Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 110802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Tanner grinned. “Aw, kitten, we both know you adore me.”
Devon’s upper lip curled. “Don’t you have a bone to go chew on?”
“You know that tone makes me want to bite you.”
Harper raised a hand to shush them. “Raini, I can’t take your silence anymore. What do you think?”
She slowly pivoted on her heel to face them and blew out a breath. And then her face broke into a bright smile that should have knocked them all on their asses. “When can we move in?”
“Whenever you want – it’s yours,” said Knox.
“We have to redecorate first,” Khloë pointed out, fishing out her phone. “List. We need a list of what needs doing.” Raini and Devon dashed over to her.
As the three girls chatted, Harper turned to Knox. “You’re feeling really smug right now, aren’t you?”
“Relieved,” he said.
“Smug,” she insisted.
Knox shrugged as he admitted unrepentantly, “I like to get my way.” He dropped the keys for the building into her hand. “Now I have to go. Meet me at my office when you’re done here.” He kissed her. “Be good.” With that, he and Levi left.
“You made the right decision, Harper,” said Tanner.
She smiled, slipping her hands into her pockets. “Yeah, I think so too.”
“Will you close the other place straight away?” he asked.
“Not until we’ve officially opened this one. A lot of people have booked in advance or need to come back for more sessions to finish their tattoos. I can delay demon clients, since they can simply come here later on, but not human clients.” She didn’t like to let people down.
Raini nodded. “We’ll need to tell humans we’re shutting down the business altogether or they’ll ask where we’re moving.”
Tanner folded his arms. “How fast do you think you can get this place ready, bearing in mind that you can’t spend a lot of time here while you’re still working at the other studio?”
“Around three weeks, if we call on our lair,” said Khloë, tapping her fingers on her iPhone.
Devon pointed to the carpet. “We need to get rid of that. In fact, it might be best to strip the place bare.”
“In terms of furnishings and equipment, I think we should get all new stuff,” announced Khloë.
“Yeah,” agreed Raini. “We can afford to, since we won’t have the costs here that we have in the other place.”
Khloë looked up from her phone. “Okay, so, we list every single item.”
“Let me guess,” began Tanner, “you’ll then hand over that list to your relatives. And they’ll probably steal half of it so you’re not waiting on delivery companies.”
Khloë looked appropriately affronted. “Of course they won’t. I can’t believe you’d say that.”
Tanner just snorted.
“The last grand opening we did was fun,” said Devon. “We should make this fun, too.”
Raini nodded, smiling. “We could do a street party. Maybe get a band from one of the bars to play outside. People love free food.”
“And we could do a ribbon cutting,” added Devon.
Harper pursed her lips. “Yeah, that would be fun. We could even get a celebrity to cut it.” Everyone stared at her, and she frowned. “What?”
Tanner spoke. “Harper, you are a celeb.”
She frowned. “No, I’m not.”
“To our kind? Yeah you are,” insisted Devon.
Harper just waved a dismissive hand.
“Can we please get a vending machine?” asked Khloë. “We didn’t have room for one in the last place.”
Harper blinked at the surprising request. “I guess.”
Khloë brightened. “Score!”
“We’re going to make this place look good,” declared Devon. “Even better than our first studio.”
Once they’d finished their list, they called in her family. The imps set about rolling up the carpet and getting rid of anything Harper didn’t wish to keep – all of which her family would no doubt sell. Her uncle, Richie, claimed to have a van she could use to help transport the things they wished to bring from the old studio when she was ready, which was probably the same van he used to transport all the illegal shit her family got their hands on.
It was around 6.30 pm that everyone agreed to call it a day. As Harper and Tanner made their way to Knox’s office, the sentinel walked just a little in front of her to protect her from being bumped or jarred by pedestrians. Most of the bars, restaurants, and clubs came alive in the evening, so it was fairly busy. Security shutters were being lifted and street vendors were setting up all over the place.
“Excuse me, have you seen this woman?”
Oh, God, she knew that voice. Up ahead, Roan was walking around with a photo of Carla, showing it to people. There was genuine worry in his expression, and she couldn’t help feeling a little bad for him. Jolene was the closest thing she’d ever had to a mother, and Harper knew she’d be a wreck if something happened to —