Page 26 of Unleashing Mayhem
And Nightmare would give it to him, wouldn’t he? He’d give Matty anything, it seemed like, and all he was asking for was everything in return.
“And I’ll hold you,” Nightmare confirmed.
Matty could barely contain his smug, tired grin as Nightmare lifted him into his arms and carried him up the stairs.
He really had summoned the most perfect demon.
8
Matty
Matty stopped short at the bottom of the stairs.
Sascha’s entryway was pristine.
No dead body, no broken glass, not a sliver of splintered wood to be found. The floor even looked cleaner than before, the hardwood almost sparkling in the early morning light.
Matty felt more than heard Nightmare come up behind him.
“You doubted me, little human?”
Matty shivered as that low rasp caressed the back of his neck. He hadn’t doubted his demon at all, but seeing the reality of it was different. It also begged the question—had Nightmare’s shadowseatenthe dead man?
It probably didn’t matter. Either way, Matty didn’t want to know. The body was gone, and that was enough.
“Your shadows did a very good job,” Matty admitted grudgingly.
Nightmare let out a low chuckle behind him, and a weight settled on Matty’s shoulder, followed by a tickling touch on his cheek.
Had one of Nightmare’s shadows justkissedhim?
Matty sighed, reaching sightlessly behind him to grab Nightmare’s hand and tug the demon into the kitchen. It was too hard to hold on to a bad mood when adorable, murderous shadow monsters were distributing cheek kisses.
It was a shame though. Matty had really intended to grump around for a bit, at least until his better sense got the best of him.
He’d woken up disturbingly well rested. He’d been wrapped around Nightmare again, both of them clearly aroused, and Nightmare had just…let Matty get up and get started on his day. He hadn’t asked for a hand, or offered Matty one, or alluded to the night before at all. And Matty had been too nervous to do it himself.
But he’d wanted to. He’d really, really wanted to. Nightmare had been so big and warm against him, and Matty had wanted to…slide around on him. Under him? On top of him? Or something. He wasn’t sure, exactly, but it probably would have involved rubbingonor rubbingoffthe demon. Rubbing of some kind, definitely.
But no rubbing had been offered, and thus had come the grumping.
Matty sat Nightmare down at the kitchen table, placing him in the oversized chair Kai usually chose. Then he set to work toasting his day-old blueberry muffin, since Nightmare didn’t seem to have any interest in “sampling the local flavor.”
He could feel Nightmare’s eyes on him, watching Matty in that unblinking way he had. The way that made Matty feel like nothing could ever escape Nightmare’s notice.
“What distresses you, sweet?”
There it was.
“Nothing,” Matty lied, peeking out of the corner of his eye to see how well that untruth landed.
Nightmare cocked his head. He’d disappeared his antlers again during the night, but they were back now. That was good—Matty had missed them. “I left not a trace of blood.”
“Clearly.”
Matty’s snark was met with silence, and Matty didn’t attempt to fill it. He was all weird and itchy and uncomfortable in his own skin. He wasn’t used to playing the brat. He wouldn’t have survived it in his old life and he was too scared of losing everything to try it in his new one. But he was…irritated. And he didn’t even know why. And that wasdoublyirritating.
“I do desire your touch, sweet.”
