I peel his fingers off me and turn away from him. “Goodbye, Jayce.”
His hand drops heavily on my shoulder as he spins me around and plants a forceful kiss on my lips. I shove him back hard against the porch railing, harder than I knew I had the strength to do. A sharp pain tears through my leg, objecting to my sudden movement.
The railing cracks, then snaps, and Jayce goes over the side of the porch, landing in the thorny rose bushes lining the front of our house.
“What the hell is going on out here?” My dad steps through the doorway. He places his hands firmly on his hips as Jayce staggers to his feet, his face bleeding from minuscule cuts.
“He was just leaving.” I step inside the house and return to the kitchen.
My mom glances across the table at me as I take my seat. “Everything, okay?”
Before I have a chance to respond, my dad enters the kitchen, his face red. “That idiot boyfriend of yours needs to pay for the railing.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” I stab my cold eggs and fork them into my mouth. “And technically, I broke the railing.”
“You broke it?” He sits down and leans back in his seat, gawking at me. “I beg to differ; he’s the one who was on the ground covered in scratches from your mother’s rose bushes.”
My mom puts her hand on her chest. “My rose bushes.” She tosses her napkin on the table and stands. “He better not have damaged any of them, or I’m going to make him pay for them too.” She leaves the room, presumably to check on her prized flowers.
My dad swipes his face with his palm. “So, how’d you break it?”
“Jayce kissed me after I told him we were over, so I shoved him.”
A low throaty laugh comes from across the table before it turns into a full-on cackle. “That’s my girl.” He takes a bite from his toast, chews it for a few seconds and spits it on his plate. “Fuck this. Want to run to the hardware store with me?” He stands, scrapes his food into the garbage, and rests his plate in the sink. “And by run to the store, I mean, get a real breakfast.”
I smile up at him. “Let me get changed, and we can go.”
He nods. “Don’t tell your mother.”
We exchange glances and broad smiles as my mom returns to the kitchen. “What are you two smiling about?”
“Nothing,” we say in unison.
I’m more like my dad than my mom in many ways. I firmly believe that cursing is an inherited trait my father passed down to me, along with my ability to defend myself when need be.
Mom glances at us both, lets out a heavy sigh, and says, “Fine, keep your secrets.”
Secrets.
I have so many now, and something tells me there will be many more once the demon rears his head again.
Chapter Seven
Awakening
What a long fucking day. Going to breakfast turned into a trip to the hardware store for wood and caution tape, a stop at the pharmacy where my dad and a long-time friend had a thirty-minute conversation about tonight’s Buck Moon, and then on to meet my mom at the grocery store to figure out dinner together. My leg is killing me, and all I want to do is lie down and sleep for twenty-four hours.
I fall back on my bed and cover my eyes with my arm. Mom and Dad walked to the neighbor’s a block down the street. Apparently, they are having a Moon Party—freaking weirdos. I could have gone, but gazing through a telescope for hours to check out the surface of the moon close up didn’t sound exciting to me. It could be the pain or this infernal itching. I run my nails over the skin on either side of my wound, careful not to scratch it open.
A great weight lands on my chest, knocking the wind out of me. “Damn it, Boozer.” I shove him off me. “Get down.” He licks the side of my leg, then grabs it with both paws, humping the air. I yank my leg away from him. “Get out, you freak.” I point to the door, and he smiles up at me, his tongue dangling, utterly oblivious of boundaries. I grab his collar, pull him off my bed, stick him in the hallway, and slam the door in his face, lockingit behind me. I collapse back on my bed, stomach first and close my eyes.
???
I wake up with a start, feeling the mattress sink at the foot of my bed. Did I forget to shut and lock my bedroom door? I thought for sure I did. My room’s pitch black except for a small amount of moonlight peeking through the drapes. “Boozer?” I say to the darkness.
A searing heat squeezes my ankle. I cry out, but something snakes around my throat, silencing me as I yank my leg back, sitting up quickly. Fiery eyes open slowly in the dark as the man-creature moans. “My Little Sinner, did you think I forgot about our deal?”
“Deal?” I say in a strained voice.
