Chapter 18

Lillian

"Okay, spill," Mavis said when we got up to her balcony with our glasses of wine.

I was surprised Keir didn't say anything when we took the alcohol from the kitchen, but he'd been loosening up lately, even pouring me drinks from the home bar himself a few times.

"About what?"

"You are fucking glowing . Something happened. Recently." She narrowed her eyes and twisted her lips, inspecting me like the answer was on my skin. "You have that ‘I was freshly fucked out of this world' face, and I want the details. Pleeeease. Don't make me beg." She pointed at me with a deadpan expression. "I will beg for it."

I laughed, not realizing yesterday was written all over my face.

After Nicholas and I got back to the flat after our— ahem —training session, everyone freaked. Ida was there too, so that only added to the drama.

They each took turns looking me over, ensuring I was okay. My constant reassurances that I was unharmed were disregarded until they could confirm it for themselves.

Aiden and Keir were furious with Nicholas.

Once he knew I was okay, Aiden was more jealous that he'd been left behind and missed out on the sex.

Keir, on the other hand, didn't get any less angry at any point. He chewed Nicholas's ass out for letting me go alone. I think he used the phrase ‘she could have died' at least twenty times. I tried to calm him down, but he was too worked up.

I kept throwing out that there was no way Nicholas could have known that would happen, to which Keir replied that that was exactly why he didn't want me leaving the flat at all. Not even the fact that I killed a fucking demon on my own made him feel better, though he did tell me he was impressed.

After a shit ton of begging, Keir said he'd still take me to see Mavis.

I honestly thought he'd follow us upstairs, but he stayed on the ground floor with Ida, letting me have the time he'd promised me with my friend.

"Um…" I bit my lip, heat rushing to my cheeks at the thought of telling Mavis, still a very new friend, about what had happened between me and Nicholas.

"Don't get all shy on me now!" she retorted. "Give me all the juicy details, and don't you dare leave anything out."

I swallowed nervously before getting into my account of yesterday. When I told her about the demon jumping me, she said, "Oh shit, I thought that look was about sex. You got attacked by a fucking demon?"

She was on the edge of her seat as I told her about the fight, and she let out a huge breath when I told her about stabbing him. When I started telling her about Nicholas's comfort turning into more, she said, "I fucking knew it! You got laid gooooood! I can see it!"

I told her about the sex, leaving nothing out, and she was enthralled the entire time.

"Hail Satan," she breathed out when I finished my story. She fanned herself and took a large gulp of her wine. "I am going to need some ‘self-care' after that story. Holy shit, girl! How are you walking after that?"

I laughed, relieved she was not judging me for the whole thing. It felt so good to talk to someone about it, to talk to a girlfriend about it. I needed this.

"Trust me, I'm sore as fuck." I shook my head and sipped my wine.

"For Satan's sake, Lil, you are literally living the dream," she said, waving her hand around.

I nodded, taking another sip of wine.

"Can you just share a little bit?" she teased. I must've given her an appalled, angry look, because she quickly threw up her hands and followed up with, "I meant your sex goddess juju, babe! You can keep your princes. Don't kill me."

I pressed my lips together and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry. I didn't mean anything."

"It's cool, girl. I get it. No sweat." She waved her hand nonchalantly. "I'm just trying to live through you. My well is dry!" She laughed at herself. "I am surprised Mr. Grumpy down there even let you come over after all that, considering how stifling he is."

"Oh, you have no idea," I said, rolling my eyes. "I had to beg. I was willing to get on my knees to be able to see you. Luckily, I didn't have to go that far."

A mischievous grin spread on her face. "You mean to say… too bad you didn't get to take it that far." She wiggled her eyebrows at me before busting out into loud laughter.

I swatted at her. "You are so bad! No way. I can't even imagine doing that with him. He's so fucking cold."

"So that almost kiss seriously didn't lead anywhere?"

I shook my head. "If anything, he became more of a dick."

We sat in silence for a moment, but just as the first time I met her, it wasn't awkward. It was peaceful, and I felt at ease hanging out with her.

"Oh shit," Mavis said as she stood. "I almost forgot!"

She disappeared into her room and returned with a medium-sized black dog in her arms. Only, this was not a typical dog. This dog had three heads, all panting with large, slobbery tongues hanging to the side. Each head had a set of beady, red eyes. Its tail wagged so hard, half its body wiggled, making it harder for Mavis to hold it still.

"This is Spade," she squealed. "I've been hiding him in the bathroom so Mom doesn't find out. She'd kill me if she knew about him. I couldn't let the neighbors keep him chained up all day outside like that. He needed some wuve ," she murmured into his fur, making him wag even harder.

She placed him on the deck, and he immediately pranced over to me. After a lengthy sniff-down, I got Spade's approval with a wag of his tail and multiple licks on my legs from all three heads.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing I've ever seen?" I said to him in my sing-song pet voice.

"He likes you."

I smiled down at him, still shaking from all the excited wagging he was doing.

