by Maya Nicole
"Are you coming?" He looked down at me.
"I didn't think I was invited. You're acting all butt hurt. No pun intended." I bit my lip and stifled a laugh. I was evil, I was sure.
He rolled his eyes and left the door open for me to follow.
Falling asleep was easy when you knew your dreams would be sweet instead of torturous. Despite how much I loved my good dreams, I was getting more and more suspicious of their source. It didn't stop me from wanting to spend all my time in the only place I could have them.
I stood on the rooftop, the wind blowing my hair into my face. Dark gray storm clouds rolled overhead. The faint rumble of thunder in the distance matched the intensity of my thudding heart.
Tobias, Asher, and Oliver stood before me, their backs ramrod straight, their faces devoid of emotion. Except their eyes. Their eyes stared back at me with hate and disgust.
"Please, don't do this. It shouldn't matter!" I pleaded with them, taking a step forward. They met my advance with a step back. "I love you!"
"We don't love you. Not anymore." Tobias's lip curled off his teeth in a sneer. He was disgusted by me.
This couldn't be happening. They said they loved me and now they were going to leave me. I needed to wake up, I needed to get out of this before my heart shattered.
Their wings snapped open as I sank to my knees on the wet surface of the roof. The rain had started to fall, soaking my clothes, covering the tears streaming down my face. I shivered, but I wasn't sure if it was from the chill seeping into my body from the rain or from my heart breaking.
"I could never love a demon. You disgust me." Asher clenched his fists at his side. "Let's go before she ruins us."
A sob shook my body and my hands braced against the rough surface of the roof. My heart felt as if it was being ripped from my chest.
"Wait." Oliver stepped towards me and kneeled next to me. I knew I could rely on him to see the good in this situation. He was my bright light in the darkness.
I sat back on my heels and he leaned forward, close to my ear. "You're nothing to me."
His words cut like a knife and he backed away before the three angels shot into the sky. The sky lit up with lightening and the thunder shook the roof.
I screamed into the sky, my throat burning with the force. Flames erupted around me as I stood and tilted my head towards the darkened sky.
"Danica." The soft voice came from behind me.
I spun around, the flames intensifying around us. It felt like I had set the whole world on fire. "Where have you been?" I choked out through my tears.
"I'm sorry I'm late, I was..." He didn't complete his thought and he reached forward. I backed away.
"No. You don't get to touch me. Not anymore."
"Danica." His voice held a warning as I backed away another step, closer to the flames.
"Why are you here, Reve?" The flames began swirling up into the sky, like mini tornados.
"I'm here because I love you."
I tilted my head back and laughed and then choked on the sound. I clutched my chest as the gaping hole opened wider.
"You aren't even real. I don't want you here anymore. I don't need you! Leave!" I yelled as the sound of the flames made my voice difficult to hear.
"Danica." My body shook as my name left his lips, sadness in his eyes.
"Danica." A hand was shaking my shoulder. "Baby, wake up."
I sat up abruptly, my head smashing into Asher's. The sharp pain in my forehead ripped me back to reality. I gasped in air, trying to clear my lungs of the empty sensation that had taken hold.
My eyes burned with tears and sweat, blurring my vision and leaving me wondering if I was still in the nightmare. Asher didn't touch me, but sat close to me, ready to comfort me. My vision was starting to clear and I caught a flash of a retreating back in my peripheral vision.
Dark green eyes stared at me from across the railing surrounding the bedroom. He kept his eyes locked on mine as he slowly backed away. My eyes went wide as his legs disappeared, then his torso, and right before Asher swung his head in that direction, his face.
"Reve." The name left my lips as I crawled off the bed and stumbled in the direction he had disappeared. I stood in the spot and wrapped my arms around myself as if that would help me hold myself together.
"Reve? Like an engine?" Asher came to stand in front of me, concern wrinkling his features. "Did you have a nightmare about the Fallen taking you?"
I took a step back from him and shook my head. Had I been screaming in my sleep? My throat felt scratchy and dry. I brushed past him and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and gulped it down, staring at the SpongeBob SquarePants picture hanging by a magnet.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Asher asked, standing near the table.
I threw the empty water bottle into the sink and turned to face him, leaning against the counter. My heart rate was returning to normal and the air chilled my sweaty skin. I shivered and Asher stepped forward. I let him.
"I thought your nightmares were under control when you were here." I let Asher wrap his arms around me and lead me over to the couch. He pulled his blanket around me and sat next to me, tucking me under his arm.
I shook my head and let out a shaky breath. Reve. Reve was the one keeping the nightmares away. It made so much sense now that I thought about it. He couldn't get onto campus without permission (which he would never get) and he didn't know about Montecito. The thought had first snuck into the corner of my mind when Asher was in Montecito but I still had nightmares.
"I dreamed that I was a demon and you all left me." I put my head against his chest as his hand rubbed my arm through the blanket. "And then the whole world was burning around me."
"Hey," he said softly, tilting my chin up to meet his eyes. "Nothing would make me leave you. Nothing."
I nodded, not believing his words but not wanting to explain to him my insecurities. People said those things all the time, yet there was always something that would cause a person to leave.
