Page 24 of My Demon Neighbor
"You're such a sweetheart, aren't you? Yes, you are. I love you so much," I murmured, giving her another kiss before standing up.
"Come on, let's make some lunch while it dries. We'll give it to Pythor when he comes over for class tomorrow."
Pythor
After the delicious soup I'd eaten the day before yesterday, I was wondering how I could finagle another dinner invitation from my mate. He was a great cook, and I'd wanted to taste his food ever since I moved here and had to smell it every day without ever getting the chance to taste it. It was one of the many things that'd driven me crazy when it came to Codie, but now made me like him more.
We had another class today, so after I was finished with my classes at the center, I went home, freshened up, had some lunch, and then went over to Codie's.
Since he didn't need Nessa to join us anymore, we'd started doing them during the week so he could hang out with her and her daughter on the weekends.
I was planning to start teaching him how to get out of holds today, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be easy. I wasn't sure if he trusted me enough yet to allow me to put him in that position, and I was thinking I might have to invite Nessa or one of my demon friends to help me with the demonstrations if Codie didn't feel comfortable.
"Hey," he said as he opened the door, and I smiled at it. He had his overcoat on, though he'd left it open to reveal the black sweatpants and soft blue t-shirt he wore underneath. He seemed to use the coat as a security blanket of sorts, and I wondered if there was a specific reason for it or if he just liked the way it felt.
"Hi," I said as I stepped inside, watching as he closed and locked the door, turning in all three of the locks. "Ready to get started?"
"Yeah," he said, but sounded a little distracted, and I paused, taking a moment to scan his face.
"Everything okay?"
Codie blinked, then glanced up at me with a furrow between his brows. His curls looked especially wild today, a few strands falling into his face as he pushed them back.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbled, clearly lying through his teeth, and I bit back a sigh. I couldn't start a session like this, but I also couldn't force him to tell me what was wrong.
Hella's bark broke the tense moment, and Codie glanced toward the hallway her voice had come from before blinkingrapidly. "Oh, right. We made something for you. Wait here," he said before hurrying away, and I walked over to lean against the back of the couch as I waited for him to come back.
He reappeared a few moments later with a framed painting in his hand. It was facing him so I couldn't see what was on it, but both he and Hella looked very happy with it.
"Here. We made this for you. Your living room looked a little... bare, so I thought this would add some color," he said, trailing off shyly as he thrusted the painting toward me.
Taking it from him, I got my first good look at it, and my eyes widened. It was an explosion of color, with pawprints upon pawprints in every color under the sun. Over the background of colorful pawprints, Codie had written 'Paws Bring Peace' in a lovely calligraphy script.
"Codie, this is beautiful. You made this for me?" I asked, far too stunned to act casual.
My mate nodded, and I gave him a wide smile before looking back at the painting. "Thank you. This is... it's beautiful. It will look great on my wall."
"I'm glad you like it."
I took a few more minutes to admire it before leaning it against the wall near the door so I could take it home with me. Then I turned back to Codie, raising a brow at him. "Are you ready to get started now?"
He nodded quickly, and I decided talking over today's plans before we got started would be good. It would also help me gauge if Codie was truly ready for this.
We cleared space in his living room like usual and took our spots, Hella watching from the sidelines. She was good about stepping closer only when Codie started getting too anxious.
"Today, we're going to focus on getting out of holds. Like I've said before, fighting is always the last resort. Your firstpriority should be to run away," I said, and Codie nodded. Like everyone I taught, he was probably growing sick of hearing me say that, but I'd learned that more humans picked fight over flight when they had no business trying to fight off an attacker, and I'd rather say it too many times than not enough.
I talked about the holds we'd be practicing today, describing each step so he wasn't taken by surprise. As I talked though, I realized his mind was somewhere else, and he was paying no attention to what I was saying.
I stopped speaking, and he didn't realize it.
"Codie?"
He jumped, then gave me a guilty look. "Sorry."
"What's on your mind? You can talk to me, you know."
He stared at me for a long moment before he seemed to make a decision, nodding to himself as he started searching the room for something.
