The Struggles of Marrying a Demon {Completed}

Twisted Ties

"Well, damn," Lucy declared after Mabel had finished showing off her ring. "I am so single it hurts. Why am I so single?"

"'Cause you intimidate men with your masculinity," Kellan retorted smartly, barely dodging a pillow when it sailed directly at her face. "See what I mean?" She waved a perfectly manicured hand at Lucy, as if to say, Exhibit A, bitch!

"Shut up, Kellan," Lucy griped, looking less than imposing from her position on the floor of Kellan and Jake's apartment. Kellan's husband was out with some of his friends, and Kellan had decided to have a girl's night, as well.

Not that they had gotten much done, since Mabel's best friends had noticed her ring the second she'd stepped through the door and demanded details. She'd told them what she could, explaining that there probably wouldn't be much of a wedding because Aleron was "less than traditional."

Even after the horrible disaster that had ended with Mabel's death and subsequent resurrection, her friends didn't know anything about Hell or Aleron's true job; rather, all they knew was that Aleron's work was "confidential" and that he enjoyed weaponry (Lucy was half in love with him, really).

Thankfully, Lucy and Kellan had accepted Mabel's answer, and quickly moved on to the topic of relationships in general.

Which led them to where they were in that moment, eating ice cream with sappy love songs playing in the background while Lucy complained about her love life (or lack-thereof).

"Don't you work with a bunch of hot guys or something?" Mabel asked, licking her spoon of chocolate. "Just ask one of them out."

"Ugh, as if. They're so obsessed with their own masculinity that they wouldn't even give me the time of day."

"Just walk around the locker room naked or something," was Kellan's solution, and Mabel almost choked on her dessert.

"Kellan!" She squealed, glaring at her friend. "Come on! Seriously?"

"What?" the other woman asked innocently, "It's just an idea."

Lucy smiled wickedly. "A great idea, but one I already tried." The shine of deviousness in her eyes told Mabel that she wasn't kidding.

Mabel let her head fall against the back of a couch with an agonized groan. "Why am I surrounded by sexually frustrated people?" she asked the ceiling desperately.

"Guess you have a type," Lucy decided, blowing Mabel a kiss with vanilla ice cream staining her lips. They all broke down into giggles, which subsided soon after, leaving them blanketed in silence.

"I have to tell you guys something," Kellan announced after several beats, setting her carton of ice cream on the coffee table and leaning forward in her seat. "And I don't want you to freak out. Well, I know Mabel won't. But I'm worried about you, Lucy."

Looking mildly offended, Lucy raised herself onto her elbows and cocked a single eyebrow in question.

Kellan wrung her hands together on her lap, a sure sign that she was struggling with an internal argument. "Jake and I . . ."

"Are pregnant?" Lucy asked flatly.

"What?" Kellan reeled back as though she'd been slapped. "No, no, not yet. But," she bit her lip, "we are hoping to have kids, and neither of us want to do it in the heart of a big city, inside an apartment barely big enough for two people."

Mabel had a feeling she knew where this was going, but she hoped she was wrong, if only for Lucy's sake.

Kellan sucked in a deep, steadying breath. "We're moving."