Chapter 154 Chapter 154
“Murder seems like an adequate punishment,” Maxwell’s sharp voice said. He was completely serious about this, his ruthlessness terrifying the man.
He decided not to stick around for longer, turned on his heels, and vanished into the crowd. Maxwell annoyedly clicked his tongue, considering following him since he’d easily catch him, but he left him be when Valerie tugged at his jacket. Finally turning to her, he was surprised to see an actual smile on her lips.
“You gave him a run for his money,” she giggled. “Really scary. For a moment, I thought you wanted to kill him for real.”
“I was planning to murder him,” Maxwell deadpanned, keeping the steely and slightly bloodthirsty glint in his eyes.
“Oh. Well… That’s… not very surprising, now that I think about it,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I had it under control, though. You didn’t have to interfere.”
“I can’t have you dirty your pretty hands with filth like him,” he grumbled and sighed, his anger fading. “He’s gone now, at least.”
He put down the drinks he got for them on the table and sat beside her, keeping his arm around her body so she could lean into him.
“Thank you for getting us something to drink,” she smiled and tried her cocktail, liking its fruity taste. It was a bloody red color, the glass decorated with little pumpkins, and even the straw was Halloween-themed, having orange and black stripes. “Can I try yours too?” she asked, curiously eyeing his neon-green drink.
“Go ahead,” he answered and pushed it over. She took the glass and nipped at the liquid, noting that it contained vodka.
“Not bad,” she grinned, but before she could try more, he’d already taken the glass from her hands.
“That’s all you’re getting, sugar. I don’t want to babysit you again when you get drunk,” he said mockingly. “And I’m sure you don’t want to embarrass yourself like that another time.”
“Why? What did I do last time?” she asked, dipping her head in his direction. He gently traced the apple of her cheek with his fingers, smirking as he recalled the day at the beach. That she didn’t even remember what had happened only proved to him that she was bad at handling alcohol and shouldn’t have too much of it.
“Let me think… you did a lot, I don’t even know where to start,” he teased.
“Maxwell!” she complained poutily. “Just tell me.”
“If you ask nicely, I might,” he replied, his smirk being nothing but evil. “Why don’t you beg for it?”
She gritted her teeth, much too stubborn to actually do that. “No, I won’t.”
“Too bad, then you won’t ever find out what you did,” he continued to tease her. “But keep in mind that everybody saw how you made a fool of yourself.”
Her cheeks flushed. Could he, for once, not make fun of her? “I want to know.”
It was easy to see that he wouldn’t change his mind about this, so she decided to change her approach. “Maxwell?” she asked and pouted at him while he groaned at the hated nickname. “I’m going to be very sad if you don’t tell me. My heart is going to break. Do you want that to happen, huh?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
She inched closer to him and rested her hand on his chest, lightly tugging at the lapel of his jacket. “If you’re mean to me, then I might just ask someone else to accompany me next time I go to a party.”
That finally got his attention, but his reaction was different than what she’d expected. “You don’t mean that,” he smirked confidently, breathing a soft kiss on the exposed skin of her neck. “Because I know that I’ve wrapped you around my finger.”
She gaped at him, her mouth falling open. “It’s true, sugar,” he drawled. “No point in denying it.”
Oozing confidence, he smirked at her. She didn’t know what to say to that because he was right. She was just too proud to admit it. So much for her plan to make him spill… like this, she would never find out...
She crossed her arms. “That’s so mean of you,” she mumbled. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“If you beg, I will,” he reminded her and slyly raised his eyebrows when she didn’t answer. “I’m waiting,” he added.
“Travis would have treated me nicer,” she blurted before she thought twice about her words. Maxwell’s eye color changed from blue to red in a second.
“Why would you bring that hunter up now?” he muttered. The anger and jealousy he felt didn’t stay hidden from her. It came crashing into her mind through their connection. She had to concentrate to block his fiery feelings out. His emotions were like a raging storm, while hers were more comparable to a calm lake. Therefore, she tended to get overwhelmed when he lost his temper, for whatever reason.
“Because that was the first person who came to mind,” she answered.
“Don’t tell me you like him,” was his irritated reply. His smugness from earlier had evaporated quickly after Valerie had brought up Travis. It made her wonder how deep his hate for hunters ran. She knew why he despised them, and she fully understood his reasoning. But for him to react so strongly to a mere mention of Travis’s name was surprising to her.
“He’s my friend, so of course I like him.”
Wrong answer. He scowled at her.
“But you don’t need to be jealous or anything. I love you, okay? Nobody else,” she reminded him.
“You better mean that,” he said.
“Yup, one hundred percent,” she grinned, pulling her sleeve up a bit to uncover the demon crest. “See, here’s your proof.”
He snorted, forgetting about his jealousy. “Okay, that’s convincing,” he said, taking hold of her wrist. His thumb traced the soft light that the tiny star radiated. Her skin tingled where he touched her.