Page 67 of Demons in My Bed
In my panicked state, I saw his feet come closer, and it helped me process where I was—because he was barefoot. My father never wore anything other than boots and he hated being barefoot. It wasn’t him. I wasn’t there anymore.
“Sometimes my brother has panic attacks. It can be scary, I know. Just focus on breathing in through your nose and out of your mouth. Here, do it with me.” He crouched down and locked those blue eyes on mine, and I found myself trying to match his breaths. “Good job, man. Now I’m going to be really pissed off if you come out of this shit and try to beat my ass. I mean, I can be really petty, just warning you. I also hold a serious grudge. We just got here yesterday, so I’m still getting used to the layout which is how I ended up barging in here.”
Good grief, he talked a lot. Like, a lot a lot. At some point during his ramblings, the panic receded and I felt like myself again.
“Wow, you look so much better. Scary shit, right? I always feel bad for my brother when he gets one, but I try to be supportive and not make it worse. He’s got an issue with germs and shit. Not like actual shit, I mean, ya know—not feces. Well, come to think of it, he probably does have a problem with legit shit.” He stared off into the distance, deep in thought.
How does a man look so pretty?My brain had been scrambled in a matter of minutes, thanks to this guy.
He snapped his head back to me. “You don’t talk much, do you?” He tilted his head to the side and waited. I shook my head. “Do you talk at all?”“I shook my head. “Damn, okay, this is making more sense now. That laugh from before—did it hurt or scare you or something?”
I shrugged and pushed myself to my feet. I was done talking or thinking about that little slip-up. I had work to do, and some red-headed chatterbox wasn’t going to throw me off.
Turning my back on him, I got back to my tasks. I was just about to bring my hammer down on the iron I was working with when he hopped up on my fucking countertop. I froze, the hammer in midair, and slowly turned to look at him. His legs were swinging back and forth, like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Blacksmith, huh? So you mainly make weapons? Doesn’t that ever get”—he paused and wiggled his eyebrows—“dull?” I blinked. He threw his head back and laughed like hell. “Get it?”
Was he crazy? He might be. Just what I needed in my life, more crazy people.
“Is that how your muscles got so big? You swing that hammer around all hours of the day and night?”
Glancing over, I found his eyes scanning my body. Heat raced up my neck. I was a big guy, I always had been. Catching the attention of girls was never a problem, it was dealing with the punk ass boys who liked to tease me for not talking that usually caused any potential relationships to fizzle out.
Was he making fun of me? It was kind of pathetic that I couldn’t tell.
“You must be swinging something around to be built like that.” He whistled, then winked at me. That heat that was spreading up my neck had reached my face now, and I knew he could see it. “Oh my stars, I never introduced myself. I’m Talon. I’d ask what your name is, but I know you won’t answer. Oh, I know! Maybe you can spell it on my hand. Like, with your finger?” He thrust his hand out and batted his eyelids.
Fuck. Okay.I put down the hammer and held onto his wrist. He wasn’t pulling away in disgust so maybe he really did want to know my name. Swallowing roughly, I took my index finger and wrote an M.
“M?” he guessed, and I nodded, moving on to the next letter. He got them all right, and after I finished writing out the name, he grinned. “Misha,” he whooped triumphantly, and I ignored the way my heart picked up speed as I watched his excitement. “I love your name. It’s very you. Badass and unique—fits you perfectly.”
That might have been the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me that wasn’t directly pertaining to my work as a blacksmith.
“Talon?!” a deep voice called from somewhere outside of my shop.
He slid off the counter and brushed off his ass. “I have to go. Thanks for the fun.”
Go? Where was he going? Was he... leaving? Absolutely not.
“I’ll come see you tomorrow? Same time? We’re here for the foreseeable future, so it looks like you’re stuck with me for a bit.” Talon smiled and skipped to the door. He turned back at the last moment, hesitating a second. My brow furrowed, because he didn’t strike me as the kind of person to censor his words. “Your laugh... It’s pretty great. Anyway, see you tomorrow.”
Then he slipped out of the door, leaving me in a state of total fucking chaos.
Talon became my first friend in that moment, and he didn’t even know how much he boosted my confidence with one conversation. That was Tal, though. He had big feelings and he loved hard.
A few hours after that, Asrael came out to the shop to check on my progress with some new blades. He took the opportunity to talk about the new brothers who’d arrived and how he wasn’t convinced they were worth shit. They seemed weak and soft. They needed to prove themselves.
Asrael was one of those people who felt comfortable spewing whatever was in his brain at that moment, knowing I wouldn’t repeat it. He looked over my work and gave me a smile. “These look fantastic, Misha.”
His compliments always made me feel really good about myself. After so many years of being told I was a fuckup, any sort of positive feedback was almost like a drug to me.
“How’s the anger been since we last trained? Are you feeling less on edge with regular sessions? It’s important that you don’t let your emotions rule you.”
I sighed. It wasn’t that the training wasn’t helping. It really was, but there were times that my anger got the best of me and no amount of tiring myself out or fighting was going to stop it. When that happened, it was best to just get the fuck out of my way and let me rage.
“Well, I noticed that there haven’t been any more trees ripped out by the roots, so I’d say we’re making progress.”
I grunted, not convinced, but Asrael had been the only constant source of positivity in my life. I found that I really didn’t want to let him down.
