by Brandi Bell
I think I just need to sleep on everything that's happened today. To find out your friends are innocent and all feel the same way about you that you feel for all of them is pretty monumental.
“I think I'm headed to bed. I need to talk to the guys tomorrow after all the truth serum has worn off and I don't have to wonder what other surprises I have coming to me. I think I'm going to tell them I can't choose, and that I care about all of them. They suggested me having a relationship with all of them. I'm needing to think about it.” I give Mom one more hug before trudging up the stairs to my bed where I end up tossing and turning as my mind runs through a million different possibilities.
I wake to drool on my pillow, and my heart still as torn as it was the night before. What if they changed their mind? I know what I want now, but I don’t know if they will agree.
I get up and take a shower before rummaging through my closet trying to find the perfect outfit. After trying on several tops, I stick with a black corset top with purple embroidered butterflies and ripped jeans. I look in the mirror and decide I look as hot as I’m going to. I agonize over my makeup. I end up with a smokey eye with a bit of purple added in and a bright red lip. When I feel it’s just right, I text Dayson.
Me: Does everyone still want to meet up?
Dayson: Yes, come over to my apartment, I’ll send the address.
Me: Ok, see you in a few.
I take a deep breath and wait for the address to come through. My stomach is in knots the entire walk over; I even had to skip breakfast. I arrive at the apartment complex and ring the buzzer to be let in. Everyone is already inside when Dayson opens the door, and my heart lurches. I’ve never felt this anxious.
His apartment is the ultimate bachelor pad. Plain walls with posters hanging on them, a second-hand couch, and a television sitting on a makeshift stand. It could really use some decorating, I think to myself.
“Please don’t run until we all finish talking this time, Honey,” Kannon asks, which surprises me. Usually, he’s quiet and brooding.
“I will try not to run, but your confessions last night really freaked me out. I like each of you, and I could never choose,” I admit, bile rising in my throat.
“We talked after you left. If you would have us all, maybe we could all date you?” Zadkiel offers, his eyes shining with sincerity.
“How could that even work? There are seven of you and one of me. I wouldn’t be willing to share any of you,” I reply, anxiety gnawing at me.
“We don’t expect you to share us. We only want you. We all admitted we wouldn’t feel jealous if it’s only us you’re with, but we aren’t willing to share you with anyone else either,” Holdon says, his eyes burning with passion.
“I don’t know. It sounds too good to be true,” I bite my lower lip.
“It’s what we all want, if you want us, Baby,” Maddox says, holding his arms out for a hug.
It’s exactly what I need, so I go to him and let him wrap me in a bear hug. He feels safe, they all do. I make up my mind that this is what I want.
“I’m willing to try,” I smile, my face heating up at the thought of what I could do with so many men.
“I’m so happy to hear you say that,” Graden speaks up, removing me from Maddox’s arms for his own hug.
I’m then passed around receiving hugs from each guy. Everything feels right in my world for the first time since I turned eighteen. We still have a difficult mission to complete, but at least this is moving in the right direction.
“You were so scared last night and ran off, what changed your mind?” Tanas asks, his brow drawn in confusion.
“My mom said something to me that got me thinking. She said love is love and follow your heart. I decided to take her advice, but I’m not ready to let my father know. He will freak out,” I admit, pulling away from Tanas who was the last to hug me and sitting on the couch between Dayson and Maddox.
“Yeah, we will cross that bridge when we get there,” Kannon agrees.
I sit there, chatting and getting to know each other better for a while. I feel so comfortable with my guys and all feels right in my world. I learn they’ve all been friends for years, and are quite a bit older than me, not that it matters.
We order Chinese food and grab the map to work on the mission when my phone rings.
Cliona
“You need to get to my office now,” Daddy growls when I answer, his voice laced with anger before he immediately hangs up.
“I have to go,” I tell the guys. “Daddy wants me for some reason.”
I get up and leave the apartment, my stomach in knots again. He sounded angry enough that I’m worried. Questions keep running through my head. Did he find out about the guys? Did he find out I told them about the truth serum? There are so many secrets I am keeping lately, I’m scared he found out about one or more of them. He usually holds his temper until we see each other in person. I walk slowly up the steps to his office, wanting to put off this meeting.
When I reach the reception area, Meghan is sat there with a smug look on her face.
“Good luck slut,” she smirks then walks off.
My mouth is hanging open. What the hell has she done?
“Get your ass in here, Cliona!” my father roars from the doorway.
“Yes, father,” I reply, keeping my eyes on his shoes.
“Your so called friend, just let me know you lied about your first mission,” he says; his voice neutral, which is scarier.
“I didn’t want to give my virginity to a random human,” I reply trying to think of how to get out of this.
“Be that as it may, you lied and disobeyed a direct order. Now I get to choose who takes it,” he laughs in an evil tone that has my stomach in my feet.
“No! That’s not fair; it’s my body!” I scream back at him.
“You have the nerve to challenge me?” he growls quietly.
I start shaking where I stand. When he gets quiet, it means he’s too angry to yell. I’ve never talked back to him before.
