Page 35 of Demon Dating Service

The usual things,Luke thought.Work, classes, demons trying to scare him to death and then officially taking him in as their roommate. More than enough to keep anyone busy.

“Right?” Matteo said with an exaggerated groan. “I feel like the semester just started and now we’re already talking about exams and whether I’m behind on papers that aren’t due for another three weeks.”

“Meetings with my advisor and fine-tuning my thesis,” Luke murmured in agreement.

“And why am I always behind on my reading? All I’m doing is reading and writing papers. How can I be behind if I’m always reading?”

Luke huffed out a soft laugh. He understood that feeling. During every break at work and on every bus he took, he was trying to catch up on all his reading.

Unfortunately, their awkward conversation ground to a painful stop when Luke struggled to figure out what to add. Nothing was coming to mind. Was this where he should make a joke? Or introduce a new topic? Was it too soon to ask him out on a date?

Shit, yes! Way too early for that.

“Were you headed to class now?” Matteo inquired.

“Yeah.”

“Oh! Sorry. I should let you go.”

“Are you heading to class?” Luke blurted out, trying to keep Matteo there for a couple of minutes more.

Matteo shook his head. “I’ve got an hour before my class. I was going to read in the library for a while. My dorm is way too noisy for studying.”

“That’s gotta suck.”

“You said you were renting a room in a house, right? Do you have roommates? Is it noisy?”

Luke opened his mouth, but the words got trapped in his throat. How the fuck was he supposed to answer that?Um…“Yeah, the owners of the house live there with me. Six of them. But they aren’t that noisy. At least, I don’t think so. I’m not home a lot because of work and school.”

“You havesixroommates? It’s not crowded?”

“No, not at all. It’s an enormous house, so there’s plenty of room for us all. My room is up in the attic. It’s a lot of stairs, but I’ve got a ton of space to myself.”

“Wow, I’d love to see it.” Matteo’s eyes suddenly widened, and he clapped his hand over his mouth, but it did little to muffle his laughter. “Dude, I did not mean to invite myself over to your place. I’m sorry. I should go. You’ve got class.”

Matteo was turning and looking like he was going to run to the library before Luke could get his tongue to do anything useful. He reached out and caught the sleeve of Matteo’s jacket, stopping him from escaping.

“No, it’s okay. I…I need to talk to my landlord first. We never discussed guests. They’d probably be okay with it, but it’s only fair that I check and give them some warning.”

Especially since the demons now have this crazy idea that they want to play matchmaker.

“Cool. Cool.” The tension that had appeared on Matteo’s handsome face evaporated in an instant, and his easy smile returned. “Ah! I almost forgot!” He pulled his backpack around on his shoulder so he could dig into one of the pockets. After a couple of seconds, he withdrew a small bag of what looked to be trail mix and held it up in triumph. “I bought this because you said that you feed the crows nuts. Do you think they’d like this?”

For a moment, Luke could only stare in shock at Matteo. “You want to feed the crows?”

“Sure. I thought it might help show them I’m one of the good guys, so they won’t feel the need to go after me when they’re trying to protect you.”

Well, now that he knew Azroth was controlling the crows, and the goal was to get Matteo to fall for Luke, he doubted the crows would go after Matteo again. However, there was no way he could tell Matteo that and still sound sane.

“Um…yeah…I think that would work.” Luke forced his gaze to the bag while chastising his wandering thoughts. His brain was too busy humming and skipping through his head, refusing to do any real thinking. After way too long, he registered what he was looking at. It was trail mix, but not a great one.

“This is…okay.”

“Not good? Tell the truth,” Matteo pressed.

“No, it’s okay. Just…if you buy another bag, make sure it’s unsalted. They don’t need that unnecessary sodium. Plus, don’t give them the chocolate pieces. If you’re searching for something for them, they are big fans of unshelled peanuts.”

“Got it. Makes sense.” Matteo tucked the bag away and zipped the pocket. “Get to class and learn important things. I’ll text you later.”