I leaned into him and shut my eyes.
"I think there's been a dream demon in my dreams," I mumbled, barely audible even to myself. I felt his hand tighten on my arm before continuing to rub slowly back and forth. "He has been taking me out of the nightmares, but he was too late this time. I got mad at him."
"A dream demon?" Asher sounded confused. "What do you mean he takes you out of them? Aren't they supposed to cause nightmares or make them worse?"
My hand found his free one and intertwined our fingers before I continued. "He pulls me from my nightmares and takes me to all kinds of places like fancy parties, Disneyland, the beach, Italy. I thought I had just made it all up in my head as an escape. It made no sense until I saw him when I woke up just now." I didn't mention the part about him taking me to bed in some of the most lavish hotels I had ever seen in the past few dreams.
Asher stiffened behind me. "You need to tell your father."
My heart sped up. "You can't say a word about this, Asher. He doesn't hurt me. My dad will kill him if he finds out. I need him."
"He's a demon." Asher sighed and leaned back on the couch, examining my face. "What if he comes back and hurts you?"
That was a good question and one I didn't have an answer to. I didn't know why Reve was around. All I knew was that I needed him.
Chapter Nine
I was sure Asher thought I was losing my mind when I decided to just up and practically move in with him until my lease started in the space downstairs. One week of cohabitating with a man that hadn't lived with anyone in decades was something akin to intruding on a bear's den.
Sure, we usually stayed with Asher on the weekends, but an entire week, seven days, was asking the man who preferred to be alone, a lot.
Typically on the weekends Asher had his place cleaned up. It quickly became apparent to me that Asher was a slob.
A sexy slob, but the pile of dirty clothes he left in the bathroom on a daily basis was a con
stant reminder that being around me, Tobias, and Olly was a chore for him.
He was fine at first, but as the days passed, it became clear to me that Asher needed his space. It probably didn't help that I wanted to binge watch Gilmore Girls and he wanted to binge The Office. Naked. With a drink in his hand.
His naked binge watching made it rather difficult to study for my finals which were the following week. I would be taking notes and hear him laugh, which always caused me to look up. Even though I knew he was sitting there naked, it still surprised me every damn time my eyes glimpsed the sight and I would spend several minutes gawking.
After a week of sharing his space and existing on takeout I decided to cook. My history with cooking was sketchy. Ramen and frozen foods were about all I could manage. I never had a reason to cook growing up, my caregivers always cooked for me.
They should really make Home Economics a mandatory class in high school. Learning how to cut an onion is much more useful than learning the parts of a cell or the Pythagorean theorem. If there was a zombie apocalypse neither of those things would help me survive. Cooking would though. Well, unless there was nothing left to cook.
After classes ended for the day, I hustled to the grocery store on the way home, since home did not include an all you can eat smorgasbord of food. I could still eat in the dining hall if I wanted, but I didn't particularly want to hang around campus until they served dinner.
I walked through the sliding doors of the grocery store and grabbed a cart. I came prepared with a list after watching YouTube videos the night before when I couldn't sleep. I was also going to cheat a bit by not actually making anything from scratch.
My goal wasn't to kill my boyfriends.
I stopped in front of the packaged salad and scanned the thirty different mixes. Clearly other people were just as lazy as I was and couldn't even cut their own lettuce. Why else would they have so many? I grabbed a Caesar salad kit, considered who I was feeding, then grabbed a second.
I was feeling pretty good with my two bags of salad until I turned down the pasta aisle. It had to be at least twenty feet of shelving filled top to bottom. And that was just the actual pasta, not the sauce choices.
I'd been in a grocery store before, but it had been a while since I’d been shopping anywhere besides the frozen food section and cereal aisle. I couldn't be the only eighteen-year old to feel lost in a grocery store.
"What the hell am I supposed to do? Eeny meeny miny moe?" I mumbled to myself as I grabbed a bag of rigatoni and examined the back.
"If I may make a suggestion," a woman said from behind me.
I turned and raised my eyebrows at her intrusion on my pasta selection activities.
"Do I know you?" She was dressed in a red power suit, heels that screamed "fuck me," and had long dark hair that left me feeling hair envy.
"I don't think so. Are you cooking for someone special?" I nodded. She glanced at the pasta box I was holding before plucking it from my hands and putting it back on the shelf. "In the refrigerated section they have pasta and sauces that are far superior to anything you can find down this aisle. I'll help you."
She grabbed my cart and started pushing it in the opposite direction. Who did this woman think she was? I frowned but followed behind her, feeling drawn to her chipper demeanor. Maybe she was just in a good mood and paying it forward.
We stopped in front of the section with prepared pasta and she grabbed the family sized three cheese tortellini and a container of alfredo sauce.
"This is the way to a man's heart, or at the very least, a simple way into his pants." Her red stained lips pulled up into a smile showing her shockingly white, perfect teeth. This woman was walking, talking sex.
"Thanks," I said, watching her as she put them in my cart. "What else should I get? I made a list but I could use all the help I can get."
"Definitely garlic bread, a nice Chardonnay, and something sweet for dessert." She took off again and I followed her.