“I do on this. Mom wouldn’t agree with you either,” I whisper, too scared to raise my voice again.
“Your mother doesn’t get a say in this either. It’s decided. Now go and catch the culprit before I become even more disappointed in you,” he dismisses me. “A word of advice, choose your friends better next time.”
I step out of his office and crumple inside, feeling utterly betrayed. I run to the bathroom before falling apart. Meghan and I had been friends since we met the first day of school. I can’t believe her jealousy would lead her to betray me so completely. I know my father is mad at me, but I’m shocked she got away with treating me like that without incurring his wrath. For being a lust demon, he has a temper, especially where his daughter is concerned.
I stand up and wipe my tears away. I have a job to do, and I can’t let this get in the way. If I do, I risk making my father even angrier. As I walk away, I see Meghan being dragged back to the office building by two of my father’s favorite goons. I hide a small smile as she passes. At least she won’t get away without facing his ire as well.
I text Dayson, and the guys are still at his apartment, so I make my way back there. On the way, I stare off in the muted landscape and think. I have to hide this from the guys. There is no reason they need to worry about my virginity, and if I get lucky, Daddy will want it to be one of them. That would make everything easier.
I arrive at the apartment and the guys are all chowing down on Chinese food. My stomach growls audibly and the room breaks out in laughter.
“Grab a plate Clio,” Maddox tells me.
“Don’t mind if I do. We need to talk about our plan to catch this guy, though,” I remind them as I grab a plate.
I go straight for the orange chicken and broccoli and beef, all of it smelling delicious. I stuff my face and listen to the guys chat while they stuff theirs. When we finish eating, I help clean up then we get the map back out.
“It looks like greed is t
he next sin that should be interrupted. Maddox, you ready to go on a mission with me?” I ask, batting my eyes playfully.
“This will be a fun date,” he replies, his voice low and hoarse, making my insides turn to jelly.
This virginity thing might be more of an issue than I first thought. Pushing the thought away I smile at Maddox, which earns me a panty dropping smile in return.
“As fun as this has been, I have to work the portal tonight,” Graden says before standing up and walking to the door. “I’ll see you all later.”
We watch Graden leave before resuming our conversation.
“Let's get this party started then shall we. There's a particular bird I've had my eye on now for a while. She is the prime candidate for a gold digger, shall we go create one, Baby.” Maddox's voice was low and sultry, causing my core to clench with need.
Yup, this virginity thing is definitely going to be a bigger issue than I thought, I think to myself.
“Yeah let's go and see what kinda trouble we can find, Ace.” I smirked because he has no clue why I'm calling him that. “I’ll see the rest of you afterwards for drinks maybe?”
“That sounds like a plan,” Kannon replies, the rest nodding their agreement.
Maddox smiles as we leave the apartment and start to walk toward the portal.
As we are walking, I prepare for our mission by donning my glamour. I look to Maddox and ask him if I look alright. I'm rewarded with a smirk as he dons his own glamour. His seal gray skin and stark white eyes are quickly replaced with unruly brown hair that threatens to flip onto his deep forest green eyes. His body retains his muscular tone and broad shoulders. I smile up to him, “Looking good, Ace.”
“Why are you calling me Ace?” he asks, a confused expression on his face.
“I'll tell you what, I'll explain why I'm calling you Ace after we find out who's been sabotaging the missions. That will help give you incentive to actually look for them instead of flirt with me.” I answer, my voice laced with laughter.
“Ugh, you wound me, thinking that I would balk on a mission just to flirt with you. Even though that does sound like a good idea.” Maddox proclaims his voice husky and gravelly.
We arrive at the portal where Graden is just taking over from the demon who worked the shift before him.
“Be careful up there. My gut is telling me something isn’t right,” Graden says, looking deep into my eyes.
“What could possibly go wrong?” I ask, feeling unsettled.
“I don’t know. I just don’t like this feeling I have thinking of you going up there right now,” he admits, his mouth drawn in a frown.
“Lighten up, lazy boy. We got this,” Maddox tells him, patting him on the back.
“Where are you going?” Graden sighs, a look of resignation planted on his face.
“There's a potential gold digger we are going to create in Reno, Nevada. If you wouldn't mind creating the portal to there that would be great, my man.” Maddox pats Graden on the back again.
Cliona
We arrive in Reno near a huge, two story colonial house that has a party in full swing.
“I don’t think we are dressed for the occasion,” I say looking down at my clothes.
“It will be fine. Everyone is so self absorbed they won’t even pay attention. Or we could glamor up fancy outfits if that makes you feel better,” he offers, grinning at me.
“We can glamor our clothes too?” I ask, shocked I just thought it was our bodies.
“Of course! Most demons don’t bother to, but we can do it. I forget how young you are.”
I concentrate on wearing a fancy black cocktail dress to fit in with the crowd, and when I open my eyes, I see I’m wearing the dress I pictured. I squeal then jump up and wrap my arms around Maddox excitedly.
Our faces are inches from each other, and I feel like he’s going to lean in and kiss me. The butterflies in my stomach go crazy, this is it. At the last second, he pulls away.
