The Demon King of Lust

Chapter 25

Having Kieran stay over these past few days has been surprisingly natural. In the past, the guys I've dated have struggled with my late-night work schedule, but Kieran and I get home around the same time. I've always hated sharing a bed with someone because I get overheated, but Kieran runs cool. Sure, the amount of earth-shaking we've generated has Zahra convinced we're living on a fault line, but otherwise things are going smoothly.

I always thought relationships were supposed to be hard work—so why has this been so easy? I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Kieran is downstairs hanging out with Pumpkin while Zahra's in my bathroom helping me put on my work outfit. Usually I get changed at work, but tonight I decided to wear a very elaborate bondage-inspired black body harness that requires a lot of effort to put on. I bought it because I wanted to do a routine to Rihanna's S&M. It's a big hit at the club, even though I can't take off my panties when I wear it.

"Okay, I think that's the last one," Zahra says, looking me over. "Wait, what are these straps on the butt?"

"Ah, don't worry about those. I bought it at a BDSM shop, so it has a lot of extra loops for clipping on handcuffs and things."

"Oh." Her eyes widen slightly and she raises her brows.

"It came with a mask too, but I never wear it. It feels like too much."

"A mask? What kind of mask?"

I walk over to my closet and rifle around for it, then return with it in hand. It's a leather half-face mask with a few strategically-placed silver rivets and cat ears. I hold it up to my face to show her.

"See? Too much, right?"

"No! The mask totally makes the outfit, you should wear it!"

"You think?" I put it on and look in the mirror. It actually looks pretty great.

"Absolutely. It's hot."

I adjust the mask and smooth my hair beneath it.

Why not?

"Okay, I'll try it."

I pull off the mask and throw it into my bag.

"Do you think this looks Game-of-Thrones-y enough?" she asks, adjusting her outfit.

Zahra is wearing my long blue chiffon dress for her themed party tonight. Her hair is wavy with two small braids in the front. She's wearing a gold pendant necklace. There are patches of light powder beneath her eyes where she's letting her makeup "bake", but at the moment she looks like she's lost a fight with a bag of flour.

"Hmm..." I say, looking her over. "It does kind of feel like it needs something."

"I didn't want to wear a wig or anything but now I'm thinking I should have."

"Actually, I've got an idea..." I go back to my closet and rummage through it, then return with a gold waist corset in hand. "You can wear this on top."

She takes it and wraps it around her waist.

"It's perfect! You're a miracle worker."

I help her secure the hooks and adjust it until it's fitting correctly. Her phone makes a loud chime sound that startles us both.

"Shit!" she says with a panicked voice. It's weird to hear because she rarely curses. She grabs her phone and looks at it for a moment. "He's here early!"

"Omar? How do you know?"

"It's the new video doorbell." After I told her about Vic knowing her name, she insisted on getting a camera for our front door.