Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf

 

Innocent Devil's Harem | Chapter 8-2: My Housemate’s Guest is Too Observant

Not wanting to seem suspicious, I kept my tone casual. “Yeah, actually that is kind of weird.”

Nick quickly became apologetic. “Sorry, I have a thing with puzzles. That’s why they always put me on hard cases, like the one I’m currently working on.”

My eyes widened in surprise, quickly trying to think of a more logical excuse. “Huh, that’s cool. Though I’m not sure it’s much of a puzzle. Maybe the hunter left it since they technically shot it on someone else’s property.” I shrugged. “They might not have seen the house until after they were going to grab it.”

“Oh,” he said, nodding. “Yeah, that could be.”

Fuck.

I was glad Nick seemed to think that explanation made sense, but now I was concerned that he was going to notice something else odd. But then again, I couldn’t imagine there was enough evidence to lead the police to a solid suspect in the case regarding me. Honestly, there should be no reason to be concerned about it.

The only reason why I’d found myself in this situation was because Serenity was a detective herself. Otherwise, this kind of coincidence wouldn’t have happened.

Still, I needed to be careful I didn’t do anything that might give Nick reason to be suspicious about me. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but now I had to be extra careful since Gabriella would be around. My housemate might not notice something small, but if this guy was really so observant, then he might pick up on my skin graying or something.

When we got back to the house, Nick waited outside with me while I took the time to hose down the area. Which I appreciated. Not that I would have been unaware of what was going on inside, thanks to my heightened senses, but it was still nice to know he wasn’t going to just barge into my home and try to hit on my best friend and girlfriend.

Because it was my home too.

The blood had of course coagulated, which meant I basically ended up just using the thin stream of water to push all the clotted mess further away from the house.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do about what had soaked into the ground. I could still smell it – the stench of rotting blood – but at least the grass prevented it from being visible. I just wished it wasn’t so close to the front porch, but I only had myself to blame for that.

Finished, Nick finally followed me into the house to see what the girls were up to. However, only Gabriella was in the kitchen, looking through the pantry while she had some boneless chicken breasts thawing out in the sink with hot water running over it. I knew Serenity was upstairs getting changed, probably into jeans and a t-shirt, instead of her more professional work attire.

Oddly enough, Nick was already dressed more casually himself, prompting me to wonder if he made less of an effort to look professional, since it sounded like his skills were valued to the point that no one cared. Either that, or today hadn’t been an official workday for him.

Deciding to rinse my hands off, I went over to the sink, nudging the spout over before dipping them under. I then grabbed some soap, scrubbed up a little, and went to dry my hands.

Nick followed my lead, only to look at the steaming water in confusion for a moment before just barely touching the stream with his fingertips. “Shit!” he exclaimed, jerking his hand back. “Damn that’s hot.”

“Oh,” I said, quickly adjusting the temperature, while noticing in the corner of my eye that Gabriella was failing to hide her concern. “Yeah,” I continued in a lighthearted tone. “It was almost unbearable by the time I was done. Sorry about that.”

Gabriella chimed in without missing a beat. “I just turned it on, so it probably hadn’t warmed up all the way.”

I gave her an appreciative look, before deciding to move on before the situation became even more awkward. I honestly hadn’t even thought about the temperature being too hot for a normal person, but thankfully it seemed as if Nick was going to let it go.

“So, what are we making for dinner?” I asked her cheerfully.

She immediately caught on to the shift in my tone. “How does Roman Chicken sound?” she asked with the same level of enthusiasm.

I considered that, running through the required ingredients in my head, since this wouldn’t be the first time I’d made that dish. “Well, we do have bell peppers, and all the right spices, but I don’t think we have tomatoes.”

She shook her head. “I found some canned tomatoes that will work fine. They were stuffed in the back of the pantry, though I left them there in case you wanted to do something else.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I agreed.

She smirked. “Then would you want to chop up the raw chicken once it’s finished thawing, so it will cook faster in the skillet? I can work on the bell peppers.”

I grinned at her, sincerely looking forward to cooking with her. Thus, it took me a moment to realize that Nick was standing there awkwardly, seeming unsure of what to do now that he’d finished washing his hands.

I focused on him, trying to maintain my lighthearted tone. “Oh, hey, Serenity should be down in just a minute. Do you want anything to drink? Although, we only have milk and orange juice at the moment.” I paused. “Serenity might have some lemonade in there, but I’m not sure.” There was a lingering scent of lemonade, but that didn’t guarantee it was gone.

“Sure,” he agreed. “I can get it though, if you’re fine with me going through the fridge.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. Cups are up there,” I added, gesturing to the appropriate cabinet.

