Blaze by Suzanne Wright
Crow backed into the wall, swallowing hard.
“Would you like to know what I’m going to do instead? I’m going to get you well. I’m going to bring you back from the edge. And then you’ll have to live with what you’ve done – that’s if you can live with knowing you hurt so many people, including your own partner. Personally, I don’t think I would ever forgive myself if I hurt mine.” Knox spun on his heel and left with Levi close behind him.
The guard punched the button to lock the door. It slid shut with a clang. “You really think we can bring him back?”
“I fully intend to try,” replied Knox. “If I was to punish him now, it would mean nothing to him – it would just feed his fantasy of me as the big, bad wolf.”
The guard nodded in understanding. “He’d become a martyr in his own mind.”
“Exactly.” Knox then continued down the corridor.
“I’ve got to say,” began Levi quietly, “I’m… well, proud of how you handled that. I didn’t think you’d be rational enough about the situation to do anything but kill him on the spot. I guess we have Harper to thank for that. She keeps you stable in more ways than one.”
“She does.” Which was good for the world in general.
It wasn’t until they were inside the Bentley that Levi spoke again. “He was very adamant that someone assigned him this mission. Do you think it’s possible that someone else is involved?”
Knox smoothed a hand down his tie. “According to Keenan, he was also very adamant that Doc wants to poison him.”
Levi inclined his head. “True. We’ll know for sure when he gets well and starts thinking straight. If there are others involved, he’ll give them up.”
And then they’d be dealt with, one way or another.
Being bold and expressive creatures, imps didn’t bother themselves with passive-aggressive behavior. If they had a problem, they had absolutely no issue with letting you know about it. Not out of spite, but because they simply didn’t believe in stewing on bullshit. And that was why Harper was listening to a full-on rant from a concerned and pissed-off Khloë.
Harper had known it was coming because she knew her family; knew how Khloë would react to the Crow vs Harper event. As such, she did what she always did when her family felt the need to let it rip: she continued with whatever she was doing and let them get on with it. And so she squatted near Khloë’s new reception desk that also doubled as a display cabinet, carefully placing jewelry and other products on the glass shelf, while her ranting cousin stood over her.
Slapping the half-price tattoo certificates on the desk, Raini growled. “Let it go, Khloë.”
The tiny imp folded her arms. “I’ll let it go when Harper apologizes for not telling me last night that Crow attacked her. I had to learn it from Ciaran.”
With a sigh, Devon slipped an arm around Khloë’s shoulders. “Sweetie, the sooner you accept that your cousin is not the ‘I’ll call my friends and offload my anger and pain onto them’ kind of person, the happier you’ll be.”
Raini nodded, leaning over the desk. “Our Harper’s not the confiding type.”
Khloë didn’t seem at all appeased. “A heads-up that she’d been hurt would have been nice. That’s all I’m saying.”
Harper stood. “So freaking dramatic.”
Khloë snorted. “Duh. Imp.”
She gave her cousin a patronizing pat on the back. “How about you sit down and chill? You’ve had a hard day,” she mocked. The imp hadn’t done anything but rant while the rest of them had worked on the preparations for the grand opening the following day.
Khloë narrowed her eyes. “Did you forgive Knox?”
And like that, the atmosphere in the room changed.
Devon’s spine snapped straight. “Why would you need to forgive Knox? What did he do?”
“Did he hurt you?” demanded Raini, eyes briefly flashing demon. “He did, didn’t he? Devon, where’s the bat?”
Harper glared at her cousin, who no doubt knew perfectly well that Harper hadn’t wanted to share the argument with her friends because they were so overprotective they might do something dumb. “You’re such a bitch.”
Khloë lifted a single brow. “Is this brand-new information?”
Devon elbowed the imp aside, planting herself in front of Harper. “What. Happened? What did the rich motherfucker do to you?”
Harper raised her hands. “Let’s just calm down, shall we? There’s no need for any rash actions.”
Devon covered her ears. “Don’t use your therapist voice, I hate that.”
“For the last time, what did he do to you?” asked Raini, though she sounded calmer.
“He didn’t do anything to me,” replied Harper. “We had a fight. Not a physical fight, but an argument. That’s what couples do. We moved past it.”
