Page 56 of Demons of Eden

No. Freaking. Way. He didn’t—did he?

“You named your carMolly?”

“No,” he answers flatly, keeping his eyes firmly on the very straight and entirely empty stretch of road ahead.

“So the car isn’t called Molly? Because it sure sounded like it.”

“I didn’t name her.”

“Sure you didn’t,” I say, agreeing to his non-answer with a roll of my eyes. “So, what did you want to talk about if not cars and whether you’re terrible at picking names? Speaking of, remind me not to come to you for baby name suggestions.” Not that I was planning on asking him for ideas. He’d probably suggest calling it evil demonic spawnling or something anyway.

“It’s—” Rio cuts off, looking like he’s sucking on lemons for a moment, before speaking again. “You could call this a…continuation of our conversation the other week.”

All the amusement drains out of me at his words, as there’s no mistaking what conversation he’s referring to. It’s not as if we spend a lot of time alone together. Does this mean he’s changed his mind, that I am influencing Daion and Torrin? He’d seemed pretty sure I hadn’t been when we spoke before, but maybesomething’s changed. Does Ash’s presence affect it? Is it more powerful now? There’s a heavy, sinking feeling in my gut as I consider all of the implications, all of them leading me back to one awful fucking thought.

Is my stupid succubus-powered lure the only reason they still want me around?

“Fuck,” he says, grunting the word out and snapping me out of my head. “Stop thinking so hard. I don’t need to read minds to know you took what I said the wrong way.”

“Well, don’t start a conversation off so ambiguously then!” I huff, forcing myself to relax back in my seat, having to consciously untense my shoulders. There’s an awful rigidness to my entire body which wasn’t there a few minutes ago.

“Just wait for five minutes. We’re almost there, and it’ll be easier not to divide my attention.”

We spend the rest of the journey to wherever it is we’re going in silence, the remaining drive taking closer to twenty minutes than five. It might only feel that long, though. Rio parks the car around the back of some unfamiliar buildings and tells me to stay put, darting out before I can object to being left behind.

So much for watching me…

Not wanting to tempt fate, I wait in the car, irritation growing every second until he gets back. I check my phone a few times and stare out the window while trying to figure out where he’s gone. I even rummage through the glovebox when the irritation threatens to turn into death by boredom.

Thankfully, the smell of food when he returns chases the sharp edges of my annoyance away. He shoves the paper bag of salty-smelling goodness across to me as soon as he enters the car. I pull it open and peer inside.

French fries?

“You brought me here for fries?”

“There’s a burger too, underneath them.” Rio shrugs. “Like I said, we’re here to talk. The food is a bribe to keep you calm. I’ve seen how Torrin handles your moods, and I’m not a complete moron.”

“Debatable,” I mutter under my breath, before shoving a couple of the fries into my mouth.Mmm.Just the right amount of salt, damn him. I hunt under the fries to see what burger he picked out, annoyed to see it's probably the one I would choose. There’s a bunch of different dips at the bottom of the bag too, so I can't even complain about that.

Oh well, it’s probably best not to taunt him now anyway. He might take my food away. As much as I’d like to object to the idea of anyone ‘handling my moods’, I’m too hungry to care right now. It’s his fault. He interrupted me when I was about to make something to eat.

“So, this is about your brothers?” I ask after eating my way through half of the fries. I’m guessing that much must be right, even if he isn’t about to accuse me of controlling their minds with my sex magic.

“It is,” he answers, glancing at my unfinished food as if he’d been hoping the distraction would buy him more time, but sadly for him, I can eat while we talk. While he talks, anyway.

“What about them?” I prompt Rio again, causing him to sigh.

“You need to hurry up and decide what you want instead of dragging this out.”

“What I want?” What the hell is he talking about? I grab another fry despite my confusion.

“I meanwhoyou want, I suppose,” he corrects himself, not that he seems happy about it. His steel-blue eyes are looking anywhere but at me, and his fingers drum nervously on the bottom of the steering wheel.

“I’m sorry?” I question, feeling like my brain must be stuck buffering. The little wheel in my head is turning, but nothing’shappening. That was…not what I expected him to say. I drop the fry back into the paper bag. It can wait for a minute.

“Look, as much as there’s a lot about this situation I don’t like, both of my brothers are clearly into you.”

I snort disbelievingly, promptly rolling my eyes at the glare he gives me for making the noise. “Fine. Physically, they’re into me,” I concede, unable to stop the bitterness from seeping into my words as I continue, “but not emotionally. I don’t know what you think, but it’s not like that.”

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