Page 14 of Halluci-Dating A Demon
“I just figured most people would.”
“You figured wrong,” I say between clenched teeth. I should have been the one to die in that accident. Not him. I don’t remember our last words to each other or our last moments together before he died. I didn’t see him slip away; I was spared the bad memory. I was spared everything. It’s not fair for me to be spared from the nightmares too.
Lowering his head, he grabs the bottom of my hoodie and pulls it over his head. “Here’s this back. I’m sorry I took it. I meant to put it back before I left but had other things on my mind.”
“What about the candy you took? Did you not mean to take that either? And do you happen to know what happened to my Biscoff cookies?”
He shuffles from side to side, pushing the hoodie closer to me with his bottom lip slipping between his teeth. “I planned on giving all that back too. And once I can get to the store again I—”
“There you are,” Kyvian says, brows bunching together as he glances between us. With a curious expression, he tilts his head. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I was just asking for a cup of water. I don’t know how humans handle that much caffeine in one go.”
Grabbing a cup, I fill it with ice and add the water next. Two sets of eyes watch me as I set the cup on the counter. “Here you go.”
I almost leave my hand there when Arien reaches for it, wanting to see if that buzzing sensation will be there the same as all the times he touched me in my sleep, rubbing me on the arm and sliding his fingers in my hair.
Physical touch was always my favorite. Something I didn’t get much from Brody in the end. I’m not sure he was ever really very affectionate to begin with, but it was definitely one of my love languages. Adam would even joke about how he’d never met a man who liked to be hugged as much as I did. All these details about me are in my journals. Did Arien read everything? Did heread about the days Brody and I fought about stupid shit and how he purposely slept in the guest room to get back at me.
It worked too. I can’t forget how cold the bed was whenever he was away from it for too long. Once he showed me the difference between being wrapped in a warm body and lying alone, I struggled to go back to how things were before we moved in together.
“Thanks.” He lifts the cup and walks back to the table, Kyvian following closely behind him as he eyes the hoodie on the counter.
“Wait, isn’t that yours?”
Arien’s feet stop moving forward and his fingers tighten around the cup as he turns to look back at me. Those eyes pin me in place, and for a second I feel as paralyzed as I was in bed earlier when he was in my house. “No, that’s his. I borrowed it earlier today and forgot to give it back.”
Yanking the hoodie off the counter, I drag my gaze from his, missing those soft-purple irises melting into mine when I walk to the back. They’re chatting behind me, their words nothing but mutters in my ears the further I walk away. I don’t know how Kyvian reacted when Arien told him the hoodie was mine. I couldn’t focus on anything else but him. It was like nothing else existed but my little purple demon.
Wait . . . Did I say mine? I scrub a hand over my face, sighing deeply. Then I take another deep breath, letting all emotions roll off me when I think about how I used to call Brody that. It took over a year before I did, and here I am using it with a man I barely know. Setting the hoodie on a hook next to Ian’s jacket, I lean against the wall as a dizzy spell hits me. I close my eyes and open them again, steadying myself on my feet as I do my box breathing.
Once I’m able to free myself from the oncoming cataplexy episode, and the weakness in my knees lessens enough for mylegs to take me back to the front, I relieve Ian for his break and notice that Arien is gone. After gathering cleaning supplies, I approach the table he was at with Kyvian and stop, dropping the rag when I spot a note in the center.
Looks like I’ll have to guess what your favorite things are. I think I’ll have fun doing it too, and maybe you’ll get some laughs out of how many times I get it wrong.
Your sleep-paralysis demon, Arien.
Yours.That word sticks out to me the most out of everything else in the note. My heart does this weird flutter thing, and I read the word a few more times in my head, not connecting it to anyone else but him because even though I called Brody mine, he never did say it himself.
Seven
Arien
Kyvian drags me inside the book shop, not stopping until we’re in a small office in the back. “Okay, what was that all about back there?”
Blowing out a breath, I fold my arms in front of me, my nails digging into my skin. “He’s my new patient. The reason I’m here on a work visa.”
Kyvian’s eyebrows shoot up and he leans against the nearest wall, stroking his chin. “Are you sure that’s all, because your tail was doing that curl thing it does whenever you like someone.”
I roll my eyes, my hands pressing harder into my arms. No doubt they’ll leave behind fingerprints. I hate how well Kyvian knows me sometimes and how observant he can be. “Yes. Our relationship is strictly work related, and that’s all.”
“Mhm,” he says, not sounding convinced.
“It is,” I shout, shoving at his chest.
A short, high-pitched laugh spurts from his lips. “Okay, okay.” He raises his hands in the air. “If you say that’s all it is then I believe you.”
“Do you?”
