Page 62 of My Demon Mate

Once the food has arrived, we sit on the luxurious couch and dig in.

In between bites, I ask, “Are you up for doing this tonight? We’ve been awake for hours.”

Raven nods as he holds a forkful of asparagus to my mouth. I smile and take it. The food here is fucking delicious. I’ve never tasted anything like it.

After watching me chew and swallow, Raven says, “I do not need as much rest as you do. An hour or two is enough for me to recharge. If I am really exhausted, a four hour nap is adequate.”

“Do you want to take a nap now? We have some time.”

He shakes his head, feeding me some mashed potatoes. “No. I am okay, baby. Now, what do you want to do with him? What is in your graphic novel?”

“Nightshade rips his head from his shoulders. With his bare hands.”

Raven’s smile is sexy and deadly. “I can do that. Anything you want me to do before that?”

Sighing, I hold my hand up to stop him from feeding me more. Thinking about Joey and how he treated me has my stomach turning. I want to do so many things to him, all the things he did to me, times one hundred. Times a thousand. Joey made my school years hell. One memory in particular sticks out, and it makes my stomach twist.

Raven picks up on my mood immediately, setting the fork down and pulling me onto his lap. “Tell me what happened.”

I lay my head on his shoulder, breathing in his strong scent, using it to hold me together. Thinking about the torment I went through, I fear it’ll tear me apart. “He had a nickname for me, you know? Piss Pants.” Raven growls menacingly, making me smile. “Not very original, but that’s what he went with after one day in the bathroom.”

“What did he do?”

Sighing, I slide off his lap and pull my knees to my chest, laying my head atop them. “We were in the same class from kindergarten until fifth grade. There was no way I could get away from the ridicule and bullying. I never spoke up because I was afraid teachers wouldn’t do anything and he’d beat me up more for snitching.”

I wipe a stray tear from my face as I recount one of the worst times I was bullied by Joey. They were all bad, but this one had me fearing for my life. “We were in fourth grade. We’d had a test that day, and I finished before everyone because I had to use the restroom. Our teachers never let’s leave in the middle of a test. I got permission to go and rushed out, so I wouldn’t have an accident on myself. I got to the bathroom and pushed into a stall, dancing back and forth so I didn’t wet myself as I undid my pants.

“He attacked me from behind. One minute I was pulling my zipper down, the next, my face was against the tile wall and Joey was punching me in the back of the head. I turned around, pushing him off. That was a mistake. Even in the fourth grade, Joey was bigger and stronger than me. He grabbed me by the back of the neck, punching me in the face. When I dropped to my knees and cried, he grabbed me by the hair and dunked my head in the toilet.”

I can still remember the shock of the cold liquid and choking on the water that went up my nose. “I was able to pull away to get air in, but Joey pushed my head back under, holding me there. I was fighting for my life, not worrying about my bladder. So I peed my pants while I was struggling. When he saw it, he let me go. I dropped to the floor, coughing and crying. He stood over me and said, ‘I’m going to tell everyone you pissed your pants. Piss Pants.’” I close my eyes tight, that memory threatening to drown me. “The name stuck.”

“Did not your teachers wonder why you were wet and injured?” Raven spits out, jaw clenched.

I shake my head. “I went to the nurses office and told her I had an accident but didn’t say more. The only thing on my mind was the fact that I was almost drowned in a toilet for no reason. I never found out why he targeted me that day.” I sigh. “Maybe he didn’t need a specific reason.”

The growl that rumbles up Raven’s throat has my heart dancing and a hesitant smile growing on my face. Knowing he’ll avenge me makes the memory of Joey almost killing me bearable to remember. “Ripping his head from his shoulders would be too kind. I will hurt him before I relieve his head from his body.”

I place a soft kiss on his lips, lying on his chest so he can comfort me. “That’s what I want from you. I want him to hurt.” Raven nods, a sinister smile on his face.

I haven’t thought about what happened with Joey in a long while. It takes a lot of effort, but I push the memory down. Nothing good will come from dredging it up. When he dies, I’ll never think of him again.

I can’t wait.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Joey says as he talks on the phone in his living room, pacing back and forth without a care in the world.

Raven and I snuck in a few minutes ago, my demon having burned off the knob on the back door so we could enter his home stealthily.

Joey is so focused on his phone call that he doesn’t even notice we’re inside.

“You ready?” Raven asks mentally.

“More than you know,” I answer, listening to Joey makes plans with someone for tomorrow. Too bad for him he won’t be alive for them to come to fruition.

He talks and laughs for another minute or two before he hangs up. I peek around the corner of the kitchen we’re standing in to see him in front of a bar, sipping amber liquid from a squat glass.

My blood boils as fear sings through my veins. I’m pissed at myself for still feeling terror when I look at him. After so many years of him being one of the people that scared me, it’s hard to let go of that. But there’s one other feeling inside me, fighting for dominance.

Hatred. I fucking hate him.

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