He crosses his arms. “She’s been ungrateful about pretty much everything else, so I don’t know why you idiots thought this would be any different.”
Nope, not observant at all. Just a plain prick. My mistake.
Anger heats my face and douses my desire as I turn to him. I can’t believe I let my dreams convince me to fuck this dude. Not in a million years would I put up with that mouth just to get to his dick. My clit will just have to come up with a game plan that doesn’t involve the lava demon and his taciturn bullshit.
“You know what, Jerif? Fuck you.” I turn to Iceman. “Can you ward my house so his rude ass can’t get in?” I ask with complete seriousness.
Iceman shakes his head like he’s too tired to deal with this shit, but he does shoot Jerif a look. Jerif rolls his eyes and moves through the pristine new kitchen, grumbling about how he’s going to make coffee. I peek over Crux’s shoulder. Damn, apparently, I now own a super expensive coffee making thing that looks like it should belong in a Starbucks and not my house.
Well, at least Jerif’s not totally useless. Maybe he can be trained to bring me coffee and dessert anytime he has the urge to be an asshole. Knowing him, I’d be dead from an overdose of caffeine and sugar in less than forty-eight hours though, so maybe that’s not the way to go.
“Aside from surprise renovations, to what do I owe the pleasure of your demonic visit?” I ask, moving away from Echo and Crux’s sandwiching bodies as I walk out of the kitchen and go into the living room to lean against my ratty couch.
Iceman instantly looks nervous as he takes a seat on the worn cushions of my sofa. Worry flutters through me. Did they have problems at the Hellgate last night? He clears his throat and scratches at the base of one of his horns, stalling.
“Did something happen?” I ask uneasily.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, but I was hoping we wouldn’t have to talk about this right now,” he confesses, and a myriad of possible topics sweep through my mind. His blue gaze settles on my lips for a second, and heat crawls up my neck and into my cheeks.
Shit.
Did Echo or Crux tell him about how I was grinding against Echo on my couch and letting his shadows do very naughty things to me? Is he about to lay some we have to keep things professional lecture at my feet? Or worse...do they know about the dream somehow? I don’t fucking know what these demons are capable of, after all. They could be fucking dream readers or some shit. If Jerif knows that I let him dream fuck me up the ass, I will die. There’s no way that fucker will ever let me live it down.
Iceman continues to search for the right words, and I get more and more nervous. I look around at the others, but they’re equally quiet, and my nerves shoot around like jumping beans. I don’t want to get lectured about this, and I sure as hell don’t want to get blamed.
When Iceman finally opens his mouth to say something, I jump up, cutting him off. “Look, you guys are the ones who started the flirting, not me, so if anyone is to blame, it’s them,” I declare pointing at Crux and Echo.
They both voice a defensive, “Hey,” but Iceman’s expression turns confused. “What are you talking about?” he asks, looking from me to the guys.
I blink and drop my arm. Shit, did I read this wrong?
I try to stuff my hand awkwardly in my front pocket just for something to do, but because these are women’s jeans, it’s only about an inch deep, so it looks hella ridiculous as I try to prop it in there all casual-like. I pull it back out and shift on my feet. “Ummm...what are you talking about?” I counter.
Iceman studies me for a moment and then looks over at Crux and Echo. The idiots don’t even try to play it off. Crux grins mischievously, while Echo lets his shadows shift and swirl around his pale skin. My face burns about as hot as Jerif’s skin.
“I specifically said no sleepovers,” Iceman tells them with a sigh.
“We didn’t sleep,” Echo says with a smirk.
“Oh my God, don’t say it like that,” I hiss, moving away from them to go sit on the opposite end of the couch as Iceman. I don’t miss the expression of disappointment that seems to flicker over his features before he shutters it away. I’m not sure exactly what that means. Is he disappointed in us? Or...is he disappointed that he wasn’t here to participate for our naughty straddle on the couch? I shift, pressing my thighs together to stifle my neediness. God, that dream really fucked me up.
“Nothing happened.” Except for letting Echo’s shadows trail over my body while grinding on his dick. Oh and being totally cool with Crux watching the whole thing, which was probably the catalyst to the really filthy dream I just had about all of you… I clear my throat. “They did leave last night, but I’m guessing, when there were no Gate issues, they came back and renovated my kitchen. That’s all.”
Iceman glances back over to the space. “I noticed.”
“Your floor plan is much better,” Jerif pipes in arrogantly, which is basically the equivalent of I told you so.
“Anyway,” I say, bulldozing past the awkward conversation before Crux or Echo can interject anything about our happy hour on the couch, “what did you want to talk about?” Please don’t be some sort of dream reader, I chant silently.
Iceman leans forward on the couch, bracing his forearms on his powerful thighs as he looks at me while the others circle around the back of the couch. “I know you’re not ready, Delta, and all of us were hoping
