Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
As he turned the corner, Harper’s and Matteo’s laughter rang out, filling the corridor. That was good, right? Plus, Matteo was still there. He hadn’t run off screaming, swearing never to talk to Luke again. That was also a good sign.
As soon as Harper spotted him, she jumped to her feet, shouldered her bag, and snatched the little white bag from Luke’s fingers. “Thanks! I’ve got to run if I’m going to be on time for my class. Catch you later.”
And then she was gone before Luke could even ask her a single question.
He hurried over to the sofa and dropped into the spot Harper had vacated. It was now that he noticed that Matteo’s eyes were abnormally wide and his smile was a bit stiff.
“Are you okay? Did she give you the shovel talk? Please don’t take Harper seriously. She’s crazy. Everyone knows that. Her mouth runs, but she doesn’t mean half of what she says.”
Matteo blinked suddenly, and his smile relaxed as he accepted the coffee Luke was holding. “I…yeah…that was some shovel talk. Never had anyone do that. She’s definitely crazy.” His words were stop-start until he finally settled on an idea.
“Sorry. I don’t date much. I think she’s been looking forward to giving someone the shovel talk for a while now.”
“No, I don’t mind! She’s clearly an amazing friend, and I’m kind of jealous.”
“What?” Luke gasped.
“I’ve got friends, but there’s no one in my life who would watch my back like she’s trying to do for you. That’s fucking awesome.”
“Oh, yeah, it is. I’d do the same for her, but Harper is far more comfortable with the dating scene than I am. She’s in and out of relationships too fast for me to get protective.” Luke released an enormous sigh of relief and leaned into Matteo to rest his forehead on his shoulder. “Does that mean you still want to go out on our date?”
“Oh, God no! I can’t date you. Harper would kill me.”
Luke’s head jerked up while his heart stopped dead in his chest, only to see Matteo grinning at him like a lunatic.
“Asshole!” He punched him in the arm. “You scared me to death.”
“I couldn’t help it.” Matteo cackled. “You’re too adorable. Plus, Harper told me to do it.”
“Ugh. I’ll get even with her.” Luke settled onto the sofa, drinking his coffee and leaning against Matteo. He still had another twenty minutes before he had to head to his next class, and he was determined to soak in every second of his Matteo time while he could. The rest of the world could wait.
Chapter 19
Libraries Are Fun
LUKE
Luke went into his morning classes with renewed energy thanks to Harper’s nonsense and Matteo’s adorableness. He did appreciate Harper’s need to be a protective mother hen. He had the world’s worst dating luck. In the past, the relationships he’d been in had lasted no more than a few months at most, and the majority hadn’t lasted beyond a few dates.
But with Matteo, he had hope!
He wasn’t sure, though, if the added demon assistance was a hindrance or a bonus. Their enthusiasm was nice.
At the very least, he’d made some interesting friends. No matter how late he returned home from work, there had always been several of them awake and ready to watch a movie with him or play some video games. And they never seemed to mind when he felt the need to vent about his coworkers or bosses.
However, he did need to learn to watch his words. After Tog’s enthusiastic intervention to give his boss at Burger Hut explosive diarrhea, he had to make sure he was clear that he didn’t want to hurt any of them or make them sick even if they were annoying, thoughtless assholes who’d taken him for granted.
Yet, even that was done now. No more part-time jobs flipping burgers or stocking shelves. Keeping up with the house wasn’t so bad. He’d had to introduce the demons to what a vacuum cleaner was and explain why bleach couldn’t be used to clean everything, but other than that, it was a job the demons made enjoyable.
Not to mention, his bank account had a good chunk of change in it now. He could take Matteo out for a nice dinner without counting his pennies or giving up meals for the rest of the week.
After a few classes, Luke grabbed a sandwich from the campus cafeteria and headed to the library. He thought he’d do a bit of reading and maybe text Matteo to see what classes he had left and if he had any free time. It wasn’t likely, though. It was already November. Thanksgiving break was fast approaching. From there, it was all papers and exams with little to no room to breathe, let alone have dates. They had to steal their moments when they could.