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Elias raises an eyebrow at Caelan’s comment but says nothing. Instead, he simply slides his jacket from his shoulders and offers it to me. He’s wearing a sleek, well-tailored modern suit today, too nice to risk staining with blood, but that doesn’t seem to concern him. “Wear this until your top dries. We’ll hang it outside. As you say, it shouldn’t take long.”
I freeze, brain still back on the moment he started casually removing his clothing. “You don’t need to…” I start, flustered, but trail off at the look in Elias’ eyes.
He’s not exactly saying it as a command in any way. There is nothing harsh about it, but it’s clear he expects to be obeyed. He’s right, I suppose. It’s the best solution. I’m being stupid and getting flustered over nothing like a goddamn idiot.
I take the jacket. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Sliding off the stool, I hurry to the bathroom, hoping neither of them noticed how red my face was getting.
With a moment of privacy, at last, I groan and bury my head in my hands. I don’t—honestly, what the hell am I meant to make of any of this?Elias. And Caelan.Demons?It kind of breaks all my understanding of reality, but at the same time, I don’t think it could possibly be just a hallucination of some sort. It feels too real for that.
I can’t make head or tail of what—who—they are. I never had any idea about who they really were—that much is obvious. Elias said they weren’t good people. If the videos are any indication, they’re dangerous. Dangerous is an understatement. But at the same time, I can see a lot of humanity in them. The way they interact with each other, with me. They can be sharp but not cruel. Not evil.
They’ve been genuinely nice to me, all things considered. Trespassing, running into them, they had a right to be mad. Yet they went to the effort of fixing up my face, Elias lent me his jacket, and—I’m not imagining it, am I? Because I swear, he was flirting earlier as well.
And that—God, that’s a whole can of worms right there. Because, fine.Fine. Maybe I have a crush on them, despite them most definitely being the bad guys they present themselves as. That makes them hotter. But it was only ever meant to be fictional, personas they used as a gimmick for the band. I was never supposed to meet them, most certainly not as demons, but now they’re here and being goddamnnice.
I don’t know what to think. It’s making it incredibly difficult to keep it together.
If I can get out of this without embarrassing myself horribly or getting murdered, I’ll count that as a victory.
But, back to the matter at hand, since I can’t hide in the bathroom forever.
I carefully place Elias’ suit jacket to one side, then strip off my top and stuff it into the sink. The water turns a vivid red the second I run the tap.
There’s a lot of blood. Curiosity piques, and I desperately want to see what the wound looks like. How bad it is. Will it scar? But seeing it would require taking the gauze off, and given it’s already soaked through, the cut is probably still bleeding. It would be better to keep it bandaged for the time being.
I rinse out as much blood as possible, then wring my top out and hang it over the hand drier while I clean myself off. It’s probably a good thing I wore this top today. It’s tight-fitting enough to provide support and has ruffled layers that disguise everything, so I never bother wearing a bra with it, which makes one less thing that didn’t get blood-soaked and potentially ruined. The top should be okay. It’s black, so it won’t stain visibly.
But there’s a downside to that too. No bra means I have to wear Elias’ jacket with literally nothing on underneath.
I stare at myself in the mirror as I put the jacket on. That sure is a look, all right. Not a bad one, actually. It would be cute as an outfit for a night out, maybe. A suit jacket and nothing underneath, if the jacket fit better.
The problem is more that it’s clearly not my jacket, it’s several sizes too big. And being topless beneath it. There’s a lot of cleavage visible, including some spectacular side boob if looked at from the right angle. Then add the cut on my face from Caelan’s knife. It looks compromising, and I have to go out and face them both looking like this.
Taking a deep breath, I steady myself. It’sfine. They’re fine. They’re goddamn demons, but they’re not awful. Apparently. They’ll understand.
I thought I’d done a decent job of grounding myself and preparing to face Elias and Caelan again. But then I walk back out to find that, in the absence of his jacket, Elias has rolled up his sleeves and undone several of the top buttons of his shirt and—God. Hishands.
They alone stir my interest. Big and strong, I can see the patterns on the veins along the back of them. They’d look so good pinning someone down.
So much for playing it cool. I can feel a touch of heat rising back to my face already.
Chagrined, I shake the thought off and try to pay attention to the more important details. Like the fact that Elias and Caelan are standing together with a camera, going over some footage and bickering about it.Were they filming something?Do theystilluse this place for videos sometimes? That would explain what they’re doing here.
They look over as I approach, and my stomach flips. Caelan isn’t subtle at all. He blinks, clearly doing a mental double-take, then his eyes drop to drink in how much Elias’ jacket doesn’t cover. It’s not a lot of cleavage, but enough.
He grins. “Good look, doll.”
“Hush. It wasn’t my idea.”
Elias isn’t so overt, but I can feel his eyes on me, and there’s a quietly appreciative look in his expression. It’s flattering, honestly. Maybe I shouldn’t be flattered. I shouldn’t be interested in them. But with the way they look at me, I can almost believe there’s a chance they could be interested in return, and that thought is kind of nice. They’re probablynot.
“Let me take that for you,” Elias offers, holding out his hand.Right. The wet top.I pass it over to him, and he takes it outside to hang in the last of the evening sunlight.
That means I’m going to be stuck here at least a little longer, doesn’t it? I can’t leave until I give Elias his jacket back, at the very least.
I return to the stools and tables, boosting myself up and perching on one of the counters. Caelan is still holding the camera, and I give it a curious glance.
