Page 57 of Twisted
“Ask me about what?”Xavier speeds into the room, stopping right next to me.I playfully smack his arm.
“It is not fair that you can do that,” I retort, unable to help but smile as I look up at him.Devon takes a quick step back and it’s weird I feel guilty, right?I shouldn’t.Because there isn’t anything between Devon and me.
There can’t be.
He’s my brother-in-law.
I’m married.
Yeah, we have the overly complicated and messed up issue that he’s supposed to get me pregnant at some point, but we haven’t crossed that bridge yet.
“I’ve suggested they wear bells, like a cat,” Devon chides and I laugh.
“Hey, that’s not a terrible idea.”I raise my brows.
“What did you want to ask?”Xavier steps in closer, hand landing on the small of my back.
“I want my phone,” I say, looking into his eyes and waiting for a reaction.“I’m like a prisoner without access to social media.”
“Fine.Mabel keeps going on and on about setting up a TikTok account for you.I’ll have a phone charged and ready for you after you shower.”He looks at his watch.“Which you need to get done before we’re late.”
“Late?”
His hand slides around to the curve of my hip and suddenly, the fact that Devon is watching turns me on.My mind flashes to what else he could watch us do…and then eventually join.
“We have another dinner to attend, and I need you there as both a witch and my wife.”
“With the Vampire Council again?”
“There may be a member from the VC there, but thiscouncilwe’re meeting with is more off-the-books, if you know what I mean.”
Oh, shit.I do, and suddenly that crazy rumor Leo heard about Xavier possibly being the one responsible for the new, deadly drugs makes sense.
CHAPTER23
“Thank you so much for joining us!”Mabel waves to the phone.“Catch ya next time, my little May Bells!”She ends the live stream and turns to me, clapping her hands together.“That was fun!”
“It was,” I say and actually mean it.She insisted I do aGet Ready with Mevideo on her TikTok channel.All we did was talk while she recorded her doing my hair and makeup.
For as out of it as Mabel can be, she’s good on camera and I can see why she’s gained so many followers so fast.Vampire aside, she’s interesting and personable.Pretty, rich, and married into a powerful legacy, she’s the kind of person us regular folk like to watch from the safety of our humble houses, laying in a bed that probably doesn’t even have a headboard.
“And my hair looks amazing,” I compliment.“Thank you!”
“Of course, you’re my best friend!”She brings her hands to her chest and smiles.“Am I yours?Wait, you don’t have to answer that.”
“I’ve never had a best friend,” I tell her honestly.“My brothers were the closest things I’ve had to real friends, I guess.”I shrug.“I don’t know if that’s sad or not, but life in the Order isn’t really made to help anyone have a good social life.”I close my eyes and shake my head.“Actually, that’s an Order-fed line of bullshit.I had friends but once people found out I was a witch, I was outcast.”
“Back in my day, witches, werewolves, and shifters weren’t considered human.”
“They’re still not.”
“Then why did the Russos keep you?”She goes over to her jewelry dresser and opens the top drawer.Everything is carefully laid out.“Rubies tonight, dontcha’ think?”
“Yeah.That would match.”I’m wearing a tight black dress that ends mid-thigh with sleek Louboutin heels.Mabel let her followers pick the style for my whole look tonight, and this was deemed “siren chic”…whatever that means.
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks and the emotions I’ve been telling myself weren’t there threaten to come to the surface.“I was told that Vivan and Marco were hunting demons in Italy but it was too late.These demons killed a family and my mom supposedly died heroically, saving me.Vivian just had the twins like six months before that and felt her maternal instincts kick in or whatever and took me so they could keep me safe.Ya know, since the demon wanted to take out my whole family but missed one.”
“The way you say that tells me something has recently made you see that wasn’t true.”
