Sinfully Spellbound

by Cassandra Lawson

  Chapter Eleven

  Allie

  The annoying buzz of my phone woke me at two in the afternoon, which was crazy because I didn’t usually sleep that late. Then again, I didn’t usually work until ten before going to a party and getting thoroughly fucked by my high school crush, either. For just a moment, I wondered if it might be Dylan calling—a ridiculous thought. We hadn’t exchanged phone numbers because that wasn’t how one-night stands worked.

  Thankfully, the annoying phone stopped buzzing, so I closed my eyes, breathing a sigh of relief. When I’d gotten home, I’d showered before heading to bed, because smelling Dylan all over me had made me uncomfortably aroused. Of course, washing his scent off did nothing to rid me of the memories, and my trusty rotating showerhead hadn’t come close to satisfying me like Dylan could. Needless to say, sleep had not come easy, and my dreams had been restless and filled with images of hot sweaty sex with a certain warlock.

  All I needed was a couple more hours of sleep and a few dozen sex dreams about Dylan. A small smile played on my lips as I started to doze off again. Then the annoying phone once more started vibrating on my nightstand.

  Giving up on sleep, I snatched up the phone and answered without looking to see who was calling.

  “Hello,” I answered groggily.

  “Hey, Al, it’s Marcos,” my boss said by way of greeting. Marcos was an asshole, which wasn’t that uncommon for an incubus, but Marcos made every other incubus seem nice.

  “What’s up, Marcos?” I asked, already knowing why he was calling me when I was off for the next three days. It sure as hell wasn’t because we were friends. I wasn’t really sure Marcos even had friends, or if he simply had people he used.

  “I need you to come in tonight,” he stated, sounding bored and distracted. It wasn’t a question, and in Marcos’ mind, needing me to come in meant I’d come in. Goddess forbid I have plans. This had happened four times since he’d hired the new succubus, Marissa, a month ago.

  “Tell Marissa to get her ass in there. I am not covering another one of her shifts, while you let her play sick just because she sucks the customers off when you ask,” I snapped. I was tired of filling in for her every time she wanted to get laid or go out partying.

  “No can do, Al,” Marcos said. “They found Mar’s body this morning. Apparently, someone grabbed her after work for some sort of ritualistic killing—pretty gruesome stuff, from what the cops told me. Anyway, she’s dead, so I need you to cover her shift.”

  Sitting straight up in bed, I tried to think of something to say. Marissa was dead? It was hard to believe, especially with Marcos talking like it was no big deal. Goddess, he was such an insensitive jerk!

  “I don’t have all day to stay on the phone with you,” Marcos huffed. “There’s a lot of work to get done, and some guy left four messages asking about reserving a room, so I need to call him back and find out how much I can get him to pay. Desperate people are always willing to pay more. You still there, Al?”

  “Yeah, I’m still here,” I said. “Do the police have any idea who the killer is?”

  “Don’t know,” Marcos said. “Some shade detective stopped by here earlier today. Guess, he’s looking into it, but there’s not much to go on, from what I can tell, at least. Anyway, I need you in at five. Since Mar was supposed to be closing tonight, you’ll be here until two,” Marcos said before hanging up without waiting to hear if I’d agree to come in.

  “Glad you are so fucking concerned about your employees,” I muttered. Marcos’ reasons for opening SpellBinders were similar to my reasons for working there. Neither of us wanted to be forced to have sex to feed our demon side. It’s not that I didn’t want sex, but the feeling that I had to have it made it seem more like a chore. In Marcos’ case, he didn’t want to deal with anyone long enough to have sex with them. As an incubus, sex meant he had to consider his partner’s pleasure, as well. That was the crazy part of being a sex demon—sex had to be good for your partner or it wasn’t any good for you. Not only wouldn’t the sex demon be able to climax if their partner wasn’t enjoying it, but we fed off our partners sexual pleasure, so it was a necessary component. In Marcos’ opinion, that was too much work, so he owned a sex club where he could feed from the sexual energy in the air. There were plenty of satisfied customers at SpellBinders—pun intended.

  I let out an annoyed sigh and climbed out of bed. As much as I wanted to sleep longer, I needed to run some errands today, and I was starving. That reminded me of my most important errand today. There was an elderly human in my apartment building who couldn’t make it to the grocery store anymore. I’d told her I would stop by today to help set up some regular grocery deliveries. I was also supposed to stop by and check on Gryph, a werewolf friend, later, but I’d have to do that tomorrow or I’d be late for work.

  Looked like I wouldn’t be getting more sleep today.