Page 82 of My Demon Neighbor
Pythor grinned, clearly pleased by that statement, and I smiled, reaching up to kiss his chin.
"Knock knock!" someone called from the outside, and Pythor sighed as I pulled back, taking my hand in his as he turned to hisroom's—cave's?—entrance.
"Come in, Kenji," he called out, and a man my height and build literally skipped into the room, his unique green-gold eyes falling on me. His features were Japanese, and I wondered if their human form reflected their original human life, or if it was random. Pythor had explained to me that demons didn't remember their human life, and while he had dark skin, he wasn't human, and therefore didn't belong to a human race and couldn't be called Black, the same way Kenji probably wasn't Japanese, despite his features.
"Hey, guys! I thought I sensed a human here. You must be Codie!" he said as he leaned forward and pulled me into a hug.
After meeting Xin, I wasn't quite as surprised by it and quickly hugged him back, though Pythor grumbled nonsensically under his breath.
"Tell me your secrets, Codie," Kenji said as he pulled back. "How do you handle this grump?"
Xin had asked that too, but I honestly didn't see what they were talking about. Pythor had never been grumpy with me, except maybe that time he wrote me a note telling me to keep my music down, but even then he'd changed his mind a day later. Probably because he'd heard my nightmare, I realized suddenly.
Pythor
I scowled at Kenji, wondering why I'd ever thought he was a friend. He was acting far too familiar with my mate, and I didn't like it.
"Pythor isn't really all that grumpy," Codie said, shooting me a wink, and Kenji gave him an exaggerated look of disbelief.
"Are we talking about the same person?"
"Don't you have class?" I growled, grabbing his arm and tugging him back until there was a few feet of distance between them.
Kenji raised a brow at Codie as if saying, "See?"
"Class?" Codie asked curiously, and Kenji grinned.
"Yes! I love learning, and since we had a lot of free time, me and Lazlo—he's another demon—decided to enroll in college. We're learning human history, and it's very interesting!"
Codie looked surprised by Kenji's explanation, but accepted it quickly. "That sounds great. From the way you talk about it, I'm guessing you're enjoying the experience."
"Very much," Kenji agreed with a grin, then turned to look at me. "And to answer your question, I'm on my lunch break, and my next class was cancelled. Lazlo decided to take a nap, so I got bored."
Lazlo and Kenji were thick as thieves, and had been for as long as I'd known them. They hadn't said anything to us, but I had a feeling they were mates. Why they were trying to keep it a secret, I didn't know.
"Be bored somewhere else," I muttered, wanting to spend some time with Codie, but my mate seemed to have other plans because he waved me off and invited Kenji to sit with us and chat.
Because I loved Codie, I tolerated Kenji for a full fifteen minutes before shooing him off, and Codie gave me an amused look once the annoying demon had left.
"I now see where they get the 'grump' from," he teased, and I snorted.
"You two can talk about college experiences all you want later, but you said we'd spend the day together."
Codie grinned, then climbed onto the couch to face me, his knees pressing against the outside of my thigh.
"Aww, are you jealous?"
I scoffed, then rolled my eyes for good measure. "No way. Why would I be jealous? You'remymate."
Codie smiled, then leaned forward to brush his lips to mine before pulling back. "That I am."
Feeling somewhat mollified, I wrapped an arm around his middle and tugged him into my lap, making him laugh. He adjusted himself so he sat on my thigh, legs spread over the other one, his side pressed against my chest as he gazed up at me.
"I really like your home. It's warm, cozy, and feels safe."
I smiled, glad to hear how he felt about the demon realm. While I planned to stay with him for the rest of his human life, I wouldn't mind spending some weekends here every now and then.
"Yeah? I'm glad to hear that. We can come over whenever you want."
