His Unexpected: A Demon Romance (COMPLETE)

Chapter Two - Dealing With Demons

Blaise 

After the Fashion Week meet and greet, I had a few days off. Ash was working, sometimes at home and sometimes at other places in the city, but nowhere I was needed. He explained that I was welcome to attend small financing conferences and sponsorship photo shoots with him if I wanted to, but I declined. It wasn't that I didn't care about a billionaire's branding meetings, but... Well, it was that I didn't really care about a billionaire's branding meetings. Not enough to expend social energy on them. And so the handful of times Ash had to leave the flat for a few hours during the day, I had the place to myself.

I swam of course, trying to enjoy every last second of pool time before fall was in full swing, and practiced guitar until my fingers hurt, but on the third day of hanging out at home alone, I started to get bored. Mandy and I had messaged back and forth a couple times, more frequently since Ash finally helped me set up a cell plan, and so I decided to shoot her a text asking what she was up to.

A few minutes later she responded with a picture of herself covered in flour with a rolling pin in hand.

"Trying to bake bread," the text read. Another came in as I giggled at the photo, this one simply saying, "Trying..."

"That makes me want to bake," I texted back, reminded of the times I would wander into the kitchen at my family mansion to smell fresh goodies in the oven. I despised that place, but I did miss my mother and her incredible cooking.

My phone dinged again, and I tugged it from my jeans pocket.

"You should! Show me how it's done."

I tapped my chin as I read the message, already meandering toward the kitchen. I poked through the cupboards and pantry, finding a decent array of ingredients already available, but when I got to the fridge and unscrewed the milk cap, I realized I had a problem.

"All my wet ingredients are bad :( Plus, idk what to make?"

Mandy started typing the instant my message was received, and a moment later I was bombarded with a list of ideas, followed by "Just walk to the store, you live in New York City!"

She made a good point, but I had yet to leave the flat by myself. I frankly wasn't sure if I was even allowed, but didn't want to text Ash and risk interrupting important business. At the same time, I'd been trying to slowly figure my shit out since moving away from home, and didn't really want to text him even if he hadn't told me he would be in meetings all day. My father had kept me locked away from the world, and it left me behind in terms of being a well-adjusted, functioning adult. I couldn't rely on others to walk me through basic things like going to the store forever.

"Okay, you sold me on cheesecake," I typed, and sent the text with trembling hands. Anxiety was beginning to creep in, but I didn't stop to process it. I yanked my shoes on, grabbed my purse, and was out the door before I had time to second-guess myself.

The elevator ride down to the parking garage felt like an eternity, and I jittered in place the entire way. Half of me expected to see Ash getting home when the doors swished open, but the garage was completely empty, save Ash's spare cars. A few of the building's other residents had access to this garage, but I scarcely saw them. The silence made me wary, but I didn't stop to think about that either. Instead, I marched to the exit with my baseball cap and sunglasses ready to go.

When I reached the garage gates, I hesitated. Would the guards recognize me? Would they let me through? I smiled nervously at the one I'd seen most often, but he hardly looked up from his book as he opened the way.

"You'll, uh, let me back in right?" I asked on the way past his booth. He lifted a confused eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"Of course, Miss Aoide," he said. I gave him an awkward thumbs up and hurried through the gates, though some of the tension had lifted knowing I was considered a legitimate resident.