Page 34 of Hooked on a Demon (Leeside Witches #3)

Eliana

Declan

Hi beautiful.

I hope you have a great day.

Eliana

Thanks

Can I see you tonight?

I have another rehearsal

That’s fine.

I’ll pick you up. What time are you done?

8:30

I’ll be there.

H er face warms as a blush creeps up her neck and rosies her cheeks. Her fingers find their way up to her lips and lightly brush them, remembering the feeling of his on hers.

As she slides her phone into her back pocket, arms wrap around her from behind, and her body freezes on instinct.

Kaia’s face appears in her peripheral vision, and she feels her shoulders relax and the knot in her stomach loosen.

She’s never liked being surprised, let alone from behind, but some days it’s worse than others, and unfortunately, today is one of those days.

Kaia hops in front of Eliana, bubbling with the energy of an over-caffeinated squirrel. “You ready for lunch?”

Eliana blinks and shakes her head to clear the lingering tension from being grabbed. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”

“Good, 'cause I am so hungry I could eat a troll,” Kaia says, looping her arm around Eliana’s and guiding them into the restaurant.

The host greets them and takes them to their table, then leaves their menus and lets them know their server will be over shortly.

The moment they are alone, Kaia’s eyes drill into Eliana.

“Alright, spill the cauldron water.” Kaia opens the bottle of water already on the table and pours each of them a glass.

Eliana laughs. Always right to the point. “About what?”

“Oh, don’t play clueless gnome, you know what.”

Eliana smirks, opening her menu. She hasn’t been at The Grazing Hag in some time, so she’s curious to see what’s new. Kaia, clearly not amused by the lack of response, kicks her under the table.

“Ow!”

“You deserved it,” Kaia says, sticking her tongue out.

“There’s no cauldron water to spill.”

Kaia attempts to kick her under the table again, but Eliana anticipates it this time and manages to move her leg aside in time. “Ha!” Eliana teases.

“Don’t ha! me. We haven’t had a good dish session in a while, and from the gooey look in your eyes, you have something to tell. Do I, as your forever best friend, trusted confidant, and fellow woman-in-arms, not deserve to know what has you looking, well, like this?”

Eliana looks at her friend, trying to decide if she wants to say it out loud.

They talked about him before, so it’s not like its anything new.

But she hasn’t shared with anyone other than her therapist that whatever is going on between her and Declan has progressed.

To what, she has no idea, but it’s more than a passing curiosity. Or at least it feels that way to her.

“Well?”

Eliana sighs and readies herself to spill it all, but they are interrupted by the waitstaff. Kaia and Eliana quickly give their orders, and when the staff walks away, Kaia’s eyes are back on Eliana, staring her down.

“Fine. So you know Declan and I kissed,” she starts. Kaia nods, confirming what they had already discussed. “Well, things have progressed a little past that.”

Kaia’s eyebrows perk up with interest. “How little?”

She feels a blush rising again. “Only a little. I haven’t been ready for that yet. But we’ve gone out a couple of times, and he’s going to pick me up from work tonight.”

“And?”

Eliana picks up her water glass, sipping slowly.

Kaia’s eyebrows continue to rise with interest, to where Eliana knows that if Kaia has to wait any longer, those eyebrows will belong to someone else.

“We made out a bit on his couch, and then I messed up the moment by saying I didn’t want to go further. ”

Kaia’s expression instantly shifts to anger. “Did that demon dipshit try to pressure you to do anything? If so, I will go and kick his ass myself.”

“No, not at all,” Eliana replies, her hands out to stop Kaia from getting up right now to go and tell Declan off. “He was so kind about it, and assured me that he would never ask me to do anything I didn’t want to. It was… unexpected.”

Calmer now, Kaia leans back, resting her arm on the back of her chair. “Okay. So what’s the problem?”

“Well, aside from my therapist, and maybe my mom, but I’ll come back to that, and you, no one else knows. Sure, it’s fun to kind of sneak around, but at what point do we no longer have to? At what point does it become a dirty secret rather than a fun one?”

“I don’t know. But is the only reason you’re hiding it because of Everest?”

“Yeah, I think so.” She tries to think of any other reason, but her brother is the only one that makes sense. That’s the only reason they’ve talked about, anyway. Could he be trying to hide a relationship with her because of something else?

“Do you really think Everest would be that angry about you and his best friend getting together?”

She considers it for a moment. “I don’t know. He’s never really cared about who I dated before. But he’s always been so protective. You should hear him going on about my car,” she laughs. “He never knew about Sam.”

At the mention of his name, her phone buzzes in her pocket. She pulls it out and looks at the illuminated screen.

Unknown

You’ve been avoiding my calls.

I want to talk, Ellie.

The edges of her vision start to blur, and goosebumps rush over her skin as if she’s had a bucket of ice water dumped on her head.

Sam.