Soulbound

13. Dani

“You put on her ring?”

I roll my eyes. “Rose, you told me to!”

I don't even know why I listened to her in the first place. 'Like Cinderella with the glass slipper'? More like Beauty bound to the freaking Beast! Only this fairytale doesn't involve an enchanted rose or a happy ending as far as I can tell, just a hot-headed demon with a bad temper and a magic ring.

“Yeah, but I didn't think you'd actually do it! I mean, who does that?” The blonde leans forward, grabbing my hand between hers and turning it from side to side, seemingly oblivious to my glare. “So now it's stuck, huh?”

I nod.

“Like, stuck stuck?”

Again, I nod.

“Well, that sucks. You think she'll be pissed if she finds out?”

You have no idea. I shrug, watching as the overhead light from the break room glistens off the silver band. “Probably. I mean, wouldn't you be?”

True to my word, I hadn't mentioned to Rose how Ashe had mysteriously shown up in my apartment shortly after she left, or that the redhead was actually a demon and I was now soulbound to her. I still wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but for most of the morning I vowed not to think about it.

That was easier said than done, though. I had hoped that work would take my mind off of the entire situation but as hard as I tried I couldn't get thoughts of last night out of my head. After what felt like the hundredth time of catching myself thinking about Ashe and then hastily looking around for any signs of silver smoke in the café, I eventually realized that thoughts of her alone weren't enough to 'summon' her. Still, I wasn't about to push the envelope by saying her name out loud or hoping to see her again. I'm not Aladdin and I sure as hell don't want to find out which kind of genie Ashe was.

None of it was doing anything to help deflate the ball of anxiety bouncing around in the pit of my stomach, though.

“Have you tried using butter?” Rose asks, breaking through my thoughts like a wrecking ball. “Or bolt cutters?”

My nostrils flare as I let out an exasperated sigh. Leave it to Rose to crack jokes at my expense. “I've tried everything, even the damn string trick. Nothing works.”

“Well, you haven't tried everything.” Rose purses her lips, doing her best to conjure a look of serious contemplation; it does little to hide the laughter twinkling behind her blue eyes. She pinches my ring finger between her thumb and forefinger and wiggles the digit. “How attached are you to this finger?”

I quickly withdraw my hand, half expecting her to whip out a butcher's knife from the pocket of her apron. “I'm not cutting it off, you savage!”

“Then I guess it stays stuck.” The blonde shrugs as a playful smirk returns to her lips. “Kind of hard to catch a fish when you're wearing the bait, though.”

Oh great, more fishing jokes.

An exaggerated grunt is the best reply I can muster before David pokes his head around the corner. “Ladies, break's over! We have customers!”

“Like anyone's even up this early on a Saturday.”

David quirks a brow and stares at her as if she just told him that two plus two equals five. “It's noon, Rosalie.”