“Alright, darling, we’ll leave you to it.” Mom drained her coffee cup before setting it down. “Bring Beryl over for dinner soon. We’ll arrange a family dinner so she can meet the rest of your siblings.”

I grunted noncommittally, heaving myself to my feet to see them out. After giving Mom a kiss on the cheek and a long hug, I punched Kiti’s shoulder weakly in goodbye. She responded by yanking on both my space buns until they flopped down over my ears.

“Asshole.” I covered her face with my hand to push her back, but she just snickered and flicked my forehead before sweeping out of the house.

The moment they were gone and I was finally alone, I shifted into my true form and went to take a long, soothing bubble bath to try and recover from the entire ordeal.

Staring morosely at the ceiling, I took a deep drag of my joint and tapped the ash off into the tray balanced precariously on the lip of the tub. I knew that when I got out, I’d probably already have some snarky texts from my sister. Probably a couple of missed calls from my mother wanting to talk about Beryl some more.

As the shade made me sink deeper into the water until bubbles tickled my chin, my mind wandered back to what had happened just before they arrived. Or rather, what had almost happened. My gut clenched tight.

Had Beryl really been about to kiss me?

Maybe I’d just been seeing what I wanted to see. What I was desperate to see when she looked at me. Maybe she’d just been about to wipe food off my face or something. That certainly wasn’t outside the realms of possibility. In fact, that was a far more likely scenario than Beryl wanting to kiss me. Why would she want to kiss me? I was a loner introvert who was high fifty percent of the time and did nothing but watch TV and eat. She was beautiful and confident and becoming more outgoing now that she was socialising with people at work. I bet she had people flirting with her all the time, and flirting was a skill that had taken one look at me and gone, Heh. No. No point wasting it on that guy.

I’d seen the human she worked with. Gavin. Stupid human Gavin with his stupid brown hair, who was the perfect height to hug and kiss Beryl without having to hunch over awkwardly like some lanky goblin.

Beryl had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in me that way when we made our arrangement. Maybe she couldn’t be attracted to a demiurgus. Maybe her time with the cult, around all their weird, fervent sex stuff, had forced her to block off the part of her brain that would ever allow her to find a demiurgus attractive. It would make sense. Like a survival tactic so she didn’t inadvertently get sucked in.

Except… there’d been a few moments over the last couple of weeks, ever since the night we’d fallen asleep together in the living room nest, where she’d give me this look. And even though I didn’t fully understand what it meant, it would make my hearts start racing and my palms get all clammy.

Evidently, I still hadn’t gotten the sweating under control in my humanoid skin.

Stubbing out my joint, I reluctantly rose from the cooling water and grabbed my giant towel. The space buns had fallen out after Kiti kept messing with them, so I’d thrown my hair up into a single sloppy bun while I bathed, seeing as I’d told Beryl we’d do hair masks together later.

It bobbed on my head as I padded into the bedroom. It still felt a little weird for me to spend so much time out of my true form, so I took the opportunity while I was in it now to curl up on the enormous beanbag that dominated the corner of my bedroom under the window, intent on taking a nap before I went to meet Beryl after her shift.

When I woke, it was pitch black outside. Pulse leaping, I scrambled up and lunged for my phone on the bed, sighing in relief when I saw that I wasn’t late to meet Beryl. But, shit, I only had ten minutes to get there.

After shifting into my humanoid form, I hurriedly dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and raced for the door. The house was dark, but I wouldn’t have time to light all the candles if I didn’t want to be late. I stuffed my feet into my boots and was still tugging on my coat as I opened the front door, stopping when I saw two big boxes blocking my way.

Kicking them inside to deal with when we got back, I grabbed my keys and locked up, then jogged down the steps. It was a Thursday night, so the road was pretty quiet, but when I turned onto the main street there were far more people around, coming out of restaurants or smoking outside bars.

Stuffing my hands into my coat pockets, I hunched my shoulders and kept my head down as I walked as quickly as I could without making people look at me funny. Beryl was just stepping outside as I reached the bar, her freckled cheeks flushed from the heat inside.

Her eyes lit up at the sight of me, a grin stretching her mouth as she made her way over. My chest ached, and for a split second as I stood there, I felt out of control of my own body—like I was about to fall to my knees and confess that I was half in love with her already.

Luckily, she made the urge vanish as she reached me and teasingly said, “Hi, kushka.”

I immediately shuddered and gave her a mock glare. “You cannot call me that.”

She laughed as she fell into step beside me and we started walking back. “Why not? It’s cute.”

“It’s what my mother calls me, and you’re… you. It’s just wrong.”

“Okay, I’ll think of a different nickname for you then. Hmm, Greid… I mean, greedy is the obvious choice. You are pretty greedy. Ooh, how about greedy boy!” She laughed.

My throat closed up.

“Uh.” I stared straight ahead as my mind took that in a very inappropriate direction.

I would be greedy with Beryl. So embarrassingly greedy and desperate for anything she would give me. And I’d beg for more. And more.

“Okay, maybe not that,” she said, sounding embarrassed. But her voice was strangely throaty in a way that made my whole body tingle. “Um, anyway… Have you eaten yet? Wait, stupid question.”

I managed a weak laugh, but it came out more like a dog barking in distress. A demiurgus couple in matching suits shot me odd looks as they walked past us arm in arm.

I cleared my throat, but my voice was still painfully hoarse as I asked, “What do you feel like for dinner?”

“I don’t mind. It’s your night to pick.”

“Hmm.” I pretended to be thinking very hard about it, but all I could really focus on was the way her arm brushed against mine as we walked. “Uh, how about Indian?”

“Ooh, yes.” She nudged me. “Are you gonna get the mildest curry on the menu again?”

I glared down at her. “I have a sensitive stomach.”

She snorted. “Greid, I’ve watched you eat actual chicken bones many, many times. Cooked chicken bones.”

“The bones are the best bit.”

“How do they not tear your oesophagus and stomach to shreds?”

“I dunno. It’s a demiurgus thing. Or I have really powerful stomach acid.”

She burst out laughing. “That must be it.”

As we turned onto our quiet road and left the busy street behind, I relaxed and stuffed my hands deeper into my coat pockets, but then I felt Beryl tuck her arm through mine and shift closer. My scalp tingled, wide eyes darting down to hers.

“Sorry. It’s cold.” She gave me a hesitant smile, holding my gaze. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, cringing when my voice cracked. “Um, yeah, it’s cold. I’m freezing my balls off.”

I immediately cringed. Why, Greid? Why bring up your balls?

Beryl laughed. “Oh, right. Well, best get home quick then.”

“Do you…” My entire head was on fire, but I persevered. “If you’re really cold, you can, um, get under my coat if you want.”

Yes, great idea. Talk about your nutsack then immediately ask her if she wants to ‘get under your coat’ like a dirty old man.