Devil (The Marchesi Family 3)

He flipped me off as I rose to leave.

21

Joe

I left for work later than I’d meant to. I’d taken an extra-long shower that included a jerk-off session during which I relived everything that had happened the night before.

On the way in, I stopped and got myself an actual fucking breakfast. It was stupid. I didn’t have to eat just because Devil had told me to, but I did it anyway.

When I said good morning to Lindsay, her eyes widened. “Damn, what did you do last night?”

Shit. I didn’t think I had any visible hickeys. I’d shaved and dressed normally, hadn’t I? “Nothing. What do you mean?”

“You’re smiling.”

I shrugged. “Nothing bad has happened yet today. Maybe I’ll actually make some progress on a case.”

“Wow. You’re smiling, and you’re optimistic?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“You definitely got laid last night.”

I shrugged. “So what if I did.”

“Good for you.”

I couldn’t stop my lips from curving up. “Yeah, it was damn good.”

“Going to see him again?”

“I don’t know.” That wasn’t exactly true. I knew I would see Devil again, but I also didn’t want Lindsay to think I was going to end up in some kind of normal relationship. That would never work for me and Devil.

“At least you spent the night with your man instead of going over case notes.”

“He’s not mine.” I just wish he was. “But yeah, no new theories today.” Actually I had a very good theory, but I didn’t even have circumstantial evidence to back it up since I’d let the primary suspect take the only evidence home with him because I didn’t want anyone to know I was investigating him.

“Hey, are you all right?” I realized I probably looked miserable. I schooled my face and tried to push away all thoughts of Devil.

“I’m just tired. I think my coffee is already wearing off.” I went for the easy answer even though I’d actually slept better with Devil beside me than I’d slept in a long time.

We spent several hours working on cases other than the one Devil was involved in before we tried to find the identity of the person who’d been killed in the fire. Once again, we came up with absolutely nothing. It was like the guy had already been a ghost. Of course that meant he was likely involved in something seriously fucked up. It took a lot of money and power to disappear like that.

After working through lunch, which consisted of a candy bar and a bag of chips from the vending machine, Lindsay left to talk to an assault victim’s family for one of our other cases. I was trying to get in touch with an informant who’d left me a cryptic message when a text came through from Devil saying he had something to show me.

I was worn out from a morning of dead ends, and I deserved the lunch break I hadn’t taken, so I told him I could meet him at my place that afternoon. I was hoping his “some things to show you” text was a euphemism for fucking because I already needed him again. Every time I thought about the arson case, I thought of him and had to think of something disgusting to keep from sitting there across from Lindsay with a hard-on.

I was absolutely pathetic.

When I got to my house, Devil was already there. He’d let himself in despite not having a key.

“You didn’t need to prove you could get in here. You’ve already done it twice.”

He grinned. “I needed to bring the food inside, and I didn’t feel like waiting.”

“What food?”

“I brought dinner. Our housekeeper, Lola, made lasagna last night. It’s amazing and even better the next day. You’re going to love it. I also brought treats from Art’s Bakery.”

I remembered how amazing the bakery had smelled when I’d stopped by to question the owner. “I thought they weren’t open yet.”

Devil grinned. “They’re not, but I have connections.”

“Because your cousin is seeing the owner.”

“The owner you interrogated.”

“Yes.”

“You had to know he’d tell us everything.”

I sighed. “I did.”

Devil studied me for several moments. “You wanted me to come after you.”

He clearly wasn’t asking a question, so I didn’t bother to answer. The motive had been partly subconscious, but I had wanted to provoke Devil.

He just laughed. “We’re both so fucked up.”

“True, but I don’t have the energy to worry about it right now.” I opened the bakery box and pulled out a lobster tail. “You weren’t expecting me to wait to eat this, were you?”

“Fuck no. I’ve already had two chocolate cannoli while I waited.”

“Then the last one is mine.”

He gave me a seductive smile. “I bet I could convince you to give it to me.”

I was sure he could, because as much as I loved sweets, they couldn’t compare to the things he could do to me. “Are you planning to try now?”