Once they sat in her small living room with pale yellow walls, a worn blue sofa, and a matching, oversized chair, Larissa said, “Tell me about your nightmare.”
Janie pursed her lips. “It was about the one in the cave.”
Larissa’s expression turned crestfallen. She knew what “the one” meant. She’d also been captured and restrained by the incubus in the cave after she’d gone to search for Janie. “Don’t let my screwed-up brain screw you up too.”
Janie shook her head. “It’s not because of you. I still have nightmares sometimes. Do you?”
“Unfortunately,” Larissa agreed. “So does Roman.”
“How do you deal with them?” Janie gazed at her. “Oh wait—you have each other.” She exhaled with a slump. Having someone there with you,for you, had to be a comfort.
“Yes, there’s that, but it’s also knowing that they’re gone. The portal has been sealed. The demonscan’treturn.”
“How do you know that for sure?” Janie tapped her mug with her fingertip.
“Nobody can say that with any certainty, but it’s been almost five months without a sighting, so I’m pretty confident they’re gone. It’s a strong case. If you want me to stay here with you for a few days, I will. Or you can stay at the compound.”
“I know, thanks. Arto has offered the same thing, but I’ve declined.”
“Why?”
“Because the demons have already taken enough from me.” She exhaled, pushing her chest forward and edging her chin up. “I have to stay positive and look for brighter things. I can’t let them make me live in fear for the rest of my life—even when I’m afraid.”
Larissa sighed. “We’re all afraid sometimes.” She took a sip of her coffee and then gestured at Janie. “But I admire you. Always have. Your optimism is something a cynical former cop like me could never have.”
“That’s not true. You’ve lightened up so much since you met Roman, even after all the hell we’ve gone through. There’s something about him that brings out a softer side of you—and it’s a good thing.”
“I think you’re right. Although I still have a hard time letting my guard down, but it’s easier to do so around him.”
“Because you trust him?”
“Yes. I don’t fear that he’ll judge me—or reject me for being, well, me.”
Janie slanted her head. “It must be nice to be in that kind of relationship.”
Larissa’s lips twitched into a knowing grin. “I’m sure one like that is within your reach.”
Janie arched her brows. “Arto?”
“Yes, of course Arto.”
She pictured her shifter friend with his intense eyes that often tracked her, and her skin flushed. “That moment has passed,” she dismissed. “We’d never work. He’s so patient and good, and I’m so screwed up. I’m a walking beacon that attracts bad guys and danger. If we ever tried to date, he’d regret doing so immediately.”
“No way. He adores you.”
“And I feel the same—on a platonic level.” She rolled one shoulder. “Okay, I admit there’s an underlying attraction, but I make myself ignore it.”
Larissa sipped her coffee, and when she put down her mug, her brows edged closer together. “I get why you did that in the past after what you went through. But even now? You’ve grown so close.”
“And that’s exactly why I won’t risk it.” Janie rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Come on—look at my history with relationships. I have a terrible habit of going for the bad boys.”
“That’s not Arto.”
True, he was amazing and brave. “Still, nothing has lasted more than six months. If I try with Arto, and we fail, we ruin what we have. And I care about him too much to risk losing him. So, we’re better off as friends.”
Larissa jutted her bottom lip out. “It doesn’t have to fail.”
“The odds are against us. I’m still a mess after all I’ve dealt with and don’t know if I’m ready for a relationship, or if I’ll ever be. They’re hard enough, and that’s with humans who are the same species. If you throw in the whole gargoyle shifter and human combo into the mix, it could be a disaster waiting to implode.”
