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Harper flicked one brow up in a “Really?” gesture. Raini shook her head.
“I thought he only wanted to see you once a month,” said Dwain. “Demi told me you went to his club a few nights ago.”
“Well he wants to talk to me a little more about what happened with the halo-bearers.”
“And you can’t say no, because he now pulls all your strings,” said Dwain, a mocking bite to his voice.
Raini felt her brows lift, and every one of her girls bristled. If Dwain really thought someone could make Raini their very own marionette, he didn’t know her at all. But she wasn’t going to jump to her own defense here—this idiot just wasn’t worth it. “Yeah, he calls the shots,” she agreed, exchanging an eye roll with Harper.
“Don’t you hate it?” he asked. “Or are you one of those people who likes having someone else take charge of their life?”
Thinking it was time to fuck with this asshole, she gave the girls a conspiratorial smile as she said, “There’s something to be said for having someone take control, Dwain. It makes things simpler. Maddox takes care of all those little decisions that drive me nuts. I don’t have to waste time debating what I’m going to have for breakfast. I don’t have to worry about what I’m going to wear. I don’t have to fret over whether or not it’s just plain weird to obey his order to call him Big Papa. Or whether I shouldn’t like that he calls me Daddy’s little swallower. Or whether my dressing up as Khaleesi, mother of dragons, for our monthly meet is really all that necessary.” At this point, the girls were almost creased over with silent laughter.
There was a long moment of silence. Dwain sighed. “You’re fucking with me right now, aren’t you?”
A snort popped out of Harper.
“Wait, am I on speakerphone?” he demanded.
“What? No, of course not,” Raini assured him, but she wasn’t sure he heard her over the sound of the girls laughing their tits off. “So, anyway, I hope you—” And she had dead air. “He hung up on me. So rude.” Shrugging, she dropped her cell into her purse.
“Daddy’s little swallower?” echoed Khloë, her eyes dancing.
“It has a nice ring to it,” said Raini.
“I’m assuming he called you, because I can’t imagine a scenario in which you’d have called that dweeb,” said Harper.
Raini nodded. “He’s in the Underground with friends. He wanted me to meet up with him later.”
Khloë’s face scrunched up. “Why?”
“He thought it would be good for us to ‘clear the air’ so things aren’t awkward between us anymore,” replied Raini. “Apparently, he thinks Demi would want that.”
Devon shook her head in disbelief. “Demi would have you two on completely separate planets if she could.”
“Well, he has yet to figure that out,” said Raini. “So, what are you all doing here anyway?”
“We came to get you,” Harper told her. “We’ve got a busy day ahead of us—starting with breakfast at the cute little café down the street that has the Italian vibe.”
Raini double-blinked. “Wait, what?”
“We’re not opening the shop today for two reasons,” said the sphinx. “One, we’re all far too tense after last night’s events and need some downtime. Two, news of what happened has already circulated throughout the demonic grapevine. Anyone who walked into the shop would have quizzed you like crazy. I think I can safely say that none of us are in the mood for that.”
“So we’re going to have a girl’s day out.” Beaming, Devon gave a little clap. “Yay! I love those.”
“Don’t bother objecting, Raini,” began Khloë, “I already rescheduled all the appointments. No one seemed surprised that we weren’t opening today. Now let’s get moving—I’m hungry.”
Raini’s heart squeezed. They weren’t proposing a girls’ day because they needed one. Not really. They were doing it for her. They were trying to take her mind off things. And she adored them all for it. “What is it exactly that you have in mind?”
Harper grinned. “Oh, you’ll see.”
First, they had breakfast at the café, just as Harper had said. Next they went to the mall where they did some shopping, ate Thai food for lunch, and did a little more shopping. Being Harper’s bodyguard, poor Tanner had to come along, and he ended up being the mule. Raini’s own guard stayed out of sight most of the time.
After that, they headed to the movie theater, and Tanner was no happier with the romcom than with the shopping trip he’d been subjected to. Once the movie was over, they ate dinner at a fancy restaurant where they drank far too much wine … and so the tipsy women all ended up back at the penthouse, at which point they engaged in a very deep, serious conversation.
“Dude, that’s not how you do it,” Raini told Devon, standing beside her in the middle of the living area.
