Page 21 of Satan's Son

“Can’t you go annoy someone else?” Ethan grunted. “Go for a walk or something.”

“Around Hell?” I shook my head. “I think not!” I fell back on his bed and stared up at the black ceiling. “Hey, if you don’t sleep, why do you have a bed?”

Ethan let out a grunt of amusement. “Why do you think?”

“To lie on.” I gave him a smile of fake understanding before looking the other way, snickering. Ethan rattled off about how stupid I was. Clearly, I knew what he was hinting at, but hey, it was more fun to annoy him than to brush his ego.

“So, can we go?” I asked. “Back out to Earth and save some lives? Stop crime and, you know, all that jazz?”

“You don’t stop crime, you cause it.” Ethan glanced at me with a small smirk. “But seeing you asked nicely, I guess we can.”

“Score!” I fist-pumped the sky and quickly climbed off the bed.

“You look like an adult but you don’t act like one.” Ethan shook his head at me, before opening his bedroom door and holding it open for me.

“Dad always said I would never grow up.”

Ethan closed the door and we walked down the narrow corridor together. My shoulder kept brushing his arm.

“I suppose in a way he was right.” I slowed down a bit so I could follow Ethan rather than walking beside him. Let’s face it, it was awkward that I kept accidentally touching him. And mentioning my dad brought some feelings to the surface.

“Your dad also thought you would never learn to swim,” Ethan replied softly. Maybe he picked up on the low tone in my voice.

“Yeah.” I smiled. “I sure did show him about that.” Dad said I would never learn to swim because I wouldn’t stick to anything, but I went to every swimming lesson. Looking back, I think he did it on purpose. I could never turn down a challenge.

Hold on a sec. Slowly, I began to frown. “How did you know that?” I looked at Ethan’s broad back, which stiffened. “I didn’t tell you that.”

Ethan didn’t answer and when we reached the end of the corridor and stepped into the hall, I reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop.

“How did you know that?” I frowned up at him. His face was painted with annoyance.

“You must have mentioned it.” Ethan wouldn’t look me in the eye. I let go of his arm, not wanting to touch him right now. Clearly, he was lying.

“Right.” I pursed my lips tightly. “You know what? I think I will just go back to my room. Let you have that break you wanted from me after all.” I hated being lied to, and I knew he was lying. The question was why?

For a split second, disappointment flickered across Ethan’s face before he quickly regained control of his emotions. “Fine, whatever! I’ll show you back to your room.”

“No, don’t bother.” I gave him a disgusted look before walking away. His attitude was really rubbing me the wrong way now. Being grumpy was one thing but lying to me was another. After all, the only person I knew in Hell was him, and if I couldn’t trust him, I had no one.

“Addy, you don’t know where you are going!”

I ignored the fact that he was right, and I overlooked that he’d actually called me by a nickname. But the thing I was trying to ignore the most as I walked away was the soft and concerned tone in his voice. Because hearing that Ethan was actually concerned about me stirred feelings I didn’t want to have for him.

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