I'm sitting on Jace's plush couch in the living room while he moves around the kitchen cooking pasta that smells delicious, but even though my stomach is totally growling, all I can think about is how to even start on my search for the perfect eternal partner.
In Infernis, everyone is so chaotic and open about their sexuality that they just march right up to people and say, "Hey, wanna fuck?" And then if they like the person, they do. And if they like sleeping with them, they'll do it again, and so forth and so on until they decide they want to do it with that same person forever. I have a feeling that won't work here on Earth, and I don't operate that way anyway.
Hence the need for me to be here in the first place.
I heave a sigh as I type into the search engine on my brand-new iPhone, where to find guys to date in Denver. There are so many options, and most of them look either 100% sketch or completely lame. This is impossible. I could hardly keep up a conversation with Jace and Cannon. How will I ever be able to find a man to date, let alone take to another realm?
The only thing I keep seeing over and over that seems marginally successful for some are dating apps. But even those are confusing because there are so many. I look over at Jace who is washing dishes as he cooks, which I have to admit is an extremely admirable habit.
"Have you ever used a dating app?" I ask, my sudden question making him jump.
"For fuck's sake," he spits, running his hand through his hair. He snatches a dishtowel from the counter and dries his hands. "No. I've never used a dating app."
I bristle at his reaction. "Sorry," I say with raised eyebrows. "Is there a rule against talking between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00 PM as well?"
"Sorry. No. I'm just not used to having anyone around. And you've been so quiet all night." He grabs three dishes from the cupboard and spoons pasta into them. Jerking his head toward the barstools at the counter he says, "Come and eat something."
Before I can even get up, a noise sounds through the house and Jace's voice is amplified through the sound system. "Cannon, dinner's ready."
"Coming!" Cannon's disembodied voice comes from upstairs.
I jump to my feet and my eyes dart around the room. "What the hell was that?"
Jace raises an eyebrow and looks at me like I've got a head injury. "Uh, Alexa? I can use it as an intercom? You've never—"
"Oh, right. Yes, of course," I say quickly, nodding even though I have no damn clue what he's talking about.
Folding the blanket neatly over the arm of the sofa, I climb onto the barstool next to him and peer into the dish in front of me. Fettucine alfredo. My favorite pasta that my dad always has the chefs cook on our Friday night dinners even though he doesn't really like it. A smile creeps onto my face and I look at Jace out of the corner of my eye before lifting my fork.
"Thank you. This is actually my favorite food, so you're already winning on the roommate front. Not that you have any competition. I've only ever had six brothers as roommates, and, well...anyone could win against them because they are the literal embodiment of—" I stop myself before I say too much. "Well, they're royal pains in my ass."
"Hey, Jace has some competition now," Cannon says as he enters the kitchen, hopping up on the barstool next to me and flashing me a grin before digging into his pasta. "This smells fantastic, Jace. Thanks."
Jace twirls his fork, wrapping the pasta around it and nods to Cannon before turning back to me. "Six brothers, huh? And you couldn't ask any of them about their experience with dating apps?"
I nearly choke on the bite I'd just taken and wipe my mouth with my napkin before speaking. "Well, you met Mandis. Grub, the guy that was with us, that's his husband. They've been together for what feels like decades, and they met when they were kids. Most of my other brothers are so oversexed that they literally make out with their significant others at family functions, and none of them have ever needed a dating app to find someone. It's been so fucking easy for all of them," I mutter, and my resentment toward them flows out of me with such ease, it alarms me. I don't like feeling that bitterness toward my siblings, but I do.
"Come on, Desi, it can't be that hard for you to find a guy. I'm sure you could go to the grocery store around the corner, walk a couple of aisles, and get more than one request for a date," Cannon pipes up.
"Where I'm from, it doesn't work like that," I say, choosing my words carefully. "There has been no one for me. Not even a possibility. I've never been on a date, never been kissed. I mean, I know about sex; I'm not completely naïve. I've just never done it or anything leading up to it. Even the simplest of things, like holding someone's hand." My cheeks flush as I realize I probably just shared way too much information with my two brand new roommates. My two brand new male roommates.
"So your plan is to experience all that now?" Jace asks.
I lift one shoulder in a lazy shrug. "I mean, I just want to see what happens naturally, you know? But I don't even know where to start with meeting people. In case you couldn't tell, I was a little bit sheltered as the youngest and only daughter. So, I thought maybe a dating app would be good to start with."
Cannon sets down his fork and holds out his hand. "Let me see your phone."
I pull it out of my pocket, unlock it, and set it in his palm, watching as he swiftly taps the screen. "Here, Face ID," he says, holding it up in front of me. I give him permission to download, and when he hands it back to me, there's a new app on my home screen with a logo that looks like a little red flame.
"What's that?"
