Page 40 of Angel I Am Not

“It was supposed to be reassuring.”

Luc cut his brother a look. “Your standards for reassurance are fucking terrible.”

I rubbed my thumb over the edge of my phone case again, trying not to build some ridiculous picture of the demon Dante had decided belonged in the middle of one of the most indulgent places in the city. “Does he at least look like you two?”

Nick laughed hard enough that I got my answer before he spoke. “No.”

“Not remotely,” Luc added, and the hint of amusement returning to his face told me both of them were enjoying how little information they were giving me.

I narrowed my eyes. “You two are assholes.”

Luc ignored him and nodded toward the phone still in my hand. “You’ll see Zel tonight. Just remember what we told you. Friendly doesn’t mean harmless.”

“And don’t let him take your drink,” Nick added.

My head turned sharply toward him. “Why?”

Luc sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What Nick is trying to say is that Zel has a habit of sampling whatever catches his interest. Don’t hand him something unless you’re prepared for him to decide he wants the rest of it too.”

That explanation was somehow worse.

I looked back down at Dante’s message. Pink Flamingo was painfully familiar. I knew the entrance, the smell of fried food that always clung to the hallway, the ridiculous neon bird above the bar, the music loud enough to vibrate through the floor. Somehow that made the whole thing stranger.

Gluttony was at one of the few places on Earth I had always liked, and according to Luc and Nick, his biggest problem was knowing when to stop once he wanted something.

Ariuk

I had barely finished soaking in the bath and slipping on a new outfit when I stepped back into the living room and found Nick glaring at a small hole in the wall like it had personally offended him. His phone was pressed to his ear, his jaw tight enough to crack a tooth.

“Why the fuck would you say that to him? You know that would piss him off.” Nick listened for half a second, rolled his eyes, and ended the call before Dante could apparently make things worse.

A crash sounded down the hall hard enough to make me flinch. “What the hell is going on?”

Nick shoved his phone into his pocket. “Apparently the fucking Devil thought it would be helpful to clarify a few things about your placement here with us.”

I frowned. “Which was?”

Another crash came from Luc’s room and Nick grimaced toward the hallway. “He made it sound like you were some kind of fucking experiment because he’s never had an impossibility from Heaven dropped in his lap before.”

“But he doesn’t actually believe that.”

“I know.” Nick dragged a hand down his face. “Dante talks in riddles, Luc heard the worst possible version of it, and then Dante told him he would’ve done the same thing in his position. You can imagine how well that went over.”

Apparently, not well at all. Luc had been in his room for maybe an hour since then, and whatever he was doing in there had already produced enough noise to make me wonder how much furniture he had left. The bond made it impossible to ignore when something was wrong with either of them, and Luc’s distress had been sitting beneath my ribs ever since I got out of the bath.

Another crash rattled down the hallway and I just sighed. “I’m going in there,” I finally said, staring at Luc’s bedroom door.

His hand closed around my wrist before I could move, though his grip lacked the usual playful insistence. “I wish you wouldn’t. He doesn’t lose control like that. Not usually.”

“If you’re telling me he’s dangerous, I’m assuming I should be terrified,” I said, trying to tug my hand free.

Nick didn’t smile. “I’m saying if he hurt you, even by accident, it would fuck him up worse than whatever Dante already did.”

That softened my irritation, but not enough to make me sit back down. I squeezed Nick’s fingers before pulling away. “And I can handle myself.”

“Ari.” His shoulders sank as he looked toward the hallway. “Please.”

“No. I’m not going to stand here listening to him tear the room apart.”