Sticks and Stones

Chapter Twenty-One

By the time she'd really digested what he'd said, Caspian was already moving through the crowds and heading back down the stairs into the heart of the club. Sofia was quick on her feet, rushing down after him. The music got louder within seconds. She felt the bass thudding beneath her feet. Her stilettos hit the floor funnily as she waded through lobbed bottles and the mosh pit, fighting with all her might to keep Caspian in sight. It'd be easier without his hat. Those demon horns and copper hair would be a dead giveaway.

"No?" Could he even hear her through the crowd? Exactly how good was his hearing? "Caspian? No? What do you mean no?"

"I mean no." He shouldered through the crowds with ease. With a big body like his, the crowd parted to let him through. For Sofia? Not so much.

"N-O. No. You know what that means, don't you?" He called back.

"Of course I know what it means you bloody idiot! I just can't believe you're saying it to me now of all times."

"No time like the present." Her ears were straining to hear him, her body still thrumming from the aftermath of pleasure. "You asked me for something and I said no. Completely within my rights."

"Would you slow down?"

She was racing to keep up with him. Her body had taken a battering earlier and now she was tired. Yet he still wouldn't let up.

"Can't. I'm a busy man and I've got places to be."

"Caspian!" She made a grab for his arm and missed. "We just—we just did that and you're still saying no."

The disbelief was evident in her tone.

"That? You mean we fucked."

Could he say it any more flippantly?

"Yes, we fucked! And you're saying no to helping me right now?"

She'd thought, if anything, that what they'd just done would've brought them closer. Apparently, things with Caspian weren't as simple as she'd thought.

"I made it perfectly clear us shagging wouldn't be a currency. Pleasure won't buy you anything."

"I thought that was us connecting."

He stopped walking but only briefly. She sensed this hesitation wouldn't work in her favour.

"That's what I thought on the night we met so now we've both misunderstood what sex means."

He'd given her a taste of her own medicine.

What a fucking joke.

"Caspian!" She looked like a mad woman yelling after him like this—but what did she care? He was totally dismissing her. "Come back here! Come back here right now!"

The music dulled down to a hum as they reached the entrance. Cas stood with the bouncer, a man that was clearly another demon if his size were anything to go by. They were talking, clasping hands and bro-ing out. And then Caspian left without a care in the world. Without a single second thought for if she were following him.

Or stalking him as he so kindly put it.

Casually, he strolled down the dark, empty street. The first signs of dawn were breaking in through the sky, that pink hue blessing her cheeks with cold.

She shivered a little now, rubbing her arms for warmth as she chased after that God damned dumb demon.

"Caspian?"

He turned, smiling as if none of that had just happened. As if he didn't know she'd be running to keep up with his unnecessarily humungous steps. As if he hadn't just rocked her world then shut her down immediately after.