Page 64 of Laid Bare

Shit. I clutch my chest, backing away from the demon staring at me with hearts in his eyes.

I don’t know what he sees, but he falters, his fists clenching at his sides.

Needing a moment, I dart back to my room, slamming the door behind me. My back hits a second later, and I slide down, pressing my head against the wood.

Fuck. What the hell was that?

Why did I almost kiss him?

I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I can’t deny the way Zane’s presence affects me. It’s been this way since the day I met him. Only I kept my distance from him for this reason, among others. Now that option has been taken away from me, and I need to have a serious talk with my mates before something happens that I can’t take back.

“You okay, snow?” Bane knocks softly on my door. “Lunch is going to get cold if you wait much longer.”

“I’m coming. One second.”

I blow out a breath and compose myself, pushing the almost-kiss to the back of my mind to examine later. Much much later. Like when I’m alone and I can figure out these confusing as heck feelings.

Rejoining the guys, we sit around the coffee table, me cross-legged on the floor, while Zane and Bane take up the couch. Styrofoam containers cover the entire surface, each one packed with my favorite foods and some that I’ve always bypassed, worried it might be something that could kill me like the brains at the end of the buffet.

In the craziness of the morning, I completely missed the fact that Aero has been passed out on the couch on the opposite side of the room, closer to the demons’ rooms than mine. He didn’t even make his presence known during the chaos that reigned in the kitchen.

Lazy Pegasus.

We’re all quiet, ruminating over our own thoughts, but Bane breaks the silence, jumping up with a fork in his hand, reenacting Zane’s antics with the air fryer.

The rest of the day and well into the night, we talk about anything and everything, laughing at each other's jokes, and genuinely enjoying each other’s company.

And like an unspoken agreement between us, Zane and I never bring up our near-kiss in the kitchen.

The restof my week was uneventful, to say the least. I haven’t seen outside of my now-larger dorm since Tuesday when all the bullshit happened. Headmaster rock bird came by on Thursday and decided on his own that it would be best for me to resume classes on Monday instead of returning earlier.

Not that the prick shared what’s been going on with the situation.

Nope. He’s been tight-lipped about it, but I can assume things haven’t been progressing the way he hoped if I’m confined until Monday at the earliest.

So, the past few days have been spent practicing my magic and hanging out with the twins.

Yep. Freaking twins. Mind-blown.

I didn’t even know that’s what they were. Brothers, yes. But, honest-to-Lucifer, twins? I had no freaking clue.

Thanks, Zane, by the way, for my new phrase.

Everything is Lucifer this, Lucifer that. But my absolute favorite one I’ve heard many times over the course of confinement so far is Lucifer’s balls. It leaves me cackling and doubled over every time he yells it when something doesn’t go right.

And that happens a lot.

It’s now Saturday morning, and I’m waiting on pins and needles for Axel and Luka to get here. Their surprise has been what’s kept me going all week, and knowing them, I know I’m going to love whatever the heck it is.

From what I was told, it took a lot to convince Councilman Cassian and Headmaster Stonewell to allow this to happen, but they both relented when Axel finally gave in about the twins coming too.

It was supposed to just be the three of us, but our party of three has turned into five.

Not that I’m complaining, not really, but part of me feels like Luka, Axel, and I will never have alone time again if we have to keep bringing them wherever we go.

But semantics, I guess.

Since the guys never gave me any details, I decided to dress out of my normal realm of comfy clothes. My joggers were traded in for dark-wash jeans, and my hoodie is long gone, replaced with an oversized soft gray sweater that hangs off my shoulders.

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