Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Her sewing machine was at home. She would spend summers working with local theater groups making costumes. She kind of missed that. She’d really enjoyed those summers. Was she so determined to make it big that she was forgetting how much she loved small jobs, ones where she knew the people she was designing for?
“Isn’t Rachel the name of Paige’s mom? The one with the two husbands, and one of them is a little wild?” TJ asked.
“They all have two husbands.” Kala shot out every word like it was a bullet. “Well, except Lucifer’s mom, and yes, I recently talked to Henry and he did not bother to mention Lucifer was working a guy from my team.”
“Oh, shit,” Cooper said. “Baby, it’s not her. That would be insane. Your dad would know.”
“She is walking chaos, so insanity is kind of her thing. Also, I will be having a long talk with my father. I should have known there was a reason he and Mom took the whole ‘Zach’s in the wind thing’ like champs,” Kala said and started for the house. “We’re going to need to blow the place up. Bullets won’t work on her. TJ, do you have C-4?”
“Dude, no. I did not bring C-4 on the plane we recently traveled on,” TJ said, catching up to her. “I don’t, like, keep it on me at all times.”
“And that is why you fail,” Kala announced.
“I didn’t fail,” her brother replied.
Devi followed behind, noting that Lou and Cooper were whispering to each other. “Uhm, who are we talking about? Because Lacey is British. Definitely not from Colorado. She’s from Liverpool.”
“She’s from the bowels of hell.” Kala approached the main house, climbing the steps with purpose. “Also, changing her accent is one of her talents. If you heard her real voice you would turn to stone. Kind of like what happens when you look her in the eyes.”
“I’m confused,” Devi admitted. Her cousin could make some snap judgments about people, but this seemed extra even for Kala. “What is happening?”
“How about chicken or turkey?” TJ fell in step beside her. “Or cheese maybe. You make an awesome grilled cheese, sis.”
“There is nothing good in this house,” Kala announced. “Lucifer only eats the earth’s excrement.”
“She calls them vegetables.” She had seen her cousin act weird, but this was a lot. She looked back to her brother. “Lacey is vegan and pretty hard core about it. But I think we have some tofu scramble left over from breakfast.”
TJ went pale. “Tofu?”
Her brother was going to have to go with the flow. “I also have some protein bars. You’ll be fine. It wouldn’t hurt for you to eat a salad every now and then.”
“I eat salad,” TJ protested. “Lou makes me, but she puts meat on it. Maybe some fried chicken.”
“We are not frying up Miss Rachel,” Devi swore.
“I didn’t say we should fry up that chicken.” TJ followed Kala inside. “Just maybe a chicken. Like one from the grocery store.”
“There’s no animal products allowed. Zach still eats like a horse. You’ll be fine,” Devi promised. “Hey, Kala, I think we should let Zach handle Lacey.”
Her cousin turned on her, an unholy gleam in her eyes. “Zach can’t even smell the stench of brimstone. He is useless.”
Devi didn’t smell anything.
The lights came back on, and she heard the sound of a door opening upstairs.
“Zach, what’s going on?” Lacey asked, her voice tight. “Is Devi okay?”
“She’s fine, but we have company,” Zach was saying as he moved down the stairs.
Lacey rounded the corner. Her hair had come out of its neat bun, like she’d been working furiously. Probably trying to get out of the safe room that became a cage. “Get rid of the… What the actual fuck?”
Oh, Lacey started off in the same British accent she’d always used around Devi, but the last part of that sentence had been said with a flat, American accent, and Lacey’s normally placid face turned distinctly… What was the right word? Not exactly angry. Volcanic rage would be more descriptive.
Kala matched her dangerous vibe on every level, and suddenly Devi was almost certain this was how the world ended. Not with a bang but a girl fight.
“You.” Lacey said the word like it was a warning. Or a threat.
“You,” Kala said back.
Devi took a seat. This looked like it was going to be some excellent drama because she was pretty sure now she knew what she was dealing with. Was popcorn vegan? She glanced up and Zach looked every bit as shocked as she was.
Whatever was about to happen, he hadn’t kept it from her. He hadn’t known the secret. He wasn’t going to take this well, and she was going to have to calm her Dom down. It was her job. He gave her wild pleasure and indulged her fantasies, and she calmed him down when he found everyone around him was lying about who they were. It seemed to happen a lot.