Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (6 page)

When we made it to the restaurant,
Jack held the heavy wood and glass door open for us. Jennifer
strolled in first and I followed closely behind her.

“
I’m here, bitches!”
Jennifer yelled when we walked through the door.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#7

Don’t ask your date to spin
their head around.

People stared as we made our way
across the restaurant. I wanted to hide behind one of the giant
menus. Ceiling fans whirled overhead and wide-planked hardwood
floor clicked underneath our feet. The hostess led us to a table,
but she kept glancing back at Jennifer. After taking our seats at
the table, Jennifer took a sip of her water and seemed a little
more like her normal self. Whew. For a moment, a look of horror
spread across her face when she peered down at her dress, but as
quickly as it came, the look disappeared into the impish smile that
had been fixed on her face all evening.

After Jennifer flirted with the
waiter, we finally placed our orders. Jack and I ordered the
chicken étouffée, Neil ordered crab cakes, and Jennifer ordered
catfish bites, shrimp remoulade, Cajun calamari, stuffed shrimp
platter and the Angus steak. She could barely finish a grilled
cheese sandwich before and now she was going to eat all
that?

In spite of her
I’m-crazy-everyone-look-at-me behavior, Jennifer was being charming
with Neil. And he was laughing at all the right times. When had
Jennifer become that funny? Sure, she could be witty, but she was
acting as if this was amateur night at the comedy club. I guessed
he was looking past her strange outbursts and outlandish
talk.

The food came relatively quickly and
for that I was thankful. Maybe with steak in her mouth Jennifer
wouldn’t speak. And she had plenty of cuisine to stuff in her face.
The waiter had to leave some of Jennifer’s food on the vacant table
behind us.

While eating, Jennifer had kept quiet.
I guessed the chow had tamed her—that and having a fork in her
mouth to shut her up. Jack watched her, I assumed in case he needed
to call for a back-up strait-jacket.

“
So, Jennifer why don’t you
tell Neil more about yourself,” I said.

Why did I have to guide the
conversation? Jennifer sipped her wine but didn’t
answer.

Finally, Neil said, “Um, what do you
like to do in your spare time?”

“
Have sex,” she said
matter-of-factly.

I spit wine across the table. It
landed on Neil’s face.

“
I am so sorry,” I said as I
wiped his face with a napkin.

Not only sorry for what I’d done, but
for what Jennifer had said. Sure, I guessed Jennifer liked getting
busy as much as the next girl, but I’d never heard her be so blunt
about it. It was time to flip the decorum switch.

“
So, how’s everyone’s food?”
Jack asked while gesturing with his fork.

Not only was he embarrassed but he was
sending me a lifeline by changing the subject. Another reason why I
was falling hard for the guy. Before he could answer, Neil’s cell
rang and he excused himself.

When he walked away from the table,
Jennifer regarded us with her widened eyes. “So how do you think
the date is going?” she asked around a sweet smile.

I watched for a second, then said,
“Good. I think he likes you.”

Jack nudged me gently with his elbow.
I knew I shouldn’t lie, but I didn’t want to cause a scene in the
middle of the restaurant. She didn’t notice that Jack and I were
looking at her as if she’d lost all her marbles.

After a while, Neil hadn’t returned
and I figured he’d probably gotten out while he had the chance. I
felt bad for Jennifer though. Maybe I needed to get her home and
have a serious discussion with her about what was going
on.

“
Do you think he’s coming
back?” Jennifer asked while looking over her shoulder toward the
door.

“
Um, I don’t know, sweetie,”
I said.

Jennifer jumped up from the table.
“I’m going to look for him.”

She briefly tugged at her dress as she
hurried away from the table. She barely had enough fabric on her
dress to pull down to cover her lady parts, so any effort to
stretch the fabric was fruitless.

Jack and I jumped up from the table
and chased after her.

When we reached the door, the manager
stood in front of us. “Where do you think you’re going?” He crossed
his arms in front of his chest. “Do I need to call the police? You
haven’t paid for the ticket yet.”

Jack pulled out his wallet and handed
him cash. He didn’t even look at the amount, but when the manager
nodded and stepped to the side, we figured it was more than enough.
It couldn’t have been cheap with the mountain of food Jennifer had
ordered. I’d have to pay Jack back.

We made our way out of the restaurant,
but Jennifer and Neil were nowhere in sight. No matter how bad the
date had been, it was no excuse for Neil to bail on us like that.
And I was worried about Jennifer being out on the streets alone in
the condition she was in.

When we turned the corner into the
darkened shadows of the alley, we spotted them. Two men were
fighting with Neil and Jennifer. Thankfully there was a streetlamp
at the entrance of the alleyway that provided some light. It was
like a bar room brawl had spilled out onto the street. Someone
would probably call the cops on us soon. Both men had brown
shoulder-length hair and an overabundance of muscles. The scent of
roses from someone’s back garden floated to my nostrils. Such a
pretty fragrance for such an ugly scene. The scrapping from one of
the guy’s boots as Neil dragged him across the bricks under foot
echoed across the alley.

I spotted Jennifer. But not how I’d
expected to see her. She was pounding some guy on the back of his
head with her purse, while Neil continued to stumble on the ground
with the other thug. Fists were flying through the air and grunting
echoed as hands made contact with body parts.

“
Oh my gosh. They’re being
mugged,” I yelled.

Jack and I ran over. I pulled on
Jennifer while Jack attempted to break up the fight between Neil
and the other dude.

“
Jennifer, come on we don’t
need to be involved in this fight,” I called out.

“
I am not going to let them
get my man,” she huffed.

“
He’s not your man. You
don’t even know the guy.” I pulled her arm. “And you don’t want him
to be your man if this is how he acts.”