Nick proceeded to open the fridge, pull out some orange juice, and then open the cabinet to grab a glass. As he was pouring at the table, he spoke again. “Oh, do either of you want some, while I have it out?”

I glanced at Gabriella who shook her head, so I decided to volunteer. “Yeah, I’ll have some. Thanks,” I added. The boneless chicken breasts looked to be thawed enough now, so I decided to grab a cutting board and pull it out to begin chopping up, while Nick poured a second glass.

However, my muscles tensed when I unexpectedly heard a small ‘plop’ just after he was done pouring.

I glanced over my shoulder, knife in hand, to see that he was putting the cap back on the orange juice, returning it to the fridge as if nothing unusual happened.

However, now I was suspicious as hell, especially after everything that’d occurred in the last day.

The guy then proceeded to grab a glass and sit at the table, leaving the other for the taking. At the same time, I heard Serenity making her way back downstairs, prompting me to snag the second glass before anyone else tried taking a sip of it. Gabriella noticed my behavior, but didn’t say anything, instead just watching me closely as I returned with the drink, holding it up like I was going to sip it.

Instead, I used my nose.

Sure enough, without a doubt, there was something with a faint bitter scent in my drink.

Fuck.

I was doing everything in my power to not overreact.

“Hey,” I commented loudly, just as Serenity made an appearance in the kitchen. “This tastes kind of weird,” I lied, since I’d used my nose instead of my mouth. “Does yours taste alright?”

Nick gave me a sincerely confused expression, before taking a sip of his drink. He then immediately looked at me apologetically. “Oh! I’m sorry! I’m really tired, so I put a caffeine pill in it to dissolve. But I must have grabbed the wrong one, because normally I can taste it.” He then turned his apologetic expression on Serenity as he got up. “Sorry, it looks like I may have wasted some of your orange juice.”

Fuck, no way in hell was this going to waste.

If it was really just a caffeine pill, then this guy was going to prove it by drinking it himself.

“Actually,” I said, my tone a little firm as I walked up to him. “I barely touched this, so you can have it. I’ll take yours.” I reached out and grabbed it without waiting for him to agree, handing him the one I had.

He hesitated for a second, before accepting it, taking a second sip. “Yep,” he said. “The caffeine pill is definitely in this one. Sorry about that,” he repeated, before moving to go sit back down at the table. “Although, worst case, you just might have had a hard time going to sleep tonight.”

“R-Right,” I agreed, holding the glass up to my nose to verify it smelled normal. When it did, I decided to gulp half of it down and then set it on the table. Of course, Nick would have no idea that caffeine could have an adverse effect on me, not to mention the guy really did look exhausted. I supposed I really did overreact, although it made me wonder why he didn’t just swallow the pill.

I decided to ask, echoing my thoughts. “Hey Nick, just wondering, but why not take it like a normal pill?”

He nodded in acknowledgment, taking another sip, only to swirl the juice in his glass a little. “Oh, well, there are two reasons actually. One is that I have a hard time swallowing pills in general – bad gag reflex – but the main reason is because I get horrible stomach cramps from taking these pills whole. Letting it dissolve in something prevents that from happening.”

Gabriella chimed in then. “Why not just drink coffee or something?” she wondered.

Nick shrugged. “Well, honestly I didn’t want to ask you guys to make some, since you were already making dinner for us.” He paused. “And I also like to know exactly how much caffeine I’m getting. It’s sort of an OCD thing.” He paused again. “Well, not really. I don’t actually have OCD, but you know.” He shrugged.

Serenity hadn’t said anything yet, seeming like she felt a little awkward from us pestering him with all our questions. She finally spoke up. “Anyway Nick, do you want to go chat in the living room while they make dinner? It sounded like this whole ‘them making dinner together’ thing was sort of a date.”

Fuck! How was I supposed to enjoy my ‘date’ with Gabriella when my lifelong friend was in the other room with some random dude?

And Nick was definitely some random dude! She said he’d only recently moved here! Surely she couldn’t already be interested? But then for what other reason would she have invited him over? Just to be nice?

At least I’d be able to listen in on them, to kind of gauge my friend’s interest, and to make sure there was no funny business. But shit.

I shrugged in response to Serenity’s comment, trying to act casual. “Yeah, I admit it was, but I didn’t want to be rude.”

Serenity smiled, though it was a little off. “Oh, no. You’re fine, Kai. I’m glad you two are getting along so well,” she said, giving me a wink that thankfully no one else noticed – Gabriella had turned to focus on chopping up the peppers, and my housemate was standing a little behind Nick, off to the side.

Normally, I might have found myself threatening to at least blush, between her wink and what she was suggesting, but I was too distressed over the drink situation and just the very fact that Nick was even here.

 

Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf