Page 9 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

FATAL ATTRACTION

T HE DEMONS HAD SOMEHOW TALKED POOR L ILY INTO watching a horror movie.

Iris would have felt bad if she wasn’t secretly relieved. She would rather watch zombies eat people than a rom-com any day.

The gore took on a whole new meaning in present company, however. In case Iris had forgotten they were demons, she was given a disturbing reminder every time one of them laughed when someone was eaten or disemboweled.

Belial, currently dwarfing the armchair he sat in, would scoff when he didn’t find the violence believable, reminding her that he knew from experience.

Raum sat on the floor with his back against the couch arm, Faust cuddled in his lap, the little traitor apparently content to just lie there getting his ears scratched.

It wasn’t fair. When he sat on Iris’s lap, he would wiggle so much she could barely get a grip on him and bite anything he could get his mouth on.

As for the humans, Lily was cringing and hiding her face against Mist, Eva was doing the same on Ash’s lap from the other chair, and Iris, who’d seen more than her fair share of horror films, wasn’t paying attention at all.

She was more focused on the hard, hot body pressed against her left side.

“Nice,” said Meph with a chuckle as a guy was savagely decapitated.

Yep, Meph had decided to show up for movie night.

He’d arrived late, letting himself into Lily’s flat like he owned the place shortly after they’d started the movie. Worse, with all the people crammed into this tiny room, there was only one place left for him to sit—beside Iris.

He could have sat on the floor like Raum, but no. Without so much as a glance in her direction, he dropped onto the sofa beside her, and the movie continued.

It was awkward and torturous—for Iris. Meph was still acting like she didn’t exist.

To make matters worse, it felt like her body was burning up at every point of contact between them. And considering Lily’s couch was tiny and Iris was already squished beside her and Mist, there were a lot of points of contact.

Meph’s thigh was pressed into Iris’s all the way up to the hip, and his shoulders were so wide, she had to lean way over to put a little space between them. Not that it worked.

He seemed oblivious to her struggles—to everything about her, really—while her heart had been racing since the moment he’d sat beside her with that ridiculous grin on his face.

To prove her point, he guffawed loudly as a zombie’s head exploded, and Iris squirmed uncomfortably. She couldn’t take this. How long was this damn movie? She was practically jumping out of her skin. It felt like hours had passed, but by her estimation they weren’t even halfway through yet.

Just when she was thinking up excuses to flee, to her surprise, Meph stood abruptly. “Be right back.”

“Want me to pause it?” Lily asked, peeking through the cracks between her fingers.

“Nah, I’ve seen this movie like ten times.” He winked at Lily before stalking from the room, and Iris felt a sudden hot burning in her chest.

It was Lily, she reminded herself. It wasn’t like he was flirting with her—

Oh god, was she jealous? The full weight of it hit her. She was jealous because he was turning his charms on someone, anyone, everyone else besides her. She got bland looks and blank stares or, worse, was completely ignored.

Because that was what she’d asked for.

Suddenly, she couldn’t stand it another second. She leapt up from the couch. “I’ll be right back too.”

“Do you want me to—”

“Nope, I’m good.”

She didn’t look back because she could feel the knowing looks burning into the back of her head as she disappeared down the hallway. She wasn’t sure what her plan was beyond knowing she couldn’t take another minute of sitting there pretending everything was fine.

Meph was in the kitchen, palms braced on either side of the sink, head down. He turned around when she came in, and his face darkened.

Iris shifted on her feet. “Just... grabbing a glass of water.”

Water. Right. That was a good idea.

Trying to look casual, she went to the cupboard and grabbed a glass.

By the time she turned around, Meph had slunk away from the sink to the far side of the room as if trying to escape without her noticing.

As she filled the glass with tap water and he continued to edge toward the hallway, she realized he had no intention of sticking around.

“Wait,” she said, before he could leave.

Iris Donovan, what the bloody fuck are you doing?

He stopped. “What.”

Her head came back a little at his sharp tone. “Don’t bite my head off.” She’d never seen him get mad before. She didn’t think she’d even heard him raise his voice.

His eyes narrowed, and he sure looked mad now. He took a step closer, looking primed for a fight. “Why are you always following me around?”

