Enslaved (The Inbetween Novels) (16 page)

Shayla blinked at him. “A model?”

“It pays the bills, as they say. Can’t say I’m thrilled to make my living being stared at, but we have to use what we’ve been given to make a living.” He cleared his throat. “Your turn. I know where you work, but what exactly do you do there?”

“I’m an office aid at a PR firm. Basically, that means I file long, boring reports for people who don’t want to do them, or claim they don’t have time to do them. I also do tech support, even though we have a tech support team. Oh, and apparently I’m the only person in the office intelligent enough to replace the toner in the copy machines. I’ve been there four years and have the paper cut scars to prove it.” Shayla held up her hands and showed off the latest paper cut on her knuckles. “It’s mind-numbing work, but I’m good at it. And, like you said, we have to use what we’re given to pay the bills. My mortgage won’t pay itself.”

Shayla paused and dropped her head. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

Deryck tapped the table. She frowned and looked up. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Apologize for being interesting.”

Shayla shook her head. “I’m so not.”

“Whoever told you that is a liar, Shayla. You are a strong woman and you’ve made your way in the world with more skill than anyone else I’ve met. Where I’m from, some women see independence as a curse. It isn’t.”

She stared, silenced by Deryck’s utter faith in her. Faith she hadn’t earned at all. He hardly knew her. She’d ragged at him when he tried to apologize for being late. And the icing on the cake, she’d tried to drown her misery in white wine and chocolate. Yet, he saw past it.

Shayla shook her head in disbelief. “Where are you from?”

“Egypt.” Deryck spilt one of the apple strudels in half and gave her the larger piece. “And before you ask, it isn’t nearly as cool as it seems. Life is very difficult there if you aren’t privileged.”

“I guess life is hard everywhere.” She ate her half of the strudel. Her stomach threw up a white flag when she eyeballed the second one left on the open bag. “You can have that one. I’m stuffed.”

Shayla looked up at the stars. They were harder to see this far into the city. In her backyard, she could see them clearly. There were benefits to living on the outskirts of a city, aside from being able to pretend she had some privacy.

She was glad the wine started to back off. The coffee and snack helped a lot. So did Deryck’s presence. He was the epitome of calm to balance the chaos normally running rampant in her mind. If Shayla could bottle his sense of self and sell it, she’d be the richest woman to ever live.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. When Shayla stole a glance at Deryck, he’d slumped in his seat and leaned his head against the back to look at the stars shimmering above them through the bright city lights. She couldn’t help but smile at how handsome he looked with his dark shaggy hair spilling across the chair. No wonder he modeled for a living—the man made relaxing look like pure sex.

Deryck rolled his head down. Golden eyes met hers and he smiled. “Penny for your thoughts.”

Shayla looked away, afraid she’d do something stupid under his intense gaze. “It’s getting late and I have work tomorrow. I should get going. I’m sorry, Deryck.”

He stood, and for the first time, she really appreciated how tall he was. “No apologies. The time we had together tonight was very enjoyable. I’ll walk you to your car.”

“I left it at the restaurant.” Shayla didn’t dare explain she’d been too tipsy to drive herself home. Why ruin a good moment?

They threw their trash away and headed back the way they’d come. Shayla watched Deryck obviously enjoying the old architecture they passed and wished she still felt that sense of wonder about her hometown.

She’d lived there almost her entire life, save for the stint with Cyrus. He’d bullied her into moving away from everyone she knew. Said a new town and a new home would give her the opportunity to live and make a name for herself. What he should have said was it gave him complete control over her life. She had no one. Nothing. He owned their house, their car. His name was on all of the bills and he only let her out of the house to do temp jobs when he’d spent their mortgage money on god-knows-what.

A sudden tight grip on her arm forced Shayla to focus on where she was going. Deryck gave her a concerned look. “Are you okay?”

Shayla looked around. They’d made it back to the street where she’d left her car. A truck barreled past. She’d nearly walked in front of it. Deryck saved her from becoming road kill.

“I’m fine. Just tired.” Her sob story would stay a secret, so help her God. Faye and her mother were the only people who knew the truth. It’d remain that way so long as she drew breath.

“Will you be okay to drive?” Deryck waited for traffic to clear and lead her across a narrow side street to the parking lot beside The Midnight Grill.

Shayla nodded and dug through her purse for her keys. How such a tiny purse could eat things, she had no clue, but every time she used it, her keys pulled a Houdini.

Cursing under her breath, she dropped her purse onto the trunk of her car and pulled everything out. “Oh come on, I know you’re in here.”

Deryck watched. “You have bad luck with bags. Have you ever considered pockets?”

Shayla’s head snapped up. Deryck grinned and picked something up from the pile of crap she’d dug out of her purse—the car keys, tangled in a web of hair ties. She dropped her head and laughed. “Of course. I don’t always have such bad luck with my purses. You just happened to catch me while the accessory mojo was in retrograde, or whatever excuse people use when stuff won’t stop going wrong.”

