by LJ Baker
“I’m fine, Az. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Harley snorted. “Yeah, why wouldn’t you be?”
Luc ignored her comment. He’d had enough of them over the past couple weeks. They started off babying him, like he’d lost his puppy. Then they moved on to pity, treating him like he was a fragile doll. Now it had become snide comments and the looks of impatience. At least from Harley. He knew they meant well, but he was dealing with things just fine.
“Have you talked to Amanda?” Az asked, finishing off his drink and motioning to Harley for another. Surprisingly, she poured it without a word. Normally, she would have given him shit, just for the fun of it, but not this time.
“She dropped off a delivery on Saturday.”
“And?” Harley and Az both stared at him. Neither knew she had come by. He’d intentionally kept it from them.
“And, she delivered some booze. You know, her job.”
Harley whipped him with her bar towel. “How was she, you ass?”
“Good actually. I think she’s starting to get her life on track. She’s taking some classes at the local college, which is why she’s still doing the liquor business, to pay for it, and she’s still in therapy. She looked good. Happy.”
“That must be hard.” Az frowned and put his arm around Luc.
“Why would that be hard?” Luc shrugged Az’s arm off and took a sip off his bourbon.
“Seeing her doing so well, happy, without you.”
Luc turned to look at his brother. He wanted to see if he could see the stupid in him, but alas, it was invisible.
“I’m very glad she’s doing well, and even more, that she’s happy. I care enough about her to want those things for her. What is wrong with you?”
They must think he’d somehow fallen in love with her and was now broken hearted. But he wasn’t. Sure, the month wasn’t the easiest, but Luc’s heart was just fine. Amanda wasn’t his soul mate, and he wasn’t pining for her.
“Of course, but it’s just that I know you really liked her, so you must want her to find her happiness with you.”
“No, Az. I want her to find her happiness wherever she can. You two are taking this much too far. It’s not like I was crazy in love with this girl. I cared about her, sure, but it wasn’t meant to be. So obviously, I want to see her do well.
“You really are an idiot, Az.” Harley took the glass from his hand as he was about to take a sip and dumped the rest. “No more for you.”
“What? Look at him. He’s been moping for weeks.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I’ve had more on my mind than Amanda Mitchell? And we’ve been over this. I’m the Devil. I don’t mope, or brood, or any other silly human emotion you two keep trying to pin on me.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. Detective Ward stopped by earlier. She wanted you to give her a call.”
“What for? The assholes that broke into my apartment haven’t been back. At least they had a little sense. Have there been more burglaries in the neighborhood?”
“Yeah, actually, she said the last one had a fatality.”
Luc and Az both looked up, full attention on Harley.
“What happened?”
“She didn’t go into details. She wanted to talk to you in person, so maybe she’ll say more then.”
“Maybe she still wants your security footage,” Az said.
“I didn’t get that impression. It was more concern. She said it was urgent.” Harley produced a business card from the detective and handed it to Luc. He still had the last one she’d given him, but he took it anyway.
“Last I spoke to her, she said they’d injured someone bad enough to put them in the ICU. This is escalating quickly from simple robbery. Maybe I should go see her.” Luc liked his community. He didn’t want to see people getting hurt, or worse. He still wasn’t willing to hand over his security footage, but he would see if there was something he could do.”
“Cupid called again, too.” Harley rolled her eyes and scrunched up her nose. “I told the asshole that he needed to call you personally, or stay the fuck away.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said he’d stop by one day this week to talk. Of course that was after he tried to get some information about you out of me. I didn’t tell him anything, but he was a persistent little bastard.”
“Speaking of Cupid, when do we pick the next sin?” Az reached behind the bar and snatched a bottle of whatever he could grab before Harley could stop him. It was a cheap vodka, Az’s least favorite, but it didn’t stop him from pouring himself an overflowing glass.
“What the hell does Cupid have to do with the next sin? He has no relation to the game.” Harley tried to pull the glass from Az, but all she managed to do was spill half of it down the front of his shirt. She seemed pleased with the result and went back to wiping at the already clean bar.
“You’re right,” Luc said. “But Az is also right. We need to move on and pick the next sin. Don’t think I don’t know that you’ve been intentionally waiting for the next girl. I’m fine, Harley. I don’t need time. Let’s get moving.”
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Harley gave him her tilted head, one brow raised, look that she always gave him when she wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him.
“I’m ready. So what shall it be? Pride? Envy? Maybe a lazy little sloth?”
“After the month he had with Amanda, I think you should pick lust.” Az elbowed Luc’s ribs. “Am I right?”
Harley rolled her eyes. “Not lust.”
“Why not?” Az pouted. “I think that’s just what he needs. A month of non-stop sex. That will take his mind off—” Luc glared at Az before he could say her name. “I mean, it will perk him right up.”
“I don’t need perking up. Not that I think lust is a bad choice.”
“Well, I do. This isn’t about the sex, remember?”
