Devil May Care (27 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I can’t do this.” Lisa scurried into the tiny bathroom the Alpha had so kindly remembered to put in the bride’s staging area. “I’m going to be sick.”

“No, you’re not.” I stared at my reflection in the mirror and applied more concealer to hide the dark rings underneath my eyes. I was not going to ruin this wedding by looking like some sort of wretch.

“I’m going to vomit,” Lisa muttered.

“No, you’re not.” I stood, smoothing the black satin of my dress so it didn’t bulge at my hips. “Demonesses don’t vomit. Take a deep breath and try to relax. Just think, it’ll all be over in less than an hour, and you’ll officially be the Princess Consort to the Heir Apparent of Hell. If Dad ever decides to retire, you’ll even be queen. Then you’ll outrank me.”

“I will?” Lisa’s head popped out of the bathroom door, and she stared at me with wide eyes, sweat glimmering on her forehead. She actually was a little green. That was strange. I didn’t think demons could get sick.

“No.” I grabbed her hands, pulled her out of the bathroom, and led her to the makeup table. “Dad’s already said he’s going to make us rule by committee if he ever decides to retire. That means you get the same title as Hope and I do, but no voting rights. Sorry to burst your bubble.”

“No feathers off my wings,” Lisa said. I picked up a tissue and blotted at the sweat beading on her face. A quick pat of her hair, and she was stunning. Absolutely the most beautiful bride I’d ever seen in my life. “I was just curious about who got the crown your mother had commissioned for herself. I couldn’t believe she managed to keep it on her head through the reception. That thing had to weigh forty pounds.”

“Consider it yours, a wedding present from me and Hope, and since we’re on the subject of your wings…”

“The olive oil worked.” She made a face. “But you were right. It was disgusting.”

“Just think, once you’re married—”

There was a sharp knock on the door and we froze. Lisa had gone from pale mint green to a sort of ashy gray color. She took another deep breath while I went to open the door and ushered her father into the room.

“Ready, sweetheart?” he asked, tears welling up in his eyes at the sight of her. “’Cause if you’re not, I can sneak us out the back and we can be on a plane for Jamaica before that boy you’re marrying even knows we skipped town.”

“That might not be such a bad idea,” I said before grabbing both of our bouquets. “I mean, he’s my brother and all, but you could do better and I’ve always heard Jamaica is nice this time of year.”

“No. I want to marry Tolliver. He’s the perfect man for me.” She kissed her father on the cheek before taking his arm.

“Trust me.” I gave her a quick hug and opened the dressing room door. “You could do so much better.”

“Yeah, I probably could. But I don’t want to.”

“Well,” Mr. DeMarcos said. “Let’s get you married then. But I have to say, Faith, your family’s church is amazing. I’d never even heard of St. Bruno’s before Lisa told us the wedding was being held here. Absolutely stunning.”

“Yes, it is.” I glanced up at the soaring white marble arches, meeting in high domes where beautiful angels frolicked about us in scenes of heartbreaking simplicity. The large side windows were plain glass, designed to fill the church with light, and as I stepped to the end of the aisle, I couldn’t help gasping at the beauty of the stained glass window over the altar. A hidden choir of children sang from the loft, filling the sanctuary with a melody older than time itself.

Tolliver stood, wringing his hands at the front of the church, refusing to turn around to peek at his bride. J stood with his hand on Tolliver’s shoulder, and winked when I reached my place. My brother looked like shit. His face was pale and his hands were trembling worse than the bride had just a moment before. Which was insane. How could both of them be so worried about what was about to happen? Anyone could see they were madly in love with each other. Why, I had no idea. But then again, most of Lisa’s decisions didn’t make a lot of sense as far as I was concerned.

The music rose to a crescendo when she reached the top of the aisle and kissed her father on the cheek before taking hold of Tolliver’s hand. The Alpha smiled at the two of them, golden light reflecting around His head.

The Alpha began the wedding mass, and I let myself tune out, refusing to think about how complicated my own love life had become. Right now, I was here to be supportive to my brother and my best friend.

