Page 5 of Possessing Demon


Font Size:  

“I know enough to know that you put on this tough act, but really, you’re scared,” he said.

“Oh really,” she asked, “and what exactly am I afraid of?” she asked.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll figure it out—I always do. Right now, we need to tend to that eye of yours before it swells any more,” Demon said. “Come with me,” he ordered. Luna looked about ready to give him a fight before he walked past her and into his kitchen, leaving her no choice but to follow him.

“Do you have any medical training?” she asked.

“Nope, but I’ve had plenty of black eyes,” he said. “Here,” he pulled an ice pack out of his freezer and handed it to her with a kitchen towel. “Wrap the ice pack in that and put it on your eye.” She did as he ordered and winced when the towel made contact with her swollen eye.

“Hurts,” she mumbled.

“It’s only going to get worse. Tomorrow, you’ll be in agony. You should take these every four hours,” he said, handing her a bottle of pain reliever. “It will help with the pain.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“After the swelling goes down in a day or two, put warm compresses on it and it will heal faster,” he said.

“Are you sure that I don’t need to see a doctor?” she asked.

He smiled at her, “So that you can tell him that I’m holding you against your will—not a chance. If you need a doctor, the club has a good one and I’m sure that Doc wouldn’t mind stopping by to take a look at you,” he said.

“Never mind,” she grumbled, “I think I’ll live without another one of your biker buddies putting his hands on me.”

“I’m pretty sure that you don’t have to worry about that,” he said. “Your brother will probably tear apart any guy in the club who makes a move on you, Luna.”

She crossed the kitchen and stood in front of him. “Does that include you?” she asked.

“It does,” he breathed.

She looked him over, holding her ice pack to her eye, and smiled. “I don’t believe that’s true, Demon,” she said. “You look capable of holding your own with my brother.” That might be true, but he didn’t want to test her theory. Demon had a rule of no fighting with his brothers. He only had to break that rule once and it just plain sucked. He lost a good friend over a woman, and that wasn’t something he planned on doing ever again.

When he didn’t give her a response, she rolled her eyes and turned away from him. “Suit yourself,” she said. “Can you show me which room I’ll be sleeping in? I’m tired and want to get some sleep—if that’s all right with you,” she said. As if his approval mattered to her. It wasn’t even lunchtime, but she didn’t look like she cared what time it was. He knew her game and there was no way that he’d play it with her. Luna was dangerous and the sooner he could figure out what to do with her, the easier his life would be.

Luna

There was no way that Luna was going to take being locked away lightly. Her brother was overreacting but telling him that never seemed to work out for her. Ever since she was a little kid, she never got a say in her own life. Her older brothers made sure that her every move was watched, scrutinized, and changed—if necessary. She hated being the youngest and only girl in her family, and it was time that she taught all of her older brothers who was in charge of her life—she was.

She might have told Demon that she was going to catch up on her sleep, but that was a total lie. Sooner or later, he’d figure out what to do with her and stow her away someplace out of town. If she sat and waited for that to happen, she might never get her life back. It was Joel’s fault that the Ghosts were after her in the first place. She couldn’t help who her brother was, and that’s exactly what she told the guys who had ganged up on her and beat her up, trying to find Joel. Of course, she held her own with them and didn’t give them anything to go on. Her sarcasm usually got her in a whole lot of trouble, but today, she used it to her advantage, giving those assholes as much sass as she could muster while they were pounding on her face. Luckily for her, she got away from them before they could do much worse to her because she was sure that was the plan. Her brother hadn’t swooped in to save her—she saved herself, and he needed to remember that she was capable of taking care of herself.