She sputtered. “I’m not—”

“You told me to leave you alone, and that’s what I’m doing.” He was careful to keep his voice low so the others wouldn’t hear over the movie, but there was still plenty of anger expressed in that whisper.

“I don’t—”

“What do you want, Iris? Because I’m sick of the mind games.”

“I didn’t—”

“You made it perfectly clear how you felt about me, so now let me make something else perfectly—”

“Will you let me speak?” she hissed, slamming her glass onto the counter so hard, water sloshed out. She ignored it and stepped closer to him. “I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have said that shit to you. I didn’t mean any of it. It was a bitch move, and you didn’t deserve it.”

His mouth snapped shut, and he looked momentarily stunned, like apologizing was the last thing he’d ever expected her to do. You and me both.

“You done?” he asked flatly, not acknowledging her surprise admission at all.

She nodded because she wasn’t sure what else to do.

“As I was saying, you made it clear how you felt—”

“I just said I—”

“And now ”—his glare warned her not to interrupt again—“it’s my turn to make myself clear.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded again.

He leaned in close, invading her space, forcing her to crane her neck to meet his red eyes, which seemed to glow ominously. When he spoke, his voice was rough and deep.

“I want to fuck you,” he said, and she stopped breathing.

“I want to rip your clothes off and fuck you until you’re screaming.

And if you don’t start leaving me the hell alone, I’m going to do it.

I’m a demon, sweetheart, and I don’t practice self-fucking-control.

So I’m warning you now, stop following me around trying to make conversation and stop rubbing up against me on that goddamn sofa or you’re going to end up on your back under me, got it? ”

Her mouth opened and closed, fishlike. She couldn’t make a single sound except a subtle choke as she tried to swallow and failed.

“I said, got it?” he repeated, and she forced herself to nod mutely. There was no way she could speak right now.

“Good.”

And then he spun around and stalked out of the room.

Taking two steps backward, she sagged against the countertop as all the air gusted out of her. Her skin was hot and her pulse was racing.

“Holy shit,” she whispered to the empty kitchen.

I want to rip your clothes off and fuck you until you’re screaming.

There was no way she was going to get that out of her head. Ever.

She’d known he was attracted to her. She’d known he knew she was attracted to him. The two of them had been dancing around each other for months, but she’d never expected him to just lay it all out there like that.

And damn if it wasn’t the hottest thing he could have possibly done. And damn if she didn’t want him even more now.

She took a big gulp of water, nearly choked on it, and then groaned at the thought of going back out there with the others. How was she supposed to sit through the rest of that damn movie now?

Meph had a hard-on like a baseball bat in his sweats, and only his arm “casually” draped over his lap kept it from standing tall and proud right there for all to see. In the middle of a zombie movie. That was just weird.

But Iris smelled so damn good, all floral and feminine, and the look she’d given him when she came back into the living room had sent all his blood traveling south. Her eyes had been heavy-lidded and full of heat, and he could instantly tell that his threats had done nothing but turn her on.

His blood flow was still on its Caribbean vacation, no doubt causing a critical lack of oxygen for his head. Things were getting so bad, he was currently fighting the urge to move his arm just so he could rub himself a little. Maybe the brain damage had already set in.

Fucking Iris and her blue fucking hair and hot-and-cold attitude.

One minute she was in mega-bitch mode, and the next she was all heated looks and apologies. Apologies . He still couldn’t believe that.

He wanted to bunch all that hair up in his hands and hold her head back. He wanted to see where else she had tattoos on that slender, lithe body. He wanted to see that saucy little mouth stretch wide as he fit his cock between her lips.

His hips actually rolled a little at the thought. Damn it, he was going to embarrass himself in front of everyone if he didn’t get a hold of his urges.

A thousand years later, he became distantly aware that the movie credits were rolling, and he could have cried with relief. Somewhere far away, he heard Belial’s rumbling bass voice suggesting they make drinks followed by hearty agreement from everyone else, but Meph wasn’t really aware of it.

The group began migrating into the kitchen. Music started playing, covering the hum of conversation. He was aware of Raum giving him a strange look when he didn’t make any effort to get off the couch and join them. But there was no way he was standing up right now.

Raum disappeared a moment later with Iris’s hound in his arms, and then, suddenly, everyone was gone.

Everyone except Meph and Iris.