Page 16 of Demon with Benefits
Meph pouted, sticking out his lower lip. “Pretty please?”
Ash shoved him hard enough to send him staggering into the stove. “Never make that face again.”
Meph just laughed, turning and opening the fridge to scan the contents. He found leftover pizza on the bottom shelf, dug in to grab a slice, and ripped a bite off like a wolf digging into a carcass.
The fridge door slammed, and he spun around, mouth still full of food. “W’ll ’av fn n’ll see’o guys la’er.”
And he was gone as abruptly as he’d appeared.
Before Iris knew what she was doing, she was muttering, “I’ll be right back,” and following him down the hall.
Why, she couldn’t say. She had so successfully repressed all emotions regarding Meph that she couldn’t identify them anymore.
“Meph.”
He stopped and turned back moments before he was about to disappear into his bedroom. His left brow, the one with the piercings and tattoos, rose in question, but he didn’t speak. He still had half a pizza slice crammed in his mouth.
Damn it, why was he so hot? Why couldn’t Iris think about anything else—literally anything else—when she was around him?
“Um...” She had no idea what she planned to say. She had no idea why she’d followed him.
Meph swallowed his bite. “You need something?”
His face was blank. No mischievous glint in his eyes, no sardonic tilt to his mouth or quirk of his lip. Just blank.
“How... are you?”God, no. That’s just bloody terrible.
“Fine. You?”
“Fine.” It was the most awkward conversation she’d ever had.
“The puppy’s cute.” His face was still blank. No jokes, no teasing, nothing.
She hated it.
“Yeah. He—Someone left him on my doorstep.”
“Good thing you found him, then.”
“Yeah. It is.”This is the worst. Someone just kill me now.Why had she thought this was a good idea?
“’Kay, well, gotta go.” He turned without a backward glance. “See you around.”
And the door closed in her face.
Iris stood there rooted to the ground, and it finally hit her why she’d chased after him.
She’dwantedhim to tease her and make her mad. She’d wanted to snark at him for always following her around. She’d wanted him to flirt and push her buttons until she snapped and told him to leave her alone.
From the moment they’d met—him showing up at Lily’s to demand where Mist was and laughing when Iris threatened him with a kitchen knife—that had been their dynamic. He flirted with her, called her mildly offensive pet names, and teased her until she got pissed off enough to tell him to shut up. And she rolled her eyes at his stupid jokes and acted like he was the bane of her existence.
He was the most unserious person she’d ever met. His stupidly gorgeous face was perpetually split by a shit-eating grin, he was loud and insensitive, and his maturity level was on par with the average teenage boy. The fact that he was a demon had only made her more determined to stay away from him. To refuse to admit he had any redeeming qualities.
She knew she had crossed a line the night of her birthday, but it had worked. She’d finally gotten her wish. He was doing what she’d told him to do. He was leaving her alone. He wasn’t teasing her or laughing at her or doing anything at all.
She wandered into the bathroom down the hall just so she had an excuse to offer if the others asked where she’d been.
This was what she needed, she told herself as she washed her hands and stared at her face in the mirror. This was what was best. She was trying to make positive changes, cutting toxic people out of her life.