"It's the app everyone talks about when they're wanting to meet people, just to see what 'happens naturally,'" he says, looking at me pointedly.
"Oh. Oh! You mean like...to 'hook up?'"
"Yeah, but I know a couple people who met their 'person' on there."
Their person. That sounds like an eternal partner to me. "Their...'person.' What do you mean by that? Like...the person they want to be with forever?"
"I guess if you believe in that shit," Jace mumbles before Cannon can answer.
I glance at him. "Oh, and you don't?" I've never heard of anyone not believing in eternity before.
Jace grabs his empty bowl and stands. "There is only right now and the things you can control in this moment. Good and bad legacies are forever. Nothing else matters."
Without another word, Jace gets to his feet, rinses his bowl and loads it in the dishwasher before walking out of the kitchen and down a hallway next to the dining room. Then, a door clicks shut, and Cannon and I are left in silence.
I've never met someone who appears so opposed to relations with other people. Up until now, the man lived alone in a huge house, spends all day in loungewear, plays video games, and just shut himself behind another door rather than hang out in the living room. Just the thought of what I saw today makes me lonely.
I clear my throat and shift my gaze to Cannon as I continue eating. "Well, that was awkward."
"That's what love can do, Desi. It can turn a man into a jaded human being," Cannon says, shoveling a forkful of noodles into his mouth.
I look down the hall toward where Jace disappeared and back to Cannon. "Wait, what? You think Jace had—had his heart broken or something, and that's why he feels that way?"
"I'd bet my Lexus on it." That's a steep bet considering Cannon's silver sports car is top-of-the-line. I've never seen anything like it in Infernis, which is saying something because demons have quite the obsession for quick, decked out cars.
The thought of someone breaking Jace's heart makes me unexpectedly sad, and I shake off the thought and steer the conversation toward Cannon. "But you believe in love. Right?"
He sets down his fork and turns to face me, his eyes bright as they search my face. "Yes, Desi. I believe in love."
A strange feeling gnaws at my gut, and I force myself to look away and back at my pasta to take the last bite. "Good. It's good to know I'm not the last person on the planet who does and I'm not just wasting my time."
"Speaking of...why do you only need to stay here for ninety days?"
I chew the inside of my cheek and deliberate what to say. I can't tell him too much; I've known him for all of a week, and there's no way I can trust him—or Jace—yet. So, I tell him a bastardized version of the truth.
"I need to find a person to bring home to my father, a person who is suitable for me to marry one day. Not right away, but someone who at least holds potential. Where I'm from, our family is...in the public eye, I guess you could say, and it's important that I..." I clear my throat. "Marry well. And I'm on sort of a time crunch. So, I'm only allowed to be gone a certain amount of time."
"Sounds like something out of one of those chick flick movies. Let me guess: your dad is a sick king who wants to know his sweet daughter is taken care of before he goes."
The awkward barking laugh that escapes me is loud and startles both of us. "Damn, Cannon! If that were the case, that would have been really insensitive! No, my dad isn't a sick king," I say through an incredulous chuckle. "Our parents are just really strict, that's all. There's just a certain way we do things, and questioning it isn't really an option for me."
"All joking aside, I understand what it is like to have a parent who have high expectations of you. My dad puts a lot of pressure on me as well. Sometimes I feel like whatever I do isn't good enough for him."
"Finding a husband is the only difficult thing my father has ever asked of me. I hate feeling like I'm letting him down."
He taps my phone's screen. "Well, I guess you better get to swiping. And if none of these clowns work out for you, maybe you can let me take you on a date."
I open my mouth to ask him if he is serious, but he stands and heads upstairs to his room. Does he really want to date me? The idea does have possibilities. It would be so convenient to have a roommate as a potential eternal partner. I let the thought simmer for a moment before my gaze drops to the dishes he left on the counter.
Cannon is kind, fun, handsome, but messy as fuck. I'm not sure I can overlook his indifference about tidying up after himself. Shoes kicked off haphazardly, dishes left in the sink, last night he forgot his socks by the couch. Thankfully, I took them up to his room before Jace noticed. But I came here to find a bit of peace and organization to add to my life, not another bit of chaos.
I sigh and get to my feet, pick up Cannon's dishes and rinse them before putting them in the dishwasher. I can't imagine doing that for the rest of eternity—cleaning up after someone else. I shudder and look down the hallway toward Jace's office as I make my way back toward the living room.
I'm tempted to go knock on the door and ask him what he's doing in there, but I decide that given what I know about him, it probably isn't the best idea. Instead, I settle back on the couch under my blanket and swipe right for guys that interest me—most of them tall, with dark hair and light eyes. I guess I have a "type." Most of the guys I swipe right on are interested in me too, which I take as a good sign.
For at least an hour, I repeat this process, and before bedtime, I have a date set up for tomorrow night. I can't keep the goofy smile from spreading over my face. This is happening far faster than I could've hoped.
