Gluttony

by LJ Baker

  “It sounds like you really know your stuff, Ms. Mitchell. I’m sure you have some interesting options for our customers.”

  “Does that mean you’re interested?”

  “Oh, I am most definitely interested.” Luc winked and her cheeks flamed a deep scarlet.

  Amanda looked from Luc to Harley and back to Luc. “You mean in the liquor, right?” Blushing or not, she stood her ground.

  “Of course, Ms. Mitchell. Isn’t that what we’re here for?”

  “Yes. I just want to make sure this stays professional and there are no misunderstandings.”

  Luc wanted to say he was looking forward to understanding her much better when she tensed and folded her arms across her chest.

  “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

  That rarely came out of a women’s mouth when she was speaking with Lucifer, but he just chuckled and waved her off. Harley choked back a snort.

  “That hadn’t even crossed my mind, Ms. Mitchell.”

  “Good. Then you can call me Amanda.” She reached into her bag, pulled out a stack of papers, and pushed them in his direction. “My contract.”

  Luc scanned the paperwork. Her prices were low. Too low. He wasn’t sure how she kept her business in the black. Small businesses had to compete to get started, but at those prices, she wouldn't make enough profit to survive long.

  “Is there a problem? We can negotiate some of those numbers if you’re not comfortable with them.” Amanda shifted on her feet and chewed the corner of her bottom lip.

  “I”m definitely not comfortable with them.” Luc frowned.

  “Well, like I said, everything is negotiable.” She grabbed the ends of a section of hair and twisted them around her thumb.

  “Have you been doing this long?”

  “Two years, why?”

  “Are you making a profit?” Luc scanned a few more numbers, then looked up. “I can’t imagine you are with these prices.”

  “I do all right. I’ve gotten some good deals from the manufactures that allows me to pass the savings off to you.”

  Luc wasn’t buying it. Even if they gave her everything for cost, she would be barely scrapping by. He felt like he’d be robbing her if he agreed to those prices. And Luc might be the devil, but he was no thief.

  “So, you’re not interested then?” Amanda pressed her lips together like she was trying to keep from saying something she’d regret.

  “I didn’t say that.” Luc placed the papers on the bar and smiled. “I just think we can do a bit better than these prices.”

  “Look, I’m sure you’re used to serious negotiating with your other distributors and all, but this is close to the best I can do. I’ve already given you the best deal I can, while making any money. Anything less and it would cost me money to deliver to you, but to show good faith, I’d be willing to come down a bit until you see what I can offer.” Amanda dropped her arms to her sides and stiffened. She was tense. Too tense. It was nothing like what Luc saw of her in the mirror. She’d been relaxed, loose, having a good time. This was a whole other Amanda.

  “You misunderstand me, Ms. Mitchell.” He figured it was best to revert back to her formal name until she calmed down a bit. ”I don’t feel comfortable with these prices because they’re too low. I’m not trying to rip you off. I will only sign with you for a more fair price. As in, by giving you more money, not less.”

  Amanda’s forehead scrunched up and she stared at him for a long moment. “You want to pay… more?”

  “I want to pay a fair amount. I buy a large volume of alcohol, as you can probably tell from looking around this place. I know what it costs to acquire the product and still have enough money to live on. I like what you have to offer. So if you’re willing to go over some of these numbers with my finance person, I think we can come up with something that works for us both.”

  She was silent for a moment, then shook it off. “Yes, of course. That sounds like a plan.” She held her hand out once again to shake on the deal. Luc obliged and held onto her hand for a moment too long.

  Amanda pulled back. She wouldn’t be easy. Not that Lucifer wanted anything handed to him. He very much enjoyed a challenge and Amanda Mitchell just might prove to be his biggest one yet.

  Other than finding his true love, that is.

  But maybe, those two things were the same.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “How’d it go?” Toby tossed a pizza on the coffee table and slumped onto the sofa.

  “What happened to you?” Amanda didn’t wait for his answer before digging in to the pizza. She was starving, as usual. Sometimes she wondered if she had a tapeworm or something.

  “Long day. Don’t ask. By the way, we’re never to speak the name of that idiot I am no longer seeing, in this house again.”

  “Um… okay?”

  Toby grabbed a slice before Amanda could polish off the whole pie and stuffed a third of it into his mouth. “He is the biggest shithead that has ever walked the Earth.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. But seriously, he thinks I’m just here to be his personal slave.”

  “I thought you didn’t want to talk about it?” Amanda jogged to the kitchen, grabbed two beers, and jumped back on the overstuffed chair across from Toby.

  “I don’t. Tell me how your meeting went. Did you see that hottie owner? I hear he sleeps with someone different every night. My friend Miguel hangs there and he told me stories of the orgies that take place upstairs.”

  “I don’t know about orgies, but he did give me a weird vibe.”

  “Are you telling me you didn’t think he was one grade A piece of man-meat?”

  Amanda stopped mid-chew. “Did you seriously just say that?”

  “Yes. Now go ahead and deny it.”

  “He’s smoking hot. That was never an issue. He just looks at me like I’m dessert.”

  “Then why don’t you currently have whipped cream and a cherry on your… uh, on you, and why aren’t you headed back over there?”

  “Everything isn’t always about sex, Toby.” She stuffed half a slice of pizza into her mouth, chewed a few times, and finished. “Maybe you should learn that lesson so we don’t have a mile long list of names we cannot speak in this house ever again.”

  Toby kicked his shoes off and propped his feet up on the coffee table. “When is the last time you got laid?”

  “Not as recently as you apparently.”

  “When?”

  Amanda stuffed the other half of her pizza in her mouth and attempted to keep her mouth closed around it as she chewed. Toby kept his eyes trained on her, watching her chew, and raised one eyebrow.

  “My sex life is none of your business, Tobias.”

  “What sex life?”

  So it had been awhile. That wasn’t his concern. He gave her shit all the time about her overindulgences. Yet the one thing she had a little self-control with, he complained about. She wasn’t like him, in and out of the bed of every person who bought her a drink. She had the right to be a little choosy. At least lately anyway.

  “Mandy, you know I love you.”

  “But…”

  “There’s no but. I love you. I worry about you.”

  “You’re worried that my vag is gonna dry up and I’ll die from under use? What a great friend. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Amanda downed the rest of her beer and went to the kitchen for another. Maybe she could hide in there until he moved on to another subject. Like his own out-of-control life.

  Nope. He followed her in there.

  “Your life is a mess, hon. You have no self-control in just about everything under the sun. I don’t get why you’ve completely shut off this part of you. Don’t you miss it?”

  “I don’t want to have this conversation with you.” Amanda popped open the beer and chugged half the bottle. She peered at Toby over the rim and finished off the rest. He wasn’t going to just drop it like she begged for in her head.<
br />
  “Too bad. Remember that whole, I love you thing? Well this is part of it. Talk to me.”

  “What is it you want from me? You want me to be more like you? I should bring home every guy who comes on to me in a bar and sleep with him? Why the hell would you want that for me? Does it make you happy? Are you so fulfilled by your constant rando casual sex?”

  Toby cringed when she said constant. It was a bit harsh and she knew he was sensitive to those remarks, but she didn’t care. At least not enough to not say it. She tried to avoid the whole topic, but he just kept pushing. She pulled another beer from the fridge and popped off the top.

  “Maybe I’m not discriminant enough. Maybe I fall too easy. But Mandy, you put up this wall and you don’t let anyone in. Ever. We’ve been living together two years and I’ve never seen you bring a guy home once. Not a single time. It’s not just about sex. You don’t let anyone in. Ever.”

  “I let you in.”

  “To a point. But you don’t talk to me about the stuff that matters.”

  “Sex doesn’t matter.” She knew it was a mistake before the words came out of her mouth. Toby would twist them into something far from what they actually were. It wasn’t a big deal. She was choosy. So what?

  His mouth dropped open and he stood there speechless for too long of a moment. “Sex doesn’t matter? Did those words actually come out of your mouth? It’s so much worse than I thought.”

  Amanda took a long pull off her beer and wished she’d went for something stronger. Like jet fuel.

  Toby took the bottle from her hand and placed it on the counter. He was about to hug her and Amanda wanted to get as far away from that kitchen as she could. She certainly wasn’t the hugging type and she had no intention of starting.

  “Hey, back up there. I just meant that it wasn’t as important as you make it out to be. The fact that I haven’t found anyone special since we’ve met is irrelevant. I’m not looking. I’ve been keeping my focus on building my business since we’ve met. You know that. I’m not looking for a relationship. I need to get my life settled first. You’re the one always telling me I’m a mess.”

  “You are a mess.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  “Yeah, well being a mess isn’t the best way to go out and meet someone special.”

  “Okay. You have a good point. But you do realize that you can practice while you’re getting your shit together, right? You don’t have to find your soul mate to have a little fun.”

  “Jeez, Toby, why does everything always go back to sex with you?”

  “Have you tried it?”

  “Of course I have. I’m twenty-five years old. I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “Well, I was starting to wonder, but no. I just mean that sex is fun, Mandy. You don’t have to be seriously involved with every guy you screw.” Toby held a hand up to stop her before she could say what he knew she’d say. “Yes, I know you aren’t into causal sex. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have any.”

  Amanda picked her beer back up and downed the rest before Toby could stop her or say anything else. She needed the alcohol to help drown him, and everything he dredged up, out. He had no idea how she’d felt about casual sex before he’d known her. In fact, Amanda was sure that Toby wouldn’t recognize the girl she was before. But things were different now and she wasn’t looking to go back to that person. Not ever again.

  “Wait a second.” Toby tilted his head and pressed his lips together. “Are you asexual?”

  Amanda closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Because if you are, that’s fine. Just say so and I’ll stop harassing you. Wow, I didn’t even consider that. I’m so sorry hon. Why didn’t you say something, or tell me I was an ignorant idiot, or—”

  “I’m not asexual, Toby. I’m a boring old hetero. Now can we please end this conversation. You know, the one I said half an hour ago, I didn’t want to have?”

