Page 104 of The Devil and His Goddess

The words came out before I even knew they were on my tongue, but the truth of the confession brought fresh tears to my eyes. I missed laughing, talking, and joking around with him. I missed lying naked together after multiple rounds of sex. I missed his smile—hisrealone.

Lip trembling, I reached out to squeeze his free hand. “I miss you, Perseus.”

The careful mask he wore cracked as his face fell in tired despair. “I’m right here, baby.” He reached out to gently stroke my cheek. “I’malwaysgoing to be right here.”

Chapter 39

Harper

MY BODY SHOOK AS HANDS jostled my shoulder lightly. I groaned and blinked my heavy eyes open to find Aiysha beaming down at me from beside the bed.

“Aiysha?” I asked groggily.

“Wakey, wakey! It’s almost ten.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, running a sleepy hand over my face.

I looked around the dimly lit bedroom for Perseus, but the demon was nowhere in sight. Seeing as it was a Friday and the day before Christmas Eve, he was probably at Silverlight, getting his dancers ready for a weekend ofThe Nutcrackerperformances.

“I’m here on an important mission,” Aiysha declared as she straightened and held up two extremely full bags that overflowed with red and green clothes, tinsel, and jingle bells. “We’re going to get into the holiday spirit.”

I raised my brow at her. Normally, I’d leap to my feet and bounce around the house as I prepared for my favorite time of year. But that spirit Aiysha wanted to bring out of me was struggling to come. I’d managed to get out of the room and to the dance studio everyday for the past couple of days, but I still wasn’t any closer to feeling better. The warm-ups and exercises brought me a certain sense of returning to myself, but the minute I turned on the music and faced the mirrors, I’d freeze up again, unable to get past my reflection.

Aiysha smiled and wiggled excitedly as she waited for me to get up. My heart lurched, because it had been so long since I’d seen her this bright. I couldn’t crush her enthusiasm because of the lack of my own.

Offering her the smallest grin I could, I got up from the bed and followed her into the bathroom. While I showered, she unloaded the bags, which held a plethora of Christmas themed clothes and accessories. She caught me up on her final grades for the semester—straight A’s, of course—as well as her plans as she moved into her final semester of the year.

That wasn’t the biggest news, though. Brenden had finally asked her to be his girlfriend.

“About time,” I chuckled weakly as I stepped out of the shower in a towel.

“That’s what Addie said, too,” Aiysha laughed. “Iyla said he asked just in time for Christmas and wants to know what he ends up getting me.”

“Details we all want to know.”

Even as the words left my mouth, lead weighed my shoulders down. I knew I hadn’t been a good friend to Aiysha lately. I’d been too lost in my grief to check in about her and Brenden. I was just glad our new friends had been there to share in her excitement. She deserved it.

Once dry, Aiysha got me into a red sweater with a fuzzy Christmas tree in the center and some leggings patterned with colorful Christmas lights. She blow-dried my hair and styled the long black strands into curls before depositing reindeer antlers with gold bells on my scalp. She pulled her own black hair into a bun and wrapped tinsel around it. She donned her own ugly Christmas sweater, and after she applied a little bit of make-up on our faces, she gave me an approving nod.

“Excellent,” she cheered with a radiant smile. She grabbed her phone and mumbled, “Now, let me just check something …” Her smile lifted, something I hadn’t even thought possible considering how large it already was. Shoving the device into her jeans, she grabbed my hands and pulled me to my fuzzy-socked feet. “Okay! Let’s go!”

“Where are we going?” I asked as she opened the bathroom door.

She didn’t answer me, but as I drew near the closed bedroom door, a whiff of something sweet filled my nose. I sniffed the air again, confirming the smell of baking cookies. But Perseus was surely at work. It was only Aiysha and I here, so who …

Aiysha stopped by the door and gestured at it. “After you.”

Curious about the source of the smell, I stepped into the hallway and started toward the living area. The scent of baking sugar cookies grew stronger, as did the faint sound of voices and classical music. As I drew closer to the main space, I recognized the soundtrack forThe Nutcrackerplaying, but more than that, a warm, feminine laugh trickled to my ears. My eyes widened, and I sucked in a sharp breath as I froze in my tracks. I listened to the sweet sound, sure I had misheard. When it was joined by many more familiar laughs, I realized I hadn’t heard wrong at all.

The familiar voices snapped me back to reality, and a surge of adrenaline had me racing down the hall and through the archway of the living room. Standing across the vast room, around the kitchen island, was my family. My parents, my brothers, Aiysha’s parents, and her siblings. They huddled around the island, rolling out cookie dough as Perseus pulled a batch from the oven before replacing it with another.

Todd, one of my younger brothers, spotted me. His blue eyes brightened, and he abandoned his cookie dough to race toward me. “Harper!”

I sucked in a shaky breath as tears pooled in my eyes, and I met him halfway, falling into his bear hug. Even though Todd and Mitch were 16 and 14, the teen boys were a good head taller, and my petite frame fit easily in their arms.

“Took you long enough to get out here,” Todd laughed, releasing me just in time for Mitch to wrap me in his hold.

I squeezed him tightly as he picked me right up off my feet and shook me around like he was trying to break me. I laughed at his outrageous hug, even as I threatened to burst from how hard he held me. The suffocating hug had never felt sweeter.

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