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When it finally disappeared within his mouth—much like a snake slithering into a cavern—Ambrosius hummed.
“Delicious as always, my bittersweet.”
Gwen internally cursed.
Fuck, she wanted him, horror and all.
27
Insecure
Gwen
The fucker left.
Gwen wasn’t sure why she was surprised. If Ambrosius wasn’t shooing her out of his antique store, then he was running once he had his fill of fucking with her. But to leave immediately after blowing her mind with his demon tongue felt…
Shitty. The word is shitty, Gwen.
It soured the pleasant buzz Gwen had been wrapped in, watching Ambrosius fade to mist before disappearing completely. Surely anyone else would have thought they were going crazy if they saw that. Or any of the weird shit Gwen had seen during sex—granted, not all of it was necessarilybad.
Gwen covered her face, rolling to her side with a groan.
Okay, so, attraction was rightfullyweird.It had always been weird for Gwen. There had never been a real patternoutside of Gwen bonding with her future boyfriends quickly. Gwen would think she was in love, sex would happen, and then eventually things would fall apart like they always did. That was honestly the only through line Gwen could think of. However, it didn’t explain the yearning she felt for ademonwho was the literal stuff of nightmares.
“Is this because of the bargain?” Gwen grumbled into her sheets. “Am I scared-horny for him because of that?”
Shame warmed her face at the thought of being so weak willed against him. Hadn’t the point been to stop this from happening again? Yet the minute he had pressed his lips to hers, Gwen had fallen apart. He could have asked anything of her at the moment, and she would have agreed.
Kill your neighbor, Gwen, and I’ll let you come on my face.
Sure, boss, I’ll get right on that.
“Fuck.”
This was a mess. A huge fucking mess, and Gwen couldn’t think of any way out of it. She was a warlock, foolishly wanting the attention of demon she cared about—
Gwen shot up, towel finally falling into her lap as shock hit her like a bucket of ice to the face. She didn’t dare repeat the fleeting thought. In fact, Gwen quickly buried the feeling as she rushed toward her bathroom, completely naked. She turned the faucet on, splashing her face with cold water and gasping at her waterlogged reflection.
“You didn’t just think that,” Gwen told her reflection. “You aren’tthatdesperate!”
Her reflection didn’t answer so much as twitch, making her pause. Slowly, Gwen moved her right hand, only to see her reflection hold up her right hand as well.Not a mirror, so much as an animated copy with a crazed grin and large, glossy eyes.
“You really are losing it,” Gwen murmured to herself, to her reflection.
Her reflection winked, before resting her chin in her hands and gazing at Gwen like she was an animal in a cage. Like Gwen was meant toamuseher reflection, that was the only way she could describe it.
“I—We don’t have feelings for him,” Gwen firmly told her reflection. “Wecan’t.”
The mirror version of herself blinked, taking in the information. When she met Gwen’s gaze again, she staunchly shook her head and beamed at her. Her canines were sharp, eyes aglow like neon diner lights, and skin an awful gray tone. It was offset by the shimmery blue eyeshadow and eyeliner, lips a bright doll-like pink.
She was stillsmilingat Gwen.
The sudden crack in the mirror sent Gwen a step back. When she looked at the mirror again, she appeared normal, even with the fragmented pieces.
Get out,Gwen thought.We—I need to get out of here.
Gwen left the bathroom after hurriedly cleaning up, ignoring the spiders that had crawled to the floor. She didn’t step on them, but they were quick to clear a path for her. The subtle movement coming from the pile of dirty clothes she had left on the Fourth of July made her move faster.