“I did it last time,” Meph whined.
“No, you didn’t,” Raum shot back. “I did.”
Ash rolled his eyes. “Neither of you dumbasses did it, becauseIdid.” He always did the goddamn dishes, and he was the one who couldn’t even taste the food. “And I’m not doing it this time, so unless you want Bel to lose his shit again, you can do it together.”
Meph and Raum groaned simultaneously.
“I’m going to crash.” Ash skirted around the table, grabbing his jacket from the hook by the front door on his way past.
He slammed his bedroom door in a similar fashion to Belial and flopped onto his back on his bed. Pulling out his phone and the little Bluetooth speaker Eva had lent him from his jacket pocket, he connected them and cranked up some Herbie Hancock on the music app she’d downloaded.
He smiled, remembering the horrified look on her face when he’d told her he didn’t have a speaker or any way to listen to music. She’d spent half an hour teaching him how to use the damn app, but now, as he listened to Herbie shredding a solo on “Chameleon” in that classic crunchy synth tone, he had to admit it was worth the effort.
Stretching out on the bed, he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. It was getting late, the sun had set, and he was tired from lack of sleep the night before. But he didn’t drift off.
Instead, he thought about Eva.
He thought about the sex becauseduh. But he also thought about playing music with her. At the club, and then again at her apartment, when she’d caught him playing freely because he thought no one was listening.
She’d picked up her violin and joined in like she’d been there all along, and he’d experienced that feeling like he was flying again. It was fucking enjoyable. There was no denying it.
His eyes popped open, and he grabbed his phone from beside him and punched in her number. Then he stopped, thumb hovering over the call button.
His brother had given him a bunch of bullshit advice on how to make sure he got laid. Compliment her a bit, but not too much. Look interested, but not too much. Make her work for his attention. A bunch of real dickhead moves that, unfortunately, were highly effective for the average modern woman. It was a sad state of affairs out there in the world.
But it was different with Eva. He’d thrown all that advice out the window with her. And yeah, he’d been desperate to get inside her, but strangely, it hadn’t been the only thing on his mind. He just... enjoyed her company.
And now he wanted to call her. Why? He couldn’t see her. He couldn’t leave the damn apartment. But he still wanted to talk to her. To hear her voice. Make her laugh.
He cringed. He sounded like a sap.
But that didn’t stop him. After putting Herbie on pause and disconnecting the speaker, he hit that call button as decisively as he had before, and he didn’t let himself think too deeply about it.
He was a demon. He didn’t think too deeply about anything.
It rang a few times, and he was just about to give up when Eva answered. “Ash?”
“Hey.”
She hesitated. He mentally kicked himself. Maybe he shouldn’t have called after all.
“Hey. I—” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”
“I know.” He dragged his free hand down his face, feeling like an idiot. “You know what, never mind. It’s probably not a good time. I’ll just—”
“No! No, it’s a great time. I’m glad you called.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. My friend Skye is coming over in a bit, so I have some time to kill until then.”
“Oh. Cool.” What else should he say?
“What did you get up to today?”
“Just... dealing with my brothers. Raum fucked off somewhere, which set off Bel, and then I had to calm everybody down. Usual shit.”
Eva laughed. “I want to meet your brothers.”
