Page 20 of Demon with Benefits
As for the humans, Lily was cringing and hiding her face against Mist, Eva was doing the same on Ash’s lap from the other chair, and Iris, who’d seen more than her fair share of horror films, wasn’t paying attention at all.
She was more focused on the hard, hot body pressed against her left side.
“Nice,” said Meph with a chuckle as a guy was savagely decapitated.
Yep, Meph had decided to show up for movie night.
He’d arrived late, letting himself into Lily’s flat like he owned the place shortly after they’d started the movie. Worse, with all the people crammed into this tiny room, there was only one place left for him to sit—beside Iris.
He could have sat on the floor like Raum, but no. Without so much as a glance in her direction, he dropped onto the sofa beside her, and the movie continued.
It was awkward and torturous—for Iris. Meph was still acting like she didn’t exist.
To make matters worse, it felt like her body was burning up at every point of contact between them. And considering Lily’s couch was tiny and Iris was already squished beside her and Mist, there were a lot of points of contact.
Meph’s thigh was pressed into Iris’s all the way up to the hip, and his shoulders were so wide, she had to lean way over to put a little space between them. Not that it worked.
He seemed oblivious to her struggles—to everything about her, really—while her heart had been racing since the moment he’d sat beside her with that ridiculous grin on his face.
To prove her point, he guffawed loudly as a zombie’s head exploded, and Iris squirmed uncomfortably. She couldn’t take this. How long was this damn movie? She was practically jumping out of her skin. It felt like hours had passed, but by her estimation they weren’t even halfway through yet.
Just when she was thinking up excuses to flee, to her surprise, Meph stood abruptly. “Be right back.”
“Want me to pause it?” Lily asked, peeking through the cracks between her fingers.
“Nah, I’ve seen this movie like ten times.” He winked at Lily before stalking from the room, and Iris felt a sudden hot burning in her chest.
It was Lily, she reminded herself. It wasn’t like he was flirting with her—
Oh god, was she jealous? The full weight of it hit her. She was jealous because he was turning his charms on someone, anyone,everyoneelse besides her. She got bland looks and blank stares or, worse, was completely ignored.
Because that was what she’d asked for.
Suddenly, she couldn’t stand it another second. She leapt up from the couch. “I’ll be right back too.”
“Do you want me to—”
“Nope, I’m good.”
She didn’t look back because she could feel the knowing looks burning into the back of her head as she disappeared down the hallway. She wasn’t sure what her plan was beyond knowing she couldn’t take another minute of sitting there pretending everything was fine.
Meph was in the kitchen, palms braced on either side of the sink, head down. He turned around when she came in, and his face darkened.
Iris shifted on her feet. “Just... grabbing a glass of water.”
Water. Right.That was a good idea.
Trying to look casual, she went to the cupboard and grabbed a glass. By the time she turned around, Meph had slunk away from the sink to the far side of the room as if trying to escape without her noticing. As she filled the glass with tap water and he continued to edge toward the hallway, she realized he had no intention of sticking around.
“Wait,” she said, before he could leave.
Iris Donovan, what the bloody fuck are you doing?
He stopped. “What.”
Her head came back a little at his sharp tone. “Don’t bite my head off.” She’d never seen him get mad before. She didn’t think she’d even heard him raise his voice.
His eyes narrowed, and he sure looked mad now. He took a step closer, looking primed for a fight. “Why are you always following me around?”
