Page 29 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

“Probably,” he agreed, heading down the hall toward the kitchen. Grimalkin hissed at him from the sofa as he passed, and Meph shot him a middle finger. “You want a smoke? I’m going out back.”

Iris dropped her head back and groaned inwardly. “Sure. Why the hell not.”

She’d gone this far down. What was yet another cigarette to add to her failed attempts at bettering her life?

She grabbed her coat from the hook and followed him, stopping in her bedroom to throw on leggings, one of his T-shirts, and a pair of warm socks.

The feeling had finally returned to her feet, and she wasn’t keen to lose it again.

She left Faust to roam the house, figuring that he was probably going to fall asleep on his bed in the living room.

He and Grim seemed to have made tentative peace, and he’d gotten more comfortable sleeping there since Meph had started coming over, which was probably for the better.

When he grew to the size of a pony, there was no way he’d fit on her bed. Better to break that habit now.

Iris met Meph outside and folded herself into her usual deck chair, tucking her feet under her legs to keep warm.

She’d learned that demons either ran hot or didn’t feel the cold the same as humans, because as usual, Meph wore nothing but a hoodie and sweats, and he didn’t bat an eye at the frigid wind whistling through the balcony.

“So what’d you do today?” he asked, lighting up.

She exhaled, feeling more of the tension in her muscles subside.

This was always their routine—he’d come over, they’d smoke, maybe have a drink, and then they’d have vigorous sex until they passed out from exhaustion.

Sometimes they’d order food and watch a movie first. Sometimes they’d talk for so long they’d only squeeze a quickie in before they fell asleep.

Sometimes they’d skip everything else and jump straight to the sex.

This was their new normal, and she found the return to it comforting after the earlier theatrics. Meph was just easy to be around.

“I hung out with Lily. Helped her look for info on Mist’s brands at the coven library.”

“Find anything?”

“Nope.”

“It’s not surprising.” He leaned against the railing as if the metal wasn’t so cold it would freeze to his skin. “Mist said he’d been searching for a way out for thousands of years and never found anything. Even Bel and Dan didn’t know anything.”

“I know. But I guess she feels like she has to try.”

“Makes sense.”

Iris nodded as he passed her the cigarette. She took a drag, enjoying the rush as she inhaled. “You’re a terrible influence,” she grumbled, unable to banish her feelings of self-deprecation.

That was the conundrum of smoking. She couldn’t quit, but she couldn’t stop berating herself for not quitting either. It was goddamn exhausting.

His brow cocked. “Demons tend to have that effect on people.”

“I thought you stopped doing all that.”

“I stopped playing by the rules, but I’ll always be a demon, sweetness.”

She rolled her eyes. “The pet names will never not be gross.”

“You seem to like them when I’m balls deep inside of you.”

Her face burned, and she wanted to smack him. She also wanted to run her fingers through his silky hair and kiss him until they were both breathless. “Honestly, the shit that comes out of your mouth...”

He grinned at her. “You have no idea how fun it is making you squirm.”

She scoffed. “Things were so much easier when I just hated you.”

“And you don’t hate me now?” He frowned as he took the cigarette back and took a drag. “Do I need to worry about our arrangement?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. We’ve gone from ‘hate’ to ‘mild tolerance for short periods.’”

He laughed. “I can work with that.” He dropped the butt on the balcony and kicked snow over it.

“Meph. Ew. Pick that up and put it in the ashtray, for god’s sake. The world is not your own personal trash can.”

He rolled his eyes before making a big show of bending down and fishing the butt out from the snow pile. “You sound like Eva. ‘Smoking is gross and bad for the environment.’”

“Well, she’s right.”

“Says the chick who just smoked.”

“Like I said, you’re a terrible influence.”

That stupid, infectious grin was back. “And yet, you can’t get enough of me.”

Iris made a face, but she couldn’t deny it.

“Don’t worry, gorgeous. I can’t get enough of you either.”

Meph trailed Iris back inside. The minute she finished taking off her coat, he pounced.

Normally he’d let her suggest some activity like ordering takeout or watching a movie before he instigated the inevitable sex, but tonight, he was ravenous. Some unhinged need had been crawling under his skin since he’d shown up and found Iris’s ex-fucking-boyfriend in her house.

