Page 32 of Demon with Benefits
A few minutes later, as Suyin was walking through the first sigil they’d be attempting, it did. Iris acted all surprised and said to the group, “Sorry, I thought I turned it off.”
Suyin glared at her, and Iris felt like the bad student. First she’d shown up with a dog, and now she was getting calls in class. She was definitely getting shit for this later.
She pretended to check the call display. “Damn it, I have to take this.” She answered the phone as she stood up, hoisting Faust under her arm.
“Miss me, sweet cheeks?” that sexy-as-sin voice said through the phone connection.
Right there, in front of the entire coven, a wave of arousal washed over her. She cursed him to Hell and back.
“Hi, yes, this is Iris Donovan,” she replied in her ultra-polite phone voice.
“Uh, what?”
She walked toward the far corner of the room to the base of the staircase, speaking in a low voice that was still loud enough to be overheard. “What do you mean the payment didn’t go through? The charge was sent through my card last month.”
“Oh, I get it. Okay, I’ll play along.” Meph put on a ridiculous fake voice. “Yes, well,ahem, it seems you’re flat broke and your credit card isn’t good for shit, Ms. Donovan.”
Iris only barely managed to stifle her laugh. When she glanced up, she saw Lily watching her with a frown. “Can’t you wait until tomorrow for me to come in?”
“Nope,” Meph replied, still playing along. “Has to be now, dollface. This is a one-time, time-sensitive offer, and if you don’t get your tight ass over here right now, I’m going to spank it. Did I say it right? How am I doing?”
“Brilliant,” she replied sarcastically. “But what about my sister? Her payment must have cleared.”
“Oh, no, the spanking’s only for you. I think Mist would kill me, though I have to say the twins thing is pretty hot.”
Want to punch him so badly.“That’s ridiculous!”
“Totally unfair.”
“Fine, I’ll come by and put the payment through again, but I’m telling you, the card works.”
“You do that, baby girl. And make it quick. You’ve been bad and need to be taught a lesson.”
The idiot was having way too much fun with this. Despite herself, she snorted.
“Hey now, don’t break character,” Meph scolded.
“I can’t believe you people.”
“Better. But now that you’ve used me to get out of whatever awkward situation you’re in, you owe me. And a demon always collects his debts.”
“Whatever. I’ll be there soon.”
“I look forward to it, sugar.” He hung up.
She really should have had someone else call. She could just imagine what kind of “debt” Meph intended to collect.
Iris made a big show of approaching Lily and whispering in her ear about some fake payment that they needed to sort out immediately, and thank god, Lily caught on and played along.
They excused themselves from the group, who had moved on to studying each of the individual symbols inside the sigil and practicing the auditory incantation, and Suyin came over as they were heading toward the exit.
“I’ll just wait outside,” Lily said, and she hurried up the creaky stairs.
“You okay?” Suyin asked Iris. She swept her hair behind one shoulder and eyed Faust suspiciously.
“Yeah, all good. Just stupid bank crap, you know.” Iris felt like the biggest piece of shit for lying to her best friend. But it was a lie that had to be told.
“I don’t mean that. I mean, lately, you’ve been pulling away from the coven. You used to spend every day here, to the point where I’d have to drag your ass home, and now you’re late for meetings? It’s not like you.”
