Page 13 of Deal with the Devil

“Hey, psst,” She scooped some pasta into her mouth. Maevin leaned forward, an eager expression painted on his marble-esque face. “What’s Knox’s last name?”

“Zrazduel.” Maevin smirked to himself as he lowered his voice, “It’s fiendish for ‘eater of fear’.”

“Intense,” she breathed.

“Fiends tend to be pretty literal in their naming. Whatever their trade or descent is, usually is their last name. He picked it long time ago.”

She squinted at him. Fear eating was his trade? What did descent mean? She didn’t want to be rude. Just like a human to know nothing about fiends. However, she’d never…been this intimate with anyone before… How ironic it would be the only time she went into something not wanting to catch feelings. And here she was, asking for his last name and letting him put a belt around her neck. It was scary how easily it was to give into her desires around him. She’d never trusted anyone enough to play with her throat like that.

And the man she shouldn’t trust with anything was the only person she trusted to do it safely. Just enough pressure, just enough teasing and pain, just enough grit, he was the perfect mix…the perfect poison. Her heart slowed to a sluggish beat as she tried to put food in her stomach. It churned unhappily. It wasn’t until he sank down into his seat, breaking a bread stick in half, that it lightened. When he offered her a piece of his bread, her heart sped back up.

“Apologies, pet.” He took up his wine and took a long sip.

“No need,” she blushed, picking at the bread.What is this? Why is this happening to me?She grimaced, “You’re a busy guy.”

“Work-a-holic, truthfully,” Maevin laughed, sitting back in his chair.

“When you’re running an entire empire, it’s hard to have a day off.” Knox glared at Maevin, handing back the phone.

“Am I allowed to pry? Or is that one of those, ‘if you tell me you’ll have to kill me’ type of things?” She tossed warm, buttery bread into her mouth.

“Well, currently, no harm can come to you.” He nodded at her palm. She jerked up straight in her seat. Stuffing the last bits of bread into her mouth, she glanced at her hand. He reached across her and took it gently. Flipping her palm up, he pointed at the symbols. They danced for him. “Our contract was twenty-four hours, pet. I promised on that contract that I would not hurt you, that Rick’s debts would be wiped from the books, and then I would personally take you home afterward.”

Maevin’s eyebrows rocketed off his face with surprise. The elf choked on his pasta. “Ywo-did-whut?”

Knox waved him off, giving Amelia back her hand. She inspected her hand, flipping it back and forth. Then, she eyed him. “And if I broke it? What would happen?”

“Well, you’d lose your hand, first off.” His face curled with wicked glee. She glared at him. He caught her chin between his forefinger and thumb. “I wouldn’t worry about the contract breaking fee, pet, you’re too well behaved.”

She arched a brow. “Is that a challenge?”

He leaned closer, making her heart rapidly pound against her rib cage. Maevin, however, cut through the sexual tension with a cold slap of ‘cut that shit out’. “Ew. No, please, I’ll toss chunks, quit it.”

Knox inched back into his seat, glaring at Maevin. “What are you even doing down here?”

“Eating, duh,” Maevin motioned at his food.

Knox slapped himself in the forehead, all his fabulous floppy hair falling over his face. Maevin giggled once more, eating his food with gusto. Amelia was able to eat without knotted organs. The two men spoke in a hush, not excluding her, but she drifted in and out of the conversation, not wanting to interject. Who did what, how did the business deal go, what was it like, who did he see. They weaved in and out of the conversation before the room slowly filled with silence. Forks and knives scraping against plates as they cut into the chicken breasts that had come with the pasta. Amelia used bread to sop up the rest of the sauce.

That’s when Knox glanced at her and she froze, blushing under his stare. She let out a wheeze, “What?”

“Where did you learn to fight?” Knox cocked his head.

“Why? She fight someone?” Maevin gave her an impressed once over.

“She stabbed Rick in the neck.”

“Oh shit,” Maevin gasped, nearly spilling the wine he’d brought up to his lips.

“Well, if you did your research, you would know that,” she teased, sneering at Knox. He narrowed his eyes playfully to her. Chewing on her lower lip, she took a moment to keep from cackling before answering him seriously. “Mom wanted a dancer to follow in her pirouetting steps, you know? But dad wanted someone to be a heavy weight champion. So, Penny took ballet since she could walk…and I was the teacher’s kid in a boxing club. If it wasn’t my dad holding me to a high standard, it was all the kids three times my size trying to beat me to kinda address some ego in them. I had to be fast, and I had to be ruthless.”

Something came over Knox’s face. Like he recognized something in her, and they sat there, staring at each other with something dawning over them both. She exhaled, “How…did you become this…business man.”

“I was a poor kid, once upon a time, and much like yourself had to learn to be fast and ruthless. Started small. Made a name for myself.” He shrugged so nonchalantly. Like she hadn’t seen the scars. She wasn’t one to point those out. Scars are so deeply personal and she was still, at her core, trying not to like him. Despite everything, it would hurt less if she didn’t like him. But he’d been covered in them. The only difference was all the scars she had were on her soul.

There was no doubt his soul was just as riddled as his body.

“And the casino?”

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