“Of course, I remember, but lust is still one of the sins, and we have to get to it eventually.”
“Yes, eventually. Not right now.”
Harley was a buzz kill. Luc still wanted to find his true love, but what could a little lust-crazy girl hurt. She had just as much of a chance at being the right one as any other sin. There was no reason to hold it against her.
“I’m thinking greed or sloth.”
Az scrunched his nose up. “Eww, why? It’s two against one. I say we let majority rule.”
Harley slapped Az in the side of the head and scowled. “Majority doesn’t rule. This is not a democracy. I make the rules. I pick the sin and the girl.”
“Control freak.” Az rubbed the spot she hit him, though it couldn’t have hurt much. Az always was a big baby.
“I think…” Harley thought for a moment, then continued. “It will be greed. I actually have a few good ideas for this one.”
“You already have girls in mind?” Luc asked, surprised.
“No, not ideas for girls, just about the sin. You’ll see.” She smiled one of her wicked smiles that told Luc he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she was planning.
Hopefully, it would go better than gluttony. Not that he regretted Amanda as his choice. It wasn’t an easy month with her, but he was grateful for getting the chance to know her. She was a great girl and Luc knew that just like Ronnie Falcon, under different circumstances, things might have been different between them.
Two down and five to go. Maybe greed would be the one. And maybe she wouldn’t be. No matter what, Luc knew that whatever way things went, he would be a different man because of it. And he knew now, that wasn’t a bad thing. He might have lived thousands of years, but Luc realized he had a lot left to learn. These women, soul mates or not, taught him things he wouldn’t have learned without this silly game, and he was excited to see what the next one would teach him.
“Hey.” Harley waved a hand in front of Luc’s face. “You still with us?”
Luc nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Is that a smile?” Harley raised h
er brow and whistled. “Are you actually back?”
“I am. I’m excited for this next pick. I’m sorry I didn’t give you my full faith for this past sin, Harley. I owe you an apology for that. Amanda was a good choice.”
“But she wasn’t the one.” Az pressed his lips together and tilted his head. “I don’t understand how she was a good choice.”
“You miss the whole point, Az,” Harley said. “Any one of these girls could be the right one. That’s not the problem.”
“Then what is?”
“It’s all a matter of timing, and readiness, and how things play out. I’m not going to pick a woman who isn’t right for him. But even if she’s right, that doesn’t mean they will fall in love and things will work out. Life doesn’t work out that way. Something as spectacular as true love, just isn’t that easy.”
“So Luc has more than one soul mate?”
“I think we all probably do. How else could anyone ever find the right one for them on a planet with over seven billion people, all spread out across the globe? If there was only one right person, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It would almost never happen.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“So, any deal breakers this time?” Harley looked at Luc and waited for him to answer.
“For greed? Hmm. I guess I don’t want any thieves. After almost being robbed, and what’s going on around here lately, I’d just like to make sure you don’t end up picking someone off that crew of psycho thieves.”
“Other than that, fair game?”
Luc took a deep breath and hoped he wasn’t giving her too much leeway. “I suppose so.”
She smiled again, that wicked smile that made him start to regret not thinking things through more. But she was his best friend. He would have to trust her. Whatever was going to happen, would.
Bring on Ms. Greed.
Thank You for Reading!
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Acknowledgments
This book is the product of my month long commitment to Nanowrimo. That’s National Novel Writing Month, for those of you not familiar. You have thirty days, in November, to write fifty thousand words. Easy, right? Not so much. Staying motivated to write at least 1,667 words every day for a month is hard. Without the Nanowrimo community, I would never have gotten through it. So thank you to everyone out there who cheered me on, encouraged, me, and commiserated with me on how sick of writing we were on any given day.
As with every book I write, I need to thank my daughter, Jennylee. She is always right there behind me, sometimes literally, pushing me to write, to stay focused, and to not give up, no matter how much I want to sometimes. Of course, she is also dragging me away from the computer to watch Hallmark movies a lot of the time too, but that’s sort of like research for a romance writer, right?
It’s been a difficult few years, and without my family, I don’t know how I’d have gotten through it, so I need to thank them for being in my life. They interrupt me when I write. Pay no attention to anything story-related, and probably couldn’t tell you the name of this book, but I love them anyway.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L J lives on the Jersey Shore with her husband, bratty kids and two cats. Though writing has always been her first passion, she got a degree in psychological counseling and worked in the mental health field for a while, which she finds very helpful in dealing with her crazy family. She is a lover of all different types of music and books, switching between genres so wildly it sometimes makes people wonder if she has multiple personalities. She is most likely to be found writing romance stories of all kinds (contemporary, erotic, new adult, young adult, fantasy, paranormal, etc.). When she's not writing, she prefers to spend her time reading, taking photos, watching way too much television, or spending time with her family.
She would love to hear what you think of her work or answer any questions you might have. Please feel free to visit her and say hi.
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www.lj-baker.com.