“That’s what you get for not telling me what Ace means,” he whispers in my ear as he let's go of me.
I’m left feeling a little flustered and confused. Two can play at this game though.
“What fun would it be to tell you now?” I ask, batting my eyelashes.
“You really are an evil little demon aren’t you,” Maddox laughs, now wearing a fancy suit.
We make our way into the party and stand back and watch how everyone is interacting. There are about thirty to forty people in formal clothing lolling around. I’ve decided rich people have the most boring parties. People just stand around talking about mundane topics like the stock market, or the latest fashion show, occasionally taking a sip from the flute of champagne in their hands. The church social was more entertaining than this, especially after Dayson and I gave them some help.
“See that leggy blonde there?” Maddox asks me, pointing to a blonde girl in a white sequin cocktail dress.
“I see her, now who’s the guy?” I ask looking around.
He points to an older man nearby in a gray suit. His black hair clearly peppered with gray at the temple. He was also completely ignoring her.
“I’ve been pushing greed at her for a while trying to get her to go after him, but he’s not interested. With your lust and my greed, we can make this work,” Maddox explains excitedly.
“Ok Ace, keep pumping her full of greed, I'm going to try to see if I can pump lust into him and have it be focused only for her. I've never tried to pinpoint lust like that before, the only times I've tried to it's gone overboard. Remember the orgy at the church gathering, I was trying for one person. So maybe if I use less lust and try to focus all my attention on it, it will work.” The nerves are causing my voice to crack.
I focused all my attention on having a stream of lust going from him to her without pumping too much juice into it. It only takes about two minutes before his head turns in her direction. A minute later, he's walking in her direction. Two more minutes, they’re discreetly walking toward the exit together with her hand on his arm, both with smiles on their faces. Her smile born from greed, his from the promise of sex.
I turn to Maddox with a huge grin on my face. He returns my smile with his trademarked grin that makes my stomach instantly clench. I can't help but lean into him. We are just a breath away from our lips touching.
“Chèrie, what are you doing here?” When did Zadkiel get here? How did he know this is where we were going to be? Wait, how does he know what my glamour looks like?
“Spike, what are you doing here? Aren't you a long ways from home?” I'm trying to hide the skepticism from my voice.
“I don't like sticking to one spot. I love coming to parties like this and casinos; it's so easy to make people go to extremes. Too much to eat at the buffet, spending too much in the casino, even without a greed demon, it's easy to influence their minds. I love you in black, by the way.”
“How did you know it was me?” I hope the doubt doesn't shine through, but I know my voice is shaky.
“Well it's pretty obvious. I doubt you would be okay with him almost kissing another girl while you were around.”
Okay, that did make sense. “I'm sorry for thinking badly of you, Spike; can you forgive me?” I say with my head down, my eyes looking up at him through my eyelashes.
“Chèrie, there's nothing you could do that I wouldn't forgive. It's understandable; I'm not where you expected me to be and I just called you out without knowing for certain it was you.” He leans down and grabs my chin with his fingers, lifting my chin up.
“Now go continue what you were doing, I see someone heading toward the buffet. My job calls, until later Chèrie, behave.” He places a chaste kiss on the tip of my nose before dropping my chin and walking away into the crowd. My heart is pounding so hard I think it's going to pound out of my chest. These guys are going to kill me.
I look over at Maddox to see what his reaction may be and am utterly confused by the expression on his face. His face is lax and
his eyes hooded. He looks as though he is ready to kiss me. Okay enough of this mushiness. Let's get back to business.
“So should we head back and let my father know how it went and tell him there was no sabotage but we are keeping our eyes open? Nothing out of the ordinary happened.” I need to get my emotions under control, or my father will sense my attraction to Maddox and use it against me.
“Why not just give him a phone call when we get back?” Maddox offers, smirking like his idea is great.
“He would kill me if I didn’t give my report in person. Remember, extra high standards,” I reply shaking my head at him.
“Let’s get going then. I really want a drink,” Maddox sighs, his mouth drawn in a frown.
Cliona
We go back to where we portaled in and knock four times but nothing happens. I try knocking again and still nothing.
“This is the right place isn’t it?” I ask, chewing on my bottom lip anxiously.
“I’m positive,” Maddox replies, knocking again even harder.
“Has this ever happened before?”
“No, but Graden probably just fell asleep or something stupid like that.”
“How are we going to get back then?”
“No clue. Let’s go get a drink and try again later. Make it a date,” Maddox grins at me like nothing’s wrong.
“Is that really a good idea? Shouldn’t we try calling someone?” I ask, my stomach in knots.
“Phones don’t work earthside. Besides, it will probably work by the time we get back,” he explains, holding his hand out for me to take.
I shrug my shoulders then take his hand, and we walk back to the party. In the ballroom, the gluttony is in full swing. Everyone is eating and drinking as much as they can get their hands on, and Zadkiel is standing in the back smirking at the spectacle.
“We should warn Zadkiel about the portal,” I tell Maddox, concerned for him as well.
“Probably, but grab some champagne on the way,” he replies, bumping me with his side.