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Okay, actually, none of that was a lie. I just left out minor facts—three guys, not one; demons, not humans; attempted kidnapping, not mugging. And, oh yeah, Jude killed one and scared the bejeezus out of the other two with his badass demon-killer mojo.
“Oh my God! Seriously, Gen. Are you okay? Did you call the police?”
“No. My dad has enough to worry about. If he knew this, he’d never let me out of the house alone again.”
This was definitely true.
“Let me see.” She hobbled over on her wrapped ankle as I lifted my shirt.
“It’s not as bad as it seems,” I lied, so happy the wound was still covered by the bandage.
“Yikes! It’s really big. Thank goodness your hottie showed up. Whywashe there?”
I ignored her reference to Jude being mine. That was beyond laughable. Could a demon hunter like Jude actually ever belong to anyone? However, I had come up with a decent lie for him being there.
“When I met him the other night, I’d told him where I worked. He mentioned he was a black belt.”
“Of course he is.”
“He was looking for my dad.”
“Of course he was.”
“He wants to do some moonlighting at the dojo.”
“Of course he does.”
“Stop it!”
Mindy had that wicked gleam in her eyes. “You stop it. He’s totally into you. And now he’s saved you from some crazy creeper on the streets? It’s like a requirement that you two now have some kind of passionate love affair.”
She sighed, leaning back with a purple throw pillow clutched to her chest, gazing up at the ceiling.
There was no harm in letting her believe her delusions. Better to let her think that than know the truth. The very idea of Jude beingintome sent chills through my body all the way to the bone—terrifying, mind-numbing, body-shaking chills. I picked up the other throw pillow and chucked it at her face.
“Ow!” She giggled.
We laughed the way girls laugh about hot guys. I popped two heaping bowls of buttery popcorn, made us some Coke Zero slushies, then we settled onto the sofas with fleece blankets for an all-day marathon ofLord of the Rings. Mindy got her way last time withHarry Potter, so it was my turn. What I’d wanted for my birthday all along anyway.
I tried to deny that I had an ulterior motive, but I couldn’t. Every time Aragorn swung his sword, the vision of another warrior came to mind. Darker, fiercer, and more beautiful beyond comparison.
“Thank you again,Malcolm, for giving me a ride,” I told him as we packed our books to leave study group.
“No problem. I was happy to.”
He beamed at me. I wondered for a second if this was a bad idea. Not that I thought he wasn’t tough enough to frighten off a demon. Malcolm played rugby and filled out his six-one frame quite nicely. Much bigger than Steven, anyway. He would make that demon Fabio think twice before approaching.
I wondered if perhaps I’d given Malcolm the wrong impression. We’d always met up with Mary at the library for the study group. I hoped he wasn’t reading into this.
I knew when a guy was crushing on me. And Malcolm definitely was. He kept our relationship sort of flirty-friendly, but I’d just crossed that boundary like an idiot in my own selfish need to get out of the apartment.
We left our study nook near the reference shelves—a graveyard of research materials time had forgotten—with Mary.
“I’m so sick of Milton. I’ll be glad when we move on,” sighed Mary.
“Same,” I agreed right as my stomach growled.”
“Hungry, guys?” asked Malcolm, holding the library door open for me. “Let’s get something to eat.” He’d had finished off his Skittles and DP an hour ago.
