Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Yes, he is completely sinful.
Full of sin.
If you put his name next to sin in a dictionary, the world would make sense. The universe would applaud, and people would suddenly realize what it really felt like to fall.
I clear my throat. “I’ll just put my things in the locker and meet you back out here?”
“You’re bartending tonight,” he says. “So make sure you—” He tilts his head. “Your makeup looks good, but—” He walks up to me. “May I?”
I frown. “May you what?”
He licks his thumb and presses it against my cheek. “I’m just going to blend it a bit. Since it’s so dark in the club if you look more… wrecked, the customers will stare harder. Think of it like more manipulation and trickery. We want them to want to know your story.” He smudges the edges of my eyes and tilts my chin toward him.
I don’t know why I’m shaking.
Maybe it’s fear.
Or maybe it’s just because he’s singlehandedly one of the most beautiful people I’ve seen in my life up close.
He also brought me home last night.
And he stayed.
Nobody ever stays.
I clear my throat. “Better?”
He pats me on the head and pauses when my eyes close. I’ve always loved being touched on my head, I have no clue why and if I had parents that were still alive, I’d ask them about it, but I’m assuming it’s a familiar thing that makes me feel safe and loved.
He runs his large hand up and down.
“Not to disturb whatever this is.” Tarek’s voice interrupts. “But we have some thirsty customers.”
Horus jerks his hand to his side and clears his throat twice. “On my way.”
“Yeah, I just have to…” I do a small circle in an attempt to find the employee restroom. “Go.”
Tarek points. “Right there, yup, there you go, three steps to your right. What the hell kind of spell did Horus put on you?”
He pets me.
I mean… touched me. He— I shake my head. “Give me one minute.”
I don’t wait to see what they talk about. I make a beeline toward the employee room, where I shove everything in the first empty locker and close it.
A flash of movement captures my attention.
“What was that?” I ask myself. “Ugh, I’m going crazy.”
I look to the right and spot a mirror reflecting my image. I check my face. The smudges near my eyes… I hate that he’s right. It looks more mysterious, more high fashion—my makeup.
Who is this guy anyway?
The thought haunts me the entire night, and I swear I can feel his hands still on my head.
For the first time in years—I’m not tired.
I’m alive.
CHAPTER FIVE
自業自得
jigoujitoku
“Self-work, self-profit.”
~Japanese proverb
Horus
“What’s a good-looking god of a man like you doing at a place like this, sweetheart?” A woman who, honest to, well um, God, looks like she wants to eat me for breakfast, leans over the bar top, her breasts nearly kissing the small toothpicks by the olives while her hair dangles dangerously close to the beer tap.
A commotion sounds, and then she’s getting tapped on the shoulder by Satan, not really but a close second. “Bitch, he’s mine. Back off.”
It’s Alex.
Pretty sure the last thing she’s interested in is a washed-up god when a siren related to Ra is standing in front of her. His white and red hair is pulled back into a short ponytail, and strands of that same hair kiss his high cheekbones.
The man could seduce air.
“Oh, um…” She adjusts her tight red dress and self-consciously fluffs up her breasts, then leans against the counter again, almost drunkenly missing it three times before laughing like the inability to stand is hilarious. “You’re beautiful too.”
“I know.” Alex smiles. “But I’m taken by that big chunk of man over there you’ve been hitting on.”
“Alex…” I grind out his name as my teeth clench.
Alex winks at me. “Baby, it’s fine! We live in modern times, just embrace the fact that you like it when I—”
“Why are you here?” I interrupt.
The drunken lady starts swaying to the music. Alex sighs and points her toward the dance floor. “Go, go, go, go.”
She stumbles off and grabs onto a demon.
“That won’t end well.” I cringe as the soulless demon—one of the few beings without souls in the club—clutches onto her and starts whispering in her ear, his eyes burning red.
“Meh, he’ll just get drunk really fast, she’ll sober up, and we’ll make sure he doesn’t completely wreck her life.”
“We?” I repeat.
“Surprise!” Stephanie pops out of nowhere, dragging poor Cassius through the crowd. His jet-black hair hangs past his shoulders, and his blue eyes scan the room like he’s already planning on having to work tonight. The guy has no clue how to blend in. Then again, I’m not much better. He’s wearing a black T-shirt that says “bite me” with full vampire fangs on it, ripped jeans, and he looks seconds away from tearing a demon’s head from his body.