Page 141 of Demon with Benefits
Then Jacqui made a face. “You mean I drank demon blood to take the hellgate for nothing?”
Dan winced. “I was trying to give you space.”
“I don’t need space,” she replied. “I need my husband.”
He finally closed the distance between them, enveloping her in his arms. He held her tighter than he’d held Eva. Deep inside, the place in his heart that was reserved for her, the festering wound that had ached for months, finally became whole again.
“I love you more than life,” he told her, holding her close.
And this time, he was never letting her go.
Raum stood in the corner of the gallery full of fucked-up art and fought the urge to steal stuff.
There was a woman in front of him with a bag on her shoulder. He could bump into her, apologize with a hand on her back, and jack her wallet in under ten seconds. The guy beside her had a nice big lump in his back pocket where his wallet was. Probably stuffed full of bills. A slight jostle and he’d be relieved of that burden.
But no. Raum had promised himself he wasn’t doing that tonight.
It wasn’t that he cared about the immorality of it; it was more that his stash of pilfered goods was getting a bit larger than would be considered appropriate.
So he stuffed his hands into his pockets and tried to study his surroundings without the eye of a thief.
The gallery was small, one of those exclusive places that you wouldn’t be able to find unless you already knew where it was. There was expensive wine and cheese going around on servers’ trays and a bunch of artsy-fartsy humans deliberating the deeper psychological significance of Meph’s sculptures.
From what he’d overheard, they’d come up with some pretty wild scenarios, but no matter how far they reached, Raum was pretty sure they weren’t going to guess the truth.
Sticking out like sore thumbs, Mist, Asmodeus, and Belial wandered through the gallery. Eva and Lily kept Ash and Mist in line, but Bel was a different story. He was drinking more alcohol than was socially acceptable and being generally unartistic in his demeanor.
Not that Bel cared. Not long ago, a human had cleared their throat at him when he swore loudly. Bel’s responding glare had sent the man on an impromptu trip to the restroom to collect his nerves. Or clean up his underwear.
As for Raum, he was... brooding, which annoyed him. It was just, Meph looked happy—really, truly happy—and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
To a stranger, Meph always looked happy. The dope never stopped grinning like a dog with its tongue hanging out of its mouth. But to a brother who knew him better than he knew himself, there was always something dark in his eyes, a shadow of the monster he kept chained inside him, that he hid behind inappropriate humor and a disarming grin.
But not anymore.
With his fingers intertwined with Iris’s, Meph had walked her through the show, telling her about each piece, explaining how he’d made it and what it meant—if it meant anything besides him just making a freaky monster. Iris gasped and praised and looked at him with complete adoration, night and day from how she’d acted when they’d first met.
When they’d come to the final sculpture, the centerpiece of the show, her eyes had filled with tears. It was an obvious dedication to her, and her reaction proved it was a meaningful one.
Raum stood there in his dark corner, trying to make himself happy. Hewas, damn it. His brother had suffered for years, and he deserved this joy. He deserved a female who looked at him like he was the center of her world.
It wasn’t Meph’s fault that Raum had this weird hollow feeling in his chest. It wasn’t Meph’s fault that Raum’s entire identity had revolved around managing Meph’s dark side since they’d joined forces hundreds of years ago, to the point where Raum didn’t know who he was anymore.
With the huge gap in his memory, sometimes he felt like an empty shell. A walking, talking body with no one inside.
As Raum watched, Meph pulled Iris against him, kissing the top of her head. Her smile was indulgent as she melted into him, turning her face up for another kiss and lifting a hand to stroke along his jaw. She sifted loving fingers through his hair, pushing the longer strands out of his eyes, and they whispered quiet words of affection.
Raum felt like a fucking pervert watching them as closely as he was, yet he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away.
That was until Belial came up behind him—for a man the size of a mountain, he could be uncannily quiet when he wanted—and punched him in the shoulder.
“You jealous?” Bel said.
Raum shot him a glare that promised retribution.
“Too bad. You could have made your move centuries ago if you wanted him.”
Raum’s glare dissolved into revulsion. “What—?No.He’s my brother.”
