Page 16 of Demon Dating Service

“First one out the door at the front of the room, weren’t you?”

She snapped her fingers near the tip of his nose and smirked. “You fucking know it. And a shit-ton of people followed behind me.”

“Not afraid of missing something important?”

“Nah. This professor loves to repeat himself. I know my parents are paying big money to get what’s in this guy’s head into my head, but you gotta respect other people, too.” She shifted from leaning on Luke to slumping against the back of the bench, her books in her lap and the messenger bag at her feet. Her eyes found the crows, who’d been watching the conversation with bright, attentive expressions, as if they understood everything she was saying and agreed with her. “So, have you begun naming them yet?”

“That is Atticus there,” he said, pointing at the largest bird perched on the rim of a nearby trash can. He shifted his finger to point at the two crows on the sidewalk. “These are Banks and Dante. And Caspian is sitting up in that tree across from us.” He dropped his hand into his lap and grinned. They were nice company. Not that he didn’t enjoy hanging out with Harper. It was just that they didn’t seem to notice when stupid or embarrassing things came out of his mouth.

“How do you even tell them apart?”

“Easy. Atticus is the largest and bossiest. The others follow his lead. Banks is missing the tip of his beak, and sometimes he has trouble prying things open. Dante always hangs close andhelps. And Caspian is usually in the tree or higher perch as a lookout.”

There was no reason to go into the fact that he could recognize them on sight or by the sound of their caws. He was sure Harper would think he was crazy, and that was not something he needed.

“Have they brought you anything else interesting since they found that apartment for you? You know, a better-paying job listing, a treasure map, a boyfriend?”

Luke snorted. “I think that might be asking a little much of them. I’m content with having a new place to live. They don’t need to bring me anything else.”

Harper huffed out a laugh. She bent over, leaning toward the ground where the birds were watching them. “You know, I could use a girlfriend. Tall, muscular so she can open things for me, nice smile, good laugh. Think you can manage it?”

With a roll of his eyes, Luke grabbed Harper’s shoulder and pulled her back against the bench. “Keep in mind, they’re just crows. That might be a big order for them.”

“Yeah, whatever. A girl can dream.” A long sigh escaped Harper, and she slumped on the bench. “Speaking of your crows and changing luck, how’s the new living arrangement working out? It’s gotta be better than flopping wherever you could manage.”

“Way better than couch surfing or catching some Z’s in the library.” Luke closed up the bag of trail mix and tucked it away inside his bag. He pulled out the fruit smoothie he’d been sipping on. With the cheaper rent and steady hours he’d been getting, he’d stashed away enough money to treat himself here and there. “Both of my jobs have been crazy, so I haven’t been home for more than sleeping and tossing in a load of laundry, but it’s nice having a home where I don’t feel unwelcome or a burden.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Except…”

“What?”

Luke opened his mouth but shut it again without speaking and shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“No, what? What happened?”

“Only some small, weird stuff.”

“Like what? Has one of your roommates been rummaging through your underwear when you’re gone?”

“No! Nothing creepy like that. I just…one night I returned from work and spiders were all over the house. And?—”

“Are you shitting me? And you stayed? You didn’t burn the building to the ground? Everyone knows that’s how you deal with a spider in your house. Burn it down.”

Luke arched one eyebrow at his friend. “You don’t simply kill the spider? Or better yet, catch it and put it outside?”

“Fuck, no! What’s the point?” She leaned close and dropped her voice as if she were about to share some ancient, forbidden secret with him. “Spiders always have friends. You might get one, but all his friends are hiding in the shadows, waiting to get you after you fall asleep at night.”

“You’re insane. You know that, right?” Harper tsked at him and gave him a dismissive wave of her hand. Luke returned to his story. “I dealt with the spiderswithoutburning the house down, but not long after, I came home from work and the house was full of cats.”

“Aren’t you deathly allergic to cats?”

“I am! Thankfully, one of my roommates was there to help me get them out of the house. Apparently, a neighbor has a shit-ton of cats, and they get into the house sometimes.”

“That’s fucking weird.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Luke slouched on the bench beside Harper. “It’s like the house doesn’t want me to be there.”