His expression softened briefly before his eyes dropped toward the hoodie still hanging oversized around my shoulders. Something about seeing me wearing it seemed to affect him more than he wanted it to.
Unfortunately, I noticed that too, and the way his expression shifted afterward made the entire atmosphere between us painfully awkward.
Nina took one look at both of us and gagged dramatically. “Oh, this is painful. You're both down catastrophically.”
“We are having a serious conversation,” my demon replied calmly.
“You kissed her in a demon attack hallway.”
“That was also serious. But your sneaking habit was not .” My demon retorted to her.
I covered my face. “Please stop helping.”
My demon's attention returned to me, and this time the exhaustion in his expression slipped through the cracks.
“You should not have opened the portal,” he said quietly.
The softer tone hurt more than the arguing did. I crossed my arms tighter across myself. “You should not have left.” His eyes stayed on mine for a long moment after that, and the silence between us was too heavy to ignore.
Then quietly, almost to himself, he admitted, “I thought you wouldn’t come.”
Chapter 15
Eva POV
I missed hearing his voice say quite devastating things far more than I wanted to admit. Before I could answer, another voice echoed from somewhere inside the portal behind him.
“Oh this is disgusting.”
Both of us turned to the newcomer.
Another demon leaned casually against the edge of the glowing portal like he’d been standing there watching the entire conversation unfold for entertainment purposes. He was unsettlingly similar to my demon in the deeply unfair way attractive siblings usually did.
Same dark eyes. Same horns. Same sharp features. Only this one was significantly more annoying.
The stranger pointed dramatically at my demon. “You disappeared for weeks and THIS is why?”
My demon answered instantly. “Leave.” The stranger ignored him completely and looked toward me instead. Then toward the duffel bag near my feet. Then back toward my demon again. Silence.
“…You let a HUMAN pack for Hell?”
“In my defense,” I said carefully, “ I was going through a rough phase.”
Behind me, Nina already betrayed me. “She cried into his hoodie yesterday.”
I turned toward her in absolute horror. “WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT.”
The stranger beamed. “Oh my God this is serious serious.”
“I’m going to kill both of you,” my demon said calmly.
Nina leaned closer toward me. “Wait. He has brothers?”
“Apparently Hell has a humiliation department.”
The stranger stepped fully through the portal into my apartment before holding one hand dramatically against his chest. “I’m his younger brother.”
Nina sized him up once. “Oh. So the annoying thing is genetics.”
