Traffic in Juva was always a bitch to deal with but tonight it was particularly worse than usual. I suppose the city was never kind to me anyway, not that I was nice to it either. With all my "past" issues and family drama, I was well known and hated especially in this stupid city.

The only reason I even stayed here was that Cleo loves it and lord knows I owe it to her to make her the happiest I can. I mean, the woman agreed to marry me even after all of our past shit.

I rolled my eyes and let out an irritated breath as the driver in the car in front of me appeared to be eating instead of driving. Who the fuck does that? I had places to go and I didn't have time to watch some dude eat stuff his face on the freeway.

I lowered my window and peeked my head out to face him. "Can you please fucking drive?!" I yelled over the loud honking of the cars behind me.

The man turned in his seat and held his middle finger up at me. Taken aback by his attitude I scoffed and exited my car. With long strides, I walked to his window and knocked on it politely. He gave me a smug look and lowered his window.

"What the fuck do you want?" He asked with a full mouth.

My hands trembled as I fought the urge to punch his oh-so-punchable face and I held them behind my back.

3...2...1...just like you learned in those goddamn classes.

3...

"I'm in the car behind you sir, and I'd appreciate it if you could start driving," I said in a strained nice voice as I tried my best to keep my cool.

"I'll drive when I want to," he laughed and looked at a passenger in his car that I didn't notice. "Can you believe this pink-haired bitch boy?"

2...

I burst out into a peal of angry laughter as I laid my hands on his car door. "Pink-haired bitch boy? That creativity reminds me of the brain level of a third-grader...maybe second." The man glared at me and I smiled knowing that I was getting the reaction I wanted. "I may have pink hair but I'm no bitch, dumbass."

The man glared at me angrily at spat a large amount of guck out his window near my shoes. "Still look gay as hell."

I chuckled. "Ask your mother how gay I am."

"My mother's dead." He growled.

"I didn't think I was that good but I suppose I sent her to an early grave, didn't I?"

"Fuck you!" He screamed as he attempted to open his door. I calmly held it shut with my hand as he struggled to open it.

1...

I reached into his car and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and extended my fangs. "Start driving your fucking car or I'll send you to your mother personally to give her my deepest condolences. You've made me late to see someone and you're pissing me off to be quite honest."

I smiled at the fear evident in his eyes and he looked like he was about to cry as his eyes landed on my fangs. I pushed him back against his seat and his hands immediately went to his steering wheel and he sped away.

I turned to go back to my car but stopped when I spotted a teenage girl with a phone in front of her recording everything that just happened. With a sweet smile, I ignored the additional honking due to my stranded car and walked over to her. I couldn't deal with another scandal, there was no way I could let that video be sent to anyone.

"Hello, love. Would you mind deleting that?"

She looked at me in astonishment as her mouth dropped to the floor. "You-...you're talking to m...me," she stuttered.

I pasted on the smile I had been taught to fake with paparazzi and nodded. "I am."

"You're Caspian Deveaux!" She squealed as her eyes became watery.

"That would be me. Is it possible that-"

She screamed excitedly and I looked at her in shock. I looked around us to see if anyone had noticed us and I saw a small crowd of people gathering around us.

"Could you please delete that video?" I whispered lowly.

"No way! This is going to make me rich," she said.

3...

"If riches are what you seek, I can pay you to delete it..." I offered almost desperately. I didn't want to beg but if I needed to I would. It took me years to get the media to stop painting me as some asshole, I wasn't going to have a little girl ruin all my hard work.

"No, I want something else from you," she said confidently as she crossed her arms.

2...

"And what would that be?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"I want to go on a date with you," she said.

Oh, fuck no.

"I could go to jail, sweetheart. What are you fourteen?"

She gasped as if I offended her and shook her head. "I'm fifteen. Thank you very much."

I had to fight the urge to let my sarcasm seep through my words and I took a deep breath. "Tell you what...take my number and I'll take you out when you're of age."

"Really?" She screamed.

"Mhmm. Phone," I commanded as I held my hand out. She laid her phone directly on my hand and grinned up at me.

1...

Oh you stupid, stupid little child.

I immediately deleted every trace of the video from her phone and handed it back to her. "You're a fucking horrible blackmailer. Never give up your leverage first love," I said as I walked back to my car.

"You're so mean!" She yelled as she began sobbing. "I'm going to tell all my friends!"

"Aww," I frowned as I feigned sadness. "Boohoo...whatever will I do with an army of ten-year-olds hating me?" I got in my car and closed the door.

"I'm fifteen!" She screamed.

I shot her a wink and drove away from the scene with a frustrated sigh. I left 30 minutes early yet now I was fifteen minutes late.

A few minutes later I pulled into the driveway of the diner and checked the mirror before I left my car.

Hot as fuck.

With a smirk, I left the car and walked inside. I looked around the small diner with a smile. It looked like something taken out of the eighties and just pasted here. It was even adorned with a jukebox in a far corner.

