My Demon (7 page)

Alex took a step towards the living room, mouth already opening to call out, when Clive danced in front of her and put a finger to his lips.

“Shush,” he hissed. The demon indicated her mother was on the phone. “Listen for a sec. Trust me,” he mimed zipping his mouth, and touched Alex’s arm to make sure she understood. His mischievous expression proved infectious. She returned his grin and gently pushed the living room door open until she heard her mother’s voice clearly.

Lily murmured in a low seductive tone, “…and when I’m done licking your toes, I’m going to work my way up your legs, slowly, inch by inch. I’m going to have you groaning and begging…” Lily listened for a second. “Oh yes. I can’t help spanking naughty men. They
always
deserve abuse!”

She’s saying what? Alex thought. What the hell? She pressed harder against the door, lost her footing and fell headfirst into the room. Alex landed in a crumpled heap at her mother’s feet. She stifled the giggles with her hand, pinching the skin between her teeth to shock them away.

Lily turned her back on Alex and growled sexily, “Joe, someone just walked in, and they deserve the beating of a lifetime. Ring me back soon, and maybe I’ll tell you how hard I whipped their little pink bum.” Lily hung up the phone, red-cheeked with embarrassment. “That call wasn’t what it sounded like!”

Alex gazed at her mother for a moment, the corners of her mouth twitching skywards until she couldn’t contain her amusement anymore, and let out a loud sharp laugh. “What
were
you doing?” Alex giggled. “Please tell me you have a new boyfriend.” Clive made rude hand-pumping gesticulations by his nether regions, and Alex angled her head so she couldn’t see him.

“Yes, that was Joe. We were having telephone sex,” Lily stated this as if it were perfectly obvious, before stomping out of the room trailing little ‘humphing’ noises. Seconds later the front door slammed, hard enough to rattle the china and trinkets in the cabinet.

“Oh my God. Do you think that’s her new job?” Alex made a gagging noise before climbing up off the floor. “That’s disgusting.”

“And at long last, she starts catching onto this brave new world. Oh, my dear Alex.” Clive winked dark curly lashes at her.

Unable to help herself, Alex cast a casual glance at Clive. The red fabric of the demon’s cat suit flowed over his body, bulging over a large appendage below the waist. Alex forced her eyes away, to the ceiling, to anywhere. She returned to Clive’s face, with his broodingly dark good looks, and… Her eyes wandered south again to his well-endowed manhood. Her crotch tingled in return. No, she thought. This wasn’t right. Alex sauntered over to the dresser and pulled out the letter from the council. Did Clive sense the electricity in the air? She hoped not.

“The money!” Alex said. How could she forget? All those thoughts of an ill-disguised manhood had muddled up her brain. She reached under her waistband and grabbed the wad of cash. Clive appeared at her shoulder, breathing intoxicating hot air onto her neck as she sorted the bills. Little electrical storms coursed over her skin. She tried to shift sideways but her feet wouldn’t move. “Please don’t do that,” she whispered. “It’s…” She meant to say uncomfortable, but instead said, “Oh, so good.” She closed her eyes, imagining his hands on her back, slipping around her waist… “I can’t concentrate.”

“Sure thing, sugarplum. Didn’t realize I was doing anything.”

Like hell! Alex thought. “Oh, my goodness!” Alex gasped. “I’ve got £295 here!”

“And how much does your mother owe?” Clive moved to her front, and gazed down at her with soft dreamy eyes. Blue, like the water in a warm sea.

“Oh, loads more than this. But if I divide the cash between the gas, electric and the rent, well at least the wolves aren’t at the door anymore.” Alex smiled, trying desperately to ignore Clive’s bedroom eyes. After all, things had to go right sometimes. She grabbed the phone and coughed, preparing to imitate her mother’s voice. She needn’t have bothered. They wanted money, and they didn’t care who paid. Alex arranged for payments to be made the next morning at the post office.

“How much more does she owe?” Clive asked again.

“No more money talk.” Alex shoved all the paperwork away, and shooed at the demon. “I’m done talking business for today. And I need some time off.” She wanted to call Jeremy and go out with him. She wanted to leave Clive and the strange sexual effect he had on her behind, and return to being normal. For as long as possible, anyway.

“You want me to go away?” he asked.

“Please Clive.” She touched his arm, the heat tingling her fingertips. Would he be cross, try and hurt her? “Give me a little time on my own.” She waited for an answer, her eyes wide. For a second she thought it was a wave of fear shortening her breath. But then Clive stepped up to her, so close his warmth caressed her skin from her head to her toes. No, she decided, it was definitely lust.

Clive took her hands in his and rubbed them gently. His burning touch seemed to drug her. He could have taken her, there, in the living room, and she wouldn’t have the willpower to say no.

“Sure thing, babydoll. I’ll see you later.” Clive let her fingers fall through his as he stepped away. Then he cocked his hand into a gun and pretended to fire before disappearing in a theatrical puff of red smoke.

“Ohhh,” Alex groaned in a small voice, a dreamy look in her half opened eyes. As if in a trance, she floated over to the phone and dialed Jeremy’s number. “Hi babe,” she said as he answered at the other end. “Whatcha doing tonight?” She listened for a second. “A movie? Sounds fabulous. When’ll you pick me up?” She curled her fingers around the telephone cord. “I’ll be ready and waiting,” she teased in a sexy voice before hanging up. That demon best stay away, she thought.

Alone for the first time in seemingly ages, Alex pampered and preened her body within an inch of perfection. Eventually, she took herself down to the living room, surrounded by a haze of Sunflowers perfume, and waited for Jeremy. Lily was noticeable in her absence. Alex didn’t waste time worrying about her. The drunk, as Clive so kindly described her mother, was able to take care of herself—most of the time.