When I check the time, it's well past midnight, and my yawns are becoming more frequent. As I'm folding my blanket, my phone pings with another message from the dating app. I snatch it up, hoping it's not my date for tomorrow canceling already.
It isn't. It's a new, totally sexy guy in my inbox I'd swiped right on, and the message is short.
Hey Desi. You're really gorgeous. Just wondering, are you DTF?
DTF? What does that mean? I chew the inside of my cheek as I wrack my brain and come up empty. I crane my neck up the stairs and see Cannon's light is off, and I know he has to work early, so I don't want to bother him.
Peering down the hallway toward Jace's office, I see his light is still on under his door.
Maybe he's working. Or playing more video games. Either way, he's definitely still awake, and I need to know what this message means before I answer. I make my way down the hall and tap lightly on the door.
"Come in."
I crack the door and slip my head inside. Jace is seated behind a desk with a very large computer screen on top. His back is to a wall of shelves adorned with figurines of aliens, warriors, and superheroes. The rusted steel wall across from him houses a television with a narrow window underneath where a fire burns. Two leather chairs sit across from his desk, but neither look as if they've ever been sat in. But it is the wall at the far end of the room that takes my breath away. A floor to ceiling window looks out into the backyard where the pool is lit in shades of purple and blue.
He looks up, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "What's up, Desi?"
I slide the rest of the way inside the door and let it click shut behind me, crossing over to his desk and leaning over onto my elbows on the back of one of the chairs.
"Umm, well, I just got a message from a guy on the app Cannon downloaded for me earlier."
"A date already?" he asks, and there's a bit of a sarcastic tone laced in his voice.
"I—uh, yeah, for tomorrow, but this is a different guy. Anyway, he said something to me, and I don't know what it means. I was hoping you could help."
"Okay, what is it?" He doesn't bother to look away from his monitor. With one hand on his mouse, the other clicks away at the keyboard.
"He asked if I was 'DTF.' What does that mean?"
Jace jerks his head up and the room falls silent. He holds out his hand and gestures with two fingers for me to hand him my phone. I give it to him, and he frantically types away with a disgusted look on his face.
"Problem solved," he says, sliding my phone across the desk.
I snatch it up and read his response. Nope. I'd rather play in traffic. Next time, man up and ask a girl to dinner first. And I suggest you splurge to make up for the disappointment she's bound to have after she experiences your subpar fucking skills.
I cover my mouth with my palm and my eyes widen. "Jace! Okay, clearly it meant something vile, so I'm going to go ahead and thank you for the save there, but come on, tell me. What does it mean?"
"It means 'down to fuck.' I'm assuming you're not down."
My nose wrinkles and I shake my head, shoving my phone in my hoodie pocket. "No. Nope. Definitely not. That's—nope." My face is burning, and I push my hair behind my ears. "Thanks, Jace. I appreciate it. I'm glad I didn't just answer him without figuring that out first."
He gives a curt nod and I head for the door.
"Hey, Desi?" I spin around to face him again, and he says, "Be careful. Meet these guys at public places and don't go home with them until you're sure you aren't getting serial killer vibes."
I meet his gray eyes, and I notice that he's removed his glasses. Now, they're even more striking, and I realize I've never seen eyes that color before in my entire existence. Shaking my head to clear it, I say, "Right. Of course, sure. I won't do anything stupid."
"It may be a good idea for you to turn on your friend locator so your brother knows where you are just in case."
I swallow and gnaw on my bottom lip. "Well, actually, my brother is—uh, out of the country. He and Grub left to go on a trip to eat food. Like you know one of those things where you just eat...a lot."
"A buffet?"
"Like, on a global scale, sure. Point being, he won't be any help if I get into any trouble, and I know no one here besides you and Cannon, so..."
"Get Cannon to turn his on."
I wrinkle my nose. "He has an Android."
Jace fakes a gag as he leans back in his chair, and it tilts with the weight of him. Folding his hands over his abdomen, he lets out a quick breath. "All right, put me in your phone and allow me access to your location. If I don't hear from you by ten tomorrow night, I'll shoot you a text and if you don't answer, I'll send the cops to go find you."
Something about him caring enough to send the cops to look for me warms my heart, but then another thought occurs to me. "What if I'm...busy doing...other things, and that's why I don't answer? Wouldn't that be embarrassing?"
He shakes his head and rolls his eyes, turning his attention back to his computer. "Then I guess you better text me back before that happens."
"Fair enough. Good plan."
"Glad you approve. Goodnight, Desideria."
"Hey, you got my name right!" He just nods in response, and I wave as I slip out the door. "Night, Jace. See you tomorrow."
All the talk of serial killers, cops, and location trackers has me nervous for tomorrow, and I spend most of the night awake staring at the ceiling. I can only hope my date doesn't end in disaster.