Chapter Twelve
Mel
“Why hello there, Sunshine,” Lucifer practically purred as I strode up to the bar. I stumbled over my own heels for a moment, my cheeks burning.
“You never explained why you call me that,” I snapped at him while hopping up onto a stool in front of him.
“No, I didn’t. Your guardian wouldn’t like that, and as much as I like to ruffle Paradise’s feathers, I’m not looking for trouble.”
“Guardian? Why do you call Gabe that?”
Lucifer’s golden eyes bore into me with an intensity that had my skin heating beneath his scrutiny. To my relief, he turned his attention back to the drink he was fixing.
“That’s a question for your guardian, Sunshine.” He turned his back to me, his broad shoulders stretching the dark fabric of his shirt over defined muscles that I just knew Jess was drooling over from her seat back at the table.
“What about a question for you?”
His shoulders shook with a chuckle, and his head turned just so to glance over at Jess. “Are you going to ask me if I want to meet your friend?”
“No.” I scowled. “Do you really think you’re the devil?”
He paused, his hand hovering over a bottle of Yamazaki whiskey that he’d moved to grab. He pivoted on his shiny shoes to look at me, his profile a girl’s wet dream. A smug smirk tugged at his lips. “Yes. I really do.”
My heart hammered hard in my chest, and my breaths grew short. “Alright… Let’s pretend I actually believe that.”
He twisted around with his slender fingers wrapped around the neck of the whiskey as he uncorked the bottle. “You’re beginning to believe it.”
It wasn’t a question. It was spoken like a fact as if he could read my mind.
My heart pounded harder. “So, you’re an angel?”
He strode back to the part of the bar where I sat and poured his whiskey with a coy smile still on his lips. “Yes.”
“Where are your wings?”
“I’m fallen. They were stolen from me. But even if they hadn’t been, a celestial being, an angel, is a shifter at heart. They can hide their wings, just as a wolf might hide their beast forms.”
He pushed the drink he’d been making toward me, and my mouth fell open, seeing what he’d concocted. A Manhattan. My drink of choice.
“How did you—”
“I guessed.” His lips twitched, holding back that sinister grin that was beginning to creep me the hell out.
“Right.” I took the drink and knocked back a giant swig. The liquid was sweet on my tongue at first, then burned going down, the taste of fire and cinnamon with a touch of citrus warming my belly and easing my nerves. “Wait. You said beast form? How are angels beasts?”
Because that wasn’t Gabriel.
Lucifer’s nostrils flared as if biting back a laugh. “We’re all animals. As much as Paradise wants to brainwash its grunts into thinking otherwise.”
Was I really buying into any of this? I didn’t think Lucifer was lying to me, but how sane could this guy be? How could he actually be the devil? Sure, he looked pretty much like the guy who playedLuciferin the Netflix show that Gabe and I were obsessed with. But if the devil was actually a thing, wouldn’t he be a hideous demon, too busy in Hell pulling out people’s entrails and making jewelry out of them?
Lucifer let out a snort, his brow slashing with irritation so dark, it sent a shiver down my spine. “Propaganda. Make a necklace out of a damned soul’s intestinesonetime…” He shook his head. Those arch class fucks never mention that it was Hitler I did that to.”
Every fiber of my body froze over. I could scarcely breathe as a wave of confusion and fear slammed down on top of me like a tidal wave.
How had he—
“I can read minds, Sunshine.” This time, that smile that had been lurking at the corner of his wicked mouth broke loose, a dark and deadly expression to enhance his soul-stealing good looks.
