Demon: Book 1

Chapter 37: A Flat Lip and a Black Eye

Titus parked the car outside my house. The lights were on—it was two o'clock in the morning—and my parents knew.

"My dad might have mentioned something by the looks of it."

"Great, now the alpha is going to chew me out, too." Taking off my seatbelt, I got out of the car.

Titus met me around the front, and we walked up the sidewalk to the house. My dad opened the door. The fury in his eyes turned to panic when he saw my face.

"Oh my god, Aden." He ushered us both inside.

My heart skipped when I saw Xavier sitting on the couch with my mother. She ran over as the alpha looked on.

"Aden," she breathed, cupping my face. "Look what they did. Go sit down; I'll get some ice."

With my head lowered, I followed Titus into the living room. We sat on one couch while our fathers took the longer one. My mother squeezed in beside me and held the ice pack to my cheek.

"Who did this?" my dad asked.

I sucked in my lips and stared at the floor.

"Chris," answered Titus.

"Did you do anything, Titus?" asked Xavier.

He nodded.

"In the kitchen." The alpha led the way with his son close behind.

I scooted over, giving my mother more room. She kept shaking her head and looking at me with tear-filled eyes.

"Aden, whose blood is this?" She scanned my shirt.

"My, my nose was bleeding." I glanced at my father, who looked uneasy himself. "Titus had some paper towels in his car."

"Oh." She calmed down and leaned against my side.

The voices coming from the kitchen were harsh but hushed, making it difficult to understand what was being said.

"I messed up," I breathed. "Things were finally going okay."

"Why would you go there?" my father asked, shaking his head. "You know how we feel about that place."

"Chris." I wiped my face. "He gave me a ticket. I saw that the football team had a night practice, and I always wanted to go and—" I couldn't tell them the rest. It would get Comrade in trouble or even fired. "Chris told me not to waste the ticket. I was scared of what he might do."

"He did plenty," said my father.

My mother brushed back my hair. "Do you want to go upstairs and clean up?"

I nodded and went with her to my bathroom. I peeked into the kitchen when we passed by and saw Xavier's red face. Titus was leaning against the counter with his arms folded. Chris seeing Titus in werewolf form was my fault. I hoped he didn't get punished because of me.

My mother opened the bathroom door and ushered me inside. I sat on the toilet seat as she rummaged around under the sink.

After wetting a washcloth, she patted my face. "I don't understand how there's so much blood in your hair but not a scratch on you." She was checking every section of my head, looking for wounds.

"I fell down," I said softly. "I'm fine, Mom, really."

"I don't believe that at all." She lifted my chin. Once finished, she stepped back. "Well, nothing can be done about the bruises or this lip unless you want to use some of my makeup."

"No," I muttered.

She smiled at me. "You keep scaring me, Aden."

"I know."

"Don't let Chris bully you into doing things." She leaned down to look me in the eyes. "If he ever tries something like this again, you tell us."

"I will. I didn't think it through."

"Come here." She opened her arms.

Standing, I hugged her tightly.

She patted my good cheek. "I'm really happy it's not picture day on Monday."

"No, it's not, thank god."

She kissed my cheek. "No more, Aden. No more."

I nodded. "Promise."

I went with her downstairs. Titus and Xavier were talking with my dad.

"It's time for us to be going," said Xavier.

"Is it okay if I come tomorrow?" asked Titus. "To see how Aden's doing?"

Our fathers opened their mouths, but my mother beat both of them.

"Of course. I've missed having you around, and so has Aden. You're welcome to come and check up on him."

Xavier and my dad muttered their approval as well.

"Titus, it's late." Xavier slipped past us to the door. "Take care of yourself, Aden," he said before exiting the house.

Titus walked over to me. "Feel better, okay?"

I nodded and stood on my toes to hug him. "See you tomorrow."

He slipped in a quick kiss before leaving with his dad.

I pressed my fingers to my lips. "Bye."

My mother sighed and gave me an overly mushy expression. My face heated up.

"Mom," I said in a harsh voice. "Stop it."

"That was so sweet of him," she breathed.

"Aden, off to bed." My father nodded toward the stairs. "Karen, we need to talk about a few things."

She nodded. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Night." I hurried up the stairs and went to my room. A lecture was coming for me in the morning, but at least, so was my boyfriend.

***

I stared at the message on my phone. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. My bedroom door opened, and my mother entered. I quickly locked my screen and tucked my phone away.

"I'm sorry, honey, but I think this is a lost cause." She held up the shirt from last night. A brown stain could be seen over the logo. "I've tried everything."

"It's fine, Mom. Just throw it out."

"I did"—she grabbed my jacket that was draped over her shoulder—"salvage this." She held it out in front of her.

I smiled. "Thanks." I took it from her and tossed it on my pillow.

She sat down on the bed. "I'm afraid I won't be able to wash off these bruises. That's a black eye if I've ever seen one."

"Mom." I leaned away from her approaching hand. "I'm fine. Stop it."

Turning my chin, she shook her head. "You look like a chipmunk."

I groaned and flopped onto my side. "You're not helping."

She patted my leg and stood. "I'll get you an ice pack. Hopefully, we can get some of the swelling to go down before Titus shows up."

"Don't do anything embarrassing when he gets here."

"Aden," she said from the doorway. "It's how mothers keep their children humble. Besides, he was very sweet. It was nice of him to go and get you last night, and his father was kind enough to tell us what was going on. They're a great family, Aden."

"You haven't met his brother," I muttered under my breath.

"I'd love to one day," she said cheerfully.

"Hmm..."

"Quit moping, Aden," called my mother as she left the room. "It won't make your face heal any faster."

"Mom!"

I waited until I heard noises downstairs before taking out my phone. I'd have to show Titus when he arrived. He wasn't going to be happy, and Xavier was going to be even worse. I reread the message from a random number:

I know what Titus is.