Page 11 of My Roommate from Hell
“No pressure if you don’t want to,” I say. “But you could come with me if you’d like?”
“It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do. Thanks for being cool, by the way.”
“About what?”
“The séance,” he says. “I’m sure you weren’t expecting to walk in on that.”
“It’s not like I walked in on you completely naked or anything.”Oh my God, why would I say that?
Zarmenus raises his eyebrows at me. “Well, the year is young.”
I try to move on. “Should we go now?”
“You don’t want me to change first?” Zarmenus teases, playfully lifting the bottom hem of his shirt.
Heat creeps up my neck as I bolt out the door. “I’m leaving now!”
I practicallyhearZarmenus’s smugness as he trails after me.
When he catches up, I do realize how underdressed he is. I’m in a sweater and jeans, and he’s in just a tank and shorts.
“Okay, you actually can’t go outside dressed like that, it’s cold out.”
“Are you slut shaming me?”
“You need long sleeves at least.”
“I don’tneedanything. I run hot. I only look human, remember.”
“You—”
I’m pulled up short when he grabs my hand and puts it on his chest. My eyes widen as I feel his skin is crazy warm. Roasting, even.
“Oh wow, that is… toasty.”And his pecs are like rocks.
“Perks of having demon blood.”
I snap my hand away and roll my eyes as I keep charging down the hall. “Speeding up now!”
He jogs to catch up to me. I reach the end of the hallway and jam my finger onto the elevator button.
“You’re curious about what I really look like, aren’t you?” he asks.
I’ve heard about this. Demons have multiple different forms, but they also have the ability to control their appearance. It dawns on me that the boy I’m looking at right now could just be a glamour. Maybe his skin and eyes are just hints at his true self.
“Yeah,” I confess, only slightly alarmed he can read me so easily. “Well?”
“I’m an unspeakable terror,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows. “I could show you one day, if you’d like.”
I swallow hard. “Hard pass.”
“Your loss.”
I can’t tell if he’s joking or not. The thing he was doing with his eyebrows makes me think he is.
“What do you think of this form?” he asks. “Rate me.”
He’s a ten, easy.
