Page 11 of Truth Revealed
DARIA
The night passed in a blur of faces and drinks, some familiar, but most still unrecognizable. Daria felt she’d worked at the bar long enough to recognize more than her fair share of regulars, but there must have been a ton of people cramped into the little town of Maleston.
She kept darting her gaze back to Truth between patrons and drinks, but the night had picked up so much, she didn’t have a chance to talk to him again.
Guess it’ll have to wait until we get home.
Thinking back on what they had talked about, Daria could only grimace as she thought over her words. She was so stupid. Truth had put all her fears to rest, to the point that she felt dumb for even wanting to finish the conversation. How could she have ever thought he was only being so… sweet and kind and everything she needed, only with the hope that she’d… what? Put out? It was Truth for fuck’s sake. All her guilt and confused emotions twisted up inside her until she didn’t know up from down.
She jumped when Allegra tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Daria pasted on a smile. “No, no, it’s okay. Sorry, just thinking too hard.”
“We don’t have much longer left, we can start closing out tabs and stuff. But I wanted to ask you…” Allegra trailed off and seemed to think on her words a bit.
“What’s up?” Daria prompted, a smidge of worry easing through her. Was Allegra okay?
“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime. I know you’ve been busy with your, ah…” Her gaze darted over Daria’s shoulder in the direction of Truth. “Friends, but maybe I could stop by and pick you up for brunch or something tomorrow?”
Daria hardly had to think about it. “Yes! Yeah, that would be great actually.”
Maybe for once, Daria needed to talk to another woman about her… demons. Men. Whatever.
“How does two sound?” Allegra smiled and the cash register jingled as she began printing receipts to pass out to the customers.
“Two sounds great! It’s a date,” she said. They bumped hips and parted ways, and Daria looked forward to her plans. Why hadn’t she and Allegra hung out already?
Oh… yeah. The whole, your mom is dead and passed a curse down, the not-so-missing sister, and the psychopathic ancestor who’s out to kill you.
On second thought… maybe Daria should pick Allegra up.
And Daria meant to tell her that, truly. But with closing everyone’s tab out, cleaning and locking up, it totally slipped her mind.
Especially when a certain ocean-eyed blond, surfer demon waited for her just outside the door. As soon as she saw him, her mind went back to their conversation and she felt her cheeks heat. His hand slipped into hers and she squeezed back without even thinking about it.
This felt right. Whatever they had, a tentative friendship, even with the sexual tension, it worked.
But part of Daria hoped more would work too. They remained quiet during the ride home, and she didn’t even know where to begin with the conversation they’d put on hold.
Their headlights splashed over the porch of their home, and as the gravel crunched underneath the tires, Daria swallowed.
“After dinner, we can talk. I’ll meet you in your room. I’ll give Misery the heads up.” Truth’s voice was light, carefree, and just the sound of it eased a bit of Daria’s worries.
“Okay, that’s good.”
His smile did even more to ease her nerves, until she wondered what the hell she was even nervous about.
It was Truth. They would talk, like they always did, Truth would probably flirt with her, like he always did. What would he do if I suddenly flirted back?
Daria laughed silently to herself at the thought, and suddenly couldn’t think of anything else. Truth inviting her into his bath… that kiss they’d shared when he was all warm and his hair was wet and he—
“Door,” Truth said with a chuckle, and she realized she was blocking the entrance, staring off into space as she daydreamed.
Cheeks flaming, she ripped open the door and was immediately assaulted by the scent of cheese, garlic, and…
“Pizza?” Truth twitched his nose in the direction of the kitchen. “Where from?”
