Page 161 of The Sidekick

“He needs to be away from them,” Satan says gently.

“He is,” Asher says grimly. “Andi took him out to keep him distracted.”

“Good. Wait, where?” I turn my head to try to see him, but he doesn’t let go of my shoulders.

“Some rave place that just opened. She said she’s VIP.”

Yeah. She probably owns it. I swear she owns everything now.

“Crap,” I pull up my phone in a panic and start texting.

Me:No bourbon!!!!!!!!!

Bubbles pop up and go away several times.

Shade:No

Shade:Tequila

“Oh gosh. Poor Andi,” I sigh and send him a thumbs up.

“What’s wrong with bourbon?” Max the nosy text reader asks.

“When someone calls an alcohol fight juice, you take it seriously, Max,” I give him a flat look. “And stop reading my texts.”

He gives me an innocent smile and leans back to prop his legs in my lap again. I look down at the phone and chew my lip.

“He doesn’t need details, angel. He already knows.”

“He does?” I sink in my chair as my shoulders get heavy. Good thing he’s rubbing them.

“Yeah, he vented to me.”

“Of course he did,” I roll my eyes. “Is there anyone that doesn’t spill their secrets to you as soon as you say hello?”

“You,” he says with a chuckle.

“What’s the plan?” Satan asks with a scowl. He’s staring at the computer like he wants to set it on fire with his eyes.

“I know what I want to do,” I mutter darkly. “But I can’t make a decision while I’m this mad.”

“Says who?” Max laughs.

“My friend. She says every time she’s seen someone make a decision while angry, it fails. You just decide on a course and follow through. No emotion necessary.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” Max says warily. “How do you not have emotion?”

I shrug, “I have no idea. But it’s good advice. I need to calm down, or I’ll go overboard.”

“I kinda want to see that,” Max has a sly grin as he says it. Satan doesn’t look amused.

“You had a plan this morning,” Asher reminds me. “Tell me what it was, and we’ll go from there.”

I pull up the notes on my phone with the random plans I came up with for punishments. “I’m planning some of the standard pranks. The chicken bouillon cube in the shower heads, maybe some hair dye. I’ll replace all of their toilet paper with single-ply. I’ve already got the shrimp in the freezer. I can put that in hidden spots, so when it dethaws, it will stink. I also want to clone their phones so I can download apps, change their contact names, and shuffle numbers. I’m going to change Shade’s number so it will go to the rejection hotline instead of him. I’m not sure if it’s feasible yet, but Shade may have already cloned them. He can patch me in. Oh, and shutting their utilities off. That will make the shrimp thaw faster in the heat.”

All three of them stare at me like I’ve grown a second head.

“It doesn’t seem like enough. It’s childish stuff,” I sigh and toss the phone on the desk.

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