Chapter 3: The Worst Part

Briar was a demon. A force of darkness. A creature of Hell’s finest chaos.

And yet, here she was… standing in the kitchen, reluctantly stirring a pot of mac and cheese because apparently, she had to contribute to household meals now.

How had it come to this?

Cassie leaned against the counter, watching her with that smug little smirk that made Briar want to either push her into traffic or—worse—kiss it right off her face.

"You’re surprisingly domestic for a demon," Cassie mused, chin resting on her hand.

Briar scowled. "I once made a warlord eat his own eyeballs."

Cassie nodded. "Uh-huh. And now you're struggling to make boxed mac and cheese."

Briar stirred the pot aggressively. "You’re on thin ice, mortal."

Cassie grinned. "And yet, here we are. My terrifying demon girlfriend cooking dinner for us like it’s a normal Thursday night."

Briar hated how her stomach did an odd little flip at that.

She needed to fix this. Immediately.

She needed to make Cassie hate her.

So why did the idea of Cassie hating her make something in her chest feel… wrong?

She pushed the thought away. No. She refused to let this be her fate.

She had one last strategy left.

And this time, she was going to make sure Cassie couldn't possibly stand her.

Operation: Be the Worst Girlfriend in History

If Briar couldn't scare Cassie away, and she couldn't annoy her into breaking the contract, then she would become the worst girlfriend imaginable.

The kind of girlfriend that made mortals weep.

The kind of girlfriend that sent red flags so big they could be seen from space.

The kind of girlfriend that—

"You do realize," Cassie said as Briar sat her down for this ridiculous plan, "that the contract is based on you being my girlfriend, right? Not just existing near me. So technically, if you’re a bad girlfriend, you’re still fulfilling the contract."

Briar froze.

Cassie watched with mild amusement as the gears turned in her head.

"You’ve already agreed to the relationship," Cassie added. "So being a garbage partner just means you’re… still my girlfriend. Just a bad one."

Briar opened her mouth. Closed it.

Then let out a frustrated groan before slumping forward onto the table.

"Curse these ironclad contracts," she muttered.

Cassie laughed.

Briar glared.

But then, in a moment of sheer pettiness, she leaned over, took a fry from Cassie’s plate, and bit into it with direct eye contact.

Cassie sighed. "If you're gonna steal my food, at least let me feed you properly."

Before Briar could even protest, Cassie held out a fry to her.

A peace offering. A dare.

Briar stared at the fry. Then at Cassie.

Cassie wiggled it.

And against all better judgment, Briar leaned in and took a bite.

Her face heated up instantly.

She pulled away, flustered, while Cassie just grinned.

"See?" Cassie said. "You’re a great girlfriend."

Briar, who had literally been trying to be the worst girlfriend imaginable, let out an incoherent, strangled sound.

She was losing.

She was losing so hard.

And the worst part?

She didn’t even mind it anymore.

Later that night, Briar lay sprawled on the couch, staring at the ceiling, feeling deeply betrayed by her own emotions.

She wasn't supposed to enjoy this.

She was supposed to be miserable.

She was supposed to be plotting her grand escape, not sitting here thinking about the way Cassie's hair fell over her shoulders, or how her laugh was weirdly nice to listen to, or how she always made sure to buy extra snacks Briar liked.

Briar groaned, throwing an arm over her face.

She was in trouble.

Not because Cassie was going to break the contract.

No.

Because Briar didn't want her to anymore.

And that?

That was the scariest thing of all.

Briar was losing.

Not in the normal, "haha, the hero defeats the demon" way—no, that would have been fine. That would have been expected.

This was worse.

She was losing because she was starting to… accept this.

Not fully. Not without a fight.

But something in the way she no longer flinched when Cassie casually referred to her as her girlfriend, or how she had stopped sleeping in the weird shadowy corner of the apartment and now just claimed half the bed like it was normal—it was dangerous.

It was a slippery slope.

So Briar did what any self-respecting demon would do.

She doubled down.

Because if she was going to lose, she was going to go down screaming.

If Cassie was determined to keep her, then Briar just needed to make herself unbearable.

More so than before.

Which is why, one morning, she announced her newest, most insufferable tactic yet.

"I'm going to be the most clingy girlfriend you've ever had."

Cassie, brushing her teeth, gave her a deeply unimpressed look. "You're already kind of clingy."

Briar recoiled. "EXCUSE ME?"

Cassie spit out toothpaste. "I mean, you literally steal my blankets every night."

"That is for dominance purposes."

"Sure."

Briar narrowed her eyes. Cassie was not taking her threats seriously.

Fine.

Time to prove it.

For an entire week, Briar went full nightmare girlfriend mode.

It started as a normal outing.

Or at least, as normal as anything got between a human girl and her begrudgingly affectionate demon girlfriend.

Cassie had dragged Briar out under the guise of “getting some fresh air,” but Briar knew the truth.

This was a date.

Cassie wouldn’t say it outright—she was sneaky like that—but the signs were there.

First, she had insisted Briar wear “normal people clothes” instead of her usual dark, overly dramatic demon garb.

Briar had protested. Loudly.

And yet, here she was, standing in the middle of a bustling downtown district, wearing a stolen hoodie (Cassie’s, of course, because she refused to buy her own mortal clothes) and black jeans.

She looked normal.

She looked like a girlfriend on a date.

And she hated that she kind of liked it.

Their first stop was an arcade.

Briar had never been to one before, and her reaction had been one of pure delight and destruction.

“This is a place of chaos,” she had declared, eyes gleaming. “I love it.”

Cassie had just sighed. “Please don’t destroy anything.”

Briar had immediately challenged a group of teenagers to a fighting game, utterly demolished them, and demanded tribute in the form of arcade tokens.

Cassie had to drag her away before she accidentally started a cult.

Their next stop was a boba shop.

Briar had stared suspiciously at the drink Cassie handed her. “What is this?”

“Milk tea,” Cassie said. “Try it.”

Briar took a sip. Her entire expression changed.

“This…” she whispered, eyes wide. “This is divine.”

“Funny, coming from you.”

Briar pointed a finger at her. “Don’t ruin this for me, mortal.”

They sat on a bench outside, drinking their boba as the city lights flickered around them. The air was crisp but not too cold, the streets alive with chatter, and for once, everything felt… weirdly nice.

Too nice.

Which was probably why Briar did the most reckless, dangerous thing she had done all night.

She reached out…

And grabbed Cassie’s hand.

For a moment, Cassie didn’t react.

Which made Briar panic internally.

She was so close to pulling away—she could have played it off, made some snarky comment, said it was for “dominance reasons” again—but then…

Cassie squeezed her hand.

And just like that, Briar was done for.

Cassie glanced at her, the tiniest smirk tugging at her lips. “Wow. You really are warming up to this whole girlfriend thing, huh?”

Briar scoffed, looking away. “D-Don’t get cocky, mortal.”

“You’re the one who grabbed my hand.”