Page 69 of Demon Dating Service
Luke’s lips twisted into a complicated smile. “Um…so, those guys who attacked us? They were the same ones from the quad that day. The ones who were making fun of me and were chased off by the crows and other birds.”
“I remember them. Fuckers,” Matteo snarled. “They deserved to be chased off.”
“Well, apparently, they wanted payback because the birds continued to give them grief, even though I didn’t know about it.”
Matteo giggled. “All the birds love you.”
Or more likely, his demons were a littletoooverprotective.
“How did we get out of there?” Matteo asked.
Luke licked his lips, debating for a second on how to dive in, but no great ideas came to him. “My roommates.”
His boyfriend blinked at him. “Really? The people you’re renting from? They found us and saved us? But…”
Yeah, that wasn’t good enough to fill in half of the holes in Luke’s story.
“You see, my landlords or roommates or whatever you want to call them, they’re not…human. They’re actually…” Luke clenched his teeth and fought to get his mouth to spit out the word. “Demons.”
“Demons?” Matteo blinked. “You mean likedemondemons? From Hell? Fire and brimstone. Fallen angels. Minions of the devil.Thosedemons?”
“Well, I’ll admit that I don’t know all the details of their origins and jobs, but to keep it simple, yes, those demons.”
Matteo let out a laugh that sounded forced as he pulled his hand from Luke’s light grip. Luke’s heart sank as Matteo distanced himself. Could he blame Matteo? He sounded insane.
“I…I…don’t…”
“Think about it? We were both tied up and hurt. We had concussions and broken bones. How else would we be perfectly fine now unless magic was involved?”
“Yeah, butdemons? It would be easier to believe if you told me you were living with angels. Angels are supposed to be loving and care for people. Demons…demons are evil, right? Wouldn’t they have helped those assholes instead of saving us?”
“True. Sort of. I think maybe it’s more complicated than that. I…” Luke reached for Matteo’s hand out of habit to reassure himself, but stopped before he could touch him, pulling his hand back.
Matteo’s hands shot out and snatched up Luke’s, squeezing it. “Look, I’m trying. It’s so hard to wrap my mind around it. I’ll give you that I can’t think of any explanation that doesn’t involve magic. I was sure my arm was broken. Last night, I thought…” His voice trailed off, and he sucked in a ragged breath. “I thought you were going to die. I was so scared.”
With his free hand, Luke cupped Matteo’s cheek, tipping his face up so that he could meet his eyes. “I was scared too, but my friends rescued us. Forget the demon part for now. My friends saved us. They would never hurt me, and they promised they would never hurt you because you’re so important to me.”
Matteo nodded and turned his face into Luke’s palm, brushing a kiss against his skin. He lifted his eyes, wincing. “Magic I can almost believe. But demons? That’s so…so…weird.”
Luke mentally rolled his eyes. It felt too perfect. “Would you expect anything less from me? Bird Boy?”
His boyfriend scowled. “Don’t call yourself that. They made that something evil. You’re more than your love of birds. Plus, I adore your fascination with birds. You’re so sweet and gentle with them.”
Matteo’s words helped to give Luke a flicker of hope. He was trying so hard to meet Luke halfway, but the whole thing was so preposterous. There had to be a way for Matteo to wrap his mind around it.
“Oh!” Luke gasped as an idea hit him. “Do you remember when things were so strange in the restaurant? You asked me if I’d performed an exorcism.”
Matteo sat up straighter, his eyebrows jumping higher on his forehead. “Did you really?”
“No. That was Ogos. One of my roommates. The demons have been trying to help me get a date with you.”
“What?” The question escaped him half gasp and half laugh. “A demon dating service?”
“Yeah, they got bored and decided they wanted to help with my love life since it was so pathetic. I told them I had a crush on you, so they offered to help me get a date with you,” Luke admitted, willing to confess everything. To throw it all on the line if it meant winning Matteo over. “Ogos was the one to make sure no other patrons visited the restaurant until we showed up. He wanted to make sure we got the best table. He was also trying to scare people away so that we would have the best service while we were there. In the bathroom, I convinced him to leave because I didn’t want him freaking you out.”
“And the attack…”
“They had nothing to do with that,” Luke stated. “When we returned to the house, I asked them to leave so we could have privacy. We were lucky they discovered we were in trouble and saved us. Like I said before, they would never hurt me or you.”