Page 13 of Double Shot

“Should we go get manicures?” I asked, inspecting my nail beds as we wandered slowly down the path. “After our jog. As a reward for exercising.”

“Yes. Always. But you ignored what I said.” Nat nudged my arm with his elbow and nodded at the gargoyle again. “Don’t you want to go talk to him? You still need to feed, surely.”

I cleared my throat as a blush bloomed in my cheeks. Nat noticed instantly, still watching me. His eyes narrowed.

“Please don’t tell me you changed your mind last night and actually went home with the creep.”

“No!” I shook my head quickly.

“So you met someone else on the way home?”

I snorted. “No. Of course not.”

Nat rolled his eyes. “Babe, you say that like it’s not entirely possible. You could walk into any room and take your pick.”

“Only because of the incubus thing,” I muttered self-consciously.

“No, because you’re gorgeous.” Suddenly Nat’s long, slender arm was slung over my shoulders. “And sweet, and funny, and always so full of energy.”

“A lot of guys say I’m too much. That lampyr I hooked up with a couple months ago actually said, ‘Wow, you’re a talkative one, huh?’ while I was telling him about our trip to the garden centre. I mean, yeah, fine, it was while I was riding his dick, but still. It made me really self-conscious,” I added in a grumble.

“Fuck. Him,” Nat said loudly and succinctly, just as we passed the gargoyle on the bench, whose mouth twitched as he watched us. “And fuck anyone else who says you’re too much. They’re just too fucking boring to handle someone as fabulous as you.”

A tiny smile tilted my mouth, and I wrapped my arm around Nat’s narrow waist. “Thanks, Nat.”

“I love your enthusiasm. I need to get better at it.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re fine as you are, Nat.”

“Helen at work called me a ‘grumpy guts’ again yesterday.” Nat sounded absolutely disgusted. “Because Jeremy told us the theme—and dress code—for the company Christmas party this year is ‘just clownin’ around’ and I said I was going to throw myself in front of a bus so I didn’t have to go. How am I in the wrong there?”

“You’re not.”

“And then when I got home, every single targeted ad that came up on my phone was for self-help positivity bullshit. Shit like which seeds I need to eat to manage my cortisol levels. What the fuck is that about? My cortisol is fine, thank you very much.”

“It totally is.” I meant it. Nat didn’t really let much stress him out.

Didn’t stop him from complaining, though. He liked to complain. But he enjoyed it as its own separate pastime, not as a side effect of stress.

“Sorry, I just…” Nat clasped a hand to his forehead dramatically. “That place is sucking the life out of me. And not in the way I enjoy.”

“You could always come work at the motel with me,” I offered, much like I had many, many times before. “My aunt would totally hire you, babe.”

I’d worked at the Elfknot Motel for a few years now. My aunt and uncle had inherited it from my grandparents, who’d bought it in the seventies. It hadn’t been updated since then, but I kind of liked its retro vibe.

And it was a great place to work as an incubus. A lot of people only went to a seedy motel on the edge of town for one specific reason, which meant a lot of sexual energy for us to feed off. That sexy ghoul and fae wrestler couple alone had sustained me for weeks. Missed those guys. They didn’t often come by anymore.

Nat made a face. “Don’t think I’d want to work nights, babe. I’d rather keep those hours free.”

I chuckled. As a shadowperson, Nat was a night owl and preferred being awake when it was dark. He also currently worked at a community fitness centre during the day, but that just meant he took a lot of naps at work.

I had no idea how he hadn’t been fired yet.

“You working tonight?” he asked, making me sigh.

“Yeah.” Trying not to let myself stay too down after my terrible date last night, I gestured at the park around us—the blue sky and shining sun and all the… trees and stuff. All the nature shit. “It’s nice to get outside before I’m cooped up behind a desk for hours.”

“Uh-huh.” Nat stopped and closed his eyes, tilting his head back and inhaling deeply. “Breathe in that crisp fall air, Klaus.”