I felt a tingle of static and turned to see Harold slip in through one of the open windows and float into the pew the rest of my family was sitting in, still dressed in his suit from the memorial service. Malachi sat next to him in his human form, and both the dread demon and the ghost radiated happiness in all their burnt toffee-smelling glory. Hope sat next to the two of them, her eyes focused on the ceiling and a tissue clutched in her fists. She hadn’t lost it yet, but I could see she was trying to keep her cool. Hope, crying at a wedding. That wasn’t something I’d ever thought to see. She hadn’t even been misty-eyed last night.

Mom, as usual, had a sour look on her face, and I saw her tiara sitting in her lap. Apparently someone had told her it wasn’t appropriate to outshine the bride on her wedding day. As for Dad, he looked pretty comfortable, for a guy sitting between his ex-wife and his current one. Lil smiled at me from her place at the end of the pew, and I couldn’t help smiling back.

A faint scratching sounded behind me, near the altar, and swung my head around to glower at the sprite peeking out from underneath the altar cloth. My eyes flashed red, and he froze, staring at the den of demons looking back at him.

Instead of continuing with whatever mischief he had planned, the sprite popped out of sight instead, leaving behind the musty smell of wet dirt and a few wayward green sparkles. He was a fast learner. Or he had better self-preservation instincts than the rest of his kind. Either way, for his sake, he’d better hope I didn’t catch him alone somewhere. I wasn’t a vindictive demoness, but it was best not to take any chances where those little monsters were concerned.

“Tolliver and Lisa have requested to use their own vows,” the Alpha said, bringing me back to the wedding taking place in front of me. “Tolliver, you may go first.”

My brother swallowed, his hands shaking while he held onto Lisa’s. “I just utterly adore you,” he said. “I’ve been in love with you from the first moment I saw you. Like the very first second. Not even that long. The very first split second. It was like being hit by lightning and I knew, from that moment on, there was no me without you.”

Hope sniffled and my own eyes grew hot with fresh tears. I sniffed and wiped my eyes before I could make a mess of myself, keeping my eyes upturned and focused on the picture of Gabriel and Michael playing chess painted on the ceiling.

“I want to spend every single moment of forever with you,” Tolliver continued. “I want to do all those big things with you, like having babies and buying a house, and the little things like arguing about whose turn it is to take out the trash. I want to finish each other’s crossword puzzles and interrupt each other to say the punch lines of jokes we’ve told each other a thousand times before. I want to be with you. For as long as you’ll let me.”

“Okay,” Lisa said her voice watery.

I heard a few more sniffles from the audience and a tear trickled down my cheek. What the Hell? I was wearing waterproof mascara at least.

“Okay?” Tolliver repeated.

“Okay,” Lisa said, her own voice sounding watery. “Tolliver, I want to be your wife for the rest of eternity. I love you. And I want all that other stuff you said, but for the most part I just want to be with you. More than anything else I’ve ever wanted in the world.”

“Okay.” Tolliver nodded and looked at the Alpha, whose mouth was hanging open. My brother raised his eyebrows and the Alpha shook His head, trying to right Himself and get back into His role.

“So,” the Alpha said, still looking a bit stunned at the vows they’d made to each other. “If there are any objections to this wedding they should be spoken now or all present should forever hold their peace. Eternally. For all time. No speaking up, ever again.”

Nobody moved a muscle and the Alpha’s shoulders relaxed.

“Okay, then.” He licked his lips. “By the authority invested in me by our mutual faith, and by the State of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

“My pleasure,” Tolliver said and caressed Lisa’s face before leaning in to kiss her. The choir started up again, and I peeked into the loft to see that it was empty. I should have known. It wasn’t like St. Bruno’s was going to have a very active choir group. It wasn’t like they needed one. Unless Jesus was planning on getting married sometime soon?

…

I limped back into my apartment building early the next morning and slipped my shoes off in the main floor entryway. I’ll say one thing for the DeMarcos clan—they sure knew how to throw a party. It was almost dawn, and I’d been one of the first to leave. Malachi had left me at the front door of my building and had changed back into his grim reaper form. He said something about doing guard duty outside and then floated off before I could ask any more questions.

I stumbled up the stairs and cursed myself for not having pushed Dad to buy me a building with an elevator. Or not commandeering a first floor apartment. I slouched up the stairs, dragging myself up the final flight with my hands brushing across the steps as I went. When I reached the landing between mine and Matt’s apartments, I set my shoes on the ground and pointed at the door lock, zapping it.

