Page 78 of Cursed by Death

I didn’t care to have my question thrown back at me like that. So, I didn’t answer it.

He blew out a heavy breath and his body relaxed back in the chair. I hadn’t realized he’d been so tense before.

“This is what normal people do, Ruby. They go out and get lunch together so they can talk about what’s going on in their lives and catch up.”

Normal people were definitely overrated and I’d never be anything like normal. “Why would we do that when you already know what’s going on in my life? If you’d like to share more about your life with me I’m certainly all ears.” I waved my handat him in the space between us across the table. “We don’t exactly have a normal friendship here, if that’s what you’d even call this. Thomas’s death brought us together and that murder has been solved. Don’t you have another case to move onto now?”

“Has anyone ever told you before that you’re kind of an asshole?”

No, no one had called me an asshole to my face before but that didn’t make it any less true. Still, it wasn’t nice to call me an asshole.

“I’m always going to have a case that I’m working on, that’s part of my job. For every case that gets solved five more land on my desk. But I thought I’d made it pretty damn clear to you that you’re not just a job and you never will be. It’s hard to tell if you’re trying to insult me with this bullshit or what. But you can give it up because I’m not going anywhere, you’re stuck with me. What, did you think that Thomas’s murderer would be caught and you’d just go off on your merry way? Clearly you haven’t been paying enough attention to what’s been happening here because if you did you’d never be asking me any of that shit.”

Somehow, he’d managed to say all of that without raising his voice and yelling at me. Which was surprising because I had clearly pissed him off.

Pissing off people was a gift I had long ago perfected.

“I noticed you don’t seem to act like this with Rally,” he remarked in a bitter voice with an angry twist to his lips. “He literally kidnapped me because he thought I was his competition and you’re okay with him enough to take one of his guards everywhere with you. Why don’t you try to push him away? Is it because I’m human, is that your problem with me?”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at him in shock. He couldn’t be serious, could he? “You sound like you’re jealous of Rally.”

I had come on to him and he’d rebuffed me. So why would he be jealous of Rally?

His face darkened as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going to lie to you, I absolutely am jealous of the relationship you have with him. Now I want you to be honest with me. Is it because I’m human and he’s not? I can understand that, and I’m not going to be mad about it, but you’ve got to know by now that I’m not prejudiced against you. I don’t care that you’re not human, that would never bother me, so why do you care that I am?”

My skin began to prickle for an entirely different reason. This was not where I saw this conversation with him today going at all. “I’m human,” I whispered hoarsely, practically choking on each word I pushed out.

His face softened, morphing into something incredibly soft and kind. It was almost my undoing.

“Baby,” he murmured quietly as he reached across the table and laid his hand over top of mine. “Your dad is the biggest, baddest demon around here and owns the underground. Your mother had been a vampire. Obviously, vampires can’t have babies so it’s a miracle for you to be alive. You might get away with pretending you’re human but you’re anything but. And I think you’re extraordinary.”

Chapter 40

My breathing was funny and I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to any of that.

We absolutely were not about to discuss what exactly I was or was not. If I said human than everyone else should leave it be and not argue with me about it when it really was none of their business.

The rest of his statement was just… insane? The Detective was definitely giving off serious mixed signals here where I was concerned.

One thing was for sure and it was that this meeting was absolutely nothing that I thought it was going to be. I guess I wasn’t going to lose him after all.

But I was definitely very confused as to what it was that he wanted out of this. He was giving off mixed messages and I didn’t know what to do with that. He wanted me one day and hadn’t the week before.

He confused the shit out of me.

I was saved from having to respond by our waitress showing up with plates of food. She placed them down on the table in front of us, asked if we needed anything else, and then disappeared back inside the cafe where she’d come from.

I didn’t exactly want to eat now because my stomach was in knots. I picked up a French fry and shoved it in my mouth anyway.

“I’m sure you’re probably confused by my prior behavior so I’ll just clear that up for you real quick. I think it’s obvious that I like you and that I’m interested in you. I had some things I had to work through and they’ll probably pop up again. But, if you’re interested still, I would like to try and date you, to see where this could go. I’ve never been this drawn to anyone before and I’d be an idiot not to give it a try. I feel like you get my job and wouldn’t put unrealistic expectations on me because of it, so there’s a chance that a relationship between us might actually work out. If you’re willing to try too, that is.”

I almost choked on my fry.

“What… uh…” holy shit. I had never been at a loss for words like this before. Unfortunately, the words came to me seconds later but they almost got lodged in my throat for an entirely different reason.

And his name was Rally.

Shit.

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