"He is adorable. You're so lucky." I patted each of Spade's heads.

"Have you ever had a pet?" she asked me.

I shook my head. "My mom would never let me have one. She could barely feed me, let alone an animal. She probably would have sold it for drugs, just like she did me." I winced, having said way more than I intended to.

I hadn't told Mavis much about my life on Earth, especially regarding my mom. I didn't want her pity. I wanted her to be friends with me because she liked me, not because she saw me as a broken toy who needed attention.

"I hope that bitch got what she deserved." My head jerked to face her. "Shit." She grimaced. "Do we like her? Was that the wrong thing to say? Fuck, I am so sorry. I never know what to say in these situations. I know she was your mom, but she sounds like a piece of garbage, and I wanted to be—"

Laughter exploded from me, and I swung my hand up to cover my mouth.

I was shocked by her reaction to what I'd said. No one so far had picked that path. I usually got pitiful eyes or ‘I'm so sorry'. Mavis was straight-up honest, and I appreciated that more than anything.

Mavis was stunned by my reaction too, watching with the most confused look on her face while I laughed so hard, tears spilled down my cheeks. Once I finally calmed down enough to speak, I apologized.

"You're not the one who should be sorry, Lil," she said as she refilled our glasses from the bottle we'd brought up with us.

"We left her tied up in her bedroom, alone," I stated, as if it was nothing. "Dead bodies all over the place too."

Mavis handed me back my glass. "Seriously?"

I nodded. "Yep. The day I came here, I stopped by the house to say goodbye or maybe ‘fuck you', but I never got to decide which. I got inside, and there were men there waiting to grab me. Turns out, she owed more money than she could scrounge up, and she wanted me to pay the price."

"For Satan's sake, I am so glad you left that behind. So what happened next?" She leaned on the arm of her chair, curious.

"Keir and the twins barged in and saved me. Keir was ready to kill her for me, but I wanted to leave her there, helpless. So that's what we did. She was screaming, and we just… walked out." I shrugged my shoulders, feeling a bit lighter than before. This was the first time I'd talked about this to someone.

"Good riddance," Mavis grumbled. "I'll never complain about my mom ever again."

I choked on my wine as I laughed. "Ida is great. I like her."

"She likes you too, you know. She talks about you all the time. You may as well be her other daughter." Her eyes got wide. "We're basically sisters!" My chest tightened. She wanted to consider me her sister? "If that's okay…" she carried on with uncertainty in her voice.

"Are you kidding me?" I flashed her a huge smile. "Of course that's okay. You have no idea just how okay that is."

I stayed for a couple more hours. Keir gave me multiple warnings of needing to head home, but surprisingly, he didn't come to drag me out of her room. Instead, he waited until I came downstairs, over half an hour after he said we needed to go the first time.

"How was that?" he asked once we were on the road.

I was so afraid our ‘click' had been a one-time thing, but it was so much better than before. Mavis was the missing piece I needed here in Hell. She listened, never judged, and always made me laugh.

"It was amazing. She called me her sister," I said with more lift to my voice than I intended. Embarrassment overtook me. He wouldn't understand. In fact, he'd probably call me silly and say I couldn't choose my family.

"Good."

I let a beat pass. Did he just say good?

I did.

"Stop doing that," I told him, folding my hands in my lap.

"Stop thinking so loudly then, princess." He chuckled. "So… did you like Spade?"

"How did you—Were you listening in the whole time?" I should have known the sense of independence and privacy I felt was fake. Annoyance set in instantly.

"Just a little here and there, when your emotions spiked. I wasn't listening in. Every moment you got so excited your chest was tight or your heart raced, all I could hear were your inner thoughts." He continued to stare at the road. "Maybe you should learn to control your emotions if you don't want to be heard."

"Maybe you should learn to control your rudeness and eavesdropping," I muttered, earning me a chuckle from him.

"You're one to talk, princess. Who landed on their ass after eavesdropping on me and my brothers?" He glanced at me with a lifted eyebrow.

I bit down on my lip, feeling heat rise to my cheeks.

"I quite like you flustered. It's cute," he said as he turned back to the road.

I just stared at him. Did he realize what he just said? First, I was adorable, and now I'm cute? Where did the broody, miserable asshole go?

"Oh, I almost forgot." He fished in his pocket for something then handed it over to me.

It was a phone.

"Wh—What's…" I was short-circuiting now.

"It's yours. It's already got everyone's numbers in it." He didn't look at me, but I didn't miss his sideways glance, a smile forming as he took in my surprise.

"Holy shit…" I whispered as I pulled the phone out and texted the first person who came to mind.

Me: GUESS WHAT!!!

Mavis: Who is this?

Me: Lillian!

Mavis: HOLY SHIT!

Mavis: He actually gave you a phone??

Mavis: I am so excited for you! This is a game-changer for us!

Mavis and I texted the entire way home. I was on cloud nine when we walked into the flat. Things were finally looking up.