The door behind me creaked open and I froze. Awareness of Matt washed over me, some primal knowledge that he was there even if I couldn’t see him or smell him or even hear him, and I fought the urge to turn around and stare. I’d been avoiding him like a plague of missionaries, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop now. Couldn’t we give it a little more time? Six months? A year? Two might be nice.

“Just getting back from Lisa and Tolliver’s wedding?” Matt asked, his voice rough with sleep.

“Yeah.” I turned around to face him. He was dressed in a pair of shorts and a gray T-shirt. His iPhone was strapped to his arm and he was fidgeting with the earphones.

“How was it?” He wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“It was nice.” I gave him a brief smile. “Very sweet. Everyone missed you.”

“I thought, all things considered, maybe it would be better if I gave it a pass. No use in making a scene, your Dad deciding to punch me in the face again or something,” Matt said, still not looking at me. “Tell them I said congratulations?”

“I will.” I pointed to my door. “I guess I’ll see you around, huh?”

“Sure.” He looked up at me and put his hands on his hips. Instead of waiting around for the situation between us to become tenser, I walked into my apartment.

“Hey, Faith?” he called out before I could shut the door.

“What?” I turned my head to look at him and my heart broke. He was adorable. Everything I’d never known I wanted in a man. But now he was off limits and I couldn’t help wishing that I’d savored having him more when I had the chance.

He stepped across the hallway and pulled me into his arms, pressing his lips against my forehead. “You look amazing.”

I closed my eyes, biting my lower lip.

“And I meant what I promised you yesterday. I’m not giving up on us. Not without a fight.”

“I know you won’t. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, though,” I said. “You have to know this will all end in tears one day.”

“I don’t care about the end,” Matt said. “What I care about is right here and right now. With you.”

“I love you, Matt, and whatever comes next, nothing will change that.” I slipped out of his arms and stepped into my apartment, closing the door behind me. I sank onto the floor and let my head rest against the door, trying to pretend I couldn’t feel his warmth radiating through it.

I sighed and gave up trying to keep my tears in check, letting them run down my cheeks.

“I’m never going to stop fighting for you,” he said, and then he was gone, taking all that heat with him.

And even though I knew it was wrong, I couldn’t help clinging to the fact that Matt was the type of guy who didn’t back down from a fight. No matter how much the odds were stacked against him.

Acknowledgments

No one writes a book alone. Absolutely no one. Meanwhile someone as scattered as me can barely get dressed on their own so the fact that this book is now out in the world is most likely a miracle cobbled together by my own personal team of angels.

I could have never finished this book without the loving support of my family, who have always been my biggest cheerleaders, or my friends, who have willingly listened as I cried about how the plot just wasn’t working. There are too many of you to name who have held my hand and I don’t want to forget anyone so let’s just go with you know who you are and how much I owe you and leave it at that.

I’d also like to thank the team at Entangled Publishing who helped make this book more than a random pile of scribbles: Libby Murphy and Danielle Poiesz, two of the most amazing editors I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with; Heather Riccio, Debbie Suzuki, and Jaime Arnold, the world’s most fabulous promotions team; and Liz Pelletier, the person who saved Faith Bettincourt from a life hidden under my bed as the heroine of a novel that was never submitted. This book literally would not exist without all of you.

To all my other Entangled Sisters and the rest of the Goddesses at the Naked Hero, thank you for being the most amazing writer’s therapy group that anyone could ask for.

To the readers and the bloggers and the people who send me emails telling me how much they enjoyed my books. I can’t believe you guys don’t have anything better to do than read my stuff. But I’ll always be eternally grateful that you don’t.

About the Author

Patricia Eimer is a small town girl who was blessed with a large tree in the backyard that was a perfect spot for reading on summer days. Mixed with too much imagination it made her a bratty child but fated her to become a storyteller. After a stint of “thinking practically” in her twenties she earned degrees in Business and Economics and worked for a software firm in southwestern Germany, but her passion has always been a good book. She currently lives in eastern Pennsylvania with her two wonderful kids and a husband that learned the gourmet art of frozen pizzas to give her more time to write. When she’s not writing she can be found fencing, training for triathlons, and argui
ng with her dogs about plot points. Most days the Beagle wins but the Dalmatian is in close second. She’s in a distant third.