Dealing with the Devil

by M. E. Clayton

  Waiting for the bus, my phone started ringing, and when I pulled it out of my purse, I saw Kim’s name flashing across the screen. I answered, not worried about being rude since I was the only person waiting for the bus. Loud, public phone calls annoyed me.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey-oh, where are you? Is that traffic in the background?”

  “I’m at the bus stop,” I told her.

  “Okay, I’ll make this quick, then.” Kim knew about my public phone use pet-peeve. “I talked with Kelsey last night, and she took me serious.” I could feel myself smiling into the phone. “They’re going to interview all the employees.”

  “That’s awesome, Kim.” It really was. My heart was always with the underdog. “I’m so happy for you. For everyone, actually.”

  “I just wanted to share the good news and warn you that they’ll be calling you to interview you, along with everyone else.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you go since you’re a weirdo.” We both laugh as we hung up.

  The ride to Keith’s wasn’t that long, only twenty minutes, and that was with extra stops. But I finally found myself standing in front of his apartment building, and I made sure to appear unassuming. Most of the people who lived in this building knew I was Keith’s sister, but you never know who you’ll run into that’s having a bad day.

  I entered the building and walked up the two flights of steps to Keith’s apartment floor. I had nothing against elevators, but the rickety building didn’t instill a whole lot of confidence in their preventative maintenance. I always used the stairs when I visited Keith.

  Making my way down the familiar hallway, I immediately knocked when I found myself standing in front of my brother’s apartment door. After waiting a minute or so, I knocked again, this time, louder. “Keith?” I called out.

  It wasn’t until I knocked for the third time that the door finally opened, my brother reaching out, grabbing me by my shirt, and yanking me inside.

  What the hell?

  “What are you-”

  “What are you doing here, Devi?” he asked, and his tone actually hurt my feelings a little bit. We’ve always been close, and it was rare that Keith was rude to me.

  “I came to check on you, asshole,” I snapped. “You weren’t returning my calls. And…why is it so dark in here.” I walked over to the light switch on the wall.

  “Devi, no-”

  Too late.

  I flipped the switch and when I turned to face my brother, I couldn’t stop the shocked gasp that flew from my lips. “Oh, God.”

  “Devi-”

  I rushed forward. “Keith, my God, what happened to you?”

  “Devi-”

  I grabbed him by his arm and led him to the couch. “Let’s sit down,” I rushed out. “You should be resting.” Luckily, he let me lead him to the couch without argument. Once he was seated, I walked over to get him some water. I wasn’t sure if he needed it, but I was freaking out.

  He looked horrible.

  Taking a seat next to him on the couch, I asked again. “What happened, Keith?”

  Being as close as we were, I knew my brother was debating lying to me. I could see it in his sky-blue eyes, even if they were both swollen to hell. The rest of him looked like shit, too. From what I could see of the visible skin not covered by clothing, Keith was black, blue, purple, and yellow everywhere.

  After a few strained seconds, he chose honesty. “I got caught up in a bit of a mess.”

  “Don’t,” I bit out. “Don’t sugarcoat this, or downplay what you’re involved in, Keith.” My eyes raked over his person. “You can barely move, and the bruises speak for themselves.”

  “Devi-”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Keith,” I snapped. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “I owe some money,” he finally admitted, and the tone of his voice was unlike I’ve ever heard before.

  My stomach tightened at his words, and I had so many questions, but those accusatory questions wouldn’t do anyone any good. Keith was a grown man who knew better, so berating him for how he found himself in this situation was futile. Besides, we’ve been here before. Keith had a horrible habit of not trusting happiness, and when things were going well for him, he sabotaged himself by falling back into his old crutch mechanisms. And while I understood it, it still wasn’t excusable.

  And, goddamn, how I wanted to yell at him.

  “How much, Keith?” His head dropped back, his eyes closed, and he let out a sigh so regretful, I felt it where I sat. “Keith?”

  Looking back at me, he shook my entire soul when he answered, “Thirty-thousand, Devi.”

  My hands started to shake, and I couldn’t seem to fill my lungs with enough air to function. I felt frozen, but jittery. I felt shock, but extreme awareness.

  Thirty-thousand dollars.

  It took a couple of swallows to work up enough saliva to speak, but I finally managed it. “By when?”

  “Three weeks.”

  “Who?”

  Keith let out another sigh, and the wince that accompanied the movement only confirmed how bad this was. “Alvin Fischer.”

  I stared at my brother. I stared at the only family I had left in the world since we didn’t count Uncle Terrance as family anymore. I stared at the man who has always been there for me, always a part of my life. For all his fuck-ups, Keith’s always held me when I needed it, and he’s never left me alone.

  And he was going to die if we couldn’t come up with thirty-thousand dollars.

  Panic threatened to choke me, but I had to push it off. I couldn’t afford to break down. I couldn’t afford to have a meltdown. If Keith were capable of getting himself out of this situation, he never would have been in it to begin with.

  “Do you have any money at all?” I asked, knowing the answer. Keith’s demons included gambling.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  My head swiveled around until it landed on the Harry Potter clock Keith had hung in his kitchen. It was only one in the afternoon. That gave me plenty of time to visit a couple of banks and see what I could do. I also had all weekend to apply to all those online lenders I always see commercials about.

  “Okay,” I said, trying to gather my wits about me. “Just…rest for right now, and…and I’ll be back tomorrow or Sunday, and we…we can regroup. Okay?”

  “Devi, I’m not going to let you-”

  “Don’t, Keith,” I hissed. “Just don’t. This is serious, and your attempt at chivalry is not going to solve this for us.” He had enough shame to shut up. “Just…trust me, okay?”

  He nodded. “For what it’s worth, Devi, I really am sorry,” he muttered, and I hated how I knew he meant every word. He just didn’t mean them enough to get help for his unhappiness.

  “Let’s just focus on what we can do, Keith. Alright?” I said, knowing there was little we could do.

  Thirty-thousand fucking dollars.

  Chapter 5

  Cassius~

  As much as I tried to keep the legitimate side of my life separate from my other activities, there was real value in Xavier’s comment about the good, old days when you could just beat the fuck out of someone, and they’d learn their lesson.

  Though I pretty much had something going on every day of the week, I hadn’t planned on spending my Saturday going over official statements from most of my employees at The Opera, claiming that Hugh Hamel was a pervert of the highest order.

  Xavier had been handling things, but I had gotten a text around noon that almost every employee they’d spoken to had either witnessed or had been a part of Hugh’s advances. And since we still had the employees who were on their days off to interview, Xavier had thought it was a good idea for me to get my ass over to The Opera.

  The bitch of it all?

  He had texted while I’d had my dick down the throat of a curvy redhead who’d been sent over by the agency at my request. It’s been a hell of a week, and I had needed something to take
off the edge, and my sticks hadn’t been cutting it. I’d been trying to cut down on my smoking, but it’s been a struggle ever since Kelsey had notified me yesterday that Kimberly Alba’s complaint had been one of a sexual harassment nature.

  When I had mentioned I was looking for a stress-reliever, the agency had sent over a hot redhead with no gag reflex, but I probably should have been more specific in my request. There was a lot of built-up aggression in my body, and a woman with no gag reflex hadn’t been enough to soothe my demons. While most men dream of a woman with no gag reflex, I had a nine-inch cock, and what good did it do to ram my cock down a woman’s throat if there were no choking sounds to accompany the sensation? I wanted to hear a woman do her best to swallow my length and width. I wanted to see the tears streaming down her face and the strings of her saliva connecting us when I pulled out long enough for her to catch her breath. I wanted to control and command the woman kneeling at my feet.

  Hell, I wanted to control and command period.

  So, after receiving Xavier’s text, I had let the redhead finish me off, gave her a thousand-dollar bonus since she’d have to leave unsatisfied, and left the hotel room to shower and change at my place.

  I lived in a secluded house in The Hills. Like most cities, Rockford was divided by income and only the residents who had money lived on the North Side, the rolling hills making neighbors far-reaching. However, I had state-of-the-art security and a block fence surrounding the property. It matched the same block my home was built out of, and while I wouldn’t exactly call my house a mansion, it was close.

  Xavier had his own condo in town, and Atticus lived two houses over from my property. Xavier could easily afford to live in The Hills, but he said fancy didn’t always mean comfortable. Honestly, I think the seclusion reminded him of his lonely days. But that was just my opinion.

  After showering and changing and getting one cigarette in, I had headed to The Opera, and I’ve been here ever since.

  The statements, so far, haven’t been legally or morally horrible, but they were bad enough. And they were detailed enough that Hugh was going to have a hard time denying all the allegations. And when I got to the part where Kelsey had asked them why had they not reported anything sooner, their answers were all the same.

  No one had wanted to lose their job.

  One thing I made sure of when I had opened my legitimate businesses was to make sure we paid our employee well. I didn’t want my employees scraping by. I didn’t want them to have to choose between the gas bill and the electricity bill. I wanted my employees to be happy working for The Vaudeville Corporation, and that meant paying them well. So, I understood them not wanting to lose their jobs, but we must be doing something wrong if they thought reporting sexual harassment would have cost them their jobs. I was going to have to look into that some more.

  Xavier walked into my office and placed another pile of interviews on my desk. I had an office at each location of my restaurants and clubs, and the back entrances made it so I could sneak in and out with no one being the wiser. A lot of people thought Xavier was the boss because he was the one they usually saw, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t have to whip out my dick to prove how big it was. That shit was for fuckers who felt insecure about what they had.

  I didn’t.

  I looked up from my desk. “More of the same?”

  Xavier nodded. “Yep.”

  “Fuck, I need a drink,” I muttered.

  Xavier gestured to the sidebar on the right side of the room. “You have an entire bar at your disposal,” he pointed out.

  “Nah, I’ll have Rashad make me one,” I said. “I need some fucking air.”

  “Come on,” Xavier chuckled. “I’ll join you.”

  We made our way out of the back rooms and into the main bar area. The Opera wasn’t as big as The Orchestra or The Symphony, but it was still a very nice restaurant. Our biggest sales were the lunch rushes, but our weekend nights earned well also.

  I spotted Rashad behind the bar, and walking up with Xavier next to me, I signaled him over. After finishing with a server’s order, he made his way towards us. As soon as he was within earshot, I asked for a drink. “A Blanton’s Original single.” It was an expensive bourbon, but a personal favorite of mine, so all the restaurants and clubs carried it specifically for me.

  “I’ll have the same,” Xavier said, and his week must have been as equally shitty as mine because the man usually drank beer out of the bottle. Xavier usually did the minimum.

  Rashad gave us an affirmative nod and went to get our drinks.

  I was about to take a seat when a woman rushed through the front door, her lovely face looking tense and worried. I watched as she scanned the room, and when her eyes fell on Kimberly Alba, refilling a table’s drinks, she quickly scurried over to the bar, four seats down from us.

  And did I say her face was lovely?

  Because if I did, I misspoke.

  Now that I could see her more clearly, she wasn’t lovely, she was fucking beautiful.

  Rashad placed our drinks on the bar, and while Xavier had reached for his glass, I was still observing the stunning brunette who looked to be stress the hell out.

  Walking back to the drink station, Kimberly noticed her right away, and though I couldn’t make out what they were saying, their hushed whispers indicated some sort of emergency or other, I imagined. And because they were in such an intense conversation, neither noticed me practically eye-fucking the dark brunette.

  She looked to be around five-foot-three, and though petite, her delicate curves were unmistakable under her light blue cowl-neck sweater and black pencil skirt. She had a pair of black heels on, but they were office appropriate height versus what you’d find on a street corner any given Friday night. She looked like she worked at a bank or an insurance firm, or something. Her dark brown hair was piled on the top of her head, but it looked deliberately messy. Loose strands were framing her face, and I really wanted to get a better angle, so I could study that fucking face of hers.

  I still hadn’t touched my drink as I watched Kimberly grab the woman by her arm and rush her past us at the bar. It looked like they were headed back towards the employee lounge, and that immediately got me to thinking, because no one was supposed to go back there, apart from the employees.

  Turning back towards Xavier, I asked, “Who was that woman Kimberly Alba just took back to the employee lounge?”

  Xavier chuckled a bit. “Relax, Cass. She works here. They’re not violating the rules.”

  My back snapped straight. “She works here?”

  Xavier nodded. “Her name’s Devi Westland. She’s one of our waitresses.”

  It wasn’t lost on me that I was in the middle of a sexual harassment investigation because one of my managers had been abusing his position and power, but never, in my thirty-one years, has a woman rocked up my dick by just walking into a room.

  “On her days off?”

  “Yeah,” Xavier confirmed. “She’s scheduled back on Monday. Day shift. She was lined up to be questioned then.”

  “Is she married? Do you know?” Xavier cocked his head and just looked at me. “It was just a question, X.”

  He downed his drink and signaled Rashad for another one. “Since I’ve never heard you ask about a woman before, in all the years that I’ve known you, I’d say it was more than just a simple question.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  Chapter 6

  Devi~

  I was too high of a risk.

  The woman, who has never done one reckless thing in her life, was too much of a risk. Every bank in town that had given me the time of day had sympathetically explained to me how math didn’t lie. The one thing that was certain in this life, besides death and taxes, was that math didn’t lie.

  Because I didn’t really own anything, I didn’t have a solid credit history established, proving I paid my debts responsibly. And once you added my monthly income, tips included, and subtracted my living costs,
the money left over wasn’t enough to cover the repayment amount and give myself some breathing room. The only positive thing any of the banks could comment on was how I had decent credit despite not owning a car or house, and I had a solid work history, having worked at The Opera for the past few years.

  After being turned away from the banks, I had sat in front of my dated laptop and had scoured the internet for online lenders, and most of them had come back with the same refusal. And the ones who were willing to loan me money couldn’t loan me the entire thirty-thousand, or the interest was so high, I wouldn’t have been able to pay my monthly bills and the repayment amount.

  As I wracked my brain, trying to find a solution, I had thought about just moving in with Keith and combining our incomes to be able to pay back the loan, but Keith’s credit and job history was shit, so him co-signing a loan would actually be taking a step back.

  Panicked and with no other options in sight, I had broken down and had gone to The Opera to ask Kim if she knew a way to help me. She’d been in the middle of her shift, but when she saw I was a mess, she had dragged me to the back where the employees took their break. After she promised she’d stop by after work, I had gone home, and scoured the internet for more lending companies until the sites had become so sketchy, I might as well reach out to the Mob.

  And now, Kim was sitting on my couch, staring at me like I’d just declared I was an alien from outer space.

  “Jesus Christ, Devi,” she muttered. “I…holy shit.”

  “I know.” And I did. I did know.

  “I have a couple of hundred saved up that you can ha-”

  “Oh, God, Kim,” I rushed out, hugging her because I just needed to hug someone. When I pulled back, I took her hands in mine. “You have no idea how much your offer means to me, really. I…but a few hundred can’t help me.”