Payback (Dueling Devils 2)

“Okay. Daddy told me Aunt Gia is here.”

“Yes, I’m sure Aunt Gia will be out soon.”

“Yay.” He flashed her a quick smile and pulled away, running out of the room toward the couch.

The boy had lost enough in his short lifetime. If he liked Aunt Gia, she wouldn’t run her off entirely. She took a deep breath and leaned against the stove. It wasn’t a matter of fighting. She’d already won. Now wasn’t the time for unnecessary stress.

Chapter Five

Demon stalked over to Gia who stood smoking on the front porch, grabbed her arm, spinning her around. “What the fuck was that in there?”

She blew out a stream of smoke and smiled. “What? The little conversation with your girlfriend? Does she know, less than six months ago you and Lefty were fucking me at the same time on a damn near daily basis?”

Disgusted, he shoved her away and shook his head. “What the fuck is wrong with your brain? I haven’t touched you in months. You can’t be that hard up.”

“You think it’s okay to just toss me aside like a piece of garbage?”

“No one even thought that shit. You’re fucked up in the head, same as all of us. I don’t fault you for that. But when your crazy starts to leak out and affect my family, you get shut down. You were never going to be my old lady. You knew that. I never wanted anything more.”

“And I didn’t ask you for it. But I was yours, wasn’t I? I had a place to belong and people who gave a shit.”

“I still give a shit, but there are boundaries now.”

She laughed and shook her head. “That’s why I picked you. I knew you were like me. We didn’t do deep. We fucked, got comfortable and stayed with the person who knew what we liked. I watched you for a long time. But I never counted on someone coming along who got under your skin.”

“What the hell, Gia. You don’t think you deserve more?”

“I—I.” she opened her mouth and closed it, shaking her head. Her eyes were large and haunted.

At her expression, his heart ached a bit. He didn’t know her full story, but he knew she’d lived a life of modern day slavery for most of her twenties.

“I don’t know. I just felt comfortable with you.”

“And what Lefty’s an asshole?”

“No. I like him, I do, but you were a gateway to him. I never thought of you as anything but a package deal.”

“Maybe you should start.” Demon inclined his head. “Look, I came out here to tell you to stop fucking with Ardy. She’s got enough on her plate and if I see anything else, your ass is out of the house. Hell, you’ll be lucky if she lets you stay. This shit is her domain. She’s the one who holds it down here. I have to respect her wishes.”

“God, how can you just…?” She snorted and took a long drag off her cigarette.

“Just what?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Surrender your emotions like that?”

“I didn’t. I gave them to her because I trust her. When it’s right you know and no amount of denial is going to keep that shit from happening. If you resist, you only risk losing the one person you actually want to be close to. You might want to think about that.”

“What the fuck are you looking at me for with those knowing eyes, D? You got something say?”

“I don’t think it needs to be said.”

“Listen, Jonah.” She sneered. “Don’t go reading into shit, because you found your boo thing.”

He stepped closer and gripped her wrist, hard.

She dropped her cigarette and whimpered.

“Don’t you ever call me that.”