“Fuck you!” She glared at me angrily. “Daisy was carefully planned. I thought I loved that shithead. Thought we were forever.”
I patted her knee and pretended I didn’t notice her eyes welling up. “Sorry, Sis. You are right. Now what has the dickhead done now?”
Ezme narrowed her eyes at me for a long moment but when she grabbed the bottle of wine from the coffee table and topped up both our glasses, I knew I had won. She was going to tell me everything. In juicy glorious detail. And we were going to get very drunk together. By the end of the evening, I wouldn’t even remember Jinx’s name.
Chapter eight
AfewweekslaterI was sitting on my sofa, staring into Rufus’s brown eyes while he waffled on about his latest magical experiment. All I could think was how Jinx would never drone on for this long. I mean, he couldn’t talk at all, but even if he could, it just wasn’t his style.
Another wave of sadness washed over me. There had been no sign of the demon for weeks. He was out there exploring the world, having fun. There was no point in pining for him.
Which was why Rufus was here. The fellow mage had responded to my booty call lightning fast. Getting to my house in record time. It was immensely flattering. I was a gentleman though, so I had poured him some wine and now we were sitting on the sofa talking. Well, he was talking and I was pretending to listen.
I nodded at what I hoped was an appropriate time. My gaze drifted over his handsome face and over his good looking body. We’d hooked up many times before and I’d always had fun. He had that nerd stud thing going on. Rufus dressed and acted like a nerd, but get him undressed and in the bedroom he suddenly turned into a porn star. A very enthusiastic porn star. It was a trait I had certainly appreciated in the past.
I suspected he was hoping that at some point I’d decide to settle down with him. He was perfectly pleasant and from a good family. My mother would be pleased. His mother would be pleased. Maybe I should. It wasn’t a terrible idea. I adored his cat, Mr. Fluffykins. If I moved Rufus in, I’d get the feline too. It didn’t sound like a bad deal. And Rufus was a far better option than some mundane I’d always have to hide my magic from.
Though at the moment I’d have to hide my mobster murder spree from him. It was going well. I was tracking them down one by one and dispatching them efficiently. Like I was some sort of dark avenger. Just call me Batman. Except they had done nothing to me, and my morals didn’t stretch to caring what mundanes did to each other. Once I had eliminated this gang, another would merely take its place. I wasn’t doing any good at all. Just looking after my own ass.
“Seb, are you listening?” asked Rufus.
“Hmm?” I said with my brightest smile.
“I said, shall we go to the bedroom?”
I scrambled to my feet. Rufus chuckled at me. Smiling sheepishly at him, I turned and led the way to my bedroom, while trying to quash my ridiculous sense of guilt. Jinx was long gone and besides, he was an incubus, it was hardly like he was out there being chaste. I had needs too, and it wasn’t like we were even in a relationship. Or had ever been in a relationship. Whatever there had been between us was history. He was gone and clearly wasn’t coming back. Time to move on.
“Are you okay, Seb?” asked Rufus, his voice full of concern.
“Never better!” I beamed.
I pulled him into the bedroom and shut the door. Stripping my clothes off, I quickly jumped onto the bed and looked up at him expectantly. He grinned at me and started removing his clothes, revealing his toned body. I tried to enjoy the sight. I should be lapping it up and loving every second. I didn’t know what was wrong with me.
Suddenly he yelped and half turned towards the far corner of the room, casting magic at something. I sat up in alarm. Something fell to the floor, covered in a golden magic net. It shrieked horribly in pain as the magic burned it.
It was Jinx.
“Let him go!” I snapped as I jumped to my feet.
Rufus stared at me, open mouthed in surprise. “Why? It’s a demon!”
Jinx thrashed, screamed and whimpered in pain and fear. I wanted to go to him, but Rufus had cast the net, I was powerless to remove it.
“I said, let him go!” I bellowed furiously at Rufus as I summoned glowing red balls of magic into my palms.
The mage just stared at me stubbornly. Jinx screamed. I strode up to Rufus and punched him as hard as I could in the face. He staggered back, clutching his jaw.
“Let him go!”
The net dissolved, and Jinx’s screams turned to hysterical crying. The sound was like a dagger in my heart, but I stayed facing Rufus, my fist clenched into balls. The threat was not eliminated yet.
Rufus stared up at me, still holding his jaw. His look was one of bewildered, hurt confusion.
“Get the fuck out of my house.” I told him.
He flinched, hastily grabbed his clothes and fled. As soon as he was gone, I fell to my knees by Jinx’s curled up form. He was in a tight ball on the floor, his arms protectively over his head, while his shoulders heaved with sobs.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, aghast.
