Page 136 of Drown Like Heaven
I shoved her back inside, grabbing the door in a rush. “Thank you for the ride, Micah,” I said quickly over my shoulder, catching his eye. He nodded and I swore he had a physical reaction to me saying his first name.
And then I slammed the door shut and turned the deadbolt, slumping back against the wood with my heartbeat racing, about to break free of my ribs. I slid down the door until my butt hit the ground, my knees at my chest.
“Thank you for the ride?” Mila whisper-shouted. “Theride?Please tell me that means what I hope it does.”
“God, Mila—no. No, it doesn’t.”
“I would ridethe fuckout of that man. Until his dick falls off. I’m about to open the door and lock you out there so he has to take you back to his place.”
“Please don’t,” I pleaded, pressing back against the door to hold it shut tight. “Please. I told him I lived here.”
“Ohhhh.That’swhy you were saying you forgot your key.” She let out a long breath. “I thought Vanya made one for you or something weird like that—not that you can’t have a key if you want it, I just—”
“No, no. I felt like I had to make the roommate thing believable.”
“God, babe, he issohot. Who even was that?”
I paused, mouth half-open. She didn’t recognize him?
“My professor? The one we’ve been talking about all semester…” I trailed off.
Her eyes were faraway, like she was trying to remember. “Oh, right. Okay, I think I remember. I don’t know how I could forget someone that hot. It’s late.” She giggled. “Anyway, I don’t know how you’re able to focus in class.”
“What choice do I have? He’s not interested, obviously. It wouldn’t be a good idea. It’s not like he’s just some man, he’s my professor. Like it or not, that means something.”
But now I was thinking about riding his cock. Sitting on his lap, rocking my hips, grinding on him, sweating and panting and—fuck—orgasming on his dick.
“Why were you with him so late? And did you call him his first name?” she asked, dragging me up from the ground and towing me behind her into her bedroom. She had a salt lamp on her nightstand casting a soft orange glow over everything. “That’s very…casual.”
“Well, we were in the lab. He did tell me ahead of time it was going to take all day—I just didn’t know that meantall day. And the busses don’t run this late.”
“So you just spent upwards of twelve hours with that man?”
“With breaks.”
“Was anyone else with you?” She snatched her sleep mask off her pillow, climbing onto her bed.
“Mostly not…” I set my stuff down, stripping off my jeans and digging through Mila’s pajama drawer. “Mila—It’s not what you think it is. He’s…I don’t know. It’s very much engineering-only when I’m with him.”Except when he looks at me like that…
“I know you’re lying, but my exhaustion is catching up with me.” She yawned as she yanked the covers up her body, sliding the sleep mask over her eyes. “Tell me in the morning.”
“Okay,” I whispered, laughing to myself.
I changed into some of Mila’s pajamas, then used the bathroom before climbing in bed with her, eyes drifting shut as my mind latched on to every nasty fantasy I could think up about Micah Killshaw.
Chapter 36
Micah
Knowing Aamon was back in Washington had me on edge. Mason had fucked up all those years ago, screwing things up for Aamon, killing almost all the demons in his circle at once—and being a dick about it. He seemed to take pleasure in acting like the nightmare he’d been born as, especially when he had a specific person to torment.
But he hadn’t counted on Aamon holding such a grudge against him for it—because Mason didn’t think anything through, ever—and he also hadn’t considered exactlyhowAamon’s revenge would be carried out. Mason was almost entirely invincible against anything other than his own nature, so Aamon never set his sights on killing him.
He’d set his sights on killingme.
Somehow, he’d deduced that I was the most important thing in Mason’s life, and then I became the target of his revenge-fueled wrath. Aamon couldn’t make his own ichor, but he could inject it into himself without it degrading into necrichor, making him significantly stronger than any typical demon I’d had to deal with in the past. So I’d relied on Mason for protection, just as he relied on me to stop his fractures.
Eventually Aamon got bored or discouraged, and he left Washington. Neither of us knew where he’d gone, and neitherof us cared. It was a huge relief to have that weight off our shoulders.
