The Devil You Know (Bedeviled Book 2) by Meredith Spies

Author:Meredith Spies [Spies , Meredith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Meredith Spies
Published: 2021-12-17T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Simon

Getting out of awkward conversations had never really been my forte, but Ellery seemed to excel at it. While I’d stared and stuttered, the sudden hot rush of embarrassment at seeing my old professor melting into a bone-chilling wariness, Ellery had smiled and charmed, even kissing Mrs. DiMarco’s hand. When we’d first been together, back when we were little more than kids, I hadn’t really seen that Demonborn talent for charm and seduction at work, but watching him with the DiMarcos, I could definitely see where all the stories about the devil being a smooth talker had come from. Ellery disentangled us from the DiMarcos with a little banal conversation, a few smirking references to the party’s main event, and then a half-baked but laughing excuse about me having a headache. He nudged me up the stairs with a hearty goodnight, y’all, hope you enjoy the evening wink-wink-nudge-nudge.

I don’t think I properly inhaled for the entire exchange. It was only once we got to the top of the stairs that I wheezed out, “He knows me. He knows who I am, Ellery!”

Ellery’s hand in the middle of my back kept me going forward. “Don’t talk. Keep moving,” he muttered. “Are you absolutely sure he knows you?” Ellery demanded once we’d managed to escape to our room.

I nodded. “He definitely knows me. We, um…” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, willing my heart to slow down. “There was an incident a few years ago. He was Zane’s supervisor at the university and…” I trailed off.

How much should I explain? All of it was the right answer, but I couldn’t quite make all the words come. Not only because of the residual fear I still felt when I remembered the incident, but because as sure as I knew my own name, I knew Ellery would go find DiMarco and do something dire.

“DiMarco fucked up royal dealing with some artifacts, but they were found in my apartment, so Zane and I were accused of stealing them. Things were, um, smoothed over, but I lost my teaching position at the university and got blacklisted pretty much everywhere. Zane got off a bit easier because DiMarco was able to pull some strings and has a lot of clout, but…” But it’s DiMarco’s fault the Horde was finally able to disown me guilt-free.

Ellery’s face was a study in terrifying.

I couldn’t stop myself from shaking, even as I paced the width of the room. “Oh, my God, what the Hell. I thought he was… Zane knows him! Zane would’ve said something if the man was magical!”

As I swung back to pace towards the door again, Ellery stepped in front of me. “Stop. Just stop a second. Breathe.”

“I am breathing!”

“Slower!” He squeezed my shoulders before letting his hands run down my arms, catching my wrists in a loose hold when I started to pull away. “Just because he’s here doesn’t mean anything sinister. Think of it like running into your boss at the adult theater.

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