Chapter 14 : Left

The only reason I woke up in the morning was because I felt a seagull peck at the strings of my hoodie. My eyes flew open and I shooed the bird. It squawked in surprise, cawing as a whole flock of seagulls flew off with it. The fuck? I looked around rapidly, trying to get a grasp of where I was. I felt dazed like the night after a bender. Dizzy and delirious in the head even though my body felt unbelievably satisfied. My scars felt less puckered. My skin was less tight. Relief cascaded through my bones. I was drenched, water lapping at my bare feet. Where were my shoes? My head went from side to side. Where was my purse? Slowly, everything began to come back to me. My manager offered me sex in exchange for my paycheck. Me pushing Nova out a window. Hitting rock bottom. Invoking a demon. Then getting so taken by seeing him again I ended up having sex with him, rolling around in the sand, saturated by rainfall. The grit clustered on my thighs was proof of that. My panties felt grimy and uncomfortable. Filthy. I groaned, getting up. My poor abused vagina. I don't recall ever being this sore after having sex with him. But who could blame it after the pounding I took last night. Shaking sand from my hair, I got my bearings and slowly coming to the realization I was still on the beach. Wait…Did he leave me here? My mouth fell open. Motherfucker. After making such a big fucking deal about letting me be on top, literally riding him in the dirt amidst thunder and lightning, and he left me here. Oh, that pissed me off. But as pissed as I was, I still needed him. After everything that happened, I needed him to help me. He had to have connections. Ways to get around everything. Help me skip town. Hide. I don't know. But a demon that's been around for eons had to be able to do something. At least before the cops found me. I shuddered violently, cold and wet and gritty and sticky and gross, and…my thoughts trailed off. Naming every annoying inconvenience I was stuck with, including what had apparently been robbed at some point while I slept. Something could have happened to me! Did he not care? Not at all? Again, he fooled me. How much had he lied to me? Last night he told me it was good I finally stood up for myself. And fuck, was he going to regret that? I was going to find him, torn between whether I wanted to fuck him again or punch him in his dimpled face. Possibly both. I racked my brain for where I could find him. Digging deep into every encounter we had. Every person I talked to. That first night, he told me he owned the club. Was that a lie? The bartender seemed to know him. Now that I could remember it, they had to know each other. When I went there the next day, she seemed surprised to see me. Redirecting my questions to make me feel crazy. All with a purpose. Was she a demon too? She had those amber eyes. And so did the bouncer. It didn't matter because it was a good place to start. The sun was barely rising as I stopped by one of those beach showers to try and get some of the sand off of me. I didn't notice how it clung all over me last night, but I noticed it now. A shower was the closest thing I could get to clawing my skin off. Walking around barefoot, I tried to step over shards of glass in the street. I needed new clothes. Shoes. I'd be noticeable for cops looking like this. Some of the surf shops were open, but the trick was avoiding the salespeople. I snuck behind the racks, grabbing a new shirt, a new pair of pants, and bikini bottoms to double as underwear. As I stuffed some flip-flops under my shirt, I noticed the front desk watching the early morning news. "Authorities are still searching for Adira Lockhart after an accident yesterday evening where the alleged suspect pushed roommate Nova Rogers out the third-story window of their apartment. The two are suspected to have had an argument…" Oh, fuck. I glanced around the rack, seeing a picture of my face come onto screen. "Please alert the authorities if you see Miss Lockhart. Now we have a statement from our anchor, Bethany." A new graphic came onto the screen as a reporter stood in front of my apartment building. "We have an exclusive statement from someone who has known Miss Lockhart and Miss Rogers quite intimately. Please, Mr. Hall, tell the people watching how you know them." Mr. Hall. Fuck. Deacon Hall. Bane of my existence. The reporter held the microphone out to Deacon. "I'll tell it how it is. Adira…Miss Lockhart, has been nothing but jealous of Nova. Ever since they were kids. Adira could never let anything go. Truly flawed, especially after a car accident disfigured her. Nova has been nothing but nice even as Adira rode her coattails. Nova didn't deserve what happened." "Do you have something you'd like to say to Adira…if she's watching?" My eyes narrowed, fixated on the screen as Deacon's lips turned into an ingenuous smile. "Yes." He looked directly at the camera. "I'm sorry for hurting you, but that gives you no right to hurt anyone else. Nova is okay. Beat up, but okay. Turn yourself in and we can fix this. Be a better person." In anyone else's voice it would have sounded sweet. But nothing that came out of his mouth was sweet. All vinegar. In how his eyebrow crooked to his hairline. How he dropped his voice slightly. It was all a game to him. I looked away, with the stuff gathered in my arms and turned to the door. A girl was behind me, smacking gum and eyeing the stuff in my hands. She had a nametag with the name of the surfshop on it. Then she looked past me at the TV, where they were showing another graphic of my face. She had to be a little over twenty and she snapped her gum two more times before she shrugged and turned around as if telling me, "I didn't see anything." Taking my opening, I ran out the door, grabbing a candy bar on the way out. Public restrooms were everywhere off the beach so I stepped inside one of the empty ones and changed. