Demon met the warning in those eyes directly. “Yes, sir. She is.”
He studied Demon for a solid minute. “Good.”
“Enough.” The young woman had no make-up on and her hair back in a messy ponytail; she came across about sixteen. In his opinion, she needed more curves but she was undeniably beautiful, and from her bone structure would be even more so as she matured. Demon catalogued her features and her penchant for leather clothes liking the kindness and lack of guile in her smile. “Let the poor man breathe.
I’m Jordan by the way. This is David, married to the lady giving you all the dirty looks for daring to date her sister, and this brat,” she said, thumping the teenager on his shoulder “is Boone, baby brother extraordinaire.” She pointed behind her. “Joseph, and Maggie, friends and employees.”
Aware he had passed some type of test, if only grudgingly, Demon nodded his thanks.
“Are you out of your mind? That man is a thug.”
“Excuse me?” Clytie stopped suddenly and turned in the short hall to look at her sister. That was not what she had expected. “You met him five seconds ago.”
“And you met him when? Yesterday?”
“I like him.”
“Did you sleep with him?”
“So not your business.”
“You did! Oh my God!” Appalled Sarah’s tone had Clytie gnashing her teeth. “Please tell me you made him wear a condom. The man probably has every venereal disease known to man.”
“He does not.” She was not going to tell her sister she had been so mindless with pleasure that first time she had not even considered making Demon wear a condom, and after that, well she was on the pill, and any other possible damage had been done. See, absolutely logical, except it was only blind luck that she was on birth control to stay regular, not any great thinking on her part. No, she would definitely not be mentioning that to her sister. Clytie held up a warning hand, “I am so not having this conversation with you.”
Her sister grabbed her arm, stopping her from stomping away. “This is not like you at all.”
Clytie recognized the worry behind the anger and breathed out. She rolled her shoulder to relieve the pressure and turned back to her sister fully. “I think he’s the one.”
Sarah opened her mouth, closed it, then repeated the procedure. “You can’t be serious. He’s...”
“Do not say it. You don’t know him at all.”
“But he’s ...” At a loss for words this time, it was Sarahs turn to catch her breath. “What do you even know about him, other than he calls himself Demon?”
“Enough to know I want to know more.”
“Because it sounds like you’re planning on jumping in without a thought.”
“Maybe I am, is it so bad I finally like someone enough to jump in without thinking it to death?”
“Yes. If you don’t think at all.”
Clytie went stubbornly silent.
“You are my baby sister and the man is probably a criminal. Did you drink anything he gave you last night?”
“He didn’t drug me!”
“Are you sure? Sarah’s lips were pinched and Clytie had to wonder when she had become such a judgmental prude.
“I had sex with him because I wanted to. Listen to me. I. LIKE. HIM.”
“Think for a minute. You can do so much better.”
“Enough.” Clytie glared at her sister. “I am not a child. This is none of your business. So butt out!”
The silence lasted for all of ten seconds.
“It is my business when you bring him to our place of business. My children are here. What is happening to you? First you want to chuck everything we built to become an artist and now you’re taking up with someone completely inappropriate. Is this some kind of late teen rebellion you’ve been storing up? Because I thought you got it out of your system when you ran away from home and changed your name.”
The thought occurred to Clytie this fight was about more than not liking her date. “I love you Sarah but I am nearly 30 years old. I spent a lot of years helping you build the life you wanted for you and the kids and I loved every minute, but that doesn’t mean you get to make my decisions for me, or judge me when you don’t agree with them.”
Sarah held up a hand. “Fine. You want to be an artist. You don’t want to work in the store, fine. But this guy. The man is massive. He has a shaved head, a tattoo on his neck and his name is Demon. Could you pick anyone more assured to alienate the family?”
“Since I’ve been alienated from the family for years, I don’t think this is going to make much difference. Unless you mean it will alienate me from you.”
Absolute silence. Clytie swallowed hard.
“Well, since you have no say in whom I date all I can say is: Tough.”
Sarah’s lips went rigid. “Maybe the family has been right about you all along.”
“When did you become such a sanctimonious prude?”
“About the time you became a slut apparently.”
This time the silence reverberated through her chest. Ouch. Clytie swallowed with an effort. “Why are you acting like this?”
“I’m not the one bringing her one night stand around to meet my children.”
Clytie ground her teeth. “Fine, I will do you a favor and take my slut self and my thug lover elsewhere.” She turned in high dungeon and went back out into the garden to find Demon. “We’re leaving.”
“What is it Baby?”
“We.Are. Leaving.”
Demon thought about asking questions but one glance at the fire in her eyes convinced him later would be better. He nodded his good-byes while Clytie relented enough to hug the teenagers before leading Demon to the back gate. Sarah did not make another appearance.
Unfortunately, the visit tarnished the glow she had started the day with. Clytie no longer felt quite so sure about herself or her out of character choices. She wiped the angry tears from her face and stared out the window. She didn’t argue when he suggested they skip lunch. She was more than ready to head back to the real world to think. She didn’t like fighting with her sister. She took a deep breath. Sarah was wrong about Demon but she was right about a few things. This was definitely not like her. A little time to herself to think about everything would not be out of order here.
They pulled into the garage back at the compound and they sat as Clytie thought about what she wanted to ask. .
“We never talked about Birth Control. I’m on the pill, but I just wondered why you never asked.”
He turned off the car and sat, face void of expression. Shape-shifters didn’t carry disease but he couldn’t very well tell her that.
“I don’t carry any diseases and you were a Virgin.” That was the certainly the truth. “As for having a baby, I’ve never been with another woman without wearing a condom but in your case... I guess I don’t mind the idea of getting you pregnant.”
She blinked. That was not what she had expected to hear.
“Next subject.” She said a little desperately. “What do you do in security?”
He leaned back getting comfortable. “My specialty is computer and building security. The company as a whole? Essentially, we go in and pinpoint weak areas, then fix them.
“So, not just a pretty face.”
He smiled, a touch brutal, “You are the only person I ever remember calling me pretty.”
She leaned over and ran her hand down his scarred cheek. “Maybe you’re right. Compelling is probably a better word.”
“Compelling?”
“I’m an artist. Trust me. Compelling is better than pretty any day.”
“And that’s your professional opinion?”
