Page 52 of Hooked on a Demon
“You deserved it,” Kaia says, sticking her tongue out.
“There’s no cauldron water to spill.”
Kaia attempts to kick her under the table again, but Eliana anticipates it this time and manages to move her leg aside in time. “Ha!” Eliana teases.
“Don’tha!me. We haven’t had a good dish session in a while, and from the gooey look in your eyes, you have something to tell. Do I, as your forever best friend, trusted confidant, and fellow woman-in-arms, not deserve to know what has you looking, well, like this?”
Eliana looks at her friend, trying to decide if she wants to say it out loud. They talked about him before, so it’s not like its anything new. But she hasn’t shared with anyone other than her therapist that whatever is going on between her and Declan has progressed. To what, she has no idea, but it’s more than a passing curiosity. Or at least it feels that way to her.
“Well?”
Eliana sighs and readies herself to spill it all, but they are interrupted by the waitstaff. Kaia and Eliana quickly give their orders, and when the staff walks away, Kaia’s eyes are back on Eliana, staring her down.
“Fine. So you know Declan and I kissed,” she starts. Kaia nods, confirming what they had already discussed. “Well, things have progressed a little past that.”
Kaia’s eyebrows perk up with interest. “How little?”
She feels a blush rising again. “Only a little. I haven’t been ready forthatyet. But we’ve gone out a couple of times, and he’s going to pick me up from work tonight.”
“And?”
Eliana picks up her water glass, sipping slowly. Kaia’s eyebrows continue to rise with interest, to where Eliana knows that if Kaia has to wait any longer, those eyebrows will belong to someone else. “We made out a bit on his couch, and then I messed up the moment by saying I didn’t want to go further.”
Kaia’s expression instantly shifts to anger. “Did that demon dipshit try to pressure you to do anything? If so, I will go and kick his ass myself.”
“No, not at all,” Eliana replies, her hands out to stop Kaia from getting up right now to go and tell Declan off. “He was so kind about it, and assured me that he would never ask me to do anything I didn’t want to. It was… unexpected.”
Calmer now, Kaia leans back, resting her arm on the back of her chair. “Okay. So what’s the problem?”
“Well, aside from my therapist, and maybe my mom, but I’ll come back to that, and you, no one else knows. Sure, it’s fun to kind of sneak around, but at what point do we no longer have to? At what point does it become a dirty secret rather than a fun one?”
“I don’t know. But is the only reason you’re hiding it because of Everest?”
“Yeah, I think so.” She tries to think of any other reason, but her brother is the only one that makes sense. That’s the only reason they’ve talked about, anyway. Could he be trying to hide a relationship with her because of something else?
“Do you really think Everest would be that angry about you and his best friend getting together?”
She considers it for a moment. “I don’t know. He’s never really cared about who I dated before. But he’s always been so protective. You should hear him going on about my car,” she laughs. “He never knew about Sam.”
At the mention of his name, her phone buzzes in her pocket. She pulls it out and looks at the illuminated screen.
Unknown
You’ve been avoiding my calls.
I want to talk, Ellie.
The edges of her vision start to blur, and goosebumps rush over her skin as if she’s had a bucket of ice water dumped on her head.
Sam.
CHAPTER32
Declan
“This looks wonderful,” June praises as she walks through the final set pieces with Declan. He and his crew stayed late last night, and those who could came in early this morning to help finish up painting and assemble all the pieces. Looking around at what they’ve built, a sense of pride, not for himself but for his team, wells up inside him.
“Are you okay, boss?” Sebastian asks. “Did you get dust in your eyes?”
