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As he stared at me through the bars, he seemed very unconcerned by my presence. He was big—maybe six foot five—and he leaned his tattoo-covered arm against the wall, almost hiding the full sleeve of ink. Dark, short hair matched his equallydark eyes. He hadn’t shaved, but his facial hair wasn’t long. Somehow, the orange jumpsuit looked good on his muscular, sculpted body.
Oh boy.
The stray thought was likely rooted in the demon in me. Otherwise, I couldn’t think of any reason to react that way to a man who stared at me with nothing more than boredom.
“Don’t do it,” he said in a low, grumbly voice.
I blinked. He didn’t want out? Because identifying him meant his way out of a hard time.
No, he doesn’t want out.My demon practically giggled, her amusement off the charts.But it’ll be fun to see what happens when we don’t listen to him.
Apparently, power hierarchy didn’t concern my demon. Then again, she might not care what it could do to me if we pissed off the demon riding the man.
I turned back to Cruise with my demon in my eyes as I said, “He’s possessed.”
“Damn it.” Cruise sighed and wrote something down. “There’s going to be an uproar about letting Danvers Kearney out of prison.”
“Shit,” Ryker spoke up. “Isn’t he the one who killed his mother a few years ago? They found her splattered all over his bar.”
Danvers no longer seemed bored. He rushed to the bars. “ProveI was possessed then. Maybe I got possessed yesterday. Prove it.” He hit the bars. “I’m not leaving.” He pointed at me. “You’re going to regret this. I’ll find you and you’ll pay.”
I stepped backward. My demon might not be afraid of him, but I was. If we let Danvers out, what did that mean for the world?
Nothing good, and I’m looking forward to it.
I wasn’t.
The three ofus left the jail together. Out of their prisoner population, only four people had been possessed. Three of the guards also pinged my radar, but Cruise said they weren’t his problem, so they simply watched us go.
“I thought it would be more,” Ryker observed from my left. I walked between the two men, so I shot him a quick glance before I shook my head.
“Most demons are great at avoiding detection. They don’t want to be locked away. What they do? You’d never catch them.”
“Do you do bad things?”
The question surprised me, so I glanced at him again. He’d never asked me that before, not once over all the years.
“Like she’d tell you in front of me.” Cruise laughed. “Hey, Addalee, can I speak to you for one second?”
It seemed a strange question, since we were on his time. Obviously, he could speak to me. He was right there. “Sure.”
“Alone.” He glanced at Ryker. “No offense.”
My once but no longer stepbrother shot him a look that could have melted ice with its heat and hatred before he headed toward the bus stop. I watched, wondering what was up with him, until he stopped to slouch and wait. Finally, I looked at Cruise. “What’s up?”
“I never do this.” He pulled out a card and handed it to me. “My home address is on the back. Come see me tonight, around eight.”
I pressed my lips together, wishing it was the first time it had happened to me, despite it being far from that. I tried to hand the card back. “My demon isn’t interested in sex, so it’s not reallymy thing. I don’t get paid for it, and even though you’re super handsome, it isn’t going to happen.”
He stared at the card then lifted his gaze to meet mine. No amusement twinkled in his blue eyes. “I’m not asking you to come over for sex, Addalee, paid or otherwise. I know the demons shut off your sex drive. I— never mind. That’s not the point. I’m not propositioning you. Fuck! I want you to meet someone.”
Our silent stand-off over the card continued, and it hung sort of awkward between the two of us. “Is this a religious thing? I can’t deal with that right now. It makes her really mad, and then we have a huge mess to clean up. Well, you would. I don’t clean it, because by the time I realize what happened, I’m not there anymore. We’ve moved on to somewhere else.”
His lips once again twitched into a smile. I did seem to be able to make him amused despite himself. “No. It’s not that, either. Come by, I’ll feed you. At the very least, you’ll get a decent meal. Take a taxi. I’ll pay for it.”
I did like food, and I was always hungry, a never-ending ache I couldn’t remember sating since I woke up possessed. “Okay, but I might not be there. She frequently runs my show.”
His smile fell. “I know. I’m grateful Nathan sent you to me. I’ll let him know we can get this done. We have three other locations to go through, then we’ll be done. The big bosses will besoimpressed. Oh!” He reached into his pocket then pulled out some cash and handed it to me. I almost forgot, which was dumb since I only took the job for the money. “Cash, as we agreed. Well, you said two hundred, but I’m giving you three, because you did such a good job.”