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough to not feel like a giant lump of garbage. I threw the hoodie over my head, like an oversized cloak. Pulling up the hood, I hid my face the best I could and stepped out onto the busy sidewalk. I started heading over toward the club, flip-flops clapping against the pavement. The sun brightened the sky, no sign of rain on the sidewalks like the storm never happened. Barely eight in the morning. My stomach growled, and I inhaled the stolen chocolate bar with one giant mouthful. I was still hungry, but it was enough to sate me for now. After a night with Asmodeus, I would usually feel amazing. Full of energy, but I wasn't. Instead, it was like he only filled the depleted parts of me. I didn't feel amazing, but I felt better than I had all week. Baseline. I kept my head down, following the path I made up in my head. But even without GPS, I felt like I could still find him. Like I had a piece of him eager to get back to its host. I didn't understand it, but that was the only reason I made it there almost an hour later. It had to be around nine in the morning. Doors closed. Locked with a steel grate over the doors. I eyed the building, like a warehouse and looked up, seeing a light on in the flat above the main building. "We don't have an upstairs." Lily had said. I felt like I was going crazy so I believed her. But she was a liar. He was here. I knew he was. Knocking on the door, I heard the echoing bounce off the cement floors and rattling the metal walls. "Let me in!" I shouted, banging on the door even harder. Shuffling sounded from inside. Hushed whispers. "I can hear you!" I replied, throwing my fists into the reinforced steel. Gripping the steel grate and shaking it loudly. "Let me in!" Heavy footsteps approached the door, locks clicking as the door flew open. "We're closed. It's nine in the fucking morning," a surly voice snapped at me. Easy enough to recognize as the bouncer, Seb. "Get lost." "I need to see your boss," I demanded, fingers curling around the grate. "Like fuck you do. Get out of here," he replied, gripping the door with white knuckles with all intention of slamming it. I narrowed my eyes. "You may have not heard me. I need to see your boss. You know…Asmodeus." Seb froze and I could see his eyes narrow dangerously. "Oh. I see. You're hard at hearing. Your boss As-Mo-De-Us. Asmodeus!" I shouted. The grate flew up and the massive man hurled his body toward mine, slapping a beefy hand over my mouth. "Shut your mouth if you value your life." I was too angry to feel afraid. Instead, I shot back a glare mirroring his intensity. "Nod your head if you understand me," he demanded. I nodded once. His hand left my mouth and he stepped to the side. As I wandered in, he closed the door behind me. The lights were on where the bar was. House lights dimmed but on. He crossed his arms. "You must be Adira." "We've already met," I retorted, helplessly reflecting his surly attitude. He rolled his eyes in a way that made me feel like he was about to chastise a child. Even if he physically didn't seem much older than me. "I see a lot of faces. Hard to remember them all." His reply took me off guard. I expected a face like mine to be memorable. "Deus mentioned you might come by." Seb shrugged. "And I thought he was joking." "Are you a demon too?" I asked. "You have the same eyes." "Come with me," he said, not answering my question. Apparently, all demons evaded questions. He took a few long strides in front of me, passing the bar and heading into a back room. Even in the distance, I could hear an argument. "...you said the same thing about Raguel's daughter, Deus. And where did that leave you? She didn't love you. Instead, you got fucking cursed for it!" a woman shouted, but I recognized it as Lily's voice. "Don't talk to me about love, Lilith..." Lilith?! "...not when you cheated on your first husband and are hiding from your current one after sleeping through most of my brothers," his voice hot like butter. Smooth and rich. Having an unnatural effect on me. So close to washing all of the anger out of my bones. Close. But not enough. "Spoken like the righteous one yet to fall to my womanly whims," she scoffed, voice dripping with sarcasm. "But we're not talking about me right now. We're talking about you and your unhealthy obsession with a mortal. Again—" Seb loudly opened the back door. Lily and Asmodeus mid-debate. The room was private, equipped with couches and a bar. Nothing but the good stuff adorning the walls. Lilith's eyes darted back to me and her tongue flicked out to knock the silver barbell on her teeth. "You have a visitor," Seb announced, stepping to the side as I walked inside the room. Lily looked me up and down. "Speak of the devil." Her eyes lingered on my sandy hair, how dirt clung all over me despite how hard I tried to wash it off. She turned back around, eyes cutting into Asmodeus. "I heard her invoke you. And I wasn't the only one. You know what this means. You've had your fun—" "Get out, Lilith," Asmodeus snapped, his amber eyes flickering against my skin. Knowing so much more than me. "Fine," she said, putting both her hands up. "Come on, Seb. Let's leave the lovebirds." She stepped past me, and nonchalantly added, "When this crashes and burns, you should know Deus is the jealous type. Don't get married. He might just kill your husband on your wedding night." Asmodeus's nostrils flared, making a wild gesture with his hands and slamming the door shut without even touching it. His eyes met mine, looking sharp as ever with a freshly cleaned shirt and slacks. Hair mussed like he just got out of the shower. His gaze lingered, trailing down my body while maintaining distance between us. "What the hell are you wearing?"