Raini drummed her nails on the glass surface. “Why did you argue?”
“He was angry about me being attacked and not calling him for help immediately and, well, he dealt with that anger in the wrong fashion.” She didn’t want to go into specifics; it was between her and Knox.
“He said she wasn’t a woman of her word,” said Khloë.
Harper shot her smirking cousin another hard glare. “I will kill you. I will. I’m not afraid to go to jail.”
“He really said that?” asked a shocked Devon.
“He apologized for saying it and assured me that he didn’t mean it,” said Harper. “He thought I was dead. He got a shock and he was scared. To be fair, I had promised I would call out to him if I was in danger. I broke that promise to protect him, but I still broke it. No, it doesn’t make what he said right. But we’ve all said crap we don’t mean when we’re mad.”
The girls exchanged looks with each other as a silence fell. Finally, Devon spoke. “Well, if you can forgive him, I’ll forgive him.”
Raini nodded. “But I’ll be watching him.”
“Me too,” said Devon. “That’s not something I’ll forget in a hurry.”
Harper turned to her cousin, head tilted. “Now about your little habit of blurting out people’s personal business… maybe I should return the favor. Maybe I should share what you did to Keenan the night he took you home when you were blitzed.”
Khloë’s eyes widened. “He told you?”
“He told Knox some of it,” said Harper. “Knox told me. And I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cringe.”
Devon skidded to the imp’s side, curious as ever. “What did you do?”
“Tell them,” Harper urged, smirking. “The truth shall set you free.”
Khloë sighed. “I was just joking around.”
“Oh God,” Raini groaned, because so many of Khloë’s stories began with that sentence.
“I snapped a picture of him with my phone while he was carrying me to my front door – I can’t remember why.” Khloë scratched her hand. “Anyway, Keenan freaked on me. It turns out that the incubus hates having his photo taken. And I mean really hates it. Said he’s camera-phobic or something. So I started taking some selfies of the two of us.”
“Of course you did,” sighed Raini, rubbing her forehead.
“And then…”
“And then?” prodded Devon.
Khloë put her hands on her hips. “He snatched my phone, dumped me on my ass on the doorstep, and started deleting all the photos. I was not okay with any of that, but I couldn’t stand up to grab my phone because my legs were shaky. So I started pulling on his jeans to drag him down to me. Then there was this really loud tear —”
“Oh Lord,” muttered Devon.
“— his jeans were near his ankles —”
“Oh Khloë,” said Raini.
“— and I was staring at this monster cock.”
And since her cousin had no problem saying exactly what she was thinking, Harper guessed, “You told him he had a monster cock, didn’t you?”
“I thought it only fair that he knew.” Khloë pursed her lips. “He seemed to think that
Raini gaped at her. “You thought taking a photo of it was okay?”
“I also thought that my ex would be the best person to call for no apparent reason,” said Khloë. “I was smashed.”
Twirling her hair around her finger, Devon asked a little too casually, “Did Keenan delete the photo?”
Harper shook her head at her friend. “You’re such a perv.”
“I’m just curious,” the hellcat defended.
Raini leaned into Khloë. “Well, did he?”
The imp sighed, shoulders slumping. “Yeah. I don’t think he trusted that I wouldn’t share it on Facebook or something.”
“That was pretty wise of him,” said Harper.
The imp sighed again and admitted, “Yeah.”
“What was wise of who?”
Harper twirled on the spot and gave Tanner a bright smile, relieved to see him fully recovered. “Good to see you up and about.”
The hellhound glanced around. “This place looks great.”
It totally did. Since they’d kept the name “Urban Ink,” they’d kept the rock/art/Harley-Davidson feel. There was tattoo flash on the ceiling and metal art on the walls. The furnishings were now all inside, including the new lighted tracing tables that were gifts from Jolene. The stations were separated with checkered glass partitions – a nice idea from Raini. Also, at Devon’s suggestion, they had a wall-mounted TV in the reception area, near the vending machine that Khloë had requested.
“You officially open tomorrow, right?” asked Tanner.
Harper nodded. “Yep.”
“We’re super excited about it,” said Raini, eyes twinkling.
