Page 7 of Nightmare For Hire
“No. No! That’s not healthy.” Tears well in her big brown eyes. “Or good for you. You shouldn’t have to endure anything from your partner. I don’t know if you should be here tonight.”
I freeze. “Donotsay anything to Linda.” The charge nurse would send me home in a heartbeat and all I want is to do my job.
“Fine. But you need to break up with Mick.”
“He’s not all bad.” I don’t think so anyway, but I think he’s wrong for me. Maybe it’s that fated mates thing that keeps me going back for more when I know better.
“Are you in love with him?”
“No.” The answer comes without hesitation. I’m not sure I even know how to love or deserve it beyond the platonic type. In the beginning, I think I loved him, but then…
“Cy, he’s hurting you. You deserve someone that will treat you like the prince you are.”
I snort. “I’m no prince.”
“Aw, you are to me. Don’t let Mick treat you like trash when you’re the sweetest guy I know.” She smooths back a tendril of my escaped hair. “You’re worthy of love, Cy. Worthy of love from a good man.” She stops to giggle. “Or beastie, if you’re into that.”
I drop my eyes. I’m totally into the beasties. I figured humans put me through hell, why not try the so-called monsters? But Mick has proven there are baddies on both sides. Not like I expected it to be any different. I just expected it to take longer.
“I’ll break up with him after work.”
“Good! Now, how about I give you the best cover job you’ll ever see?”
“Let’s do this.” I throw my bag and phone into a locker, then settle back onto the bench to let her work her magic. I lengthen my neck to give her better access to everything.
By the time she’s done, we have five minutes to spare and there’s no way anyone can tell I was bitten twice by a sex crazed merman.
“Thanks, Devon.”
“Any time. Which I’m assuming is every shift until it fades?”
I scratch the back of my neck. “If you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.” She shoves her kit into a locker and we head up to the NICU. Before we clock in, she turns to me. “If you need to leave for whatever reason, I’ll cover you. Okay? And you’re going to mention this to your therapist, right?”
“That’s the plan. I already messaged him before I came in that I needed an extra session.” My self-worth is in the shitter, and despite knowing how to climb out, I still can’t. Perhaps he can get me back on track.
“Good. I’m so proud of you.” She squeezes my hand. “Now let’s go take care of some sick babies.”
Chapter 3
Nox
I sigh and flop on my couch. Why does it takeso longfor some people to fall asleep? It’s almost midnight and I want to get my Nightmare on. But my shadows haven’t told me that Jaxson has fallen asleep yet. How annoying.
I haven’t bugged Dani and Maddox today yet. They live right across from me and usually stay up late. I shoot Dani a text to get his cute little butt over here. In about three minutes, there’s a knock on my door.
“It’s open,” I call out.
Dani—Danilo Diaz—laughs as he comes through the door bearing gifts of bags of my favorite candy. He’s in a pastel pink and purple track suit that matches his colorful nails and hair. He’s like me in a lot of ways, which is why we get along so damn well. We’re both very femme. The first time—okay, thesecond time—we met. He was terrified of me. But I won him over quickly, like I do.
He’s the creator and face of the Monster Match app and I may have asked him if he was a K-Pop idol at one point. He laughed and explained he was Korean and Filipino, but no, not a K-Pop idol.
Dani didn’t come with just candy. No, his beau Maddox came too. For a hot minute, the orc was jealous of the friendship me and Dani have. But he chilled out soon enough when he realized I wasn’t going to hurt Dani. I had to do a little terrorizing to get him there, but it all worked out in the end and now all three of us are besties.
Dani rips open the bag of chocolate and we each grab a handful as they both plop down on my second couch. “So… what’s going on that made you want to talk?” He wiggles his brows.
I unwrap my chocolate slowly. “Nothing really. Oh!” I turn to Maddox. “Did Dani tell you about my business venture?”