He slid the keys into her hand and pressed her fingers around them gently. “I am sorry for my part in your hectic week.”

She waited for Deryck to use his smooth-talk to con her out of a kiss. Instead, he backed away a little and waited for her to repack her purse and unlock the car. Shayla felt oddly relieved when he didn’t pressure her like most men would at the end of a date. Part of her wanted him to push just a little. She mentally slapped the needy voice in her mind. Physical attention from a man, even a model-gorgeous one, didn’t equate real feelings.

Still, she wouldn’t mind seeing what evil he could wreak other than nice words with that mouth of his.

Shayla blushed at the turn in her thoughts and was glad for the dim light in the parking lot. “Stop apologizing, Deryck. Everything worked out for the best in the end, really.”

Deryck gently pulled her hand off the door handle and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “I would still like the chance to take you on a proper date. Call me when you’re ready to try this again.”

Stunned, Shayla slid her hand free from his. She opened the car door and sat in the driver’s seat. “I, ah, I’ll call you later this week.”

“No pressure, Shayla. You don’t have to decide right away.” His hand landed on the top of the door. “Goodnight. Please drive safely.”

Deryck shut her inside the car. Shayla gave a little wave. Her voice fled for the woods the second she realized he was completely sincere. The decision to see him again was completely in her control.

She started the car and pulled out of the parking spot. Shayla stopped at the street ramp. Looking back in the rearview mirror, she saw Deryck wave. He walked back toward one of the few cars left and vanished behind it.

For starting out a disaster, the night ended perfectly. Shayla smiled all the way home.

The moment Shayla’s car rounded the street corner; Deryck transported himself across the city. He manifested across the street from her home and tucked into the shadows between two of the houses. A dog in the yard of one house gave a warning growl. Deryck summoned a large dog treat and tossed it over the fence. The dog sniffed at it, grabbed the treat between its teeth, and retreated to the other side of the yard.

Being in possession of his limited powers certainly came in handy in the human realm.

Deryck leaned against the stucco siding and waited. After a while, Shayla’s car turned onto the street. She pulled into her driveway and parked. He took a relieved breath. She’d looked so out-of-sorts when they parted. The least he could do was make sure she made it home safely.
I shouldn’t have kept her out so late.

Shayla stepped out of her car. From his vantage point, Deryck got a nice flash of thigh from where her dress had ridden up during the drive. He sucked in a breath, unable to believe the raw physical effect she had on him.

The rear lights on her car flashed twice. Deryck pressed tighter against the wall and prayed she didn’t see him. Shayla seemed oblivious to his spying. Her keys jangled together when they slid into the lock on the front door. She slipped inside.

He waited a moment longer for the locks to click back into place. None of the lights inside came on; Shayla must have walked straight to her bedroom.

Before Deryck succumbed to thoughts about what could happen inside Shayla’s bedroom, he crept out of the shadows and walked away from her house.

The street was silent, save for the occasional barking dog. Most of the houses were dark. Deryck passed a few with flickering TV screens lighting up the front windows, but it was the only signs of life he found in Shayla’s slice of the human realm.

He understood all too well why she’d chosen the neighborhood. The lawns were well kept, as were the houses. If not for the harsh sting of the air in this realm, Deryck could almost believe he walked in the Inbetween. His callers favored quiet places where one wouldn’t normally expect privacy, but thanks to the nature of the realm, they were given it no matter what.

Block after block, Deryck simply enjoyed the fact that he was free to go and do as he wished. Eventually, the neat little houses gave way to homes needing some work done to them. Stray dogs sniffed along the gutters, looking for dropped food to fill their empty stomachs. Deryck summoned a tray of food for them. He knew it wouldn’t help in the long run, but at least they’d have something to help them through the night.

The houses petered off, becoming empty lots filled with tall weeds and garbage. A couple warehouses broke up the mile-long stretch of vacant land.

Deryck stopped and sat down on the curb. Leaning back, he looked up at the stars. There were no stars in the God’s Lands. There wasn’t anything of substance in the realm he lived in, really. Everything was glamour, a beautiful distraction from the reality of their existence. It’d failed to take his mind off his servitude for the last three thousand years.

The gods designed it that way on purpose. They kept the incubi like pet mice in a cage, dropping the occasional treat in their dishes throughout the centuries to give the illusion they gave a damn. In reality, they were ashamed. The incubi were bred from the god’s inability to keep their dicks in their pants, or their wives. Before Deryck’s time, once a male demi-god was of age and showed potential to be an incubus, the pantheon that bore him, slaughtered him.

The gods really knew how to show familial love.

Their offspring weren’t any better at showing the bonds of kinship. Deryck ground his teeth. “Herryk, you bastard.”