With a frown, I padded into the main section of the penthouse. A glass of orange juice sat waiting for me on the counter, but I still shot the back of his head a glare. Mister Nice Demon wasn’t going to cut it this morning.
“What did you do to me last night?” I asked in a low, even tone of voice.
He turned, nodded at the juice, and went back to the stove. The scent of freshly-grilled bacon wafted into my nose. “Drink.”
I folded my arms. “Not until you tell me what you did to me.”
“You needed some rest. All I did was help you along.”
“You knocked me out.” Narrowing my eyes, I grabbed the juice and took a sip. Damn, it was good, especially after all the booze I’d consumed last night. The annoying thing about Az was that everything he did was frankly amazing.
“Not exactly,” he said smoothly as he slid his spatula beneath the bacon and deposited it onto a plate. “All I did was make you relax with a small bit of my power. It released some of your anxiety. The exhaustion did everything else.”
Grudgingly, I took the plate. Bacon, toast, and poached eggs, along with a little spinach. The greens stared up at me. I didn’t know what the hell that was there for.
“Something wrong?” he asked as he followed me over to the table with his own plate of food.
“I’m not a big fan of spinach.” I lowered myself into a chair. “But everything else looks delicious. I’m still mad at you for knocking me out, by the way…but thanks for making me breakfast. To be honest, I’m surprised you didn’t go with pancakes again. We’ve had it…what? Every morning for three weeks?”
“I’ve forgotten to think of you as a human,” he said as he joined me at the table. “We need to look after your health. Protein, carbs, and greens. It’s important for you to get them all. Pancakes don’t have a lot of nutrients.”
I arched my brows. “You can’t be serious.”
“Of course I’m serious.” Confusion rippled across his face. “You’re mortal. You can subsist on nothing but pancakes every day if you’re a demon, but not if you’re human.”
I decided not to argue. My stomach grumbled, and the bacon smelled like heaven. Who was I to complain about a home-cooked breakfast made from the finest ingredients in all of New York? Not this girl. I gobbled up the entire plate in record time. Even the spinach.
Az didn’t mention anything else about the night before. Neither did I.
After I’d eaten, we both got showered, dressed, and then headed for Brooklyn. My thoughts grew darker as the car rumbled across the bridge. Would Noah be able to tell us anything important? Or would I have to make up some crazy story to explain Serena’s absence? He didn’t know about supernaturals. After our run-in at the coffee shop, would he think I had something to do with her disappearance?
“You seem uneasy,” Az said from where he lounged beside me on the black leather seat.
“Noah isn’t very fond of me,” I said with a frown. “He believes the…you know, stuff.”
I glanced up at the driver, who kept his gaze forward. This really wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to talk about in front of someone else, even if he probably already knew all about it. If Az had looked me up, maybe his driver had, too. Hell, maybe the entire Legion had. A rock tumbled through my belly. It was one thing for Az to believe in me and quite another for five whole other beings to believe in me, too. Did they know? If they did, surely they wouldn’t want me around much longer.
Not that Iwouldbe around much longer anyway. As soon as the deal was done, I was gone.
Az’s gaze went hard. “I see.”
I shook my head. “Maybe this was a mistake. I was so eager to talk to him about last night, to find out if he’d seen anything, that I didn’t fully think things through. How will I explain all of this to him? Will he think I’m involved?”
“You let me do the talking,” Az insisted.
“But…”
“Your friend’s boyfriend isn’t the first asshole I’ve had to deal with,” he said with a slight smile that looked kind of evil, if I were being honest. “I’ll make him understand you had nothing to do with it.”
“Please tell me you don’t plan on ripping out his heart if he says the wrong thing,” I said dryly. “Or his spine.”
The evil glint spread to his eyes. “What an excellent idea, Mia.”
I rolled my eyes, trying not to focus on the way he’d said my name. Deep, melodic. Almost like a purr. Memories flashed through my mind of the night before. Az’s body on top of mine. The hunger and need in his eyes.
None of it had been real. We’d been faking things so much we’d gotten confused, that was all. Combined with the alcohol, the fear and worry from the night, it only made sense we’d ended up like that. It was a classic case of “one thing led to another” and nothing more. It would never happen again.
Still, I couldn’t help but flush at the memory of his lips between my thighs.
