Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“Oh, I do,” he promised. Instinctively, Lucca knew it to be true.
He stood suddenly, causing Lucifer to cower in the corner, but this time, Lucca grabbed the chain that was connected to his ankle and pulled it closer to him. The chain rattled as he dragged the creature out of the corner and to his feet.
Crouching down, he grabbed its face, squeezing the life out of it in the palm of his hand. “Who is it?”
Lucifer could barely speak out of his smushed-up mouth. “If I tell you, I’m left alive. But if I don’t …”
“Then I might kill you in the process,” Lucca gritted through his teeth.
Sadly, there wasn’t much left of Lucifer these days, so he was right—the defiance in his black eyes told him he would hold on to the name so he could finally meet his death, but Lucca had made a promise to keep his vessel here, so his soul could stay on earth for a little while longer.
He still held his face tightly, contemplating what to do. To kill or not to kill that was the question until, finally, he let his face go.
“What?” Lucifer cried, still wishing for death. Then, when he watched Lucca begin to leave, he was desperate enough to try a different tactic. “You’ll come back when One-Shot finally comes for your precious Chlo—”
Her full name hadn’t even left his mouth when Lucca grabbed his face again. Except, this time, he slid his long fingers inside his mouth and down his throat, forcing the precious food and nutrients he had just given his frail body up.
“I should thank you.” Satisfied, Lucca dropped his face until it dropped into his own filth. “You just helped me discover how to bring One-Shot into the light.”
This time as Lucca left, nothing Lucifer said, no matter how much the devil baited him, turned him back.
Lucifer knowing who it was proved something, and it no longer mattered if he told him or not.
And you don’t? His words followed by his maniacal laughter rang through his head, but Lucifer had made a mistake in telling him that.
One-Shot’s identity must not only be so obvious that he was overlooking it …
But their paths must cross every day.
By the time Maria got up to leave, Chloe was already feeling like a brand-new woman. “Seriously, Maria, I can’t thank you enough for everyth—”
“Pshht, please,” the tall, legged blonde shushed her. “If there’s anything I live for, it’s weddings and taking down the patriarchy.”
Chloe smiled, knowing there was never a truer statement Maria had made.
“Now remember, if you find yourself getting nervous”—she held up a slender finger—“just think WWMD.”
“Got it.” She nodded studiously, remembering that part of her lecture. She already started practicing.
WWMD, WWM—
“Oh, and Chloe …” Maria smiled a little too sweetly. “If Lucca isn’t treating you right, I can always get Dom to kill him.”
FOURTEEN
THE VILLAGE IDIOT
“You get your assignment in on time?” Chloe asked as she was taking her computer out of her backpack.
Busy perching her computer closer to where she was about to place it, a surprised Adalyn looked at her. “What assignment?”
“The questions the professor assigned to us yesterday. The ones I told you not to forget,” Chloe tried jogging her memory, but if it was nothing worth remembering to Adalyn, who was practically a goldfish.
“I forgot.” Turning on her computer, Adalyn played it off like it was no big deal. “It’ll give me something to do during class, anyway.”
“He’s going to take off ten points because it’s late,” Chloe reminded her.
“Not if one of my besties goes up and tells him I needed to take my grandmother to the ER, and I had to leave her deathbed to come to class.”
This time when she looked at her like she was crazy, at least it was deserving. “You’re joking?”
“No. I need this class, and I don’t want to take it over,” Adalyn whined. “And especially not without you.”
“Then try taking it more seriously,” Chloe tried departing her wisdom but felt bad if it was possibly true … “Is your grandmother still alive?”
“No.”
When Chloe looked as if she was about to cry, Adalyn waved her hand. “But she’s been dead for years.”
Chloe came to the conclusion right there that Adalyn lived in her own world, and the rest of us are just participants.
“I’m not lying to Professor Miller.”
“Then don’t. I will.” She shrugged. “Just don’t expect me to lie for you when you miss an assignment.”
I’ll take my chances.
Glancing toward the doorway, Chloe saw the professor’s TA enter the room.
“I’ll be giving Professor Miller’s lesson today,” the TA told them.
Chloe ignored Adalyn’s ecstatic expression as the lecture began, knowing the TA didn’t dock points off their homework for turning it in after class.
A spark of suspicion started to worry her until she told herself it wasn’t the first time the TA had taken over for the professor.