Page 21 of Mayhem and Ember

“I will never get used to you two agreeing.” The door opened, and I shot to my feet. Chaos crossed the threshold first, striding to Ash and clutching her hand as if he had to remind his brother of their connection.

Mayhem entered the library next, his posture cocky as hell, his expression… Honestly, I couldn’t read it all, but his calculating eyes raking up and down my body made my blood run cold everywhere except my nether region.

Damn demons and their damn sexy human forms.

“I need shoes and a few hours with your television so I can acclimate myself to the current century.”

I almost told him people in Hell need ice water, but that idiom didn’t seem appropriate, seeing as how he was from Hell. Instead, I held my tongue, glanced at his feet, and tugged my wallet from my back pocket. “Miles, can you buy him a pair of size twelves?” I handed him my credit card.

“How do you know that size will fit?” Mayhem curled his lip. “Don’t witches have to cast spells for everything they do?”

I stiffened, scrambling for a good comeback, but Ash answered for me, “She worked at a shoe store for five years. If she says you’re a twelve, you’re a twelve.”

Miles slipped my card into his pocket. “Got it. Anything else?”

“Undergarments,” Mayhem said. “The seam of these trousers chafes my?—”

“Get them a pack of undies.” I tried to stop the image of the demon’s junk from playing in my mind, but it was no use. He had some really nice junk.

“On it.” Miles headed for the back door.

“Shade, go with him,” I said.

His chest inflated as he cut his gaze between the demons. “I’m not an errand boy.”

Good goddess, I did not have the patience for his ego. “Are you not a team player, either?” I cocked my head. “We don’t go anywhere alone until this fiasco is sorted.”

Mayhem laughed. “Consider yourself a babysitter, if it makes you feel better.”

Shade’s mouth tightened, and he inclined his chin, giving me the stink eye before turning on his heel and following Miles out the back. I would’ve loved to say my tension eased when the ego left the building, but the bare-foot, undie-less demon standing next to me exuded enough to make Shade seem like a shy puppy.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How can today not be over yet?”

“A few more hours, and it will be.” Ash headed for the stairs. “Let’s go up, and I’ll order us dinner.”

The demons walked behind Ash, and I took up the rear to make sure Mayhem didn’t turn and bolt. Patrice stood in the kitchen, and the moment we walked through the door, her eyes widened, the bottle she held slipping from her hands and shattering on the floor.

“Oh! Umm.” She kneeled, her gaze never straying from the guys as she picked up a shard of glass. “Ow! Dammit.”

Blood pooled on her fingertip, and she hurried to the sink to rinse it. She had turned our kitchen into a healer’s workshop, with dried herbs hanging in the window, bottles of spells lined up against the backsplash, and bowls and utensils spread across the countertop.

“I’ll clean that up. Where are Miles and Shade?” She applied a styptic powder to her wound before wrapping it in a bandage.

“I’ve got it.” Ash grabbed the broom and dustpan from the pantry and swept up the mess. “They’re buying shoes and clothes for Mayhem.”

“Okay.” Her gaze bounced between the demons.

“He’s not going to hurt you.” I cast Mayhem a challenging glare.

He arched a brow in return. “Not tonight anyway.”

“I know.” She wiped the counter with a rag, pink flushing her cheeks. “I set up a ward on the stairs. Well…more like an alarm for anyone with ill intent. I’ve mixed so many potions, my vim is a little taxed.”

“Ember and I will set up more before we go to bed.” Ash returned the broom to the pantry and swiped open her phone. “How do tacos sound?”

My stomach growled at the mere mention of nature’s most perfect food. “Throw in a twelve-pack of Corona, and I’m sold.”

“On it.” Ash sank into the middle cushion on the sofa. “I’ll ask the guys to pick it up on their way back.

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