Page 64 of Lucifer's Hounds

Mindy: Good morning.

Mindy: Guess what day it is?!

Mindy: Wake up!

Mindy: Lilly Amber..

Mindy: I know that you are off in some random state, in some hotel room, with some smoking hot biker that fucks you right and makes you smile, but the real worldis out here, it’s still opening day, and I need to speak to you.

Mindy: Lilly. Help. NOW.

Mindy: I really need you to be awake.

Mindy: We have a situation here and it would be amazing if you could get in touch with me.

Mindy: Isn’t your flight soon? Why are you not responding?

I finish reading the nine messages from Mindy, laughing at the impatience of my friend.

“I need to call Mindy. She sent nine messages. Evidently, there’s a situation and she needs to talk to me. It’s probably something to do with the grand opening,” I say.

“Nine? Wow,” Cass says. He’s nearly done straightening up the room, pausing beside the bed. Cass hands me a pair of blue jeans and a black long-sleeve that fits so tight, I swear I’ll have to cut it to get it off.

I dial Mindy’s number and wait for the excited and hyper answer I expect on the other end when Mindy answers.

“Lilly Amber Summers!” Mindy yells when she answers the phone.

“Mindy Leann Hollis!” I retort.

“Okay, let me give you a little rundown of what has gone on in the past day since you’ve been gone. Ryan came in and has helped a ton. She’s amazing. She’s getting the hang of bartending quickly. The other girl they sent in has been doing so much cleaning around here that it’s starting to smell like a Mr. Clean factory. All our orders have come in for liquor and beer. We have a full staff ready to work their asses off tonight, and the only thing missing is you and boss man.” Mindy finally pauses to take a breath, giving me the opportunity to chime in.

“It sounds like you’ve just got it all figured out. How’s business been? Are we starting to get some traffic through there or what?”

“Business has been great. Speaking of, don’t you have a flight to catch?” Mindy asks.

“Yes ma’am. Cleaning up the room now and about to head for the airport.”

“Okay love. Have a safe flight and we’ll see you when you get here!” Mindy’s overly cheerful voice makes me smile.

“Bye love,” I say, hanging up the phone.

“What was so important?” Cass asks sarcastically.

I giggle and shrug my shoulders. “I’m really not sure. I think she just wanted to brag about how great everything is going. I think she just misses me.”

Cass grins. “I’d be missing you too if I were her.”

I filter through the other three messages on my phone, all three from my mom.

Mom: Miss you.

Mom: Hope you’re safe.

Mom: Call me when you can. Love you.

I need to fill her in soon. I do a sweep of the room, making sure that we’ve got all of our items. The last thing I need to do is leave something here in Cali. Well, if I had my things with me. I grab the key card and shove it into my pocket. I’ll save it as a souvenir from the time I went to Cali and did nothing more than sleep all day. Well, and get fucked in the airport parking lot. Cass sneaks up behind me, his arms wrapping around my stomach and his chin resting in the curve of my neck. His beard pokes me, making me shiver and giggle.

He kisses my cheek softly. “Whatcha thinking?”

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