Alex cleared her mind, but her thoughts kept creeping back to Clive. He really was dishy. Oh my God, Alex thought. I’ve got a crush on a fantasy demon. For a second, a dark cloud hovered over her as she attempted to unravel the possibility of her insanity, and the fact that Clive probably didn’t exist. Saved by the bell, or the loud knocking in this case, Alex leapt off the sofa and answered the door, half expecting to find Clive on the other side.

“Aren’t you the vision of loveliness this evening,” Jeremy said. He pulled her into his arms and Alex stretched up to give him a long loving kiss. This was what love was all about, she told herself. With Clive relegated to the back of her mind, Alex succumbed to Jeremy’s embrace. “Let’s go then.” He took her by the hand and led her out of the house.

The War of the Worlds was coming to the end of its run, and they arrived to an almost empty theatre. With a nod and wink that Alex only just noticed in the dark room, Jeremy led her to a row of empty seats, in a spot pretty much as far from anyone else as possible.

They did try and watch the movie, and they did actually get to the lightening scenes when the first machine erupted out of the ground. Alex jumped and squealed as the aliens started firing, and Jeremy raised the armrest in between to put an arm around her as she let out a shriek. His cuddle soon degraded into kissing and fondling. Finally, about an hour into the movie, he raised a couple more of the armrests and gently laid her down..

 
“B
ecky, guess what!” The morning sun shone around the edges of the curtains as Alex lay in her bed, phone pressed up against one ear. “Guess what Jeremy and I did last night?”

“You had sex,” came a vague reply.

“No, no. I mean yes,” Alex said. “But that wouldn’t be so unusual.” She suppressed a giggle. “There’s more.” She rolled over and pulled at the hem of the curtains with her toes. Sunlight flooded into the room for a second. She dropped the fabric, and in a hushed voice, said, “We did it in the cinema.” Alex paused for effect. “In the back row.” She waited for Becky to respond. Impatiently, she emphasized still further, “Some other people were sat a few seats up.” Alex giggled. “Can you believe it? Me? Doing
that
, there?”

“That’s certainly a weird place to have sex, Alex.” Bec paused then said, “What with you being on a heavy period and all. Must have made quite a mess.”

Alex felt a blush rise, she’d forgotten all about her lie from yesterday. “Yes, but at least the seats in the theatre are covered in red velvet.”

Becky laughed and Alex felt relief spread. She sat up in her bed and arranged the covers around her legs. “What’s really odd is you know I’d normally never do anything like that. I felt like I was almost somebody else.”

“Yeah, that’s bloody fantastic.” But Becky didn’t sound happy. “I hate to rain on your parade, but I’ve got to talk to you about something serious.” A heavy sigh filtered through the phone line.

“What could possibly be wrong? The sun is shining. I have the day off work, and—”

“Yeah, and you had great sex last night.” Becky cut Alex off. “I understand already.”

Silence coursed the airways for a couple of seconds while Alex replayed their conversation in her head. What on earth had she managed to say that might offend Becky? She thought Bec would be impressed by her cinema antics, and it was
still
mild compared to the stories she’d been told. “Um… Are you okay, Becs?” Alex asked. Then she banged a fist against her forehead as she realized something had been wrong, from the moment the phone lines connected. How did she miss Becky’s tone? Oh my God, she thought and clapped a hand to her mouth.

“Aren’t you wondering why I’m not at work today?” Becky almost shouted down the line. She sounded close to tears. “That woman fired me yesterday. After you left, the police finally arrived in force to drag away the preacher. Then Aggie took me into her office and yelled at me for ages.” Becky’s voice broke. “She fired me!” The tears were flowing now. “She said some horrible things, Alex. She said I was…” Becky sniffed. “…depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.” She paused for a second and blew her nose loudly.

“Oh shit.” Alex gulped in her guilt.

“I know,” Becky replied. “She told me I was a thief, and apparently she’d been watching me for weeks, and how money only disappeared when I had a shift.”

Becky sounded surprised, and a cold dread filled Alex’s stomach.

“I’ve never stolen in my life! You know that!” Becky waited for confirmation.

“I… I can’t believe Aggie’s fired you!” Alex tried to think what she’d be expected to say as Becky honked her nose on the other side of the phone line again. “How much did she say you’d stolen?”

“£295! Can you believe she thought I took £295?” Becky appeared more composed now, more angry than upset.

“My God. That’s a lot of money!” The cold dread in Alex’s stomach overflowed and began filling her head as well. She felt surreal and wobbly.

What had she done?

“You stole all the money from the shop.” Clive materialized in front of the doorway. The demon smiled as he watched the color drain out of Alex’s face. He’s enjoying this, Alex thought.

“How could you?” Alex said between clenched teeth. Her view of the bedroom turned a shade of red. The demon stood in the center of the hue, as if the room burned around him.

“How could I what?” Becky asked.

“Um… You know, accept such a horrible telling off?” Alex fumbled with her words. Clive grinned, his teeth Hollywood white, his black hair flopped across his forehead in a neat foppish wave. She wanted to rip his head off and smash those sparkling ivories one-by-one. “Aggie yelling at you. I’d have taken a swing at her.”

Clive sauntered up and sat at the end of her bed. “I didn’t take the money, you did,” he said, his face a bland attempt at honesty.

“I don’t know. I guess the shock of being yelled at and fired made me speechless,” Becky said. “You try and do better when it’s your turn.”

“Look, Bec, can we meet up? You sound like you need a friend.” Alex needed time. Her thoughts muddled between murder of invisible entities and collapsing under the guilt of getting her best mate fired. “I’ve got to go into town later and pay some bills. We could meet up at the post office.”

“Will you buy me an ice-cream at the Häagen Dazs cafe?” Becky asked. “Sweeten the day?”