Page 35 of A Deal with the Bossy Devil

Instead, I brought my focus back to my breath and allowed it to drift me off to my happy place. I was a monk, basically. My patience was unrivaled.

“You want me to wear a bell?” My voice was pleasant, smooth, curious.

“Yes.”

Pick me up, Ria, the cactus pleaded.I’ll hurt him so good if you hurl me at his idiot head.

Adrien nudged the box on his desk closer to me. It was a digital watch with nothing but a single app installed: a butler’s bell.

“It’ll ring whenever I need you,” Adrien explained as if I were too daft to put two and two together.

I’d be expected to drop everything and go to him whenever the stupid thing rang. And the best part? The app had a tracker running in the background, so it could (and would) inform both parties what my estimated travel time would be.Yayfor me.

Look at all my pins and needles. I grew them all myself. Look how sharp they are. I’ll stick them all in his face if you throw me.

Adrien lizard-blinked at me, looking like he was already bored of having to explain everything. “Sometimes the notification will be accompanied by a message or a request, other times it’ll just provide you with my location.”

Aim for his eyeballs, Ria. My pins will stick to those real good. I’m so good at stabbing into things, you don’t even know. Iamviolence.

I cleared my throat. This was fine. Everything was fine. My whole brain was definitely not on screaming fire. “Will I be able to send messages back?” I asked, my tone calm and peachy.

Everything wasfine.

“No.”

“Okay… will I be provided with a different method of getting in touch with you?”

“Why would you need to be able to get in touch with me?”

My eyes hurt from the effort it was taking not to roll them. “In case I have a question about a request, for example,” I explained reasonably.

“You shouldn’t. They’ll be specific.”

Good lord.“Fine. What if something happens and I’m not able to get to you right away?”

He clicked his tongue. “You’re supposed to be available to me at all times. That’s the deal.”

My hands were behind my back, so he couldn’t see them clench. “What if I get hit by a bus while running one of your errands? Shouldn’t I be able to let you know?”

Adrien waved a dismissive hand in the air. “I’ll see it on the news. Plus, the app will notify me of any substantial physical impact.”

I frowned. “It will? Why?”

“In case you try to smash it.”

Oh. Yeah. Fair enough. That was definitely something I’d do.

Adrien leaned back in his chair, fingers intertwining in front of him. “Wear it,” he ordered.

Last chance, Ria. Throw me at his freaky eyeballs.

It took every last ounce of willpower I had to swallow my pride and reach for the box. I slipped the watch on and tried my best to focus on the positives. Like, for example, at least the strap was subtle nude and not a gaudy neon orange. And at least it wasn’t a collar. (Though if it had been I really would have thrown the cactus.)

“Would you like a demo?” Adrien teased, dark eyes dancing with delighted mischief.

The absolute last fucking thing I wanted was a demo. “Yes, sure. That would be great—”

I jumped out of my skin with a startled gasp when the thing went off. The vibrations were so intense they felt like mini electric shocks. And holy fuck was it loud, andobnoxious.

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