Page 36 of Hexes From Exes

“You going to visit that human?” Zed asked.

Rick glanced around. The streets were empty, and as far as he knew the demon council hadn’t installed cameras yet to spy on the citizens like the humans had. “If she summons me for work,” he replied.

“Mmm, work,” Zed echoed with a laugh, swerving a bit. He raised his hands to place air quotes around ‘work,’ which upset his balance enough.

Rick rolled his eyes and grabbed Zed’s elbow, steering him back onto the sidewalk. “It won’t be for much longer. She’s got a date planned with one of the original men who cursed her. Then the deal will be done, and we’ll go our separate ways.”

Zed said nothing, his eyes trained at his feet. He continued in silence until they got to his condo, where Zed flopped down on his bed face first. Rick turned off the lights and slipped out of the condo, breaking back into the warm night.

His communication device felt heavy in his pocket. He knew he shouldn’t bother Stephanie since it was late in the human realm - later than it was in Anathamea. He pulled it out, frowning at the empty message box. He really shouldn’t bother her, this had nothing to do with their agreement…

Rick

How was your date with Cooper?

Too late. He hit send, the message was out into the world. If she was with Cooper she wouldn’t respond - she always set her phone to the side, or even turned it off whenever she was with Rick or on a date. She said it was rude to check your device when with someone else, even if they were just an acquaintance. She’d get the message in the morning after she’d let Cooper out of her apartment, after he spent the night and…

His brain couldn’t handle the thoughts, he shut it off instead.

To his surprise his communication device buzzed a response within a few seconds.

Stephanie

eh.

Eh? EH? Rick felt his palms sweat, his heart racing. Eh wasn’t good. It wasn’t bad either, but…

Rick

Eh?

Stephanie

eh. *gif of a creature spewing green things from its mouth*

Rick

What in the hell is that?

Stephanie

Vomiting.

Did she have a poisoning? Was she sick? He knew humans vomited, he’d enacted revenge involving vomit before, he was unaware that their animals did too. Foul.

Rick

Are you sick?

Stephanie

Of men and dating? Absolutely. Please tell me I’m getting closer? And would it be cheating to call Fred since I know he was one of them? I cannot stomach another one of these awful dates.

When Rick looked up, he was in front of the transport platform.

Chapter Fifteen

It was 9:35pm, and Stephanie was about to head to bed.