Slade nodded to Andra. “Has Ace been a good host? Are you getting settled in okay?”
She smiled shyly as she gave him a curt nod, but her face was still a little pink from the embarrassment I had caused only a few moments earlier, so I closed the distance between us and took her hand. She squeezed my fingers in response, and I winked at Slade.
“I’ve got this handled. She’s staying in my room.”
All three men did a double-take. I expected as much. No female had ever been allowed in my room, or even my home, and no humans ever came here. I did my business away from the lion’s den.
“Your room?” Kai said. “But you—”
“How did I miss that?” Slade said, interrupting Kai. “I thought Olivia had an extra bed in her room.”
I released Andra’s fingers so I could drape my arm over her shoulder and pull her closer to me. I already knew she knew everything about my past, but I didn’t want these dickweeds making her think she was like those other chicks. “Andra is special, guys. Shut up, will ya?”
Andra snickered — I was guessing, at my nervous behavior. “I got settled in just fine. Thank you, though I haven’t had much time for rest. Ace has had me training since I got here.”
“Time for work,” Jobe said. “You want to shower before we go?”
“Uhh…” I said, and Andra turned to look at me, confusion pouring out of her emotions in waves. She was on the verge of freaking out that I might leave her here alone. I forced a smile as I pried my wide eyes away from the guys to look at her. “Poker night. It’s kind of a tradition I started a few decades ago. I’m pretty good at it, hence why I named my lion Ace. We don’t really work around here. We gamble. It’s how we pay the bills.”
She glanced around the huge gym that was only a small fraction of the house. “You gamble and win enough money to pay for this place?”
I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand. “Yeah. And then some. Look, I won’t go if you don’t want to go, but I’m better than anyone here. We’ll lose everything pretty quick if I depend on some of these losers to pay the bills. A few of them lose more than I win sometimes.”
“Wait, you’re taking the chick with us?” Jobe said.
I saw red, but managed to shove Andra out of the way before I shifted — the welcome feel of bones stretching and changing, the fur sprouting, the muscles morphing — and pounced on Jobe. My teeth not-so-tenderly brushed the skin above his jugular where his pulse was pounding hard enough I could hear it. Kai and Slade backed away, but I could sense Slade wanted to interfere, and I suppose that was the only thing that stopped me from biting the dumbass’ head off.
“Jobe doesn’t know about the bond, Ace!” Slade shouted. “Nobody but me and the crew that went with you knows that you’re a bonded male now! Don’t kill him! Christ! He didn’t know any better!”
“Ace,” Andra’s startled voice said. “Don’t kill him.”
I moved my head back enough to close my mouth, and I stared down into Jobe’s eyes and let a low growl rumble up my throat. There was cold fear in his eyes. He knew he’d screwed up. Instead of backing away, I walked forward, placing my foot on his groin as I walked back to Andra.
Howls of agonizing pain issued from behind me as I shifted back to my human form.
I laughed when Andra held out my shredded gym clothes, her head turned in the opposite direction from my immodesty.
I took the threads and covered myself enough to make her comfortable. “So, how are you at poker?” I said as we walked toward the doors to leave.
A look inside Good Side of Sin
Prologue
Thoros
“Give me a hand and grab his legs, will ya? We can’t just leave a dead body lying on the center line. A vehicle could come along and run him over, for Christ’s sake,” Thoros said as he lifted the limp top half of the thirty-something-year-old male body from the asphalt.
Baddon cocked his head to the side, his lips turning up at one corner in a mischievous smirk. The chuckle escaped before he could stop it, but he placed a closed hand over his mouth and coolly played it off as a cough when Thoros glared at him questioningly.
“What?” Thoros demanded, and blinked as tiny specs of light filled his vision, the all too familiar dizzy feeling taking over again. Out of breath and feeling like he was about to vomit and pass out, he let the man go lax in his arms until his help finished with the puns and decided to actually help him.
Baddon’s fire-red eyebrows shot up and his cerulean blue eyes danced with laughter. “I was only trying to figure out if it’s the dead body or the vehicle you are more concerned about.”
Thoros frowned. “Very funny; are you going to help me or not? This one’s heavier than the last one and I feel completely drained.”
Grin still in place, Baddon walked the five steps to Thoros and effortlessly slung the dead weight of the man over his left shoulder. “If you’d stop killing them, you wouldn’t need any help disposing of the bodies.” Baddon winked as Thoros growled in frustration.
“You know I don’t remember what happened. They all could have died from natural causes and it just happens to be me that stumbles across the corpses,” he suggested, and then nodded as if agreeing with the impossible theory, but averted his guilty eyes from his friend.
Baddon’s expression turned concerned as his big palm came up to rest on Thoros’ shoulder, squeezing the muscle just enough to make the guy look him in the eye. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but we’ll fix the problem together, like always. I’ll see you at home. I’ll put this one in the basement with the other two until we figure out what to do with them. Are you going to have trouble fleeting? You look a little peaked,” he said, and then forced the concern from his features, replacing it with a phony smile. “You can ride on my other shoulder if you need to.”
