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Devon looked to see Lou trailing after Jolene, who was heading toward them.
“Are you insinuating that I’m friendless?” he demanded.
Jolene turned to him. “I didn’t imply it. I said it.”
He jutted out his chin. “I have tons of friends, thankyouverymuch.”
“Asher and your pets don’t count.”
Lou ignored that. “I even have a BFF. He and I go way back.”
“Oh yeah?” Jolene folded her arms. “What’s his name?”
Lou’s mouth bopped open and closed. “Bart. He’s tall. Always wears a suit. Has great teeth.”
“You’re talking about your shrink. And his name’s Garth.”
“Well, I call him Bart. It’s a nickname. BFFs have nicknames for each other.”
Rolling her eyes, Jolene pivoted on her heel and held her hands out to Asher. “Come to Grams.” She snatched him before Devon had the chance to object.
Lou scoffed. “Why would he want to go to you when he can come to Uncle Lou?” He tried taking Asher, but Jolene tightened her hold. And then flames roared to life around his little body and he disappeared from his grandmother’s arms.
Hearing a burst of flames behind them, they whirled to see him sitting on the table next to his birthday cake. Once again, he shoved his hand into it.
Harper growled. “Dammit!”
Devon’s chuckle faded as she felt Tanner’s attention settle over her. Her gaze instantly found him prowling toward her with little Heidi at his side. The little girl was babbling about something or other while waving a form at him.
Tanner sighed down at her. “I tell you what, kid. I’ll sponsor your school run—even though I think you’re just making this up to get money out of people—if you’ll stop stealing my wallet. Now give it back.”
Heidi blinked, all innocence. “Wallet? Why would I have your wallet?”
“Hand it over.”
“Fine.” Mouth setting into a disappointed pout, Heidi gave him back the wallet and stomped away.
“Typical imp,” Tanner said to Devon, curling an arm around her waist. “If you’re dumb enough to not pay attention, they’ll rob you blind.”
Devon shrugged. “If it makes you feel any better, she probably would have given the wallet back to you at the end of the party. I’m not saying all your cash would still have been in it, though, or that she wouldn’t have scribbled down your bank card details.”
Tanner shook his head. “Unreal.”
Hearing Asher’s infectious laugh, she turned to see him running from Lou, who was demanding to have his cap back. “He looks more and more like Knox every time I see him.”
“He does,” Tanner agreed. “You love the little guy, don’t you?”
“Hell, yeah,” she said. “Who wouldn’t?”
“Then why do you sometimes seem so sad when you look at him?”
The unexpected question hit her right in the solar plexus, making her feel like she’d had the breath punched out of her. Had she really been that obvious? Or had he just come to read her well? “It has nothing to do with Asher. It’s also not something I can talk about here.”
His gaze drifted over her face. “All right.” He put his mouth to her ear. “Do you think it would be rude of me to put you flat on your back on that table and eat you out?”
Once again, he’d shocked her. But this time a laugh bubbled up. “Given the amount of people here, it could get awkward. Maybe you could do it in your apartment later.”
He pulled back and arched a brow. “Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. Your services will be appreciated. And rewarded.”
His smile faded as Jolene appeared at their side wearing a sober expression. “Something wrong?” he asked.
“Wrong?” echoed the Prime. “No. In fact, I have news I think you’ll both be pleased to hear.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jolene tugged on the small string hanging from the bare bulb, casting just enough light across Richie’s dark basement that Devon could clearly see Roth Lockwood strapped to a chair. The podgy, balding male blinked rapidly against the brightness of the light. Sheer unadulterated fear flickered across his mottled face as he spotted her, Jolene, and Tanner.
“Well, hello, Roth.” Jolene’s heels clicked along the cement floor as she ever so casually walked toward him. Apparently, her sentinels had found him holed up in a motel in Reno. They’d hauled his dumb ass to Richie’s basement and, if the bruises and swellings on his face were anything to go by, had roughed him up in the process. Well, good.
Devon followed Jolene and Tanner further into the basement, her nose wrinkling at the scents of must, mildew, and something even more foul. Pain. Yeah, these walls had seen a lot of people hurt.
Unlike other kids, Devon had never thought there was anything spooky about basements. It was just the place where her parents kept the washing machine, dryer, and some boxes. Khloë, however, hated them. And maybe this was why, given she’d once lived with her father.
The large space was dank and cold and eerie with shadowy corners so black they looked like voids of nothing. This basement was the kind you saw on horror movies where a sweet little family moved into a haunted house and then had to call out an exorcist when their darling child got possessed. Oh yeah, an evil poltergeist would fit well down here. Or a serial killer.
