Payback (Dueling Devils 2)

Lefty held up his hands. “Don’t kill the messenger brother. They’re typing their asses off as we speak.”

“Good.” Demon turned his attention to Gia. “Look, put whoever you trust in charge. You’re going away for a while. I’m not going to risk the back and forth from here to the cabin, putting my family in danger. You ride on the back of my bike…leave everything. I don’t trust it to not be rigged or tracked.”

“What about clothes?”

“I’ll have someone pick you up something. You got five minutes to get your shit together, so we can leave. You already call in a cleaner?”

Gia nodded. “Good girl, now go do what I told you.”

She strode off, closing the door behind him.

“Dude, what the fuck are you thinking, bringing her to the cabin right now?” Lefty asked.

“What? It’s not like I’m going to fuck her.”

“NO, but you have. You think Ardy’s going to be okay with that?”

“I don’t have time for petty bullshit.”

Lefty shook his head and released a deep sigh. “Brother, you are too smart to be this stupid. You should’ve told her to shut the fuck up and deal with the alone time at my place.”

“Is this about Ardy, or the fact that you got a hard on for Gia?” Demon narrowed his eyes and studied Lefty’s blotchy face.

“Don’t turn this shit around.”

“I’m not. I’m asking a legit question. I thought you were going to rush my ass when you saw her run to me.”

“You got an Old lady. The shit between you is over, unless you plan on doing Ardy dirty?”

“The fuck!” Demon stepped

closer to him. “Come at me wrong again and I’m going to lay your ass out, brother or not. Whatever you got jumbled up in that thick ass skull of yours needs to be fixed. I need your head to be on straight for this.”

“Yeah. I’m here,” Lefty muttered.

“Look, I found my forever. You got nothing to worry about from me.” Demon patted Lefty on the chest.

The door opened and a sullen faced Gia walked in. “I’m ready.”

An hour later, Demon pulled up into the driveway, cut the engine and rubbed his burning eyes. His contacts were nearly dried out from the lack of sleep and the wind. He slipped off the bike with Gia on his heels. “Everyone is probably passed out. I’ll show you to the spare room and we can get everything sorted in the morning.”

The motion light turned on and they walked up the grassy pathway to the front porch. With every step, his boots seemed to grow heavier. Clearing the stairs, he unlocked the door, waved Gia inside and followed behind her, shuffling his feet like a zombie. “Alright, the guest room is the second door on the right. The bathroom is directly across from it. “He pointed to his right. “The kitchen is that way. The fridge and the cabinet are stocked, so feel free to grab whatever you want.”

“I just want to crash right now.” Gia shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m going to do right now.” He walked off, eager to hold onto his own personal slice of heaven bundled in covers that smelled of their mingled scents. Ardy was his one simple thing in his complicated life. She accepted him as he was and offered up affection and comfort. The feel of her soft body pressed into his, set him at ease and allowed him to sleep. It’d been a long time since he could sleep the entire night soundly.

He stepped into the room and shut the door, sealing the world outside. The moonlight spilled through the window putting her on display. Her curly mop of hair stuck out the top of the sheets and her body formed an s shape. Stripping down, he crawled in behind her, placing a hand on her waist.

Arty snuggled back into him and he buried his nose in her hair inhaling the clean, citrus smell. “Demon.” She mumbled.

“Yeah, it’s me baby.” He brushed her hair out of her face and placed a kiss on her cheek, absorbing the sweetness radiating off her in invisible waves.

“Everything okay?”

He squeezed her. “It is now.”

“Mm-hmm.” She hummed. “Missed you.”