Page 16 of Demons

“Why’re you calling my woman this time?” he asked.

“Needed a favor,” I told him.

“Then, ask me.”

Damn, he almost made me want to laugh. “Can’t. They’ll know you at the bakery.”

He let out a sigh. “You’re sending Briar to go get those damn lemon cookies again?”

“Yeah.”

“What is up with the cookies?”

That I wasn’t telling him. Briar respected that I’d given her the nudge she needed to forgive Storm for his possessive, controlling actions. I would use that small leverage to get the cookies when needed.

“Nothing.”

“No, it’s something. You’re not shoving them down someone’s throat that’s allergic to them, are you? This isn’t a punishment of some kind for someone breathing Capri’s air?”

I took another pull from the cigarette and dropped it on the ground. “You sound like a woman,” I told him, then ended the call before sliding my phone back into my pocket.

I’d leave the cookies on Capri’s front porch, then watch her for a while tonight. I slept better the nights I stayed in her backyard until she turned off the lights and went to bed. Letting her see me the other night had been a bad idea. It spooked her. I hadn’t wanted that, but I could see now how that might bother a female.

She wouldn’t see me again.

Especially when I was in her room.

• Seven •

“Do you think that was, like, a booty call?”

Capri

Esther sat across the booth from me at Ray’s, our favorite pizza place in town, twirling the straw in her iced tea while telling me about the colors she had decided on for her wedding. I did my best to listen and act like I cared. I did kinda care. I mean, she was my best friend, and she was engaged. I was happy she was happy about it. Although she’d known Jaiden most of her life. We both had. It just seemed … boring.

They’d had sex last year for the first time, and she’d worried about it for weeks after. Sometimes, I wondered if he’d proposed out of guilt. Sex before marriage was a sin. I, however, wasn’t so sure it was something that would keep you out of heaven. I mean, the Bible had been translated so many times that there had to be things that were added along the way. How did we know what was actually God’s word and not something some uptight, stick-in-the-mud religious zealot had thrown in there hundreds of years ago?

I just didn’t see why them having sex meant they had to get married. I mean, the deed was done. Getting married didn’t erase it. God forgave sins. You didn’t get them wiped by marrying someone. Seemed dramatic to me.

“You look so good in turquoise,” she said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I’d missed what she said before that. Oops. She was looking at me to respond.

“Uh, yeah, I love turquoise,” I agreed, hoping that was what I was supposed to say.

Her brows drew together, and she leaned back against her seat. “I’m boring you. I’ll stop the wedding talk. I know I’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

I shook my head. “No, I want to hear it.” Lie, but I felt like a bad friend.

She grinned. “You’re a terrible liar. You were completely zoning out on me. I could see it in your eyes. Tell me about the jockey gig at the Shephards’. How’s it going up in the lair of the rich and sinful?”

I laughed and picked up my glass of water. She knew my parents had been furious when they found out I was riding for the Shephards. Not that they had any say so in my life anymore, but that didn’t stop my mother from ranting at me for days about the dangers of working for “those people.”

“It’s amazing,” I told her. “They’re normal people. It’s no different than the other stables I’ve ridden for. Well, except these are by far the most elaborate stables I’ve ever seen.”

Esther wagged her eyebrows. “And it’s full of eye candy.”

I took a drink and tried not to think about Thatcher. I’d had more cookies at my door last night. I wanted them to be from him, but I couldn’t work that out in my head. He barely spoke to me.

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