"I can't buy alcohol," I informed her as we turned down the wine aisle. She grabbed two bottles and put them in her empty hand basket she had been toting around. She winked at me, her blue eyes sparkling.
After gathering the rest of the meal I followed her to the checkout line and purchased my pretty epic date night meal. I hoped I wouldn't burn it. Boiling water couldn't be that hard, could it?
Once in the parking lot the woman handed me the two bottles of wine and refused the cash I tried to give her.
"Consider it a gift."
"Thanks, I really appreciate your help."
She smiled brightly and walked away, her heels clicking on the pavement.
I loaded my car and made it to Asher's with thirty minutes to spare before my dinner dates arrived.
I placed everything on the counter and snapped a quick photo. I sent it to my dad with a text. Look, I'm going to actually cook something for other people. Supposedly this meal is the way to a man's heart and into his pants.
I snickered after hitting send, imagining my dad's face as he read it. He almost immediately texted me back. What made you decide on that particular meal?
A woman at the store. She was nice, even bought the wine for me.
The typing bubbles appeared and disappeared several times. I put the phone down and preheated the oven for the bread. Preheating an oven was my jam.
The front door opened and slammed shut as I turned on the stove to boil water. I heard Asher drop his keys in the metal bowl by the door and make a grunt as he took off his boots. I didn't need to turn to see him do it, it was the same every day.
"Are you cooking?" He seemed to have stopped in his tracks across the room.
I turned after placing the lid on the pot of water just in time to see Asher pull off his shirt and toss it near the wall by the bathroom. He walked towards me and I put my hands up.
"I want it to be a surprise. Go shower. Olly and Tobias will be here in a bit." My eyes moved from his abs up to his face where his eyebrows were raised.
"I need a drink." He started forward again and I met him halfway, stopping him. "At least give me a beer or my bottle of whiskey."
"It will ruin your palate for my meal. We're having wine." I put a hand on his chest and he covered it with his before yanking me the rest of the way towards him and kissing me.
He hadn't even eaten the meal yet and I was halfway into his pants. Not that I needed a reason to ever sleep with any of them. One or more was always willing. But tonight wasn't about that. Tonight was about repaying them for always putting up with my crap.
"You do remember that time you decided to make toast, don't you? There were flames." He traced my bottom lip with his finger and his eyes twinkled. My face started to burn as I recalled my failed attempt at toasting bread.
There weren't flames. There definitely was a lot of smoke that set off the smoke detectors though.
He let me go and opened the cabinet under the sink, grabbing a fire extinguisher from inside.
I frowned as he set the red canister on the counter. "Don't burn down my kitchen."
Smart ass.
He turned and headed towards the bathroom. I grabbed a potholder and chucked it at him. It sailed past him and he turned and smirked. "You missed. I hope your cooking is better than your aim."
I rolled my eyes and turned back to watch the water pot. He was distracting to say the least.
By some miracle I didn't burn anything and the food tasted great. Maybe I could get on board the cooking train if it was really that easy.
"That was amazing and you know how picky I am," Olly said, putting his fork down on his empty plate and sitting back. He took a sip of his Chardonnay and frowned into the glass. "I don't think I like this though."
"It was perfect. What's the special occasion?" Tobias asked, swirling his wine before taking a sip.
I shrugged. "No reason. Just felt like cooking you guys dinner. I was also sick of eating takeout and frozen pizza."
Tobias ran his finger around
the rim of his wine glass. "I don't think you should move off campus."
I sighed. This conversation was a daily occurrence in some shape or form. Olly was also not a fan of me moving off campus, but neither man really had a clue what living there was like for me.
"She'll be perfectly fine downstairs. We can even get walkie talkies if it would make you two get off her back." Asher stood and started piling plates to take to the sink. "You can't expect her to stay somewhere that makes her stay in the same building with her teachers."
"They might be willing to let you move to a student building. Let me talk to Sue." I frowned at Tobias and stood to help Asher. Living in a student building would be even worse than living with the teachers.
"Sit. We'll do the dishes," Olly said, standing to help Asher.
"I knew I could count on you, angel baby." Asher grabbed the plates from Olly's hands and took them to the sink. "Unlike Toby. See him sitting over there pretending like we aren't doing the dishes? That's why he approved of this whole harem business, now he has three maids."
I laughed as Tobias ignored Asher's dig. It was true though. Tobias tended to sit back after eating, even when everyone else jumped up to clean.
"I've already signed papers and ordered furniture. I'm not even sure I'm going to continue next year now that I have my GED. The fact that I'm going to have to make up the first semester over the summer is not appealing at all."
"We told you we'd help you with that. You can't just quit, Danica." Tobias frowned and finished his drink.
"Why not? No one there likes me, plus being an angel just isn't in my cards." I turned my attention to Olly and Asher cleaning up the kitchen. Every time Asher handed Olly a plate to put in the dishwasher, their fingers would brush. I wasn't sure who they thought they were fooling, but something special was brewing between them. Maybe they just needed a little push.
"I like you. Oliver likes you. Ethan and Cora like you. Screw the rest of them." He stood and moved behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and starting to massage them. "I'll miss you."