Page 13 of Sinner's End

“Either. Both. Whatever it takes.”

I stare at him with my mouth hanging open. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. I don’t need to work at Harken. I do it because I’m bored.”

“You’ll give up your job for a single date? What if we don’t get along?”

“Sweetness, I’m positive you and I are going to get along like a house on fire.” His grin has returned.

I watch him carefully. I’m trying to figure out if he is serious but he isn’t giving away a damn thing.

“If you lie to me and I find out—” I start, but he cuts me off.

“I never lie.”

Chapter Six

I Got a Date with a Hot Girl

Kaleb

She said yes and now I have a date. Not with just any girl—thegirl. The one I know will knock me on my ass until the day I put a ring on her finger, and then she’ll knock me down some more.

I whistle into the wind, my tuneless song fading in my wake as I wander away from her house. Leaving might have been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but after hoisting her drug-fucked sister out of her Honda Civic—damn, that would be the first present I buy my girl, a new car—any thoughts of taking that kiss that rocked my cock earlier fucked right off.

Emma drooled a little Mana on me, and nothing could take that edge of pure, from the source, ForgetMeKnot, off. Not even a scalding shower followed by an icy one in their shared upstairs bathroom. The place stinks of Harken’s drug, and Addi. It’s like Mana personally marked up her private space, and I swear I’ll eradicate every damn inch of him from that house as soon as I get a key.

As in, the one she will give me maybe three sleepovers in once I kiss her senseless, make her breakfast, and show her what real love feels like. Not the key that fit her lock just fine that I made from her sister’s key ring a month prior. The place draws me to it, and I thought for a while it had something to do with the location… Now I know it’s who lives inside the Gothic mansion that calls to me.

And I can give Addi so much more than watching her from the shadows. Not that I’m the only one who watches her, but I’ll be the one to claim her, give her so much more than the shit show Mana exposed her to. That man—Iknowhe isn’thuman, but he pays fine and I give my loyalty to my employers—bringstoxicto another level in so many ways. Fuck, his blood has half the damn town high most weekends.

I have no intention of letting him any closer to Addi than necessary. Her sister … well, I’m not beyond giving up a little sacrifice for the cause. And her twin doesn’t seem impressed to have to drag her out of Harken yet again.

My footsteps never falter as I turn toward Mana’s doorstep, already planning the strategy I need to take. What I don’t count on is the extra set of footsteps that fall in line at my side.

“Would you like to tell him, or shall I?” a deceptively soft voice purrs. Bowen Kathros. Mana’s keeper, and kept pet.

The tall angel keeps pace with me easily. Heat rockets off the man who waltzes around in a white wifebeater, squiggly marks he manages to pass off as ink adorning every inch of his marred skin. Pale gray hair drapes artistically over his equally pale face, all angles and harsh lines that if you look at just right doesn’t look so perfect after all.

But only if you catch the angel off guard.

“I’ll fight my own battles, thanks.” I learned long ago to watch the bargains I make around immortals who play at being men, like those who made them never threw them out of their realms for whatever reasons.

Since no one told me, I guess they were all really shit at their jobs to be forced into a human existence with each other for company.

“I can be your backup.”

“Ever the temptress.” I pause at the edge of Sinner’s End land, aiming for the shortcut back to Harken through the town, instead of around the people I know Bowen will want to avoid. “I wonder, do you bend over on Sundays as well, or would I be better to place my money with you on the corner?” I eye himwith a shit-eating grin. “I’ll buy you a pretty skirt.”

Bowen looks sickened when he sees my intended route, and I know his greenage has nothing to do with my teasing. For all his pomp and presence, all his showy “look at me” bullshit, he’s an outright coward.

“I happen to look fabulous in drag,” he murmurs, wiggling his ass a little in the white leather pants he habitually wears.

I swear he and Mana, with his longer, dark hair, look like a nineties’ boy band duet. Not that I’d say so, because I happen to like my dick attached to my body.

“Of course you do.” I shake my head. “Wasanythingoff limits wherever the hell you came from?”

The grin he throws my way and the heated glance that travels south dissolves my smile. “Not half as much as they make out down here. Gender norms aren’t as rigid.” He leans across me, swiping his fingers over my dick that hardens against my will. “Mmm, your desire for the pretty little fire flower at Sinner’s End does it for you, doesn’t she?”

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