Page 23 of Nightmare For Hire
My stomach shadows twist and turn. I’ve witnessed some truly questionable people over my eons of life, but Mick is in the top five for sure.
“Maybe you should have used a hook up app or something instead of raping him over and over.”
Mick looks like I slapped him. “Such an ugly word. He never said no. Never told me to stop.”
“Did he have a choice? I don’t understand a lot of human things, but I have learned about consent and what you did—”
“He begged for it.”
“Because of your haze!”
He licks his lips and leans forward. “All it does is draw out the person’s desire. It wouldn’t have worked had he notwantedto fuck. Even just a little bit. It doesn’t work on you because you’re some weird creature that doesn’t want sex, at least not with me.”
“But that doesn’t excuse your actions. You still used your haze on him.”
“Whatever.” He digs into his pocket and takes out a palm-sized box. He throws it on the table. “Here’s your payment. I still expect you to put away your morals and do the job I’m paying you for.”
“Sure.” I open the box and bite back a laugh. Tinsel. Mick thinks he’s going to play a Nightmare. “You’re the first to choose unicorn hair.”
He shrugs again and gets comfortable, as if we’re going to become buddies or something. “Figured it has to be useful for something. I had to call a guy who had to call a guy to find it.”
“Yep. Sure. Okay. Well, I gotta go. I’ll send you more updates.” I shove the box of tinsel into my purse and blink out of the diner. I need to talk to Dani. What the heck do I do? What would help a human in Cyrus’s situation?
I’m in the hallway of our apartment complex and lift my hand to knock. I used to just show up inside Dani’s apartment whenever I wanted to talk, but he said that was rude, whatever the heck that means.
I knock until Dani opens the door. He gestures for me to come in.
“What’s up?”
I plop onto his couch and huff a sigh. “I really like Cyrus.”
“I was wondering what happened because you didn’t immediately come tell me about your date yesterday.” He gives me a grin.
“The date was fabulous. Until the ex showed up.”
Dani’s mouth drops open. “No.”
“Yep. The guy that hired me showed up and taunted him.”
“That’s harsh.”
“Mick is the worst. And that’s me saying that. Like I don’t care. But for some reason I care that he’s being an asshole to Cyrus. And look at this.” I pull the box of tinsel from my purse and hand it over. “Mick thinks he’s pulled one over on me. As if I’m not a bazillion years old and don’t know what unicorn hair looks like.”
Dani snorts at the box of tinsel and passes it back. “Do unicorns even exist?”
“Not in this realm.Orthe monster realm. Very few people know how to find them.”
Dani tips his head. “So why is one of your payment options one inch of unicorn hair if it’s hard to come by?”
I shrug. “Entertains me to see their eyes light up at the mention of unicorns. Unicorns are assholes, by the way. Like dolphins.” I slide further into the couch, being dramatic. “What do I do?”
“Well, Mick didn’t pay, so you have no obligation to Nightmare it up for Cyrus.”
“Oh yeah, once I met Cy, I wasn’t going to Nightmare him. Mick felt off, and I was right after meeting Cy. He doesn’t deserve the Nightmare treatment at all. He deserves a blanket fort and stuffies.”
Dani’s brow cocks. “Why so?”
“He’s a baby nurse. N-I-C-U or something? I might have got the letters wrong. Maybe he likes blanket forts and stuffies. I do.”
