Meph recoiled. “No! She’s Eva’s mom. She’s my—” Okay, nope, he wasn’t saying that out loud. That was for his own, sad little brain only.
“She’s your what?”
“Nothing.”
“So why are you always hanging out with her?”
“None of your business. I’ll be back in a minute.” He fled as quickly as he could without actually running.
“Hey,” some faceless female said, stepping into his path.
He dodged her like a running back on his way to score a touchdown. He didn’t even look at her, and he certainly didn’t let her touch him.
He whipped open the balcony door and slammed it behind him like he’d just escaped a murderer, taking gulps of the freezing-cold air like he hadn’t breathed in hours, and—
Came face to face with Lily’s twin.
Iris’s lip curled at the sight of him. “What are you doing here?”
She said it like he had a disease. Like he was the nastiest motherfucker on planet Earth. Hell, he probably was.
He made a face. “What areyoudoing, birthday girl? Where’s your coat? Why are you standing out here freezing your tits off?”
“Could say the same to you,” she snapped.
Iris really hated his guts. It was weird. He might have said it was because he was a demon—which would be fair enough considering one had killed her parents—except she didn’t hate his brothers, and she was even nice to Mist most of the time.
But Meph always got the stink eye. The glare of murderous intent.
“I don’t have tits,” he replied blandly.
She rolled her eyes.
Damn, though, she was hot. He was just pathetic enough to be attracted to her even though she despised him.
Her hair was blue. Vivid, brilliant blue. The blackwork flower tattoo on the left of her chest peeked out above the neck of her hoodie, and her green eyes were lined with dark makeup, giving her this tough-bitch look that was fine as hell. She had a septum piercing like he did and more stuff in her ears. He appreciated a female with good taste, he really did.
“Of course you had to stalk me out here,” she sneered. “You seem to thrive on pissing me off.”
“You’re not that special, sweetness. I came out here to make a phone call, and it was sheer bad luck that I ran into you.”
“You can’t call people inside?”
What is this? An interrogation?He started to lose his cool a bit. The little witch really knew how to get under his skin. “I can make calls wherever the hell I want. Why are you always such a bitch to me anyway? What’d I ever do to you?”
“Okay, first off, never call a woman a bitch.” She jabbed a finger at him.
“But what if she is one?” He was deliberately provoking her, wanting to push her into losing her temper for a reason he didn’t fully understand.
“I don’t give a shit. Don’t do it. And second, stop with the pet names. The next time you call me one, I will kick you in the balls.”
Okay, that crossed a line. No one threatened his balls.
He leaned into her, crowding her space and staring her down nice and hard. He allowed the tiniest bit of his deranged demon form to bleed into his eyes, letting it out of its cage the most he could. Just enough that he knew the red color would start to glow.
He wanted to remind her what he was.
She shrank back, her eyes widening and her nostrils flaring. Smug triumph filled him.