She’d been wearing nothing but a towel, and that pile of human garbage had not only dared to lay eyes upon her but had the audacity to insult her while doing it.

Meph had played it cool, hiding behind his usual grin and easygoing demeanor, but in truth, he’d never wanted to kill a human more.

That waste of skin wasn’t even fit to be turned into leather boots for her to wear on her perfect feet.

Meph came up behind Iris and pushed her forward until her stomach hit the kitchen counter, and then he ground his hard-on against her ass.

Planting his hands on the counter to cage her in, he growled in her ear, “You were supposed to be waiting on the bed for me.”

She hissed like a tiny kitten trying to be fierce. So adorable. “It’s not my fault Antoine showed up. And who says I want to play your little game anyway?”

He smirked and bent his head to close his teeth around the side of her neck, biting down just enough to make her gasp and grind against him. He groaned, wishing he could let his fangs grow and sink into her soft skin.

What would her blood taste like? Fucking delicious, that was what. Demons didn’t need to drink blood to survive, but it gave them an energy boost and was never not fun. And Meph had never sampled a blood-born before, but he already knew it would be some potent shit.

“You always want to play, baby,” he said, keeping up a slow grind against her ass.

“Meph.” Her attempt at a scolding tone was negated by the way she pressed back into him.

“You should be extra nice to me right now,” he said. “I didn’t kill your ex even though I really wanted to. I controlled myself. I think I deserve a reward, don’t you?” As soon as he finished the question, he bit down on her neck again.

“That’s so fucked up,” Iris moaned, tilting her head and exposing more of her throat to him. His blood heated to a positively molten degree.

It may have been fucked up, but something about the steaming heap of human detritus that Meph had knocked out really made him see red.

Violent urges, the kind he was usually pretty good at suppressing, rose in him, and he started imagining messed-up shit like tying him up with his intestines, or pulling his spine out his throat, or punching a hole through his ribcage, or—

“Meph!”

He immediately released his bite on Iris’s neck and grimaced at the deep red marks. Any harder and he would have broken the skin, which would have really hurt because his mouth was still full of blunt human teeth. “Shit.”

“What the hell was that?” She tried to turn around to face him, but he kept her pinned against the counter.

“My bad. Thoughts got a little violent for a sec.”

“Why?”

“Dunno. I guess I just really want to kill that motherfucker.” He ground against her ass again to distract himself.

“What the—That’s so messed up... I can’t believe—” She moaned as his hips rolled and seemed to lose her train of thought. “What is wrong with me?”

“I corrupted you, remember?” He licked over the bite mark a few times to soothe the skin.

“Right.” Her head tilted again to give him better access, and his stomach dipped in arousal. The way she submitted to him... Fuck, it was so hot. “It’s all your fault.”

“All my fault,” he echoed, trailing his tongue up to her ear, where he nibbled on her lobe.

He released the counter and pushed up the baggy T-shirt she was wearing to hook his thumbs into the top of her leggings and the band of her underwear.

His T-shirt, he realized, and the thought made him growl with satisfaction.

Actually growl . Not a human sound. Maybe he should have been concerned about that, but he wasn’t. He was more interested in how ridiculously sexy it was when Iris arched her back and stuck her ass out as he slid her pants and underwear down her hips.

The angle wasn’t quite right against the kitchen counter, but a quick glance over his shoulder told him the table would do nicely.

Wrapping his arms around her middle, he scooped her up from behind, took two steps, and then set her down, pressing a palm between her shoulder blades until she was bent over, her front half draped across the wooden surface.

“Fuck, that’s hot. Damn.”

“Meph...”

“Look at you, all spread out for me.” His voice was gravel. He shoved her shirt up to her waist, spread her ass cheeks, and dragged his fingers up the center of her pussy. “You’re so wet for me, and I haven’t even touched you yet. Fucking love that.”

She whimpered. Iris did. It was music to his ears. Forget Ash and Eva’s whole jazz shtick, this was the best sound in the universe.

“My little witch wants me bad, doesn’t she?”

He kept teasing her with his fingers, standing back and enjoying the sight of her bent over the table. The snake tattoo that spiraled up her spine was just visible beneath her shirt, so he shoved it up a little higher.

“She’s been waiting all day to get fucked.”

“Meph, you dickhead—”

“That’s what you want? My dick? You dirty little slut.”