“So, I take it you’re relieving the demons out there of their temporary guard duty?” Harper said to him. Knox had assigned two members of the Force to stand outside the studio and keep watch.
At the hellhound’s nod, Devon groaned. “Lucky us.”
“Admit it, kitty,” said Tanner with a smile. “You were worried about me.”
Devon gave him a haughty “you’re delusional” look, but Harper knew the hellcat had in fact been concerned for him.
“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Tanner asked.
Harper smiled. “Well, it’ll go a little something like this.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Reaching into one of the drawers of the walk-in closet, Knox pulled out his navy-blue, pin-striped tie. He straightened it out, ready to hook it around his neck. And then he sighed. He wasn’t seeing this. He wasn’t.
But he was.
Not sharing even an ounce of his demon’s amusement, Knox walked into the bedroom. His mate was sitting on the edge of the bed, slipping on heels that were the same turquoise shade as her lacy stop. She also wore the black slim-fitting pants that never failed to draw attention to that pert little ass.
Seeing the silver earrings that he’d given her dangling from her ears, satisfaction bloomed in his gut. He liked when she wore something he gave her; they branded her as his, in a sense. But that didn’t mollify him right now.
Clearing his throat, Knox held up the tie. “I thought I was forgiven.” But apparently not, because she’d sown pink sequins to one of his favorite ties.
Smiling at him, Harper shrugged. “You are. I always forgive.” Slyly, she added, “I just never forget.”
Knox sighed again. Really, he shouldn’t be surprised. Demons always got even, one way or another. “I like this tie.” Mostly because she’d bought it for him.
“I happen to think the sequins are a nice touch,” said Harper. “They give it some color.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Of course she wasn’t, which was why she smiled.
He rubbed his temple. “I don’t suppose there’s any way you can remove the sequins without fucking up the tie?”
Sure there was. “Nope.” She wanted to laugh at the tic going crazy in his cheek.
“If sometime in the future you feel the need to do such a thing again, choose something that wasn’t a gift from you.” He narrowed his eyes at her noncommittal sound. “Harper.”
“Cool your engines, I can fix the damn tie.” Standing upright, Harper straightened her shoulders. “Well, I’m ready. And you’re not, I see. Get moving, we have an opening to attend.”
He cocked his head. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re so eager to leave because you’re so eager to have the whole thing over with?”
“Um, because that’s exactly it.”
Moving to her, Knox loosely curled an arm around her waist. “Everything will be fine. The day will run smoothly. You don’t need to be nervous.”
“I’m not.” At his arched brow, she said, “Okay, maybe I’m a little nervous. But not bad nervous.”
“So what has you so keen on getting it over with?”
Wasn’t it obvious? “I’ll have to talk to people. Like really talk to people. I’ll have to sell myself and my co-workers. It feels awkward and false doing that when I’m not the type of person who seeks to impress people. I also don’t have any charm to dazzle them with, which will make it harder. Mingling is just not my thing.” It annoyed her.
“You charm people all the time. You just don’t realize it.” Many found her openness and lack of façade refreshing. “You have my demon completely charmed.” He kissed her, resting his hands on her ass. “You have no need at all to stress.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. “I predict I’ll offend quite a few people.”
“If it looks like it could happen, I’ll step in,” said Knox. “But I don’t think it will come to that.”
However, it did come to that. Many times, in fact. Especially since a lot of the people were damn chatty, which irritated her demon. Thankfully Knox would sense Harper’s discomfort and smoothly step in; oozing charisma. He sure was handy to have around at times.
Though colorful banners, flyers, and balloons were plastered around the Underground to advertise the opening, Harper hadn’t expected so many people to turn up. She supposed most were probably lured there by the scents of meat grilling, corn boiling, hot peppers, and smoke coming from the grill. But they hadn’t simply grabbed some food and gone on their merry way. They’d stuck around and checked out the studio, sure to take a half-price certificate when they left, which was encouraging.
There was lots of free food on tables lined in front of the studio and the nearby businesses on this side of the strip. The deli, coffeehouse, bakery, ice cream parlor, and diner had all agreed to get involved in the opening. Lots of people stood around, talking and eating and drinking, while listening to the live band that was set up across from the studio. Kids, several of whom were her cousins, were squealing and laughing on the bouncy castle.