Page 87 of Demon Kissed
I wait for the flurry of butterflies that I always expected to feel when I dreamed about this moment, but they don’t immediately come. I chalk it up to nerves as I stare at my crush’s handsome, heavily tanned face.
“You…want to go…onadatewithme?” The last several words blur together as my tongue trips over itself in shock. I can feel heat rushing to my cheeks in mortification as William’s smile grows. It’s apparent he finds amusement in seeing me flustered. I clear my throat with the intensity of a dying hyena and attempt to adopt a nonchalant (totally not nonchalant) posture. “I mean, you want to go on a date with me?”
Janie’s face briefly flashes in my mind—the genuine pain in her eyes when she accused me of stealing William—but I wash that image away in an ice-cold wave. She has been nothing but a jealous, nasty bitch to me since elementary school. She doesn’t deserve my sympathy.
Besides, I’ve been in love with William Washington foryears. Don’t I deserve this? Don’t I deserve just one date with the guy I’ve been pining for since I first learned what a vibrator was?
“I heard that on the last day of the tournament, we get a few hours of free time,” William states. “And I was hoping I could maybe take you out for dinner?”
“I… Yes!” I all but scream. Hoping to regulate my volume, I tack on, “I mean, of course. I would love to go on a date with you…Willie.”
Willie?!? Did I really just steal his ex’s nickname for him?
This is why you’re single, Kat.
If William noticed my slip, he doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he merely smiles softly before jabbing his thumb over his shoulder.
“I need to go grab my suitcase, but I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”
“Yeah,” I mutter, my heart in my throat. Literally. I can feel each consecutive thump like I’m swallowing the organ whole. And if there’s any organ I’m swallowing whole, it’s not gonna be a heart, if you know what I mean.
I have a date withWilliam Washington.
The sky has fallen. Hell has frozen over. And somehow, the demons pulled off this impossible matchmaking quest.
“Oh my gosh,” I breathe, spinning on my heel to see Raz and Kastros both staring at me with indecipherable expressions. Raz is holding a handful of keycards, his arm halfway extended as if he was preparing to hand me one. But his expression is frozen, a deep crease between his brows, and his lips are thinned. Kastros appears as impassive as always, except for a brief glint of pain in his dark eyes. “I have a date with William Washington,” I say out loud, and Raz’s lips twist into a scowl.
“Good for you, princess.” The hostility in his voice takes me by surprise as he shoves a keycard into my hand. Room 666. Huh. Cheeky demons.
Without a word, he stomps away, leaving me alone with a blank-faced Kastros.
“What’s his problem?” I mutter, boring holes into Raz’s retreating back.
I thought he would be happy for me—and happy to finally be rid of me once and for all.
So why does he look so…heartbroken?
And why does my heart feel broken as well?
30
I endup in a room with Alanna and Janie, so that’s not awkward at all. Our evening is full of pillow fights and nail painting, not bone-crushing silence or ninja-throwing-star glares… This is said sarcastically, by the way.
Actually, the constant sound of Alanna mumbling as she flips through notecards in a frantic last-minute review is pretty much as good as the conversation gets.
Akor’s van isn’t back yet, though Adam has been texting me on Zolroth’s phone. And when I say texting, I mean sending me cute little poop emojis. I can’t slip into the hallway because Raz put duct tape from the door to the doorframe so that we can’t sneak out, so I slip into the bathroom to video chat with Adam.
I call Zolroth’s phone, and he picks up on the first ring. “You’re in huge trouble—”
His lecture is cut off when Adam calls out, “Is that Katty? I wanna see her!”
Unable to refuse Adam’s imperious commands, Zolroth hands over the phone, and I see my little brother’s adorably chubby cheeks. “We saw the giant yarn!”
“Cool! Did you take a picture?”
“Only about a zillion!” Adam bobs his head to whatever song is on the radio. “Katty, look!
Semi-truck!” He forgets to turn the phone so I can see what he sees. But I’d rather look at his adorable little smile anyway.
