Page 43 of Boyfriend From Hell
“Alright, alright. Fine.”
I scooted out from under his touch and the covers to stand beside him. He was watching me expectantly.
“What?” I asked.
“Well, now I’m nervous,” he said shyly and ran his fingers through his hair, disheveling the orderly strands.
“You? A wicked, nefarious devil, nervous?” I balked. “Now, that’s a first.” I playfully batted his arm.
He really was a timid, shy thing—for the most part. Mainly when it came to things he felt were sentimental, it seemed. I had only been here for maybe a hair over twenty-four hours (who knows, there were no clocks in Hell, go figure), but from what I’d gathered so far it didn’t really seem like he had any experience in the dating world.
A twinge of jealousy hit me, as I realized that he may not have had dating experience but he for sure had experience inotherthings—that much was evident, right? He had to have at the very least fooled around with others before me.
I waited for him to tell me to‘stop thinking about such things’but he said nothing.
My sudden excitement and arousal were almost immediately soured after that fun little thought. How many people had he messed around with before me? (Women, demons, a secret third option I don’t know of?) He was pretty damn skilled with those fingers and tongue, so I had to assume it was quite a few. Plus, with how hot he was, there’s no way that number would be small. He had mentioned that he was spending his holiday from Hell in Portland—and believe me when I say, that city wasn’t having a shortage on attractive women.
“Deer?” He chirped, I hadn’t realized he was standing with his hand outstretched to me.
Reluctantly I slid my hand into his, unable to stop the slew of shitty thoughts. He led us to the door. I didn’t care much for the stairs that led up to his room, let alone the hallways in general—or really much else in the estate, honestly. The hallways were creepy, and I didn’t like the fact that if I wanted to walk around by myself, the odds of them doing whatever fuckery they did before, when one of the twins pushed me out the door, were high. I’d have to make a point to ask Raios about that, because if I was really going to stay here, I didn’t want to play whatever game this weird-ass, suspiciously sentient house was playing.
My thoughts from before—Raios’ extracurricular activities that had clearly helped him hone his maddeningly good fingerbanging skills—resurfaced. The jealousy it stirred in me had me second-guessing if I could actually stay here. Not that I ultimately had a choice, considering I’d forfeited whateverfraction of my soul to him when we were bound, blah-blah-blah. But maybe I could at least see if I could get my own space somewhere else in the Pride district. I hated this all-too-familiar sense of feeling less-than. The looming feeling that he’s potentially—likely—been with someone much more attractive than me, was such a familiar pain, one would think I’d have been numb to it by now.
Raios sighed beside me. “Listen, I’m trying to be respectful of your mind and not listen in on your thoughts but I picked up on the fact that that bothers you, but Deer—” He paused on a step, tugging me gently to a stop with him.
He regarded me, his stare intense. “No one that I’ve been with before you matters—not in the slightest. I will reassure you with every breath if need be if that is what it takes to make sure that you know where you stand with me, and in my life now. I understand this situation is fast, atypical, and a multitude of other things. But you are mine, and I am yours.” He grinned slyly. “Besides, no one that has ever mattered in my life has met my parents.” He winked.
I had forced that whole interaction from my mind, it was unpleasant to say the least. But his words stitched together a few more pieces of my poor, broken heart. It was reassuring to know where I stood with him, circumstances aside—it meant a lot hearing him say that.
“Oh, and I will see to it that you are able to roam freely without the house doing…what it does. We will also make the place more to your liking. This is your home too.”
We continued on in comfortable silence. I swore that if it wasn’t for the fact that I’d seen the outside of this place, I’dthink that I was in some run-down castle. This place needed some serious work and whoever decorated and configured the inside definitely needed to rethink their choice ofcareer.
I held my breath and pressed my back to the wood paneling of the door. Half of me had the sense to want to turn tail and find an excuse not to show her the room. What if she hated it? I did have a good sense of what she needed and what she liked, but still. I had never done anything like this for someone before, but I wanted to do everything for her. I wanted her to love her life here, to find joy here that she couldn’t before and I knew I could make it happen for her.
I could fix her.
“Are you going to show me, or is you standing against the door the surprise?” She raised an eyebrow.
Damned to Hell, I was falling for this woman, and hard. Who knew such a strong feeling could manifest so quickly? I stared at her, soaking her in for all that she was. She stood before me; perfect arms folded across her even more perfect chest. That red hair of hers—so red it nearly matched my eyes—disheveled in the most endearing way.
“Hello?” She waved a hand in front of my face. “Anyone there?”
I smiled at her, wanting nothing more than to take her in my arms and hold her until we became one, but refrained from doing so, of course.
“Now, if you don’t like it and you say you do, I’ll know if you’re lying.” I winked and turned the knob behind me.
She rolled her eyes and I pushed the door open a fraction of an inch then stopped.
“Actually, close your eyes.”
She regarded me. “Really?”
“Really.”
Reluctantly she obliged my request and lowered her lashes until they formed perfect, beautiful crescents atop her cheeks. I moved to stand behind her, placing my hands over her eyes for good measure, and she huffed.
“Alright, walk forward about five steps.” We moved as one and I made sure to tap the door open the rest of the way with my foot. “And, open!”
