of sweet with how much attention he paid. "W-well, I don't want it back now after you've got your demon cooties all over it, so it's yours now." Also, he seemed a little too happy, and as much as I wanted to punch him in the gut, I couldn't bring myself to ruin his little moment right now.

"Will you leave me alone to work if I let you keep the dang pillow?" I asked in a low voice while slowly turning back around to face my desk.

Keeping the overjoyed grin on his face, he curled up on the floor with the pillow tightly in his arms. "Yes, I will be content with watching you work in silence if that is what you need." Using his thin, pointed tail, he fetched one of the many blankets stored in my closet to lay over himself.

"Do you have to watch me?" I grumbled with a soft huff, doing my best to focus on the manuscript on the screen before me.

Nothing stuck, no matter how hard I tried to read the endless lines of text. Words came up off the screen and bounced right off me like rain to an umbrella. The pair of beady gray eyes out of my periphery weren't helping by any means—damn psycho demon.

"Is something the matter?" Does he ever shut up? "You've been staring at the same thing for longer than usual. Is it that bad?" If he wasn't stuck to an area around the closet, I'm pretty sure he'd be right over my shoulder right now like a petulant child.

Well, he may as well be with his damn shadow hands!

"Would you…!" Seething under my breath, I slapped at the annoying shadow replica of his hands that rested on my shoulders. "Quit touching me."

Pouting and whining softly, he sat up straight. "But you're tense. You need a good rub to relax." Wiggling the hands in the air didn't help the whole creepy vibe. Like, okay, maybe in a strange way, it was cute, and if I were in a better mood and in good standing with Valphan, then I'd tease him about it. But not when I was annoyed as hell with him.

"Touch me, and I will move to my living room to finish working," I threatened in a flat voice, staring my stern face at him to emphasize the seriousness of my threat.

Yeah, that got him to pull his shadow hands back into the closet. "No, stay. I won't touch you, promise." The kicked-puppy look on his demonic face should be illegal. Not because it was horrendous or anything. He looked too damn adorable to stay upset at.

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