Page 6 of Knotted
Instead of waiting for his response, I headed to the pantry for my broom to sweep up my dinner. Goddamn it, I was starving.
“So, stabbing is off the table. I’ll make a note of it.” The laughter in his voice kind of made me wish I could put it back on the table. But I was probably too squeamish to actually stab him, anyway. I wasn’t a big fan of blood.
There was a snap behind me and suddenly one of the shadow creatures was beside me, reaching for the broom. I yelped and dropped it. The thing easily caught it and went to work cleaning up my mess.
“I apologize for your dinner. Will you let me feed you?” Asmodeus was close when I turned around, and I wondered how he’d crossed the tiled floor of my kitchen on claws without making a sound.
His clawed hand reached for my hair and I stepped back as far as I could, finding myself trapped between him and the cabinets, the counter digging into my back.
“No. I’ll let you take your demons and your stuff and get out of my house and out of my life.”
“But you summoned me, love. You wanted me in your life.” He leaned close, his muzzle going into my hair at my neck. “You called to me. And here I am. Things will be so much better once you stop fighting it.”
His breath was warm on my neck and when histongue swept across my skin the sensation that shuddered through my body was not revulsion. I closed that thought down quickly and shoved him back. He went slowly, trailing his furry jaw against mine as he moved.
“I am pretty sure I was trying to call to the goddess, not the devil.”
“And yet, I’m the one who heard your plea.” His hand came up again, claws tangled in my hair to angle my head back. It wasn’t painful or rough, but I didn’t want to be trapped by him. “The universe is quirky sometimes.”
“The universe can bite me.” I said, glaring up at him as I tried to keep my breath even.
The beast laughed, a booming sound I could feel rattle through me. “It’s not interested. But I am. You’d better believe I will.”
He released me, stepping backward and out of my space. Taking advantage of the distance, I ducked around him and left the room. I was tired of running in my own house, but I was more scared of what I would do if I stayed.
Chapter
Six
Ispent the rest of the night hiding in my room, hating myself for allowing the demon to take over my house. I didn’t know how to get rid of it. I’d called and asked Fern if I could try an exorcism, but Jax said that would probably only make him itchy and very mad.
I flipped through the book of spells we’d used to see if there was anything in there, but I already knew there wasn’t. There was not a single mention of a demon of any kind in the book. It made me wonder for the millionth time how and why we’d been entangled in this mess with Asmodeus. It really did not make sense.
The next morning, I woke alone. I changed quickly and snuck out of the house without looking for the demon werewolf. There were still hours until I was supposed to be taking the little girl I was nannying for the summer to a birthday party at the local skating rink, so I went to a local coffee shop for a hit of caffeine and a breakfast sandwich. While I sat there waiting, I used my phone to search for ways to get protection against demons. I had a feeling it was all a bunch of nonsense, but I was totally going to getsome salt and try putting some protection symbols on my bedroom door.
Couldn’t hurt, right?
Just before noon, I headed across town to the skating rink. Normally I was firm on not working weekends, but Logan was a full-time single dad and had a work event. His daughter was pretty much impossible to say no to. Which said a lot, because I was a teacher and spent all day every day telling little kids no.
A part of me wished there was any sort of spark with Logan. It could have been so easy to fall in love with someone like him. In fact, he checked so many of the boxes on my man bucket list, including being tall, blond, and good with kids. I had absolutely zero interest in having my own children, but I did love kids. Being a good parent was usually a pretty good indicator of how someone would be with their romantic partner.
I wasn’t halfway down the walk to the door before a high-pitched voice yelled my name. Moments later I was bowled over by a pixie of a girl with lots of straight golden hair and wide, blue eyes. Lily was five, three years younger than the third graders I taught during the school year. She had been in Fern’s class last year, and had introduced me to Logan when he’d asked her about possible summer care options. Fern was teaching summer school, but I had planned to take the summer off. For Fern’s sake, I’d taken the meeting with Logan, fully prepared to let him down easy. But I’d fallen in love with the ball of energy who was Lily.
“Hi there,” I said, kneeling to give the little girl a big hug and throwing a grin to Logan over her shoulder. “Are you excited to go skating?”
“So, so ‘cited!” She said, spinning out of my arms anddoing a turn to show off the purple tutu-dress she was wearing. It was very over the top for a roller rink, but Lily was firmly in her princess era. It was next to impossible to get her into anything but a pretty dress. The poofier or glitterier the better.
“Thank you for doing this,” Logan said. When I stood up and tugged on the slightly too short hem of my t-shirt.
I hadn’t been able to do laundry and was running short on clothing. Especially since I had been refusing to replace my wardrobe after gaining thirty-five pounds over the last year. I’d never believed in stress weight, but damn, it came at me with a vengeance.
I smiled up at the man and accepted the backpack and gift bag he was handing out to me. “It’s no problem. I’m happy to be out of the house today. You said you’d be back by three to get her?”
I didn’t have a car seat in my car since everything we wanted to do was within walking distance. If we did want to take an adventure further away, I would get the car seat from Logan before he left for the day.
“Yep. If I can get away sooner, I will. But I made it clear I had to be back here by three. I don’t want to take up any more of your day than we already are.” He ruffled a hand in the hair at the back of his head in a super endearing gesture. Once again, I wished I felt something, anything, for him. But there was nothing.
Just like there hadn’t been any real sparks with anyone for well over a year.