“
You’re the one who set me
up with him. You must have thought he was okay.”

I yanked her to the side. “It was a
first date. A time to test him out. Like test driving a car. It
didn’t work out. Now come on let’s go.”

She shook her head. “No way. I’m not
leaving him.”

This was crazy. There was no way I was
letting her get involved. She would get hurt. I’d never seen so
much darkness around the French Quarter lately. Vicious vampires,
wacky werewolves, and sleezy soul collectors.

The men scuffled around and I pushed
back the urge to shift. I’d only do it if it was absolutely
necessary, although it was looking more and more like it would be
needed. After what seemed like eternity, Neil broke free from the
guy. But now Jack was stuck rolling around with him. I would have
to do something.

Neil probably wouldn’t give me a good
review after setting him up with Jennifer and then turning into a
werewolf in front of him. But honestly, he didn’t leave me much
choice. Besides, he was fighting with these men. He wasn’t giving a
great first impression either.

Just then, Neil pulled something from
his back pocket. I had assumed it was his wallet because the men
had been struggling to get it from him. But when he pointed it at
the men, I realized it wasn’t his wallet. It looked more like a
Taser.

Everyone froze. What the hell was that
thing? Whatever the thing was he’d pointed at them, I needed one
because the men had stopped fighting immediately. They backed away
with their arms held high in the air, then the hooligans turned and
took off in a run. They hadn’t looked like the types who would quit
the fight until someone was dead. I was happy to be wrong about my
assessment in this situation.

“
Is everyone okay?” Neil
asked.

Leave it to me to fix Jennifer up with
a freak. Sure, she’d been acting strange, but he’d just taken it to
the next level.

“
We’re fine, but I think
it’s time we went home. Thank you for a lovely evening.” I was
pretty sure he knew by the tone of my voice that I was being
facetious.

I glanced over at Jack. “Are you
okay?”

He nodded as he brushed off dirt from
his pants. “I’m okay.”

Jennifer burst out in laughter,
holding her stomach.

My eyes widened. “Why are you
laughing?”

“
I have no idea, but that
was fun.”

I looked at her incredulously, then
glared at Neil. “You want to tell me what is going on with the
men?”

Neil exhaled slowly breath and ran his
hand through his hair. “It’s a long story.”

“
Well, we’re not hanging
around to find out what it’s all about.” I grabbed Jennifer’s arm.
“Come on, Jennifer. Jack will walk us home.” I glared at Neil
again.

Jennifer stared blankly, not focusing
on anything. It was as if she’d stepped out for the moment, but her
body had stayed around. I practically had to carry her all the way
back to the sidewalk. Her skin was hot to the touch. She didn’t say
a word. Earlier she hadn’t been able to shut her mouth.

Since her skin was scorching, I
figured she must be sick and that was way she’d been acting so
strange. The poor thing.

“
We need to get her to bed.
I think she has the flu or something,” I said.

“
I’m really sorry about all
this,” Neil said as he followed along behind us toward the
sidewalk.

“
Save it,” I said over my
shoulder.

When we stepped out onto the sidewalk,
the men were waiting for Neil.

“
Rylie, get out of here,”
Jack yelled.

“
No, I don’t want to leave
you here.” I grabbed his arm.

“
I’ll be right behind you.”
Jack’s fangs appeared as he moved toward the men.

I didn’t want Jennifer or me between
whatever was going on between these men. Without argument, I
grabbed Jennifer’s arm.

“
Come on, Jennifer. You’ve
got to help me out a little.” I yanked her body into an upright
position.

She acted as if she’d chugged an
entire keg of beer.

As we hurried toward home, I had to
slow down my pace so I wouldn’t lose Jennifer. I prayed Jack wasn’t
far behind me. When I glanced to my side, Jennifer wasn’t there. I
stopped and whirled around. Where was she? And where was Jack? I
ran back toward the restaurant. Couldn’t anyone follow
instructions? Was it really that hard? Run home. That was a pretty
straightforward instruction.

I’d almost reached the restaurant when
I spotted Jack jogging in my direction.

“
What’s going on?” he asked.
“I thought you were going home?”

“
I was… but when I turned
around I’d lost Jennifer.” I ran my hand through my hair. “She
wasn’t at the restaurant when you left?”

“
No.” He shook his head and
looked around.

“
What happened with Neil?” I
asked.

“
The men tried to attack
Neil again, but he pulled out that Taser again and they left for
good. I wish you hadn’t gotten involved with him. The guy’s
obviously crazy.”

“
I’m just sorry I got all of
us involved with him.”

“
Come on. Let’s see if
Jennifer went home,” he said grabbing my hand.

When we reached the apartment, I was
hopeful that she’d be there. But when I saw that the lights were
still off and I heard no noise, a lump formed in my throat. I knew
she wouldn’t be there when I opened the door.

Just as I had suspected, when I rushed
through the door, the place was empty.

“
She’s not here,” I said
around a sigh. “What do you think happened? She was acting so
weird.”

“
You think?” Jack asked. “I
almost choked when she made that comment about sex.”

“
Yeah, I don’t know what’s
going on, but I intend to find out. I’ll try to dial her cell
phone,” I said.

A thump sounded from the hallway. When
I opened the door, Jennifer fell to the ground. Jack scooped her up
and carried her down the hallway toward her bedroom while I
followed along behind carrying her purse and shoes. How sexy was
Jack? All muscles flexing and in charge. I mentally shook off the
thought. I had to get his sexiness off the brain. I had to take
care of Jennifer right now.

When Jack laid Jennifer down safely on
her bed, I slipped out with him into the hallway so we could talk
about her without her hearing the conversation.

“
If she doesn’t feel better
in the morning, maybe you should take her to the doctor,” Jack
whispered.