My dad looked great. The color had returned to his face. Even just a couple of days after Lucifer had made good on his end of our little bargain, he looked less skeletal. When he stood to greet us, he didn’t shake. He wasn’t even wearing his oxygen tank.
“Oh my God, Dad. You look amazing!” I threw my arms around my dad, hugging him for what had to have been a solid minute. It felt like it had been three years since I’d seen him, instead of three days.
“I feel amazing, kiddo. Saturday morning, I woke up feeling like a new man. I don’t know what happened, but whatever it is, it’s a darn miracle. I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for tomorrow. I’m hesitant to throw the remission word around before I get a professional’s opinion, but Jessica, I feel incredible. I’m hopeful that things are turning around.”
I beamed at him, trying to hold back the happy tears that threatened to spill. “I’m hopeful too, Dad. So you’ve met ummm...my boyfriend?”
It’s not like I wasn’t happy to see my dad. I was thrilled, especially seeing him this happy and healthy. He was going to be okay after all, and it was all thanks to Lucifer. But now came the tricky part I’d avoided thinking about until now. Introducing my dad to the devil. Of course, I would never in a million years let it be known to Lawrence Sims that this daughter was dating the devil himself.
My dad turned his attention to Lucifer and grinned. “Lucifer came to the house earlier today and introduced himself as the boy you’d been texting on Friday. You should have told me you’d been seeing him for so long, kiddo.”
I blinked. “Er...”
So that’s what Lucifer had been up to this morning. He’d introduced himself to my dad as my boyfriend.
Calling the king of hell “boy” was funny, seeing as the Prince of Darkness was almost as old as time itself. But that was just something else to add to the list of things Dad could never know.
“I told him how we’ve been seeing each other for several months now, babe. And that I’d been dying to meet him, but you’ve wanted to hold off on introducing us until things calmed down at the hospital.”
“Yes, Lucifer here says now that he’s bought the hospital, you can have any shift you want. Or that you don’t have to work any hours at all if you don’t want to. Must be nice dating the boss!” Dad joked. “So, when is your dad going to get here?” he asked Lucifer. “And don’t worry about that thing you mentioned earlier, with his god complex and all. I’ll play along. I had a second cousin a bit touched in the head. He was convinced he was JKF. He did the accent and everything.”
My gut damn near dropped out of my body. “W–wait.” I whirled to face Lucifer. “Your dad is eating dinner with us tonight?Yourdad?”
Lucifer tucked a loose lock of my hair behind my ear and gave me a soft smile. “Yes.” He dropped his voice, leaning in slightly so my dad wouldn’t hear. “We have to tell him about our wedding. In fact, I want both of our fathers to attend. Yours so he can walk you down the aisle and mine so he can give me my wings back as soon as we say our ‘I dos’”
“Lucifer, inviting God to dinner isn’t something you justdo.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but just then, the front door opened.
Standing in the entrance was a handsome, older man with slicked-back white hair in a similar style as Lucifer’s. He wore an all-white suit and leaned on an old-fashioned cane.
“Lucifer, My Son. It’s been too long.”
I watched with dumbfounded astonishment as the literal father of creation strode into the restaurant, his gaze sweeping the establishment with vague interest.
“Father.” Lucifer pressed a smile. I could tell instantly that it was fake as Hell, but his arm came around me, drawing me close to him. My chest swelled as his eyes sparkled with pride. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
God held up his hand as he took off his jacket and handed it to the host, who was in all likelihood oblivious to whose jacket he held. “Just a second, Lucifer. Let’s wait for your brother before we start making introductions.”
All air in my lungs left me like some invisible asshole had just come up and punched me in the stomach. I looked to my mate, my jaw falling open, and my heart crystallized at the look I saw on his face. “Lucifer, did you invite—”
“No,” he said on an icy whisper, so low I could barely hear it. “I wouldn’t have.” His fists clenched into tight balls at his sides. “Jessica. I want you to leave now. I don’t want you to be here. I won’t have you sitting at the same table as—”
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to. Because at that moment the front entrance opened again and there stood the man with the face I loved the most. But it was worn by the man who I happened to despise the most, now that Abaddon was lying dead beneath Devil’s Head.
Standing feet away from us, with a maleficent grin that oozed arrogance, was the man who murdered me.
Lucifer’s entire body stiffened as his gaze locked with his twin’s.
“Michael,” he spat like the name was poison in his mouth.
“Hello, Brother…”
The End For Now!
