Page 92 of A Summoned Husband

“Hey… we thought she was at Gran’s,” Sarika’s voice was the same as it always was. Calm. Aloof.

“Eden!” Vi wailed.

My eyes rolled before I shoved up, clutching the blankets to my bare chest. “I’m not dead, will you guys shut up?”

All four of my girls stood at my back door, eyes wide as they huddled together. Imani held a pink aluminum bat while the others stood weaponless. Their eyes moved together as they took in the room before landing on me. I followed their path with my own.

Okay, my place looked like shit, I would give them that.

Almost all the shelves were knocked out of three of my bookshelves and there were scorch marks burnt into the higher shelves of the middle one. It seemed, that though his ropes wouldn’t burn me, they would still burn my furniture. Glass and wood were scattered at the base of the shelves, books tossed haphazardly around the room.

My coffee table was broken, two of the legs gone.

When the hell had that happened?

I scratched my hand through the back of my head, my fingers pulling at the tangles as I donned a nervous smile and stood.

Their eyes locked onto me. Vi and Imani’s mouths gaped as Alicia stood with a blase look on her face and Sarika grinned.

Imani lifted her bat, pointing it at me. “Eden Leah Perez, you did not fuck a demon!”

My bottom lip pulled into my teeth.

“For five days?” Sarika’s grin broadened. “Damn.”

It wasn’t five days! Technically we’d been at it since Friday night after I found out just how much he’d done for Abuela. So… it was really only one full day. And well, Friday night. And Sunday morning.

“She will be damned if she did. He’s a demon!” Vi’s eyes were wide. “I mean… that can’t be good, right? Are you like, possessed or something now?”

I laughed before I could stop myself. “No, Vi. I am not possessed.”

“She got possessed alright. There was definitely a demon inside her,” Sarika chuckled at her own joke.

“But how would you even know?” Vi ignored her, brow cocked and arms crossed over her chest. “She wouldn’t, right?”

“How the fuck would I know?” Imani snapped. “You’re the one that brought that fucking book here. Shouldn’t you know?”

“Guys—” I tried to get a word in.

“I didn’t think it was real!” Vi interrupted. “We were drunk and we are grown and boring. I thought the board and the book would make us freak out for a little while and then laugh about it the next day. I didn’t think we would be standing here arguing about the demon that appeared!”

“Guys—”

“You never think, now do you?” Imani snarled.

Sarika moved to stand between them. “Would you two cut it out? No arguing when Imani has a bat. Honestly, I don’t know which of you is worse. And you’re both mothers.”

As though she’d forgotten her bat until that exact moment, Imani lifted it over a shoulder, taking a threatening step toward Vi. “Yeah! No arguing with me when I have a bat.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Alicia whispered low. “I told you the bat would be a bad idea.”

“And coming up in here with nothing when we know a demon is here is a good idea?” Imani argued. “Look at this place.”

My couch was moved, I realized as I continued to look the place over.

Sarika wrestled the bat free from Imani’s hands, ignoring the way she bared her teeth and lifted her fist at her when she finally took it. “Where the hell have you been, Eden? We’ve been calling and stopped by Gran’s only to find out you haven’t been there in days. I thought you said you were going to stay there?”

“Well… I was.”