Page 28 of The Daughters of Nyx

As if realising what she’d done, she dropped the lock of hair like it burned her and sat back. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” I said, missing her touch. “But yeah, Mom was feeling the exact same way.”

Ivy’s phone pinged and she looked down with a smile. “I’m sorry. It’s my friend, Thea. She’s wondering where I am.”

Cursing under my breath, I checked my own phone. 4:37PM. “We have been sitting here for a while,” I said, grimacing as two texts from Rowan popped up from an hour ago.

Ivy gave me a bitter smile and texted her friend back. “She was just worried. I told her Rowan hadn’t shown up and she thought maybe he’d stood me up. When you arrived, I didn’t exactly get a chance to tell her everything was okay, and that I wasn’t alone.”

I’m not sure what it was about those words that almost sent me spiralling, but I stopped myself before the thoughts could take over.

Ivy’s gaze flickered from me, to the front counter. A half-smile twisted her red lips. “I think it’s time for us to go,” she whispered loudly, cheeks reddening.

I frowned. “What—” Turning in my seat, I got a good look at the unimpressed faces of the staff. “Oh.”

Ivy slipped from her seat, and I took her in; the dark green, long-sleeved shirt was tucked into a pair of jeans. The fabric clung to her delicious curves, outlining the slopes of her stomach and breasts. And despite the obvious fact that we needed to go, I didn’t want this to end.

“Can I walk you home?” I asked, the question tumbling from my lips before I could stop myself.

A smile brightened her lips as she picked up her flowers. “I would like that very much.”

~

“Thank you for walking me home,” Ivy said, cheeks reddening as she smiled up at me. Her eyes twinkled, and fuck, my stomach fluttered with each look she gave me. From the softness of her face, beautiful and delicate, to the swell of her breasts, the suppleness of her stomach, to her ass—which I’d had the fortune of staring at while climbing the five flights of stairs up to her apartment—and her thighs. Every part of her almost brought me to my knees then and there.

I leaned back against the wall beside her door and grinned. “Thank you for giving me the chance to make it up to you.”

Ivy shook her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong—and neither did Rowan.” There’s a strain to her voice that made me stiffen. “Anyway, I…I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with you, Adrian.”

The tension in my shoulders dissipated as she slipped her key into the door. Something tumbled inside the apartment across from Ivy’s, and I looked over with a frown. 504B.You’ve

got to be fucking kidding me.It’s almost like fate was giving us the upper hand.

The door to Ivy’s apartment swung open, but she didn’t make a move to step inside. Her eyes—a beautiful mix of browns and amber, rich and sublime—met mine. She opened her mouth to say something, but the door across from us swung open to reveal a pissed off Elias and frustrated Jay. Soot and grease coated their hands and faces. Elias had a nice tear in his shirt, revealing the defined lines of his abdomen as he flexed, staring at the mess on his clothing.

Ivy’s wide eyes flickered over to Elias, and I almost cursed under my breath.

Jay didn’t even notice me at first, cursing the gods and stars. “By Nyx’s fucking grace, I swear to the depths of hell—” He stopped when his eyes landed on Ivy. “Sorry.”

She blinked, giggling nervously. “It’s alright. Heating system? I don’t think this building has been updated since the sixties.”

“More like the prohibition,” Jay replied, an easy smile twisting his lips. “I’d offer you my hand, but unfortunately, the blood of the heating unit coats them.”

I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I took a step, entering Jay’s line of sight. My blood sang with annoyance, and I didn’t know why. I knew Jay; he’d taught at the academy, and gave classes on undercover work in the human world. He was our emergency contact in case something went wrong.

And yet, my magic screamed for me to rip his eyes from their sockets just forlookingat her.

Jay’s dark blue eyes found mine, and he stepped back, surprised either by my presence—or the anger burning in my eyes. “Hey, what’s up? It’s been a while.”

My eyes narrowed. Jay was half-demon, broad in the shoulders and waist, shorter than me by a couple of inches, with dark, thick-lined tattoos lining his bronze skin. “Why are you fighting the heater?” I asked slowly, crossing my arms.

“Probably because this building is falling apart,” Ivy guessed from behind me. When I looked back, she had her arms crossed over her chest, accentuating the swell of her breasts, and leaned casually against her door frame. When her eyes found mine, there was something strange hidden within the warm browns that I couldn’t read.

“It fucking died when we started bringing boxes up,” Elias growled, wiping his hands on his dark-wash jeans.

“So, who exactly is moving in?” Ivy asked, head cocked.

Jay smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Not me, thank the Goddess. I’m just the removalist.”

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