Page 189 of Lovers' Dance

I held my hand out and he took it, squeezing gently as I grinned triumphantly at him and led him out the office.

It was a horror movie, my favourite kind. Twenty minutes into it, I was pondering the disadvantages of making Matt join me.

“I’ve already spotted five inconsistencies, poppet,” he mused, kneading the balls of my feet as we sat in the darkened room on the sofa that was not to the level of comfiness I liked. “Why would a demon want to possess an unemployed girl, who obviously has no common sense? You would think an evil being dredged from the depths of hell would have set its sights higher. A corporate businesswoman is a more suitable match. That way, it would have a level of power through her management of the staff beneath her, not to mention all her contacts—”

I tossed a handful of popcorn at him. “Shh.”

Five minutes later, a sceptical, “Why on earth would she go there, poppet? It’s illogical and downright stupid. Does she not realize it’s dangerous for her?” came from his pursed lips. I launched another handful of popcorn at him, and he ran a finger along the arch of my foot, eliciting a giggle from me.

“I am trying to watch the movie, Matt. Shush,” I warned.

He did shush and resumed the rubbing of my feet. I was into the movie. Gasping in shock at the required times, scooting closer to Matt during the blood-crawling scary times, freezing into stillness as the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up during the times I began to question whether there could possibly be a grain of truth in the movie.

Then my cell rang loudly, right at the moment the demon-possessed girl was making a call to her next intended victim. I yelped in terror. Matt was halfway off the sofa, too.

“Bloody hell,” he whispered in shock, staring at my cell with, dare I say it, nervousness?

“Don’t say hell,” I grizzled, trying to slow my heart rate down as I paused the movie and reached for my phone. “Not when we’re watching this.”

Matt returned to his previous position, wiping a hand across his face and over his neck. Seemed he was getting into the movie, too.

“If you hear a strange voice on the other side of that call, poppet,” he said quietly, “you had better hang up immediately. In fact, let it go to voicemail. I need to see if she can suck this poor fool’s soul through his mobile.”

I checked the number on my screen and wished it was a demon-possessed girl ready to devour my soul over the phone lines. That would be a preferred demise to speaking to my aunt.

“Hey, Aunt Cleo, what’s up?”

Matt stiffened on the sofa, eyeing me for a moment before picking up his drink and taking a few sips.

“No, I’m fine. Sorry I haven’t called sooner.” I could see Matt’s eyebrows lowering. From now on I would need to find another word to use concerning my wellbeing in his presence. He obviously had a thing about me saying I was ‘fine’.

I listened to my aunt catch me up to speed with the going-ons of my uncle and my cousins. Then, came her demands.

“Yes, I promise to be home for Thanksgiving…No, I haven’t booked my ticket yet but I will…I can only stay a week, Aunt Cleo. I told you we have the production coming up. It opens the fifteenth of December…I miss you guys too, but I can’t keep flying to and fro like that…No, I can’t make Christmas this year. I told you the production opens on the fifteenth of December and it’ll be on for two weeks.”

Matt picked up my legs and placed them over his thighs, running his hands lightly across my calves. I sent him a distracted smile and listened to my aunt scold me for not visiting as often as she would like.

“I am taking care of myself, Aunt Cleo. Really, I am.”

Matt cleared his throat loudly, giving me gimlet eyes and mouthing “liar” at me. I showed him my middle finger.

“Thanksgiving is seven weeks away and I have loads to do before then, but I promise to book my ticket this weekend. Anyway, did you get the things I sent back with Sol? I hope you liked the bracelet, Aunt Cleo…Jenny isn’t my aunt, so, of course, hers isn’t as nice as yours…I’m glad Uncle David liked it. Is he still with that construction company? You told me last time we talked he was getting grief from the foreman.”

Matt was running his hands on the insides of my thighs. Most distracting. I tried to wriggle away to no avail.

“No, I’m not home at the moment.” Matt’s hands stilled. I dared not look at him as my aunt asked my whereabouts. “Umm, well, I’m at Matt’s.”

He resumed rubbing my legs with a pleased demeanour. Huh. He was pleased and I got the usual earful from my aunt about our relationship.

“This call must be costing you a fortune, Aunt Cleo. I’ll call you tomorrow. Give my love to everyone.” I hurried her off the call and picked up the remote.

“How is your family?” Matt asked pleasantly.

“Fine,” I murmured, testing it. Sure enough a grimace flitted across his handsome face. “Let’s see if his soul gets stolen. Hey, do you notice how the majority of times the black person gets killed off first? I mean it was what, two minutes into the movie when that dude got his butt eaten?”

Matt rolled his eyes and nabbed the remote from my hand. Seriously, he was a remote Nazi.

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, poppet. It had nothing to do with race. By the way, I know you’re going to be cleaning up this popcorn mess after the movie. I hope you know it as well.”

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