"What the fuck is that?" Marcus asked.

The bed he and Mila were sharing was small, but what made it smaller was the line of pillows dividing it in half. She was laid across on one side, scrolling through her phone and not bothering to look at him as she answered, already comfy and covered under blankets that were hanging off the side and down at the bottom.

"A wall to keep you on your side."

Marcus stood there, unsure how to respond. Mila just barely fit on her side and he wondered how she expected him to fit on the other side when he was much bigger.

"Let me make sure I'm understanding this," Marcus said, steepling his fingers, pointing them towards the pillows. "I can walk through solid structures, set things on fire, and fly, and you think a pile of pillows is going to keep me on one side of the bed?"

Mila lowered her phone, purely for the sake of giving him a stern look before she had it in front of her face again. "Stay on your side."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll find holy water and dump it on you in your sleep."

"I'm petrified," Marcus said flatly, walking around to his side of the bed that did not look like nearly enough space for him. He sighed and lifted his gaze to Mila to glare at her but she wasn't even looking his way, still scrolling on her phone. He was halfway tempted to set it on fire and remind her of what happened earlier with the vibrator but another idea formed and he decided if she was going to make him suffer, he'd throw it back at her.

Mila tried not to look Marcus's direction at all, her cheeks still warm from their earlier encounter, her legs firmly crossed as she tried to not let the memory affect her. She lasted a while until she heard a thump and looked over out of the corner of her eye, seeing him taking off his shoes and dropping them on the ground.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Getting ready for bed," he said, bringing his arms over his head and reaching behind him at the base of his neck where his shirt rested, his biceps flexing. He grabbed the collar and removed it one move, listening to Mila's heartrate accelerate as he dropped that to the ground too.

She pretended not to notice and looked back at her phone, pressing her thighs together and wondering if all demons had bodies that perfect. She heard a zipper and swallowed, daring another look out of the corner of her eye just in time to see him drop his pants, standing only in boxers.

She knew he was built, clothes couldn't hide that, but it was different to see him without most of them. His broad chest seemed even bigger than before, the taught muscles flexing as he bent down to remove his socks. That gave her a better of view of the strong muscles on his shoulders and some leading down to his back. When he straightened again, her eyes couldn't help but drift down his powerful arms, following the corded veins of his forearms all the way down to his hands that could probably crush her without much effort. She might've continued the path over his strong chest and down those abs she was half-tempted to lick, but then she noticed him noticing her staring.

Her eyes shot up to his and a smirk formed as he leaned down, bracing his palms against the bed and staring at her. "Let me guess, you need some good ideas for the shower since I burned up your calendar?"

"Oh get over yourself," Mila said, rolling her eyes and looking away, mortified she got caught up staring and worse, that he noticed.

Mila swore she heard something along the lines of 'rather get over you' but he mumbled it and she pretended not to hear, squealing when he plopped down so hard it left her nearly bouncing off the bed. She huffed in annoyance but said nothing, instead reached for the lamp but Marcus's cursing caught her attention.

"Why the fuck is the bed grainy?" Marcus asked, lifting the pillows and finding a line of salt underneath. Mila glanced back over her shoulder and smiled sheepishly as this time when his eyes lifted to hers, they were glowing red. She hated that part of herself clenched when she saw the red eyes. "Salt? Are you kidding me right now?"

"Well, what do you expect?" Mila defended. "Obviously I don't think pillows will keep you on your side."

Marcus narrowed his eyes at her and sat up, yanking the blankets back despite Mila's protest. Under the blankets that were hanging down to the floor, he saw more salt spread over the floor, surrounding Mila in a little rectangle. Mila slowly brought the blankets back over her and half-hid behind them, only letting her eyes stay out. "Creative, right?"

"Stupid was closer to the word I was thinking of," Marcus said, throwing all the pillows off the bed, then brushing the salt all onto her side of the bed. "What, are you mad about earlier? You gonna pretend you didn't love every fucking second of it?"

Yes, exactly, Mila thought. That was exactly the problem. She did love every second of it and it was driving her insane. He was a demon, she couldn't get involved with him. At the beginning she thought having fun with him would be one thing, but now she'd spent too much time with him, spent too much time watching him love on her sister so sweetly and gently despite what he was and how he acted around her. It made her heart skip too many beats, it left her gaze lingering on him too long, and fun was out of the question. If she had fun with him, she'd get attached and he was only here until she sent him home. Then another person in her life would have come in and left, and she couldn't handle it. The barrier of salt was less to protect her body from him and more to protect her heart.

Mila ignored his question and whined, trying to rub the salt off her arms and sending him a dirty look. "So salt is a lie I guess?"

"I'm not telling you what works and what doesn't if you're going to put salt in the bed," Marcus growled. That growl had Mila both swallowing and clenching. He was painfully sexy and it was annoying.

"You're so grumpy," Mila huffed, getting off the bed and yanking of the blankets before trying to brush it all off while Marcus just stood there, watching. She glanced up, seeing his eyes fixed on her breasts, where her nipples hardening against the cold- and maybe slightly because of his half-naked state- was obvious. Mila cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Marcus shrugged, clasping his hands behind his head and falling back on the bed, spreading out definitely past his side. Once again, those arms were right out there for her to see and attempt not to drool at. "You're the one that started the staring."

"You're dangerously full of yourself," Mila said, brushing off as much as the salt as she could before climbing into bed. She rolled on her side to face away from him and got as close to the edge as she could so they weren't touching. It didn't help. Her body was already warming.

