Eva fished the phone out of her bag and groaned when she saw the caller ID. It was one o’clock in the morning. Why was herdadcalling her? Well, it was only ten where he was, but still. He knew about the time difference.
She muted the ringer and let it go through to voicemail. She loved her dad, but she was not talking to him when she had a naked man in her bed. Just no.
Except it immediately rang again. And then she noticed her notifications. She had ten missed texts from him too, all saying, “CALL ME RIGHT NOW.” He’d even used periods. That meant it was really serious.
She groaned again and answered the call. “Dad, it’s one o’clock here. What if I was sleeping?”
“I know you don’t go to sleep that early. You’re a musician.”
“Still, now isn’t a good time. Can I call you in the morning?”
“Your mom told me about the guy you’ve been seeing. I had to interrogate her to get her to admit where she got those four names from, but she finally caved. I wish you’d told me.”
She blinked, speechless. That was what this was about? She couldn’t believe he was calling her at one in the morning to ream her out over a guy.
“Look, honey, I need you to promise me you won’t see him or any of his brothers again.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.”
“Eva, this is serious. You’re in danger.”
“Why? Because he has a funny name? Or because I had a stress-induced hallucination and you think I need therapy?”
“What? A hallucination of what?”
Oh. Apparently, Jacqui hadn’t told him everything after all. She smiled into the dark kitchen.Way to go, Mom.“Nothing. Look, can we talk about this tomorrow? It’s late and Ash—” She broke off.Let’s not tell Dad that demon-name guy is in my bed right now, shall we?
But he put it together. “Is he with you right now?” He sounded panicky. “Answer me, Eva. Are you with him right now?”
“Dad, what is with you? Look, I get being protective, but this is going too far. I’m a grown-ass woman, and it’s not really your choice who I date. I appreciate your concern, I really do, but now is not the time for this conversation.”
“Where are you? Honey, this is important. Please tell me where you are.”
She frowned. He sounded really worried. Scared, even, which was so unlike her fierce daddio it wasn’t funny. “I’m home, and I’m fine.”
“Is he there with you?”
“I’m not answering that! Dad, this is too much. I’m hanging up—”
“I’m coming to you right now. I won’t be long. Promise me you won’t go anywhere.”
“Uh, last I checked it’s a five-hour flight, so, sorry, but you can’t exactly promise that. Look, Dad, love you lots, but I’m going to hang up the phone now, and we can talk in the morning. Goodnight.”
She hung up the phone, put it on silent, and then tossed it back in her bag. She shook her head. Her dad was taking overprotectiveness to an unhealthy degree, and it was embarrassing that Ash had overheard all that. She’d been telling him all week how awesome her parents were, and her dad had gone and blown it, big time.
“Sorry about that,” she called out, knowing Ash would hear from the bedroom. “My dad’s crazy.” She turned to the sink, grabbing the glass she kept beside it and filling it from the tap. “I don’t know why he’s acting like that.”
She heard footsteps creaking the old wood floors as Ash walked up behind her. “He’s normally really cool,” she said, lowering her voice since she sensed him standing right there. “We actually get along, so I don’t know why he—”
A sudden icy sensation trailed down her spine, and she stiffened. Somehow, she just knew.
It wasn’t Ash standing behind her.
Suddenly, she was terrified to turn around. And yet she knew she had to.
Slowly, she twisted on her bare feet, lifted her head, and forced herself to look.
She saw the dark shape of a massively tall being, mostly silhouetted by the big wall of windows behind him.
