Page 17 of Hell and Hexes
“You sure know how to show a guy a good time, couch-witch.” He held up the bottle. “I haven’t had this much fun in…. well, in a few hours. Let’s go back to your place, drink this rum, and screw until sunrise.”
I maneuvered my way around him and headed to my car. “I’m going back to my place, but I think screwing is not going to happen tonight. If I can manage to get a shower before I collapse into bed, I will. I’m exhausted. I’ve been crawling around on the floor of a bar. I reek of beer and booze, and my hair is sticky. And I almost died for the second time in my life.”
Most people would have blamed Eshu for the bar brawl; after all, he was the one whose spinning beer bottle had started the whole thing, but I’d lived in Accident my whole life. There wasn’t a night that went by where there wasn’t a fight at Pistol Pete’s or somewhere else in the town. This many different supernatural beings all living together was pretty much a powder keg in a room full of lit candles and torches. If it hadn’t been Eshu’s bottle, it would have been something else. The werewolves were itching for a fight. Someone would have stepped on someone’s foot, or flirted with the wrong guy or girl, or insulted one of the fairies, or accidently knocked a goblin over, and the end result would have been the same. Most of the time it was the werewolves, but there were plenty of other feisty, fight-happy creatures who lived here. It was why Pete had Bronwyn make him the towel. And honestly, if he hadn’t slipped on the bar and dropped the thing, events would never have gotten as out of hand as they had.
Although now that I thought of it, hehadslipped on Eshu’s spilt booze. It was like bad luck followed the guy around. Maybe that was a bit unfair, though. Everyone had times when things went wrong in their lives. It didn’t mean he was a walking hex just because a whole lot went down at his hands tonight. And just because I’d had a twenty-nine-year streak of fortune as a luck witch didn’t mean I should expect it to continue. Things had been rocky after my death. It could be that my luck had taken a hit. It could be that my luck would never fully recover. It could be just a blip and things would be back to normal by next week.
Besides, tonight wasn’ttotallybad luck. I did manage to grab the towel and get out. I didn’t get hurt at all. I was fine. So maybe my luck was starting to return, and I just needed to look at things differently.
We both walked to my car. My hand shook on the keys as I tried to beep the lock on my door.
“Here.” Eshu handed me the bottle of rum and took the keys, unlocking the door and guiding me around to the passenger side.
“I can drive,” I protested. Yes, I was tired and shaky, but it’s not like I’d drank anything beyond ginger ale and a sip of beer. Plus, it was only five miles to my house.
Ignoring my objections, Eshu gently got me situated, fastening my seatbelt and doing a thorough job of running his hands along my waist and thighs as he did so. Even as tired as I was, I didn’t push him away. His attentions warmed my heart, and his hands were doing a good job of warming other parts of my body as well.
I closed my eyes, resting my head against the back of the seat as he climbed in the driver’s side, started my vehicle, and drove. He went straight to my house without needing any directions, running my car up over the curb a bit and into one of my rhododendrons. I didn’t care. I was too exhausted to care.
“Lazy couch-witch,” he murmured, picking me up and carrying me to my house. Somehow, he managed to get the door open and me inside, depositing me on my couch and covering me up with the afghan after taking my shoes off.
I heard the clink when he put the rum down on the coffee table. Then he leaned over and kissed me on my forehead. “Sure you don’t want to screw? I’ve got a massive tent pole that’s got your name all over it.”
I smiled with my eyes still closed. “Rain check, Eshu. I’m too tired for that.”
“You can just lie there. In fact, if you fall asleep in the middle of it, that’s okay. Although I’m so good in the sack there’s no way you’ll doze off with me rocking your garden of love.”
“Another night,” I whispered, wanting nothing more than the joyful oblivion of sleep right now.
“Guess I’ll just have to masturbate, then. Oh, and I’m taking the rum.”
I murmured something and heard him let himself out, noting the sound of the deadbolt sliding home. That meant he’d taken my keys. Oh, well. I had a spare set, and it was reassuring knowing that I didn’t have to get up and stagger over to lock the door. Accident was a safe town if you were a witch, but I still didn’t like to take chances. I slept better knowing the doors and windows were all locked, even if I wasn’t so paranoid that I needed to set magical wards on them.
I sighed and snuggled into the pillows and afghan, knowing that I’d need to wash the sticky booze and beer residue off of them all tomorrow. It had been a crazy evening—crazy and scary and kind of fun in an exhilarating I’d-almost-gotten-crushed sort of way.
And Eshu… He was trouble with a capital “T.” Everything turned upside down when he was around. It was like being on a rollercoaster where I wasn’t sure if I was having the time of my life or experiencing the last moments of my life. But he wasn’t boring, and he made me laugh, and I never knew what to expect when he was with me.
And his hands on my waist and legs set off all sorts of sparks and sensations I hadn’t felt in a very long time. I’d never taken his constant teasing propositions seriously. Normally I wouldn’t be interested in a meaningless fling that might complicate things between us. He wasn’t serious. I got the impression he was never serious. And I feared casual sex with Eshu, while it would probably be a whole lot of fun, might leave me wanting a commitment that a demon—or whatever he was—could never give.
Heartbreak wasn’t something I wanted to risk right now, but friendship with someone fun and crazy who made me forget my troubles?Thatwas something I needed. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep things just friends though, because my body wanted to cross that line with the trickster, even though my more sensible brain warned me that way lay danger—big danger.
