Page 87 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
“Linda, how are you!” My mom starts off with a sweet endearment that makes me wonder just what bomb she’s going to drop on me.
“I’m good. Just getting ready for the press to start showing up,” I say, laying my head against Apollo’s chest as I fiddle with the hair at the nape of his neck.
“That’s great. I’m so excited for you. I know you wanted me to be there, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it out.”
“It’s okay, don’t even worry about it. You had to get your gallbladder removed and recover,” I say for the millionth time. She did desperately need it removed.
“I don’t want you to be all alone on this big day!” she wails dramatically.
“I’m not all alone. I have Apollo, Irene, and Charlie. Even Leonard might show,” I say.
“But those are new friends. They don’t know you,” she counters.
I beg to differ about Charlie, but okay.
“It doesn’t matter how new they are. They’re here for me. They care about me.”
“But don’t you want someone there who knows you?” she asks, and I feel her edging the point of the call.
Jason is still in town, the fucker. I’m not sure how he’s affording it.
I pull back from Apollo and stalk to the other end of the closet. “No, Mama, I don’t need him here. I don’twanthim here, or to be part of my life,at all.”
“But,mija, he loves you.”
I grit my teeth. “I have to finish my makeup before the cameras arrive. Will you be watching the news?”
“Yes, yes, of course. I want you to look beautiful! I can’t wait to see you.” She makes many kissy noises and I make them back and say goodbye.
I whirl back to Apollo, who’s crossed his arms and legs, leaning against the doorjamb.
“What?” I declare.
He shakes his head innocently. “Nothing.”
I stalk toward him and point at his chest. “You’re thinking something. I can see it.”
He chuckles. “I’m thinking your mother loves you very much.”
“And?” I poke him.
“And…” He wraps his arms around me and presses his face into my hair. “If he comes here, I might disembowel him.”
I laugh but know that somewhere in him is a monster who would go that far to protect me. It’s a little scary, but also kind of exhilarating.
“You don’t need to murder him,” I say, looking up at my sexy demon.
He grumbles. “But I want to. No one hurts my witch.”
“He hurt mebeforeI was your witch,” I say, tapping his nose.
His eyes glow like ice lit by the northern lights. “You’ve always been my witch; we just didn’t know it.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask what he means when there’s a heavy knock at the front door.
I jump, yelping as I extricate myself from his hold. “They’re here! My makeup,” I whine, clapping my hands to my mostly bare face. I’d only managed some eyeliner and mascara before throwing a tantrum about my hair.
“You’re a businesswoman,” Apollo says as he grabs my hands and pulls them away from my face. “And you’re perfect.”
