Page 24 of My Demon Manny

Sloshy's was the kind of bar people went to for conversation and good drinks, which meant the music was soft and in thebackground instead of bouncing off my skull. Just the way I liked it.

"Oh, this place is nice."

Lux eyed two men sitting at a table with their heads bowed toward each other, murmuring softly.

Right. Since Jerry was pansexual and Kat was a late-blooming lesbian (her words, not mine), our bar of choice was also queer inclusive.

I supposed I was a late-blooming bisexual as well.

Chuckling at my own thoughts, I led Lux to the counter, and since the plan was to get drunk, we settled on some vodka shots. They were a favorite of mine, though the last time I had them, I was still in college.

Since I was a regular here, the bartender—Felix, a grumpy but genius mixologist—sent us off to a table, promising to have a server bring us our drinks.

When I discovered my usual booth was free, I decided the universe wanted me to get drunk with Lux.

I slid into the booth, and then blinked in surprise when Lux slid in after me.

"Sorry. The bench seat looked more comfortable." Why did I get the feeling he was lying? "I can sit on the other side if you want."

"No, it's okay. There's more than enough space for the two of us."

Smiling, Lux grabbed a tissue from the center of the table and then started folding it, humming softly under his breath.

I watched, mesmerized, as his lean fingers folded the paper this way and that until it transformed from a simple tissue paper to a bird.

"Wow. That was really neat."

Neat, really? That was the best compliment I could give him? Neat? What the hell was wrong with me?

Lux's eyes slid to mine, a small grin on his face. "Thanks."

Then he offered the bird to me, and I took it, careful not to crush it.

"If you want to keep it, just fold it from the other side and it'll be flat."

I tried it, and then grinned when it worked. "Thanks!" Carefully, I slid the bird in my pocket.

When I looked up, Lux was watching me with sparkling blue eyes, and I felt my heart skip a beat at the look on his face. It was fondness mixed with something else. Somethingmore.

Eleven

Lux

When our drinks arrived,I quickly grabbed one of the little glasses and gulped down the vodka, surprising myself and Archer. The whole 'giving him the origami bird' thing and his reaction to it had flustered me more than I'd expected, and I was sure my cheeks were bright red as a result.

Archer stared at me for a moment, then chuckled before picking up a glass and taking a shot himself.

"Fuck, that's good."

I raised a brow, realizing with a start this was the first time I'd heard him swear in front of me. I also realized that I reallyliked hearing him swear, which was a strange thing to like but oh well. I'd long since stopped trying to figure out what pushed my buttons and just accepted the fact that I was an oddball.

Right now though, it seemed like everything Archer did was turning me on, so I grabbed another shot, used a bit of magic to make it five times more powerful so it would have some effect on me, and downed it, humming at the pleasant buzz.

Archer and I chatted about inane things as we drank, and I sent up a silent thank you to Jerry for suggesting this. It'd been a fabulous idea, and I already felt much,muchbetter.

"You know, when that car was coming toward us, I saw the craziest thing," Archer said. He was sitting with his arms folded on the table, his head turned as he rested it on his arms and peered up at me. He looked mighty cute, if you asked me.

"Oh? What did you see?" I took another shot because why not? I finally felt properly drunk, and I wasn't going to allow my body a chance to burn through that alcohol too quickly.

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