“What? Why not?” I’m panting and losing the edge he was pushing me toward.
“If I bite you, I’ll turn you.” His expression is somber, like he knows he’s disappointing me, and maybe surprised by the disappointment he feels too. “And if you bite me, same thing.”
“Okay,” I reply, gripping his scalp once more. “Whatever. It’s no big deal.” Because it truly isn’t. I thought it’d be hot for him to leave his mark on my neck, but if it’s too risky, that’s fine. We’ll just keep roughing each other up without using our teeth.
I pull him in for a deep kiss, long enough to make him forget we ever paused to talk about biting, and soon my pulse is racing as quickly as it was before.
My toes curl, and every muscle tightens as I race to meet the tidal wave quickly approaching. When it hits, my mouth falls open in a silent scream, and his quivering whimper meets my ears as his hot seed fills my core, my walls fluttering around him, sucking it into the deepest parts of my body.
It feels like hours pass while we come down, still clutching each other for dear life. He tucks himself into his boxers and helps me back into my clothes before putting on his own. Then he rubs my arms through my coat as if concerned I’m about to get frostbite.
Amazingly, I forgot it’s winter. That was way too hot to drop my body temperate too low.
When we pass the town bookstore, Tome Time, a slender woman with black horns and sparkly purple skin comes toward us, smirking in a way that instantly annoys me.
“Well, well, well,” she says, coming to a stop in front of us, her gray eyes locked on Nic. They land on me, then my arm looped through his, and I watch her smile slip into a sneer. “This must be the human I’ve heard so much about. Laura, was it?”
I don’t need Nic to tell me who this is. I know who she is just by the way she intentionally gets my name wrong. Oldest trick in the book. I’m not about to let her get to me though. I don’t give a fuck what kind of monster she is. “Lindsay, actually.” I hold out my hand. “You’re Gemma, right? The one he chooses to no longer spend time with?”
Nic lets out a nervous laugh, and I wonder which one of us he’s nervous for. “Gemma, nice to see you,” he says in a hurried tone. “This is Lindsay. Lindsay, Gemma.”
All I know about this woman is that she’s a demon, specifically a succubus, and they’ve been fuck buddies on and off since he first moved here. Nic told me that Gemma is the one who got him the placement interview with Mayor Crane to see if he was a good fit for the town. This was not long after his recovery, when he was at his most vulnerable and cloaked with self-loathing for what he’d become.
I’m not saying Gemma has been manipulating him this whole time, but it doesn’t surprise me that he gives her so much grace and feels like he “owes” her for the life he’s built. Back then, he was convinced he deserved nothing, and here was this person who gave him a chance anyway.
The rule I’ve decided to follow with her is that I’ll be as polite to her as she is to me. I know she’s important to Nic, but the game she’s playing is as clear as day. She’s had the luxury of popping in and out of his life, and for the first time, her ability to toy with him is gone because his attention is elsewhere.
If she truly values their friendship, I’ll be able to see it, and I’ll be nice. But if she’s going to pull this petty bitch nonsense every time we run into each other, I’ll shove it right back.
“I hope you’re enjoying your stay in our enchanting little town,” Gemma says to me. “You must have to head back to Boston soon, though, right?”
Nic replies before I can. “Yeah, she’s heading back tomorrow, unfortunately.” He squeezes my hand and looks at me adoringly.
I probably would’ve lied to make it seem like I’m a steady presence here, no matter what my mailing address is, but Nic must not have noticed the unspoken words in her question.
I clear my throat. “Yes, but I’ll be back soon.” I put my other hand on his bicep and lean my head against his shoulder. “Mapletown is becoming my favorite place.” It’s the truth, if not exaggerated a little in tone.
“It must be hard with your whole life so far away.” She blows out a mock sympathetic breath.
“Not that far at all, actually,” I reply, steeling my spine. “I’d draw you a map to help you understand, but sadly I left my crayons at home.”
I watch the fury flicker in her gaze. It was there and then gone, but I caught it. “Anyway, I should be going. Safe travels back home, Lindsay.”
I want to scream when my mom’s warning pushes itself to the forefront of my mind.
They all leave eventually.
Nic brushes off the interaction as soon as she’s out of earshot, but I can’t. That demon bitch knew exactly which buttons to push to send me into a mental spiral of doubt. I’m falling fast, thinking about the two-hour commute each way, the long hours I work, and the fact that Jules and my family are deeply rooted back there. Away fromhim.
“Sorry about that,” he says when we reach the front gate of Pebblebrook. “She can be a lot sometimes.”
He thinksshe’sa lot?
“A lot” is how I’ve been described my entire life by people who either didn’t like me, or by those who once did and realized the error of their ways. Is that how he’s going to see me one day?
Nic and I are in this delicate bubble of new feelings and long talks and amazing sex. How long before the distance, or Gemma, or just me being myself pops it?
Chapter 12
