Page 35 of Widow

Chapter 9

Kai

Istepped out into the chilly night air with my arm around Lia's waist. She was struggling to walk in a straight line, but I made sure I had a tight hold on her.

"I don't see why I can't just take an Uber. Then I could sleep in my own bed in about twenty minutes." Her words were slurring, but she was still coherent.

"I told you already. I don't trust Uber drivers. Plus, you're wasted."

After our midnight kiss, she had several more glasses of champagne. I couldn't tell if she was drinking more because the kiss bothered her, or if she was drinking more because she was worried about Lucifer and Alaric. I was hoping it was the latter.

They were off fighting demons on the Santa Monica Pier. There hadn't been very many demon attacks lately. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, had made it through months ago when the barrier between Earth and Inferna, a.k.a. Hell, almost came crashing down.

Luckily, the angels had taken care of most of the demons. But there were still a few stragglers left. The more intelligent ones had been hiding throughout the city. On occasion, they would come out and stir up some trouble.

I was only privy to this information as a Fallen because I was a well-respected business owner in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Plus, I had helped find out where Lucifer was being kept back when his ex-lover, Lilith, had taken him hostage.

"You'll be better off sleeping at my place. Then tomorrow, I'll take you home." She was really struggling to walk. Luckily my place was only a few blocks over.

"You're so nice. Why are you so nice?" She turned her head towards me and stopped, causing me to stop as well. She had a grin on her face. She brought her hand to my cheek and tapped it lightly.

My breath caught in my throat at her cool touch against my skin. I wanted her to keep her hand against my cheek, but she dropped it limply to her side and tilted her head to the side in thought. "What's that look for?"

"Just thinking about our kiss." She giggled like she was a teenager. Since I had met her, she was always worrying, but now her worries seemed to be far from her mind.

"Yeah? What about it?" I started walking again, pulling her with me. We were almost to my building. I was hoping we would make it there without any major drunken incidents occurring.

"It was nice. A man hasn't kissed me like that in, well, ever. Not even my ex-husband kissed me like that."

I raised my eyebrows at her revelation of having an ex-husband. She was full of surprises. I was quite taken aback that she even allowed me to kiss her. I was even more surprised that she seemed a little too interested in our conversation earlier about multiple men.

Would she be into something like that? Having three boyfriends, or even two? I wasn't sure how I felt about sharing a woman with my friends, but I guess if it came down to it, I was willing to try anything.

It's not like traditional relationships worked for me. Things started to get weird after a while because of my Fallen status. As in, I didn't age hardly at all.

I could die, though.

Alaric and Lucifer would never share a woman like Lia. She was drop-dead gorgeous with her often unruly blond hair and blue eyes. Plus, she had a very nice ass.

The fact was that, out of all three of us, she knew me the least. She spent most of her time with Ric and Lucifer, yet she had chosen me to share a kiss with. That was saying something.

I just didn't know exactly what it was saying.

"I think you're drunk right now, and you're really going to regret some of the things you're telling me when you wake up tomorrow. That is if you remember what you've told me." I swiped my key fob to open my building's door. "So, this ex-husband of yours, how long ago were you married? Do you have any kids?"

She shook her head, and her smile turned into a frown. "Five years ago. He was a misogynistic asshole, and we didn't see eye to eye. He wanted kids and wanted me to stay home and be a housewife, and I wanted a career. I wasn't ready for kids. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for kids. My parents were shitty. When I was five, I found my mother in the bathroom drowning in a pool of her own vomit."

I couldn't even begin to imagine what that must have been like for her. She seemed to have no one in her life, especially given her current predicament. We were similar in that regard.

After taking the elevator up to the fourth floor, I opened my front door. We walked inside the foyer, and I turned on the lights. All of her woes were forgotten as she took in my living room.

Now, I admit, I have a slight obsession with mermaids. Typically, when I brought a woman back to my place, I had to really like her, and vice versa. When a woman sees that the mermaid obsession extends from my business, she has to have a certain level of understanding, otherwise, it can kill the mood real quick.

Mostly, women just think it's cute.

"Wow, it looks like a beach threw up in here." She was referring to the light-colored furniture, the blue clamshell-shaped accent chairs, and the distressed turquoise and white ship-lapped accent wall. Not to mention the various mermaid paintings and mermaid related accents.

"When you're dying, and you think you see mermaids… I don't know. I've always felt a connection to the sea and mermaids. Is it going to be a problem?"

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