Thoros wiped at the freshly beaded cold sweat that broke across his brow and almost took Baddon up on the offer, but shook his head in refusal instead. “Thanks, but I think I need the night air to clear my head. I’ll be fine.” I hope. “Get that body home before a human cop sees you and throws you in a cell. An eternity spent in an eight by eight cement box seems worse somehow than the Hell we were just released from.”
Baddon chuckled. “You actually think I would let a human handcuff me?”
“Didn’t look like you had a problem with being shackled the other night. What was her name…Candy?”
The giant blushed a bright crimson and smiled shyly. “I thought the rest of you were going to be out later. Her name is Chelsea and she’s a Pisces.” He smiled then, showing off a perfect set of pearly-whites.
“Yeah, well, can you play cops and robbers somewhere other than the grand staircase next time? I’ll never get that image out of my head now. And I’ve seen some nasty shit in my day.”
Baddon cleared his throat and sniffed. “What about you, Prince of Lust? Why have you not tasted any of what Sin City has to offer? You know, you could always—”
“Don’t go there.” Thoros looked away, suddenly uncomfortable with his company and the direction the conversation had taken.
Baddon just stood there looking at him, expecting something more to come out of his mouth, maybe.
“I know that look, Baddon, and I’ve already told you, I’m not asking—”
“You need help! We have no idea what we’re doing.” He motioned with his hand to Thoros, and then the dead guy on his shoulder. “And now this? Who knows what will happen next? She—”
Cutting Baddon’s thought short, Thoros’ eyes shot up to glare at his best friend and one of the nine forgiven demons that had been saved from Lucifer’s clutches by one very ballsy angel only three months prior. Only one of the nine had been granted a complete soul and allowed through Heaven’s gate. He was happy for Abigail, and wouldn’t have wished a different fate for his longtime friend, but where did that leave them? Walking the Earth for an eternity as immortals was hardly a punishment compared to Hell,
but he’d never envisioned killing innocent people, especially with no memory of doing it, to be a good thing. He’d been put in Hell for his lustful ways, not for violence, like the friend standing in front of him, holding evidence that he himself was capable of more than he had ever imagined: murder. His green eyes held Baddon’s gaze with contempt and warning.
“Leave her out of this,” he growled. “She cannot fix me. No matter the lengths the male angel went through to save us, I—we—are still damned and cursed, Baddon. Don’t you dare believe otherwise!”
“Why do you keep punishing yourself? You’ve done your time and you’ve saved her. You can’t turn your back on fate. The two of you are meant to be—”
“I am meant to be miserable and alone, as are you!” Thoros thundered, and then immediately calmed down and began to pace away from Baddon, before he said or did something he would regret later. “I’m sorry. Just drop it—please. Your suggestion is not an option. I’d just as soon face the seven sydes of Hell than…” Thoros chewed on his cheek for a moment, and then sighed. “…than ask her for help after what I’ve put her through.”
Taking in a deep breath, Baddon sighed in defeat. “I’ll see you at home then. Maybe the others can help us figure out why humans are dropping like flies in your path.”
Thoros nodded and watched with a sickened stomach as Baddon turned toward the lights of Las Vegas, and then vanished into the night with his third victim.
A look inside Craze
Click. Click.
“So you’re going to shake your ta-tas like maracas tonight?”
“Ew… No.” Krista was on her lunch break at the park near her office, talking to her sister, Karen, on the phone. Her sister, who had been married since she was fresh out of high school, thought Krista should be living large, enjoying her single status. In reality, Krista just worked. Like a dog. All. The. Time.
“Oh, come on. I have to live vicariously through you. I’ve never been out dancing without Dan,” Karen whined.
“And that’s okay, Karen. You have a great family, why would you wish for something else?” Honestly, Krista was a little envious of Karen’s situation. She lived in a beautiful house in San Antonio with her husband and son. They did all the things families were supposed to do: T-ball, photo Christmas cards, and church on Sundays. Of course, Krista thought Dan was perfect for Karen, but she would marry someone unlike Dan. The man Krista wanted wouldn’t be the straight-laced lawyer Dan was. She never had time to go out and meet people. Maybe tonight would be different.
“Did I tell you I start a new class today? Cupcake decorating.” Karen was always taking some kind of class to make herself a better person, whether it was scrapbooking, cooking, or Bible study. Krista forever found herself second-guessing her own choices in life when she talked to her sister. Karen had all the things Krista wanted for herself—a family, a nice house, and hobbies. Krista had a job which took all the time away from getting those things.
“German Chocolate, please,” Krista said with a laugh to hide her envy. Honestly, she’d wanted the career path, found a job she sort of liked, and was trying to make the best of her choices. That’s what she was attempting to convince herself, anyway.
“Of course,” Karen giggled back. “Are you still coming in this weekend for Tate’s basketball game?”
“Yep. I should be there by noon. I’ll take everyone out for lunch before the game, if y’all want.”
“Mom and Dad are coming in Friday. Did I tell you they’re staying an entire month?”
“Lucky you,” Krista said dryly.
“Yeah, lucky me.”
