Page 78 of The Devil's Redemption

Me: Hopefully this lockdown will be over soon. When it is, I’m happy to meet you for lunch one day. I still owe you for helping to rescue me.

“You don’t owe him shit,” Blade vents, reading over my shoulder.

“Excuse you, do I go around reading your texts? No.”

Steve: You don’t owe me a thing, but I will take you up on lunch any time.

“See, even he doesn’t think you owe him.”

I roll my eyes playfully.

“It’s not worth arguing with these guys, Sasha,” Mariah explains. “When they’reright, they’reright.” I enjoy her sarcasm as well as her eye-roll. Though it doesn’t seem like Drama does. I hope he’s not actually mad at her. It was clear that she was joking. But I know nothing of the dynamics between members and Doxies. Maybe they’re used for sex but never supposed to speak out of turn?

Suddenly, I feel bad for them. Well, everyone but Lizzy. She’s the new Toni in my life. Speaking of Toni, I saw that she messaged me a few days ago. I haven’t been motivated to respond to it, however, because I’m still treading lightly where she’s concerned.

I pull up her message again, rereading it to see if I’ve missed some hidden jab or secret meaning. But there’s nothing. There’s no way I can twist what she sent into something mean or cruel.

Toni: Hi, Sasha. I wanted to check in with you and see how you’re doing. I’m hoping when you get back to work we can turn over a new leaf. Start fresh?

Let’s not talk about the fact thatshe’sthe owner of said leaf. She’s the attitude. She’s the aggressor. She’s the one who needs to make a change if she ever expects to consider me a friend. I roll my eyes as my turn comes around again.

“Blade?” A voice equal to nails on a chalkboard forces its way into my ears, and I’m instantly irritated.

Fucking Lizzy… Betty Bitch.

“Yeah?” he responds, not looking at her.

“Can I talk to you for a minute? I... I need your help.”

I don’t want to look at her, I don’t want to give her a moment of my time, but I can’t control my own muscles, apparently. My head swivels toward her, catching the seriousness in her features.

What the fuck is this?

Blade isn’t going to fall for her fake wounded bullshit. She’s been here all week... What trouble could she possibly have gotten herself into? Completely making me feel like I know nothing about him, he acknowledges her for the first time this week.

“What is it?”

“Um…” she looks around the table at everyone but me. “It’s kind of private. Can I speak with you alone?”

“Can’t it wait? We’re in the middle of a game here.”

Yes. Yes, Blade. Put her in her place. Let her know that you’re not going to drop everything just because she has a fake problem to be dealt with.

“I—” she sobs. “I guess so…”

She quickly turns her back to the group of us and walks to the other end of the room, flopping down on the sofa.

Oh my fucking god. What a drama queen.

With a deep sigh, Blade tosses his cards onto the table and pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

“I’ll be right back,” he tells me.

Before I get the chance to protest, Blade fists my hair and pulls me in for a kiss that can only be described as searing hot and teeming with possession. By the time he lets go of me, I barely remember my name let alone the reason he’s leaving my side right now. I watch him strut across the room toward her and still can’t be mad because the sight of his tight ass teasing me as he goes dissolves all of my anger.

“Hey,” I hear Maggie’s voice in my ear followed by three snaps, pulling me out of my dreamlike state. “It’s your turn.”

“Oh, sorry. You guys are fast.”

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