“I want to punch you,” she snarled.

He laughed. Damn, she had fire, and he thoroughly enjoyed stoking it. “I want to spank you,” he countered, and then he did just that, making her moan again.

Shoving his sweats down enough to free his cock, he gripped himself and rubbed his shaft up and down her pussy, spreading her wetness around, spending an extra moment grinding against her clit.

She moaned helplessly, fingers flexing against the polished wood. “Meph...”

It was a plea, but he was a cruel bastard, and he wasn’t going to make this easy on her. “Tell me what you want, baby.”

“No bloody way.”

“Say it or you don’t get it.”

“I swear to god, Meph, I will make you pay for this.”

He grinned, blood pumping with exhilaration and sheer fucking delight.

He loved sparring like this with her. He loved her feistiness and how it made it all the more delicious when she finally submitted to him.

And she would submit. He could tell already by the way she writhed on the table, desperate for him to fill her.

“Just think,” he murmured, still rubbing up and down her pussy, which was so wet his hand was soaked now too, “I could already be inside you so deep. All you have to do is tell me what you want. Say the words, and you’ll get your reward.”

She tilted her hips and tried to shove back on him, but he held himself out of reach.

“Say it.” Fuck, it was getting harder to control himself, harder to play his own game when he was just as desperate as she was.

“I want your cock, you bastard!” she snapped. “Inside me. Now, damn it.”

A smile cracked his face. “Say please.”

“Fuck you!”

He aligned himself with her entrance and pushed in just a little, jerking his hips back when she tried again to shove onto him again with a frustrated growl. She was sounding more and more like a pissed-off cat.

“Please! Please, for the love of god, will you just shut up and fuck m—”

Her words became a cry of pleasure as he pushed inside, giving her a minute to get used to him before he gave her what she wanted: a hard, fast pounding. He gripped her hips and slammed in and out of her, not holding back at all.

She braced her feet apart on the floor and her hands on the table and took everything.

His clothes got in the way, so he paused, whipped his hoodie and shirt over his head in one rough jerk, and then shoved down his pants and kicked them off, socks and all.

He left Iris in his shirt for now because he liked the sight of it on her. And then he got back to business.

He wound that blue hair around his fist and pulled her head back, and he kept pounding into her harder and harder.

Her cries were uninhibited, a mix of pleas for mercy and demands for more.

She reached down between her body and the table and started rubbing her clit, and he groaned.

He loved watching her pleasure herself while he fucked her.

When he knew she was close, he licked the index finger of his free hand and pushed the tip inside her ass. She screamed. His blood rushed through his body, and his head swam as her core muscles started rippling around his cock.

He let her orgasm trigger his own, and he shouted and moaned and made all sorts of undignified noises as he unloaded inside her, his knees nearly giving out.

Someone could have snuck up behind him and buried a blade in his back, and he wouldn’t have even noticed.

He was consumed by his pleasure, totally and completely lost in the moment and Iris.

“Holy shit,” he breathed reverently, watching her back rise and fall with her heaving breath. She lay limp on the table now, arm still trapped beneath her, boneless and undone. All the feisty fire had been fucked right out of her.

He grinned to himself. “We are seriously good at sex.”

She snorted. Her head turned on the table so she could glare at him over her shoulder. “I’m going to make you pay for all that ‘say please’ crap.”

He chuckled. “You love it. I can tell you’ve always wanted it but never had a partner who was man enough to stand up to you. That pansy earlier would have cowered under your stare, but not me.” He smacked her ass lightly. “Watching you scream threats at me just turns me on.”

“You’re demented.”

“Probably. Can’t say I mind right now, though.” He pulled out and nearly died at the sight of his cum spilling out of her and trailing down her thighs. “Fuck, that’s a beautiful sight.”

She smiled, eyes falling shut. “Carry me to the bed?”

He stilled at the request. It was... sweet. Gentle. Not a demand or a threat; just a simple request that he carry her, even though she was perfectly capable of walking herself.

He didn’t know what changed between them in that moment, but he knew something did. Something profound. He had the sudden understanding that they had just crossed a line that couldn’t be uncrossed, but again, he didn’t know what it was.

He did know, however, that nothing in the world could keep him from picking her up and carrying her to the bed, just like she’d asked.