The thought makes my stomach sour. I grind my teeth together as I type out my response.
Me: What do you need?
I update his contact information while I wait for his response.
Lucifer: Where are you?
I roll my eyes at him ignoring my question.
Me: Touring the park.
Lucifer: Try to be a little more specific.
Someone coughs behind me and points to the massive gap of space I left open. I apologize and speed walk through the queue.
Lucifer: I’m losing my patience.
Me: Then go buy some more.
Lucifer: Funny.
I laugh to myself. Him admitting I’m funny makes my heart slam into my rib cage at an uneven pace.
Lucifer: Please tell me where you are?
Me: Look at you using the word please. And people say old dogs can’t learn new tricks.
Good, Zahra. Remind him of your age difference. That should steer him away, given the fact that he’s seven years older than you.
Lucifer: This old dog has plenty of tricks he could teach you.
Did he make a sexual joke? My whole body burns from his reply, and I can’t come to grips with his shift in personality.
Rowan replies again before I have a chance to move past my shock.
Lucifer: That was highly inappropriate.
Me: I think your phone has been hacked.
Lucifer: I can assure you it hasn’t, but I can’t say the same about my brain. I tend to do stupid things around you.
I laugh up to the ceiling, feeling way too giddy from his admission. Given his openness, I throw him a bone.
Me: I’m waiting in line for the Spooky Castle ride.
Lucifer: A line?
Me: Allow me to educate you. A line is a thing that patient people wait in when they can’t afford to purchase the quick skip passes your company sells for the price of a liver.
One look in the direction of the empty quick skip line tells me that other park guests agree with me.
Lucifer: If someone offers you a liver for two hundred dollars, run.
I laugh as I throw my phone in my backpack. A couple standing ahead strikes up a conversation with me. They’re a sweet couple from Kansas who traveled all this way to celebrate their honeymoon. I ask them a few questions, including their favorite and least favorite parts of the park. They share their thoughts, and I write them down on my mini notepad.
“Hey. You can’t skip the line!” a guest calls out behind me.
I turn to find Rowan moving through the line without paying the yelling guests any attention.
How did he get here so fast?
He stops beside me, not even the least bit winded.
“Umm. What are you doing here?” I stare up at him, taking in how ridiculous his suit and Gucci loafers look compared to all of us casually dressed humans.
“You weren’t at the warehouse.”
“Yeah, I took the day off.”
“So Jenny said.”
“Why were you looking for me?” I try to keep my voice neutral but fail.
Rowan smirks at me.
The man behind us taps on his shoulder. “Excuse me. You can’t skip the line. We’ve been waiting here for forty minutes already.”
He sends a withering glance over his shoulder. “I own the place.”