His scowl was all barbs, unfriendly and unpleasant. “Yes. Me. Are you ready?” He gestured behind him, and I peered around his large frame to see a black Bentley parked out in the street.
I narrowed my eyes on the man, glaring at him through the slit in the door. “I thought you were Lucifer’s bouncer, not his driver. Can’t he afford more employees, or does he blow all his money on buying strip clubs and the hearts of mortal women?”
This time he cracked a brittle smile as he tapped the chain on the door, making it jingle. “I’m whatever the dark king needs me to be, My Little Queen. Now, are you going to come out on your own, or am I going to have to drag you out?”
My heart hammered hard in my ribs, a nervous flutter tickling my stomach as I searched his eyes for any sincerity. The sick bastard’s shit-eating grin just seemed to stretch wider as he saw the fear playing in my eyes.
I’d be lying to myself if I said I didn’t like that little kick of adrenaline whenever I was in a dangerous situation. But fear was something I welcomed only when I was in the driver’s seat. If I couldn’t control it, it became too real, and Sane Jess would go into conniptions.
He leaned his back against the door frame, folding his tatted arms over his chest. “Calm down, Little Queen. That was a joke. You’re not my toy to play with.”
I shot him a pointed glare as I flippantly unlatched the door.
“You’ve got a sick sense of humor. Maybe Lucifer should keep you chained to the front door of Siren’s like the good guard dog you are instead of having you pick up his dates. This feels more like a kidnapping than a ride.”
“I’m a demon. Not a damn Uber. I work for the King of Hell. He told me to bring you to him, and that’s what I plan on doing. Doesn’t make any difference to me how you want to go about it.”
I slammed the door shut behind me and locked the deadbolt. “A demon, huh? Right. Let me guess…” I racked my brain, trying to think of all the demon names I knew. Admittedly, my demon lore wasn’t the strongest. I had readParadise LostandThe Divine Comedyin college, but their details were fuzzy at best. “You must be Azazel or Mammon?”
The demon bared his teeth and clenched his jaw in irritation like I was somehow stupid for not knowing.
“It’s Abaddon.”
Abaddon. That name was familiar, but I couldn’t remember how I knew it. Maybe it was better I didn’t know the history behind the demon. Otherwise, I might not get in the car with him.
Then again, he was taking me to a date with Satan. The ship had sailed for airing on the safe side.
After locking the door, I stuck my keys in a black clutch I’d picked out to go with my dress. The clutch had cost me twenty dollars while the dress probably cost more than my bone marrow would fetch on the black market, but I liked the way the red rhinestones on the handle matched the fabric of the garment. To complete the look, I put on the black Louboutins.
The way Abaddon was looking at me made my skin crawl.
“You look good enough to eat, Little Queen,” he said through a gravelly growl.
I shot him a glass-sharp glare, my cheeks flaming. “Stop calling me that. It’s weird. And I thought I wasn’t ‘your toy to play with.’”
He shrugged. “Lucifer’s stolen things of mine that didn’t belong to him. Maybe it’s time I get even with him.”
There was something in his tone that had me searching his face, trying to uncover the hidden meaning behind what he’d just said. His words could be interpreted for face value, but it was thewayhe said it that made my skin prickle like I was missing something.
He cackled at my coalesced expression of confusion and offense. “Oh, how I love to watch you squirm, Little Queen. That’s another joke. You belong to the king. I wouldn’t dream of taking his little pet from him.”
“I’m not his fucking pet. It’s barely even a date. This is just about a job.” The lie tasted bitter in my mouth.
“Oh, come on, you know it’s not about a job. The job is just a little consolation prize you get for selling yourself, like a good little whore.”
I gapped at him with a slack jaw, trying to pretend I had misheard him. But nope, this demon was really just that, a demonic, condescending, sexist bastard. “Lucifer really should keep you muzzled.”
He cackled, the sound scraping over my skin like a cheese grater. “Oh, don’t play the innocent little martyr. You’re a pleased little lamb, going to slaughter. A moth throwing itself onto the flame. An eager slut throwing herself down onto the alter.”
My blush was now spreading to my entire body. My heart rate accelerated, and I knew Abaddon could sense it by the dark amusement gleaming in his sea-blue eyes. “Well shit. Isn’t this just a match made in Hell? At first, I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to handle the king, but I think our little masochistic queen will do just fine.”
“I’m getting real tired of all these assumptions. I’m not going to sleep with the devil. This is about my heart and saving my dad’s life. Let’s leave my vagina out of this, alright?”
The demon’s answer was another cackle as he turned and made his way off the porch to the Bently across the street, swinging his king ring around his finger.
He didn’t have to say anything more for me to glean his meaning. This was about Lucifer wanting to own me, plain and simple. There was a reason for that. And it had something to do with the magnetic and terrifying chemistry we shared.
My body didn’t have to be in the contract. If I was selling my heart to the devil, it wasn’t just to save my dad, although that was priority number one.