I spotted Xavier with Syn and Queen in a booth and I walked over to them. They were so engaged in a conversation that they jumped when I planted myself beside Xavier.

"Sorry, I'm late," I said sincerely.

"It's fine," Queen said sweetly with a beautiful smile as always.

Syn nodded at me in greeting and I did the same. I didn't know how to feel about him. It wasn't that didn't like him, it was the opposite. I wasn't expecting to want to be friends with a person that was supposed to be my nemesis. After our talks and texts though, I was sure he would be a great ally.

My eyes finally landed on Xavier beside me who was fiddling with a napkin on his lap and looking at the menu. For some reason which he still hadn't told me, Xavier didn't have a heartbeat. Most demons did. It only made reading him a bit more difficult but I managed with his body language.

His eyes were averted from mine and he still hadn't said hello to me so, from my amazing deduction skills, I could tell he was pissed at me.

Queen and Syn got distracted with looking at their menus and bickering back and forth and I took it as my chance to get through to Xavier.

I laid my hand on his knee and he quickly moved it and proceeded with what he was doing.

I took my phone out of my pocket and shot him a text.

Me: You can't be mad at me.

He frowned as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He picked his phone up and when he saw it was me who texted him, he tilted his head and gave me a "really" look.

Xavier: Why are you so late? I had to watch them do weird shit. Look at my eyes THEY'RE RED FROM THE HORROR!!!

He looked in my direction and widened his eyes for me to see and I laughed softly. His eyes weren't red, he just looked tired.

Me: I'm sorry you had to suffer through that. But I'm here now? So no being mad.

I watched as he read the message and a dimple appeared on his cheek.

There we go.

With a smile on my face, I turned my attention to the menu. There we plenty of mundane food like burgers and fries, whatever I ordered here I was sure I'd gain at least ten pounds.

I heard Xavier yawn beside me and I turned in his direction to see him stretching. His muscular arms were stretched above his head and I followed the snake tattoo that wrapped around his wrist and disappeared into his shirt with intrigue.

I was curious to see why he had that specific tattoo and only that one.

He caught me staring at him and sent a wink in my direction and I held the menu up to my face to hide my embarrassment. What the fuck is going on with me?

With one finger he lowered the menu to expose his grinning face and I rolled my eyes at him so I wouldn't kiss him...or punch him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, just choosing something to order," I lied.

"Really?" He asked in his deep and velvety voice.

"Mhmm," I hummed as I tried to control myself.

"The menu is upside down, Caspian," he pointed out with a deep chuckle.

I put a smirk on my face and tried my best not to cringe at my stupidity. "Don't be jealous that you can't read upside down, Xavier."

He smiled slyly at me and nodded as he turned back to Syn and Queen. "What are you guys getting?"

"Ask her," Syn muttered. "She's taking forever to decide and I know she's going to end up choosing the wings."

"You don't know that," Queen argued.

Syn swung his head in her direction with boredom and raised his brow. "I do."

She rolled her eyes at him and continued flipping the pages for the next few minutes. Finally, a waitress came to our table and grinned down at us all.

"What can I get you guys to start with?" She asked.

"We're still deciding," Syn said lowly as he kept his eyes on a busy Queen. I smiled at the pair and turned back to the woman.

"Can we just get drinks for now?" I asked

She pulled up her notepad. "Sure, what would you like?"

"He and I," I gestured towards Xavier. "Will get vanilla milkshakes."

She wrote it down and turned to Syn and Queen. "And you two?"

Queen still seemed busy with the menu so Syn shook his head and spoke up. "I'll get a water and she'll have a strawberry lemonade."

"Don't get him a water," Queen said as she remained staring at the menu. "Please get him a chocolate shake."

"I don't want-"

Queen turned to him and waved her fingers in his face. "Yes, you doooo."

He looked at her for a long moment and shook his head. "That's not even how it works."

She dropped her hands and slouched her shoulders. "Damn it."

"I'll just get the chocolate shake," Syn said to the woman who looked like she wanted to laugh at them.

The woman wrote it down quickly and left.

"It worked!" Queen cheered.

Syn wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his side. "Yeah, yeah yeah you're magical whatever."

I shook my head slightly and turned back to Xavier who had an amused expression trained on me. "What?"

He pursed his lips and shook his head as he looked back to the table. "Nothing."

I finally took my chance to take in his appearance more. His messy brown hair hung in a curly bundle on his head. My eyes lowered to his brown intimidating eyes and my breath hitched. I hated the effect the man had on me.

I looked a bit lower again and laughed softly as I took in his cartoonish shirt. He turned to me when he heard my laugh with a look of confusion. When he followed the direction of my eyes to his shirt, a blush crept upon his cheeks and he shook his head.

I finally looked away from him with a satisfied sigh. I was glad I wasn't the only one who could be made nervous.

When I looked around, Syn and I locked eyes with one another and he gave me a knowing nod. "You can tell them."

I nodded quickly in return and cleared my throat as I looked between Syn and Queen.

"Syn and I have news."