Page 21 of Hexes From Exes

“I mean, sometimes, I guess a little,” he said, unsure what to do with his hands.

Stephanie watched him for a moment. “Have you ever had ice cream?” she asked.

“Is it like the worm pasta?” he asked.

Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "The what?” she asked.

“I ordered the pasta because you did. The menu was too overwhelming. It was delicious, but it does look like worms,” Rick explained. Stephanie couldn’t help but smile at this. For a demon whose job it was to curse humans he sure was ignorant of the human world. The fact that he trusted her taste enough to try what she was eating was oddly flattering.

“Ice cream does not look like worms, and it is delicious, but not like pasta. C’mon,” she said, leading him into the ice cream store. “My treat.”

* * *

Rick walked down the emptying streets of Phoenix that night, still able to taste the cold bite of the ice cream on his tongue. It was sweet, much like most of the food in Anathamea, but had a strange coldness to it so unlike anything he was used to. Food was always warm in Anathamea, so something like ice cream would have melted.

The human realm was full of so many strange joys, it made sense why demons in the past did things like possess humans. The idea of staying here a bit longer was appealing. Knowing that his time with Stephanie was limited did put a bit of a damper on it, but there would be other humans to curse. Other opportunities to explore the human realm more. Revenge is a busy business.

He meandered the empty streets, heading toward a clandestine location to portal back to Anathamea. There wasn’t really any requirement for where he had to be when he was summoned back, just that he shouldn’t be seen. He knew that portaling from Stephanie’s office was a bit of a risk and – if found out – would have likely ended in reprimand. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

Rick found that he enjoyed walking the streets, liking the solitude that came with it. He had a lot to piece together, especially when it came to what to do about Stephanie. He was leaning toward the thought that maybe Chad and the other men were in the wrong, but two bad dates weren’t quite enough for him to make a decision. It wasn’t as though Stephanie didn’t have her faults. He’d had to literally portal into her office to get her attention outside of work.

He decided to take a seat on a bench across from one of the many downtown buildings in Phoenix. The architecture looked strange and out of place in the middle of a desert. All around them were towering mountains, covered in cacti and scrub plants. Here, in the downtown area, trees that were not native to the landscape tried to grow from overwatered spots on the concrete. Rick marveled at all the year-round grass that he found around churches and other establishments, a true testament to the hubris of man. And not even native grass! Most of it was shriveled in the summer heat, requiring insane amounts of water that pooled on the ground and refused to get sucked into the clay dirt below.

Truly, a wonder anyone would be so ridiculous.

He was watching the building in front of him with a detached sort of wonder, thinking over his last few days with Stephanie. With Cass he sometimes had to walk on egg shells when it came to how he was feeling, especially about work. She didn’t talk to him the way he wanted her to. He appreciated that Stephanie wasn’t aloof – she wanted to tell him about her day, how she felt, what she did - and wanted to know about his. He longed for that in a relationship.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts. He needed to stop thinking about Stephanie as something other than work. Sure, she was funny and smart and easy to be around, but she was a human. Their interactions would stop once his job was done. Plus, he loved Cass. When they got back together they could work on communication.

A familiar woman hurried from the museum. She was tall with black-blue hair and…Cass? He nearly jumped to his feet in shock. What was she doing in the human realm?

He watched her gather her bag close to her and hurry along the side of the building, her eyes darting up to look at the cameras overhead. Rick stood and followed her, jogging to keep up. She turned a corner, and he felt the tell-tale pop in the air of someone portaling back to the demon realm. It made the pressure in the air drop a bit, his ears ringing and vibrating against the change. When he came around the corner she was gone.

If he portaled home now, he could catch her.

Jerry was snoring loudly when Rick appeared in Anathamea, his head tilted back. He jumped at the sound of Rick landing on the platform, his eyes bleary as he looked over at Rick.

“Oh, hey,” he said, wiping a film of saliva from his chin. “Must of dozed off, been a little slow lately…” he mumbled.

“Have you seen Cass?” Rick asked, his gaze darting around the portal platform. She was just seconds ahead of him, there was no way she could have cleared the platform and been gone already. Plus, Jerry was asleep…unless she slipped past him.

“Cass? Uh…no,” Jerry said, the look on his face clear evidence that he didn’t know who Cass was. As far as Rick knew, her new position was mostly investigating magic within Anathamea, not outside of it. There was no reason for her to be there, especially so late at night. What was she doing?

And, more distressing, how did she get there?

“She must have forgotten, I told her to meet me here,” Rick said quickly, covering for Cass. Whatever she was doing was clearly top secret, and he wasn’t about to blow her cover. “Get some rest, Jerry,” he added, waving as he stepped down the platform and headed to his condo.

Chapter Nine

Another day, another bad date.

This time it was Jon, one of the string of lawyers Stephanie met and dated a few years ago. She was building her legal department and was invited to a series of mixers that ended in a date or two. None of the men she dated were the type of lawyers she’d employ with her company. She’d never try to mix work and play, but that’s how she ended up dating Monty, Jon, and a few others.

Monty, she suddenly remembered, would be another ex to consider. She added his name mentally to her list of people to reach out to.

“That was painful,” came a voice from next to Stephanie at the bar. It wasn’t Rick - she saw him sitting in the corner, chowing down on pasta and ordering more mojitos. He was always just on the edge of her vision, somehow close enough to hear what was going on and far enough not to interact or interfere.

The man next to her was handsome - he had dark brown hair and light hazel eyes, his five o’clock shadow clearly intentional and well kept. He wore a white button up shirt and slacks, looking like he was having a drink after work.