Luna was on her way to work when the Ghosts stopped her. She lived close enough to the tattoo parlor to be able to walk and she had never felt unsafe doing so—until this morning. There were four of them and just one of her, but she stood her ground, even when they forced her into the alley just two blocks from work. At first, she shouted for help, not knowing what the men wanted or who they were, but one of the guys backhanded her, shutting her right up. They started asking her questions about some biker named Spider whom they had apparently killed, and then, they said her brother’s name. They told her that they knew Joel was handling Spider’s case and when she refused to tell them where to find her older brother, they started beating her. When a garbage truck pulled into the alley, to collect the trash from the dumpster, she took that as the distraction that she needed and took off. They chased her for a few blocks, and she knew not to lead them to her apartment or her work. Instead, she ducked into her favorite coffee shop and called her brother. Joel found her sitting in the corner of the shop, trying to sip the hot tea that she bought for herself to help steady her nerves—but it didn’t really help her shaking hands or swelling eye. That was when her brother took over and had some of his guys go to her apartment and pack her stuff. He told her that he'd keep her safe and she knew that he would. What she hadn’t counted on was that her brother planned on dumping her off on some of his MC buddies to babysit her until he could figure things out. She was his burden and he so easily got rid of her—and that hurt.

The room that Demon was letting her stay in was nice enough, but she had no plans on staying there. Instead, she’d find a way to get to the tattoo parlor and keep her appointments with her clients. She was building a name for herself in the industry and there was no way that she’d ruin that now just because her brother thought that it wasn’t safe for her to go to work.

She quietly put her bags in the corner of the room, not sure that she’d be able to get them and herself out of the bedroom window. Plus, she was going to have to walk the mile and a half to work and the last thing she wanted to do was carry her bags downtown with her. Luna was happy to find that the window was easily opened, and she carefully climbed out, making sure to grab her purse and say a little prayer that the drop to the ground below wouldn’t kill her. Her only saving grace was that the guest room was on the main floor, and she didn’t have far to fall.

She landed with an oomph and stood to brush herself off. “That wasn’t too bad,” she whispered to herself. She knew that the safest and quickest way to the tattoo shop was through the woods that she would have rather not have to trudge through. Luna was sure that there were spiders, snakes, and all kinds of creepy crawlers that she’d rather not have to deal with on her way to work, but her brother still had her wallet and her car keys. The only things she had in her purse was some gum, makeup, and Demon’s cell phone that she had swiped off the kitchen counter without him noticing. She was lucky that she had gotten away with his phone too since her brother had insisted on keeping hers after she was attacked. He said something about being easily tracked through her phone and she rolled her eyes at him while he lectured her about laying low and staying safe until he could figure the whole Ghosts thing out. From what she had overheard the guys talking about at the bar, one of their own named Spider was killed and apparently, the Ghosts were targeting club members and their families. She worried that they’d catch up with Joel, but then she remembered how capable her older brother was.

By the time she got to work, her first two appointments were waiting for her. “Sorry, guys,” she said, “I had car trouble and had to walk to work.” Rico shot her a look and nodded to the break room. “I’ll be right with you, Sheila,” she said to her first client. She at least wanted a simple tattoo, and that would help Luna get caught up.

She followed Rico to the back room and put her hands on her hips, ready for whatever shit he was going to give her. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked. “Your brother called to tell me that you have mono, but you don’t look sick. A little bit sweaty and your face looks like someone took a baseball bat to it, but not sick.”

“Gee, thanks for that,” she mumbled, “listen, I ran into some trouble on my way in here. Some guys cornered me in the alley two blocks over, and did this to my face,” she said, pointing to her eye.

“Wait, you were on your way to work, and someone beat you up in the alley around the corner?” he asked.

“That about sums it up,” she said. “I called Joel and he kind of took over from there. He was the one who came up with the plan to tell you that I was sick, knowing how you feel about germs because he believes that I need to hide away to be safe. Ridiculous, right?” she asked.

“I’d really love to say that it does sound ridiculous, but judging from what your face looks like, maybe he was on the right track. Are you sure that it’s safe for you to be here?” he asked. “Would you rather just go home for the day, and I’ll take your appointments?” She worried that her clients might switch to Rico, and she couldn’t afford to lose clients.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like