  Before he could ignore her and go on, Amanda pulled a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and poured half a glass. She held the bottle up, silently asking Toby if he’d like some. He shook his head and scrunched up his face.

  “I don’t know how you drink that crap.”

  “Easy.” She took a big gulp off the glass and smiled. “Just like that.”

  “I also don’t know how your liver processes it all.”

  “My liver has super powers.” She finished the rest of the drink and thought about pouring another. She’d considered dragging Toby out to go to the Devil’s Playpen. She wanted to get a better feel for the place so she knew exactly what she could offer them. But if she drank anymore, that wouldn’t be happening.

  “Mandy, I—”

  “Let’s go out.” She blurted the words, only half making up her mind before saying them, but it was certainly better than listening to anymore of his nonsense. All she’d wanted to do all day was turn off her brain. The alcohol helped, but with Toby going on and on about how closed off she was, and how much she needed a good screw, it was ruining the whole effect.

  Going out would solve that.

  “Where?”

  She smiled.

  “You wouldn’t mean the place with the cheesy Devil and Angel in neon lights on the front?” Toby bobbed in place. He was far too easily excited. And luckily for her, distracted.

  “I do.”

  “Absolutely. I have to change first.”

  “You look fine.”

  Toby laughed. “Fine for pizza and beer with my roommate. Not fine for a fancy club.”

  “Didn’t we just agree that the place was cheesy?”

  “Uh no. We agreed they had a cheesy sign. There’s nothing cheesy about that place. You better go change too.”

  Amanda shrugged. There wasn’t anything wrong with her sweats and unicorn tee, but she didn’t want to listen to him harp on her the whole way there, so she headed for her room to make herself Toby-acceptable.

  ***

  “I don’t get it. Why didn’t you just agree to the prices she had set?” Azrael reached behind the counter and grabbed the tequila bottle. Harley was busy with some other customers and he wasn’t willing to wait. Typical angel. No patience.

  “Because she wasn’t charging enough.”

  “So? Isn’t that good for you? You’ve never argued for higher prices from any of your other distributors, have you?” Az snatched two glasses and poured a drink for Luc and himself.

  “No. I’ve also never come across one that was charging so little they’d end up homeless. Usually, it’s the other way around.”

  “Okay, but why do you care. Like I said, isn’t that good for your business?”

  “Sure, but do I really want to start off the month with this girl by taking advantage of her? Somehow, I doubt that’s how you go about courting your true love.”

  “Aww, Lucifer, you care about the humans. Michael would find that adorable.” Az downed his drink and poured another.

  “Leave our brother out of this and don’t you dare tell him.” The last thing Luc needed was for Michael to show up just to mock him.

  “Tell him? He doesn’t even know about the game. I don’t tell that jackass shit. He can’t keep his big mouth shut. Don’t you remember that time with the tree of knowledge?”

  “I don’t think I could ever forget that one,” Luc said with a straight face. Michael always did think he was funny. He wasn’t.

  “Seriously though, you’re changing. You can’t deny it. Maybe it’s a good thing, and maybe not, but you definitely are different.”

  “We all change, Az. You think you’re the same angel you were two thousand, or six thousand years ago?”

  “I guess not, but me changing is no big deal. You have more responsibilities. You’re just more important, at least to the humans and demons.”

  “We’re not going to get on this one again, are we? I don’t need you, or Harley, to worry about me. I’m not shirking my responsibilities i
n Hell and I’m doing just fine on Earth. You two have got to trust me.”

  “We do trust you. I didn’t mean that this time. I’m worried about you, for you, not for Hell, or anything else. I don’t want to see you caught up in some identity crisis, or anything. Do you remember what that sort of thing did to Raphael? He was a mess for a millennium.”

  “I think your girl is here.” Harley nodded in the direction of two people who looked very out of place, then went back to her next customer.

  Az and Luc turned in the direction Harley motioned and looked over them.

  “The awkward blond?” Az was checking her out, regardless of his initial assessment. He shrugged. “At least she’s hot. That was never really specified. Harley might pick a real mutt for you.”

  “What she looks like is irrelevant.” Luc glanced over Amanda’s short skirt and crop top, with thigh high boots. She looked more like she had the first night he’d seen her in the mirror. Her hair was curled into soft waves and she’d clearly put in a little effort with some makeup. Az was right. She was hot, but he was serious. Her looks didn’t matter. Luc was man enough to see past all that frivolous superficial stuff. He wanted a woman who made him feel something. One who could keep up with him, and slow him down, all at the same time.

  “So, you’re saying that if Harley picks some chick who looks like her ass and her face were reversed at birth, you’re okay with that.”

  Luc turned to look over his brother. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Hey, I’m just saying that you don’t wanna get stuck for the rest of eternity with a woman who makes you want to fuck her from behind.”

  Luc shook his head and got up to distance himself from his idiot brother. Az was sounding more and more like Harley every day. Maybe he should keep the two apart. He headed in the direction of Amanda and the awkward male she was standing with.