Page 49 of Bad Demon

I shoved back the covers and got out. “I need to get to work.”

He yawned, stretched, then shoved back the covers as well and stood.

My gaze sliced down his body, and I froze.

He wore only a pair of boxer briefs, and the fucking baseball bat straining the front of them had my eyes widening.

“Holy fuck,” I said under my breath.

He turned to me, looked down at himself and his enormous hard-on, then back up. Of course he’d heard me. I expected a cocky smile, but he didn’t wink or make some boast about how big he was. No, he frowned before he kind of lifted his hands, as if he was afraid I’d bolt. And I couldn’t lie—I was seriously thinking about it.

For a being with limited emotions, he had worry written all over his face. Did he recognize his own emotions right then? Did he know that’s what he was feeling?

“It looks bigger than it, uh … is?”

“I don’t think that’s how that works,” I said, kind of pleased that it was him looking uncomfortable for once, though I didn’t really understand why he was being so weird. I kind of felt like I had to make him feel better about his massive dick, which was ridiculous. “No, I wasn’t pleased that I woke up with that monster in your pants digging into me, but seriously, don’t sweat it. Your dick is none of my business. I’m fine now, truly.”

His nostrils flared. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“Though, I will say, your dick is terrifyingly large.” Okay, maybe I was enjoying it a little too much, him being awkward instead of me.

He froze.

“Question: are you still a virgin?”

He still didn’t move; he just blinked at me several times. “No,” he said.

“I’m honestly surprised you’ve had any takers for that thing. If I saw it coming at me, I’d turn and run the other way. No offense.” I grabbed my boots and sat on the couch.

Relic tugged on his jeans with jerky movements. “None taken.”

I slipped on my boots and noted he looked kind of pissed off now.Shit. I’d been joking around—kind of—but I hadn’t wanted to hurt his feelings. I mean, after everything, he’d never been unkind to me. I didn’t have control over what he said, obviously; he could have been an asshole after what I had done to him, but he hadn’t been.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings—”

“I don’t have any, Fern,” he said.

But the way he’d said that I didn’t believe him. He felt something, in that moment at least, maybe not as much as other beings, but he did, and I’d definitely offended him. I didn’t like that.

“Relic, I …” I took a step toward him as he tugged a shirt over his head.

His gaze came to me, and he waited for me to finish.

Crap.

“You’re …” I motioned to him from head to toe. “All that you’ve got going on—the muscles, the hair, the face, the … abs, and that chest—it’s all, really good.” My face was on fire, but I pushed on. “You’re a good-looking male, the whole package.”

His brow arched.

“What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry if I offended you. You can say I didn’t, but I can see that I did. You seem like a really good guy—for a hellhound. So, I just wanted to say that some female—with seriously special skills in the bedroom department—will be lucky to have you.”

There. I’d thrown the dog a bone, but as I’d said it, an awful feeling had fisted in my chest, then tugged—hard—like it had when he hugged Willow. The idea of another female with Relic, waking up in his bed with him like I just had, didn’t sit well with me at all for some reason. Again, I had to assume it was because I owned his soul. That had to cause a certain level of possessiveness, right?

Relic hadn’t said anything, and I glanced back up. He was a giant hellhound statue, all except for the muscle at the side of his jaw, which was pulsing, like he was grinding his teeth.

“I feel like I just made it worse somehow.” I bit my lip. “I was trying to be nice. I’m, uh … not very good at it.” Nice was another vulnerability that I avoided, and it was easy to avoid when you didn’t have any friends or family. “Did I make it worse?”

“You know what? I think it’s quiet time.” He jerked on his leather vest, shoved his feet into his boots, swiped his keys from the bedside table, grabbed his jacket, then took my hand and led me from the room.

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