Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
The latter wins, and I'm even scared to bite into a slice of pizza while sitting shotgun in the G-Wagon. Devon and Antonio are in the back, and Devon is curiously staring at the pizza.
“I used to love that,” he says, tipping his head. “Now it’s like looking at dog food. It doesn’t necessarily gross me out but I have no desire to eat it.” He shrugs. “It’s just weird.”
I finish chewing the food that’s in my mouth and turn, looking at him and then Antonio. “I think this family could keep an entire therapy practice in business for a year or more.”
Antonio lets out a snort of laughter and picks up another slice of pizza from the box sitting on his lap. It hits me right then why he and Devon have bonded so quickly. They both had their human lives stripped from them before their time. Devon came back as a vampire, and Antonio was brought back by a demon.
Not the same, but not so different in the end.
“You should probably call Leo,” Antonio says as a few miles are put between us and our house. “Make sure he’s not home. Or make sure he didn’t bring anyone home. I’ve walked in on that once. Never again.”
I laugh, but my amusement is surface level right now. With shaky hands, I call Leo and get his voicemail. Dammit. I call again. And again. If he’s not answering on the third ring, then his phone is not near him. I text him, telling him to call back ASAP, and then put my phone in the cupholder. I force myself to eat one more slice of pizza and then close the box, carefully holding it on my lap. Xavier drives fast, passing cars both left and right on the interstate.
Maybe twenty minutes later, Leo calls back. “Hey,” I say. “You’re on speaker. Xavier, Toni, and Devon are in the car. Please tell me you’re home.”
“Uh, yeah. I just got out of the shower and saw your calls. What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” he says and I hear a male voice in the background.
My mouth drops and I whirl around, looking at Antonio, but he doesn’t instantly recognize the voice.
“Oh my god,” I say to Leo. “Is that fucking Patrick?”
“Maybe,” Leo grumbles.
“I told you what I would do if you hooked up with that no-good piece of shit user again, didn’t I?”
“It’s not that deep, Wren, and don’t you have bigger fish to fry right now?”
“You’re lucky a demon has a contract on my soul and is actively trying to kill me right now.” I set my jaw. It’s easy for me to tell someone to walk away from a toxic relationship when I myself wasn’t able to leave Ryder for nearly a year when all the signs were there that he was never going to do what he had to do so we could be together. “He better be gone by the time we get there and we’re like an hour-ish out.”
“Be discreet,” he tells me and I can hear him walking through the house. A door closes behind him. “Sector Four just got back from a big hunt and everyone and their mother are out celebrating.”
“That’s why your soon-to-be leprechaun boyfriend is in town,” I chide.
“Huh? Oh, right. The curse,” he says and I’m surprised he remembered I threatened to curse Patrick to only speak with a terrible Irish accent.
“Get weapons ready.”
“Which ones?”
“All of them.” I end the call and hyper focus on the Patrick drama for the next several miles, telling Xavier about the jerk who breaks up with Leo anytime they start to get close. Xavier listens intently, reaching over to take my hand. He knows I’m not really telling him about my brother’s situationship drama but am trying to distract myself.
God, I love that man.
We go around back, entering the Russo compound from the side door. Right before I can punch in the code, Leo opens the door. Xavier steps right in, holding my hand as we enter.
“Um, I was going to say I invite you in,” Leo starts. “But I guess you don’t need to be invited?”
“He’s been here before,” I quickly explain, moving in so the others can follow. “I invited him and I think I had just been, uh, removed so the house maybe thought I was still a resident? I actually have no idea how that rule works.”
“Ditto,” he says and welcomes the rest of the party inside.
“This is where you grew up?” Devon asks, though it’s more of a statement as he looks around. The compound gives both bootcamp and boarding school vibes, with an interesting mix of personal items and a sterile, corporate setting.
“Brings back memories,” Mabel says softly, holding Zeke’s hand with an iron grip. “We had a place like this, too.” Right, she was raised in the Order as well…just like a hundred years ago. “Crazy, things haven’t changed too much.”