She reached over and turned off the lamp, enveloping them in darkness. She adjusted the quilt over her shoulders and propped her arm under her pillow, her other hand grasping the blanket as she closed her eyes. Sleep was a good idea, a wise idea, but she found it impossible with a hot demon laying half-naked behind her and worse...

Stella's treatments the next day. There was no guarantee it would work, no guarantee she wouldn't just get worse, and Mila's brain kept jumping to worst case scenarios. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed this, what if the treatments make her weaker and she gets an infection and that's it? Or what if she has a bad reaction and dies on the first day? A million what if's filled her mind and she sighed, adjusting to find a comfortable position several times but never finding one. She couldn't. She was too worried and scared.

Mila hadn't noticed how many times she adjusted on the bed in the hopes of finding comfort enough to sleep, but Marcus did. He had a biting remark to make but as he looked over at her facing away from him, the way her hand clutched the quilt like it was a lifeline, the annoyance faded. She was upset and he had a good guess as to why.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing, why?"

"You're moving around like you got salt up your pussy."

Mila sighed and rolled her eyes, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I'm scared," she admitted in a quiet whisper. "Of tomorrow."

She wasn't sure why she told him. After everything she'd been through and the fact very few people would take her seriously, she never admitted to being afraid. She was a force to be reckoned with and no one would ever catch her scared. Except she was. She was terrified of losing the last piece left in her broken heart.

"Why?"

"Just what if it doesn't go well?" Mila said, sucking in a shaky breath. "Or what if she gets sicker? Or what if she gets an infection from someone or this trip is the reason the cancer finally-" she stopped abruptly, not wanting to say the words floating around in her head. What if cancer finally wins? "I'm the one that pushed the trip, Terry probably wouldn't have. He probably would've gone with the doctor's recommendation, but I pushed it and what if something happens to her because I was too desperate to look for a cure that it clouded the logical decision?"

"Why would not trying be the logical decision?" Marcus asked, frowning. "Shouldn't you try everything you can?"

"I mean... That's how I feel about it," Mila murmured, sinking further beneath the blankets. "But there's another argument, that doing things like this only puts more work on a body that might already be..." she trailed off, tears stinging her eyes, "giving up," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut, the tears falling down her face and landing on her pillow.

"I guess that might have merit," Marcus said. "But I think it would've been worse if something happened to her and you didn't try everything you could've. Then you would just be sitting there thinking how you wish you would've done it different and never knowing what the outcome would be."

"I guess," Mila said. "But the same argument could be made the other way. If I hadn't dragged her to a different state, maybe she would've been stronger."

"You can play the 'what if' game all night, Mila," Marcus said, his hand reaching out to brush against her back, to give her some kind of comfort, but the salt was an obvious barrier. A way to keep him away. He didn't understand it since he fully believed she loved what happened earlier, but for whatever reason, she wanted him at a distance so he withdrew his hand. All the meanwhile, Mila was tempted to turn around and hug him before she fell apart, but she didn't. It would cross a line and they'd crossed too many. "But change the tune. Don't think what if the worst, think what if it works out? What if this was exactly what she needed? What if this is the thing that saves her?"

"Maybe," Mila swallowed. She wanted to change the tune, she desperately did, but minds didn't always agree with you and hers didn't. Hers was too afraid to see a positive outlook on any of it.

They fell into silence for a while but Mila still couldn't sleep. She tried to adjust less so it wouldn't be as obvious, but forgot Marcus could hear every breath and beat of her heart and knew she was awake and troubled.

"Just go," Marcus said.

Mila frowned, holding the blankets tighter to her chest and only halfway glancing back. "What?"

"Go check on her, go sleep with her, do whatever it is you need to do," Marcus said. "You'll just be up worried all night if you don't."

Mila chewed on her lip, her eyes stinging. "Terry's in there, I doubt he'd appreciate it."

"Isn't it worth a try?"

Mila sighed and shrugged. She wanted as much time with Stella as she could get, so maybe it was worth a try. She sat up and grabbed the hoodie she'd left on the floor, tugging it over her head before getting up and walking over to the door. She twisted the doorknob and stepped through the doorway, glancing back at Marcus. "Thanks."

"For?"

"Listening."

Silence filled the room for a moment before he answered, turning on his side and away from her. "Just try to get some sleep."

Mila hesitated but then closed the door behind her quietly. She padded across the living room to the bedroom Terry was in with Stella and opened the door slowly. Terry lifted his head as the door opened and Mila smiled sheepishly, tugging on the sleeves of her hoodie as her eyes darted over to Stella who was sound asleep next to him, facing him and curled up, her oxygen tube running back behind her to the tank resting next to the bed.

"Is it okay if I-"

"Of course," Terry answered, reaching over Stella and lifting the blankets. "You don't have to ask."

Mila managed a small smile and walked over, crawling into the bed, getting under the covers and curling behind Stella who stirred then sunk back against Mila but kept her eyes shut. Mila slowly wrapped her arms around Stella and rested her chin on Stella's head. Terry's hand was locked around one of Stella's and their eyes met over their sister. Terry gave her a sad smile then closed his eyes and settled against the bed, whispering so quietly Mila almost missed it. "I'm scared too."

Mila swallowed and nodded, holding Stella tighter and closing her eyes, feeling at least a little better being right next to her, able to feel her breath. She just had to trust the treatments tomorrow would help, considering they might not wasn't an option if she was going to keep it together.