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“All right,” she agreed, “then, you need to stop treating me like a little kid. No more threatening to run to tell my brother on me if I don’t want to follow your rules. And I don’t want so many rules,” she quickly added.
“We have to have some rules,” he insisted, “otherwise, I won’t be able to keep you safe.”
“Okay, what rules are you thinking of making me live by Demon?” she asked. He looked down at his arm as she started working on the bat’s wings. Honestly, the pain wasn’t too bad, but he still winced a bit. “Big baby,” Luna whispered under her breath.
“I think that rule number one is that you should stop running away from me. No more sneaking off on your own,” he said.
“Deal,” she quickly agreed, “but, I don’t want to give up working. If you want me to stop running off, you have to agree to come with me to work—just a few hours a day. I can pair back my workday if you agree to let me come in.”
He wanted to tell her that the deal was a no-go, but they were compromising. If he told her no, outright, she’d never agree to the rest of his rules, and he’d never have a moment’s peace. “Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll come here and watch you work—but just for three hours a day,” he said.
“Four hours a day, and you’ve got a deal,” Luna agreed. “That will cut my hours in half, but I can still make ends meet.”
“Okay, four hours a day, but you agree to stop running off.”
“Done,” she agreed. “I also don’t want you taking me somewhere else and dumping me off on one of your buddies. My brother asked you to keep me safe because he said that he trusts you. I don’t want to have to leave town or anything like that.” It was nice to hear that Joel trusted him with his sister, but he shouldn’t. Demon had every impure thought about her that was humanly possible since she walked into Savage’s office earlier that day.
“What happens when I have a job come up and can’t take you with me?” he asked. He didn’t have an upcoming assignment but that was the way that his life worked. He’d get called up and have to ship out on a top-secret mission. He certainly couldn’t take Luna with him if work needed him. He couldn’t imagine that she’d fare well in the middle of a jungle on a rescue mission.
She shrugged, “If that happens, leave me with Joel. I mean, I technically am his problem. You only took me on because of some weird obligation that you have toward him and your club. Just dump me off with him.” Demon hated hearing her refer to herself as someone whom he could just dump off on anyone. He was beginning to see that she was quite capable of holding her own. She did get herself out of that alley where the Ghosts were taking turns beating her down. She was smart enough to run into a coffee shop and call her brother for help. None of this was her fault, but it was quickly becoming her problem, and he hated that for her.
“We can work all of that out when it happens,” he offered, “if it happens.”
“All right,” she agreed. “Just do me a favor, don’t call my brother about every little thing. I mean, you don’t have to tell him about my little disappearing act from your house today, right?” Luna asked. Yeah, she wasn’t going to like this next part. He shot her a sheepish grin, and she stopped working on his tattoo.
“Why did you stop?” he asked. “You’re almost finished.”
“I stopped because I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to like what you’re about to tell me,” she said. “Your face gave you away.”
“You got all of that from my face?” she asked.
“Yeah—you suck at poker, don’t you?” she asked.
“Shut up,” he grumbled.
“Are you going to tell me that you’ve already told my brother about my great escape?” she asked. “Or, do I need to guess?”
“Well, you kind of hit the nail on the head just now,” Demon said. “I’d really like to say that I didn’t, but I did call Joel to tell him that you escaped. I panicked when I couldn’t find you around town, and he told me to check here. He also told me that if I let my guard down again, and let you out of my sight, he’d kick my ass,” Demon said.
She giggled, “That sounds like Joel. Hell, that sounds like all of my overly protective brothers.”
“I guess it can’t be easy being the youngest girl in a family of all boys. I mean, you probably never went on one single date in high school.” Luna started her tattoo gun again, going back to work on his almost finished tat, and he knew that their time to talk was just about over.
“No,” she breathed, “it wasn’t easy. Just promise that you won’t run to Joel every time I mess up,” she said. “My brothers already think of me as a screw-up. I don’t need you tattling on me every time I goof up.”
“I didn’t tattle,” he insisted, “I informed your brother that his bratty sister jumped out of my guest room window and escaped.”
“I’m not a brat,” she grumbled. “I’m guessing that Joel didn’t take it well,” she said.
“Not really,” he admitted, “he told me that if I didn’t find you here, at work, he’d come out and find you himself. I’m just happy that you were here and that didn’t have to happen. I have a feeling that he would have kicked both of our asses.”
“He could try,” Luna whispered more to herself than to him. Demon laughed and winced in pain when he shifted in his seat. “Don’t move,” she spat.
“Sorry,” Demon said, “I’ll try to stay still, but you can’t go and say shit like that.”
“So, do we have anything left to discuss?” she asked. “Because I’m finished with your tattoo. What do you think?”
He studied her handiwork and smiled. “I love it,” he admitted, “you’re very talented, Luna,” he said.
