Page 5 of Where Demons Hide

I’ve seen that wine bar, on my first date with Reid. Only then, there was yellow tape over the doors and the windows were covered in brown paper.A robbery gone bad.That’s what he’d told me had happened. Right before that same fortuneteller delivered her foreboding message.Death walks the Earth hidden beneath a three-piece suit and a breathtaking smile.And again the second time I saw her—when she told me about the fire. When I ran from her, straight into Callisto. He was standing there, by that bar.

I take deep breaths, fighting off dizziness. Everything feels connected all of a sudden, but the pieces are a blur. Like something is missing.

My eyes snap closed, trying to quiet the humming of my thoughts.

A hand grips my elbow, startling me.

“You okay?” Jaxon asks.

I open my eyes and focus on his face. “Yeah. I just want to go home.”

The fortuneteller shouts across the street, “He may be gone but the fruits of his labor remain.”

A cold gust of air swoops past me.He.Who ishe? I try to breathe through the panic, to pretend I don’t want to run.Reid is gone.Is that who she’s talking about? Is she talking about whatever happened at that bar? Is she even talking to me at all?

Jaxon drapes his arm over my shoulder. “She’s crazy, Maks. They do that shit for attention.” He starts walking and I move with him. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride.”

She’s crazy.That’s what Reid said. Then, she showed up right before he died.

He drops his arm. “Oh, here.” He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a phone, then hands it to me. “You left this at the restaurant.” His eyes shine when he smiles. “I guess it’s a good thing I ran into you, after all.”

The restaurant?Of course.The bathroom.I wanted to get away from that conversation, so I left in a hurry.

“Speaking of running into me. You never told me—” My words stop when I see four missed calls and three texts from Callisto. I hold a finger up. “Hold that thought.” I call him back, but it goes straight to voicemail, so I open the texts.

The only acceptable reason for you not answering your phone is that you’re somewhere, thinking of me, with your fingers buried in my pussy.

Makenna…

When I get home, you’ll be lucky if I let you leave my bed.

My belly clenches. Heat rises up my neck and to my cheeks, sizzling my skin. In the ten seconds it takes to read his messages, the world stops spinning. He is the gravity, keeping me from falling over the edge of madness. I want him. Need him. He’s infected me. He’s the poisonandthe cure.

“Maks?” Once again, Jaxon’s voice drags me out of my own head. He’s holding the passenger door open, waiting for me to get in his car.

“Sorry.” I shove my phone in my pocket, even though his measured breaths are a good indication he probably read the messages already. “Thanks,” I say as I climb inside.

The ride back to Suppato’s is quiet for the most part. Jaxon turns the radio up while I stare out of the window wondering things like, who were those men? Who was that other woman? What did any of that have to do with Callisto? Why did Eva really bring me to that bar?

“You don’t happen to know how to change a tire, do you?” I ask Jaxon once we get back to my car.

He laughs. “Why don’t you just ask to see my man card?” He walks around to my trunk, tapping it for me to open it. “Of course, I can change a tire.”

My phone rings as I’m reaching for my key fob. I grin like a schoolgirl when I see Callisto’s name.

“Hey, stranger.”

“Tell me you’re in your bed naked.” His velvet voice pulls me in, as if I’d been immune to all other sound until now. Blood rushes through my veins, and I have to stop myself from visibly panting.

“I’m outside of Suppato’s with Jaxon.”

“Why?” It’s a low growl. Tension buzzes through the line.

“There was an incident.” I glance at my flat, choosing not to tell him about Eva just yet. “He’s changing my tire.”

“Hand him the phone.”

I walk around to the back of my car and hold the phone out to Jaxon. “He wants to talk to you.”

---