Page 11 of The Devil's Spawn

“I understand, Master.” I didn’t, but I understood it was what he wanted to hear, and the submissive in me delighted at his surprised reaction. Sometimes, a girl just had to keep her Master on his sexy toes. “May I finish fixing lunch now, Master?”

“You may. I’ll get the kids ready.”

I rose fluidly, aiming for graceful yet sexy, and moved to leave. At the last second, he pulled me onto his lap again, this time to sit.

“I forgot something,” he said, voice raspy with sudden desire. His attention fell to my mouth, and in response, I parted my lips. Tangling a fist in my hair, he angled my head and claimed my lips with a ravenous mouth. His tongue pushed inside, battling my own, and we both moaned into the kiss.

Then he let me go as suddenly as he’d grabbed me. “Nowyou may finish making lunch.”

6. Elephants

Conner was downright morose during lunch. But at least Eve had bounced back from our rocky morning.

“Then Leah said she liked Toby, but Toby and his stupid friends found out. The boys were so mean to her!” She glared at Conner. “I’ll never like boys. Gross.”

He glared right back, and that warning glint in his blue eyes sent a chill down my spine. He certainly had the best of Gage in him—his fierce loyalty, for one—but every now and again I glimpsed the same dominant curve to that boy’s smile.

But Conner was far from smiling now. He hadn’t said a word since we’d all sat down for lunch. To say he was unhappy at losing video game privileges was an understatement. Eve either didn’t care, or she was oblivious. She continued her hundred-mile-per-hour chatter.

“I’m sooo glad Leah isn’t a boy,” she said. “Or we couldn’t be friends.” Eve scrunched her nose. “But she likes boys!” she said, rolling her eyes. “Why do girls like boys, Mom?” She’d stopped calling me “Mommy” at the start of first grade, because apparently, Leah said it was a baby thing to do.

“That’s a good question.” Whydidwe put up with men? We not only liked them, but we fucking loved them—even when they left our asses tender from obscene punishments. It was insanity.

“Is Simone still your best friend?” Eve asked me.

The girl had a sharp memory. Before I could answer, Gage interjected.

“Actually, your mom is spending the day with Simone on Monday.”

I turned a stunned gaze on him. He shot me a grin, the tilt of his mouth hinting at how happy my submission earlier in the bedroom had made him.

“Your mom works hard around here to take care of us,” he told Eve. “I think it’s time she had a day to herself. What do you think, kids?”

“Can I go, too? Pleeease?” Eve whined.

“Sorry, princess. You’ve got school.”

Conner shoved his plate away. “Can I be done? I wanna go to my room.”

I thought Gage was going to object, but the dejected sigh he let out instead pricked at my heart. He was trying so hard to connect with Conner.

“Go ahead.”

The legs of Conner’s chair scraped the floor, and he left the room without ceremony. The boy spent most of the day in his room until Gage made him join us for a board game.

And that was how the weekend passed—uneventful and unbearably slow. Normally, it wouldn’t bother me so much, but I had plans for the first time in months, set in stone later that night after Gage programmed Simone’s number into my cell and gave me permission to call her. For whatever reason, he was giving me a reprieve from the monotony of my life for a day.

My fingers clutched my cell, but I didn’t move to make the call. No, my first instinct was to question him on his unexpected generosity, but upon his eyebrow quirk, I shoved my reservations aside and dialed Simone.

Permission was permission. And hell, I was excited at the prospect of a girls’ day out.

Regardless, I couldn’t help but dissect the implications. Either aliens had taken over Gage’s body, or punishing me in the ass had put him in a damn good mood. It was the only explanation I could come up with because Simone had been a sore spot in our recent history ever since she’d come to me about Ian’s cancer. Not that Gage had cared for her to begin with, but this was the first time in…everthat he’d given me the go-ahead—on his prerogative, for that matter—without so much as a sideways glance.

And that mademethe suspicious one. It made the stubborn part of my mind latch right onto Katherine again, agonizing over the what-ifs. By the time Monday arrived, I’d given in to the poisonous doubts plaguing me. I was in full-on paranoid mode.

Simone was unusually quiet from across the small table for two at our favorite bistro. Tilting my head, I tried catching her gaze. She’d barely said two words since we’d given the waitress our lunch orders. I knew she wasn’t happy with the way I’d gone MIA for the last few months, but I’d naively thought we could pick up where we’d left off. I’d naively thought she’d understand. I should have known better.

“I’m kind of surprised you called,” she said, breaking the silence.

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