Page 36 of Darkness Defined

“That. Was. Awesome.” I panted.

“We almost died!” He laughed, almost slipping again. I tightened my grip on his arms to steady him, and he cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

“You sure you got it?” I teased. For someone always so confident, he didn’t look it now. He looked nervous and he had water dripping in his eyes. I debated pushing his hair off his face so he could see, then his bright eyes caught mine. Just as quickly, he glanced away.

“Yeah, I’m good. But we’re a mess.” He wrung out the bottom of his shirt, lifting it enough to reveal that he was, in fact, ripped.

Mentally scowling to myself, I pushed the image of his damn near perfect abdomen from my mind and followed suit. “So what? Worth it. When’s the last time you ran in the rain?”

He gasped. “Never.” Then a light smile danced in his eyes. “I don’t want to get pneumonia,” he added.

“Can demons get sick like that?” Despite the obvious tease, now I was curious. I pushed my hair back from my face to stop the water dripping in my eyes.

Alex looked at me for a long second. I wasn’t sure if he was considering the question or going to tell me I was overdue for a haircut. Then he blinked. “We should get inside before we find out.”

We shuffled inside and he immediately bolted to the back of the cafeteria where the food joints and grocery were located. Meanwhile, I wandered around the periphery of the round room in search of a means to dry off. The rain must have been keeping people away, since the normally bustling space only had a few clusters of students occupying the round tables. It was by the restrooms that I chanced upon some unattended towels. Quest accomplished, I searched for Alex and found him at a table on the far side.

I tossed him the terrycloth as I walked up. “Look what I found.”

“Awesome.” He vigorously toweled his hair and wiped his face.

I laughed.

He glanced at me, frowning. “What?”

“You look ridiculous.”

“What do you mean?”

I held my hands out from my head and he immediately started smoothing his porcupine hair. While he worked to tame his hair, I sat beside him and noticed he’d found some things as well. “What do you have there?”

He held up two small containers. “Oh. Peanut butter? Or cookies and cream?”

“Peanut butter.”

He passed me the pint of ice cream and cracked open the other one for himself.

“I thought you were worried about pneumonia,” I said around a mouthful of ice cream.

He waved his spoon at me. “There is always an excuse for ice cream. And I don’t actually know if demons can get pneumonia.”

I raised my chin to where he was decimating his pint of pure sugar. “Cookies and cream your favorite or something?”

He glanced down at the carton with a confused expression. “No. Why do you ask?” Now it was my turn to be confused.

“Because you gave me a choice and didn’t care that I took the peanut butter. I just assumed that meant one or both were your favorite.”

“That would make sense,” he mumbled, taking a smaller bite.

“If neither one is your favorite, then why did you get them?”

He hesitated, as if he was really having to think about the answer, though it wasn’t a complicated question. “Out of habit, I guess,” he finally said.

I raised both of my eyebrows. That didn’t make a bit of sense.

He caught the look and elaborated. “My ex couldn’t ever really make up their mind, but always preferred the sweeter candy varieties. I just always got two different kinds in the hope one would work.”

“That’s really messed up.” Alex’s ex was an asshole.