before I change my mind.”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to change his mind, but I forced myself to climb out of the car. Daemon was right behind me, his hands on my hips as we entered the house through the door that led into a small pantry.
Matthew was in front of us the moment we stepped into the kitchen, blue eyes flashing with anger. “Where in the hell have you two been?”
“Out,” replied Daemon. He stepped around, blocking most of Matthew.
“Out?” Matthew sounded flabbergasted.
I peeked around Daemon, holding the license close to my chest. “I wanted to see a few things.”
Matthew’s mouth dropped open.
“I really don’t think that was a good idea,” Archer said, appearing in the open archway. “To go sightseeing when you have half the government gunning for your ass.”
Daemon stiffened. “It’s all good. No one saw us. Now if you would excuse us…”
Archer’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t believe you two…”
The whole time he was talking, I was singing “Don’t Cha” in my head, desperately trying not to think about the marriage, but one of us must’ve failed, because Archer’s mouth snapped shut, and he looked floored. Like someone just explained to him that you can have an endless salad bowl at Olive Garden.
Matthew glanced back at Archer, brows furrowed. “You okay, bud?”
Shaking his head, Archer pivoted on his heel and muttered, “Whatever.”
“I know you’re butt sore about this, Matthew. We’re sorry. We’ll never do it again.” Daemon reached back, finding my hand. He started forward. “And you can yell at us all you want in about…five or so hours.”
Matthew folded his arms. “What are you up to?”
Sliding past him, Daemon cast him a cheeky grin. “It’s not what. More like who.” I smacked his back, which was ignored. “So can your epic lecture hold off for a little while?”
Matthew really wasn’t given a chance to say any more. We breezed out of the kitchen and through a purposeless room with lots of statues and a table in the middle. Dee’s and Ash’s voices echoed from another room.
“We’d better hurry,” Daemon said, “or we’ll never get away.”
Though I was eager to spend some quality time with Dee, I knew why we were hurrying. Halfway up the stairs, Daemon turned and wrapped his arm under my knees, picking me up.
Biting back on the giggles, I looped my arms around his neck. “That’s not necessary.”
“Totally is,” he said, and then made like an alien. Within seconds, he was placing my feet on the floor of the bedroom and closing the door behind us.
Clothing didn’t stay on very long. Things were fast and tumultuous at first. He spun around, backing me up until I hit the door, his large body crowding mine. There was something different about what was happening. It seemed truer in its nature, as if that funny piece of paper that was now lying on the floor changed everything, and maybe it did. My legs were wrapped around his hips, and everything moved at a fevered pitch. I told him that I loved him. I showed him that I loved him. And he did the same. We finally made it to the bed, and things were sweet and tender then.
Hours passed, probably a little more than the five that Daemon had promised Matthew. No one had interrupted us, which was surprising. I was mighty comfortable in his arms, my cheek resting against his chest. I know it might sound stupid, but I loved listening to his heartbeat.
Daemon played with my hair, twisting strands around his fingers while we talked about anything and everything that had nothing to do with the immediate future and everything to do with the one we hoped for—the one where we were in college, we had jobs.
We had a life.
It was good, like cleansing the soul in a way.
Then my stomach grumbled like Godzilla.
Daemon chuckled. “Okay. We’ve got to get some food in there before you start gnawing on me.”
“Too late,” I said, nipping at his lower lip. He made that sexy sound in his throat, the kind that led to things that would take up another couple of hours. I forced myself to put some distance between us. “We need to go downstairs.”
“So you can eat?” He sat up, running a hand through his hair. He looked adorably disheveled.
“Yeah, but we also need to find out what everyone is doing.” Reality was a bit sobering. “We need to figure out what
“I know.” He bent over the edge of the bed and picked up my shirt. He tossed it to me. “But there better be food involved.”
Thank God there was. Dee was in the kitchen making a late lunch—or was it an early dinner?—consisting of cold cuts. Daemon headed off toward the sound of his brother’s voice, and I sidled up to Dee.
“Can I help?” I asked, rocking back.
She glanced at me. “I’m almost done. What kind do you want? Ham? Turkey?”
“Ham, pretty please.” I grinned. “Daemon probably wants ham, too. And I can make them if you haven’t.”
“Daemon wants anything he can consume.” She reached up, grabbing a paper plate. I thought it was kind of funny that this house even had paper plates in it. As she slapped two ham sandwiches on it, a burst of loud, male laughter caused her to glance over her shoulder. She looked relieved.
“What?” I asked, glancing back to the hall Daemon had disappeared down.
“I don’t know.” A small smile appeared. “I’m just surprised. Archer is in that room. I figured there’d be yelling instead of laughter.”
“Daemon is just…you know, a bit overprotective when it comes to you.”
His sister laughed. “A bit?”
“Okay. A lot. It’s not against Archer. He’s actually a really good guy. He helped me—helped us—while we were with Daedalus, but he’s older, he’s different, and he—”
“Has a penis?” Dee supplied. “Because I think that’s Daemon’s main problem.”
Giggling, I grabbed two cans of soda. “Yeah, you’re probably right. So have you been talking to him?”
She shrugged. “Not much. He’s not very talkative.”
“He’s a guy of few words.” I leaned my hip against the counter. “And he hasn’t been exposed to a lot. So he’s probably just taking all of this in.”
She gave a little shake of her head. “It’s just insane and horrible what they’re doing to people. And there’s more, right? I wish there was something we could do.”
I thought about the hybrids I’d seen and the origins we let loose. Could some of them have escaped? Setting the cans aside, I sighed. “There’s so much wrong with so much.”
“That is true.”
There was another explosion of laughter that I recognized as Daemon’s. I was smiling like a goofball before I even realized it.
“Look at you. Aren’t you chipper today.” Dee elbowed me. “What’s going on?”
I shrugged. “Just a really good day. I’ll have to tell you about it soon.”
She handed me a cold cut. “If it’s what you two have been doing in that room upstairs all afternoon, I don’t even want to know.”
I laughed. “I’m not talking about that.”
“Thank God.” Ash slinked between us, grabbing the jar of mayo. “Because no one wants to hear about that.”
Unless it involved Ash’s past with Daemon, then she was all kinds of talkative, but whatever. I smiled at her, which earned me a strange look.
Ash grabbed a spoon, scooped up some mayo, and popped it in her mouth. My stomach turned. “The fact that you’re so damn skinny and you eat mayo by the spoonful is universally messed up.”
She winked a catlike eye. “Be jealous.”
The funny thing was, I wasn’t.
