Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
“Will do. Love ya.”
“Love ya, too.” Ella rang off and placed her cell on the nightstand.
While she was glad that Mia and Joe might just finally get things back on track, she was a little disappointed that the pool-hall plans had been canceled. If she was honest with herself, Ella could admit that she’d been looking forward to going there tonight. All day—stupidly, annoyingly, unreasonably—she’d felt a little frisson of excitement at the thought of seeing Viper.
They wouldn’t have talked or anything, but it didn’t matter. The idea of being around him had made her feel kind of energized.
Shoving that irritating tidbit out of her mind, Ella silently wished her sister good luck with Joe and then went back to her laundry. After folding and putting away her clothes, she ate dinner while watching TV. And the longer she went without hearing from Mia, the more antsy she got.
Either her sister and Joe were having one hell of a long talk … or they were sexing each other up.
Hoping it wasn’t the latter, Ella headed into the kitchen and made herself a mug of tea. She didn’t dislike Joe per se, she just didn’t like how greedy he was with Mia’s time and attention. Not that that was atypical for psi-mates. But Joe could be pretty selfish about it.
Take this situation, for example.
He was well aware that Mia and Ella routinely met up at the pool hall on Fridays. He could have asked her to meet him later tonight, or some time tomorrow. Instead, he’d asked Mia to push aside her plans for him—which wasn’t a first. There’d been many occasions when he’d pressured her to cancel on Ella, insensitively not caring he’d be cutting into the sisters’ girl time. He seemed to feel threatened by how close they were.
Usually, his efforts to make Mia cancel didn’t work. She rarely begged off unless it was necessary. That she’d done it tonight was understandable. Getting things straight with Joe definitely counted as necessary.
Leaning back against the counter, Ella took a cautious sip of her drink. Which was right when her phone beeped. Finally. Though why Mia would text rather than call she didn’t know.
Ella swiped the cell from the counter. Her brow furrowed, because whoever had sent her a message wasn’t her sister. It had come from an unfamiliar number.
You wouldn’t be avoiding me, would you? it read.
Feeling her brows draw together, Ella set her mug on the counter. Who’s this? she asked, typing fast.
Three dots danced on the screen. Viper.
Her pulse jumped just as her insides seized. She blinked at the screen, shaking her head. What the hell? Her demon’s brows arched in both surprise and curiosity.
There was no way he should have her contact details. How did that come about? And would the little bubble of excitement skipping around her belly fuck right off, please?
She texted: How did you get this number?
I have my sources.
Oh, how very mysterious. She was about to request some elaboration, but then more words appeared on the screen.
You usually come to my pool hall on Fridays. Tonight, you were a no-show.
And he apparently thought that she was going out of her way to avoid seeing him. Not the case, but she didn’t need to explain that to him. Didn’t need to say anything to him. In fact, she should end this conversation, block his number, and go on about her evening.
It would be smart. It would also drive home the point that she had no interest in conversing with him. To continue the conversation would be … well, not quite flirting. But it would encourage him, wouldn’t it?
Yeah, she should definitely block his number.
What Ella instead did was settle at the dining table, her phone in hand, and type a response: I’m not avoiding you. My sister has a situation that needs her immediate attention.
Setting her phone down on the table, she sighed at herself for having such poor self-control. Ella couldn’t say what it was about this guy that made her go against her own good sense, but there seemed to be no changing it.
At least her demon wasn’t passing judgement. As it happened, the entity quite liked that he’d gone through the trouble of getting her number. It liked the idea of being pursued by someone as dark and powerful as him.
If Ella was honest, she could admit to herself that she did, too.
When she’d seen nothing of him following that night at the Red Rooms, she’d concluded that the whole “I’ll come for you if you don’t come to me” claim wasn’t something that she’d needed to take seriously.
She’d spent days telling herself that she didn’t care; that it was for the best. But in truth, she’d found it slightly disappointing. Not shocking, though. After all, why would he need to pursue Ella when women no doubt regularly flung themselves at him?