They commiserated together, but the truth was, they loved their parents, and again Krista was hit with a pang of jealousy. Her parents never, ever stayed that long with her, but she couldn’t blame them. Why would they want to stay with a single woman who worked sixty-hour work weeks and was never home?
Click. Click.
“I gotta go. This sandwich isn’t going to eat itself,” Krista said begrudgingly. “I’ll see you Saturday?”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
After hanging up the phone, Krista took a bite out of her sandwich and watched the kids play on the playground. This was her sanctuary, of sorts. It was a reminder of what she wanted out of life someday. All the children were happily swarming playground equipment in their colorful clothes, while being watched with one eagle-eye by moms whose other eye was on their cell phones.
Her days spent in silence at her desk, going over numbers and columns, were broken up by her lunch hours of chaos where she watched the noisy kids play. It gave her warm fuzzies and reminded her there was more to life than work. Someday, I’ll have this, she told herself. Someday.
Usually, she enjoyed the order of number-crunching, but days like today she got a little melancholy, wanting more. More of what, she wasn’t sure. Just more. She wanted a family and a man who made her crazy. She wanted to feel the highs and lows of having a family to depend on, instead of just herself.
There was one dad out there, playing with his daughter, and Krista allowed herself the brief fantasy of ending up with a man like that—a man who would play with her kids, take them to the park, basketball practice, and Boy Scouts. One could only hope.
Chewing contentedly, her eyes rested on a bench across the park. A man sat there, looking completely out of place, messing around on his cell phone. She leaned back on the bench and settled in for some man watching.
Dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans with some sort of knit cap on his head, he didn’t fit in with the moms on the playground, nor the other business people stealing some chaos for their lunch break. Wide shoulders, slim hips, and rugged features were all put together to make an outstanding specimen of masculinity that would look more at home at a campfire than an inner city park.
She knew he had devastating blue eyes and dark blond hair; he’d been here before on her lunch break. In fact, Krista had been watching him for nearly a month, on the days they shared the park. He’d even sort of flirted with her a couple of times, but she never knew what to do with the sly winks and cocky smiles he tossed at her on his way to the trash can.
She was staring at him when he looked up and caught her.
Snapping her gaze back to her lunch, she took another bite of sandwich and chewed hurriedly, realizing her lunch break was quickly disappearing.
“Enjoying the weather before that cold snap comes in?” a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. Austin weather was usually warm this time of year, but September brought the beginning of autumn, and they were expecting cooler weather later in the week.
Her boss, Mr. Lowe, stood next to her. He sometimes spent lunch here, too, but they rarely acknowledged each other. She assumed he was here for the same thing she was. Maybe he missed his own kids, working so much, and used the time to re-acquaint himself with the sound of children’s laughter. She didn’t even know if he had kids of his own. Maybe he wished for some of his own and that’s why he was here?
“Yes, thanks,” she shrugged. She didn’t really want to be rude, but chatting with her boss during the one hour a day out of the office wasn’t her idea of fun times.
Gesturing to the spot next to her, Mr. Lowe asked, “Do you mind if I sit for a minute?”
“No, not at all.” Krista scooted over a bit to make room for her boss, wondering what he wanted. Could she eat lunch without talking about work? He wasn’t a large man, but his belly was sizeable, probably due to the amount of takeout he ate.
“You like kids? I see you here, a lot.”
“Yeah, it’s just nice to get out of the quiet office and be around people a little bit each day.” She regretted the words almost as soon as they left her mouth. They made her sound a little pathetic, like a loner. “I mean, yes, I love kids, but I don’t have any yet.” Not much better.
He smiled at her. “I understand. I don’t see mine near enough.” Well, that answered that question. He stretched out on th
e bench, and Krista ate more of her sandwich in awkward silence. “You have a nephew, though, right? Do you get to see him much?”
She nodded and chewed quickly to swallow her mouthful of food. “Yes. In fact, I’m driving down to San Antonio to see him play in his first basketball game of the year this weekend.”
“What’s his name again?”
“Tate. He’s ten, and he’s an amazing little boy. I love him to death.”
“Well, I have a house on the river in San Marcos. You’re welcome to bring Tate out for a weekend sometime when he doesn’t have basketball. I’d love to have you two.” Odd. He didn’t mention Tate’s parents coming, too, but she inferred it, whether he meant to or not. Come to think of it, he didn’t mention his own family, either.
“That’s very nice of you. I’ll ask about it this weekend.” She didn’t really want to spend a weekend with her boss and Tate, even though the house was probably really nice. All the houses on the river in San Marcos were show places, and Mr. Lowe had a shit-ton of money. But the invitation was weird—out of the blue like it was, and so personal. It creeped her out more than a little. She could understand a company retreat or something, but to just invite her and Tate? She stifled the shiver of unease creeping up her spine.
“I’ll let you get back to your lunch. You’ll have those reports ready by Thursday?” He stood to leave.
“On your desk before I leave,” she assured him. As he walked away, she let out a relieved breath. Mr. Lowe was a nice guy, but there was something odd about him. He was awkward during one on one conversations with her, and she never could really put her finger on why. His fascination with her nephew was odd, but it was probably just a socially awkward man’s attempt at making conversation. She preferred that idea to the other, less savory one.
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