Page 32 of The Devil's Trials

“What happened?” Concern is heavy in her voice, and I immediately feel bad for my text.

“I’m okay,” I rush to say. “I mean, I’m not, but everything is fine.”

A beat passes before she asks, “What the hell doesthatmean?”

I take a deep breath, then spill my guts about kissing Noah.

“Ohhh.” She drags out the word. “I understand why you’re freaking out, but to be completely honest, babe, I don’t see a problem. You wanted to kiss him. You’ve wanted that for nearly a decade.”

“Correction—Iwantedthat. Nearly a decade ago.”

“Right, well, whatever. It happened. Do you want it to happen again?”

I know the answer in my gut, yet I can’t help but think of how my life would be different if I were in love with Noah instead of Xander.

“Did I lose you?”

“No, I’m here. You know, just spiraling about my life choices,” I grumble, pulling at a loose thread on the pillow in my lap.

“Speaking of…I kind of saw Xander.”

My stomach drops and clenches at the same time. It’s an odd mix of sensations that makes me wince with discomfort, sitting upright. It takes me a second to find my voice. “What happened? Why did you see him?”

It’s Harper’s turn to sigh. “Well, Blake—I’ve since made it my mission to ruin his life if it’s the last thing I do on this earth—snatched me off the street and dragged me to see Xander. Because apparently texting or calling didn’t occur to either of them. I don’t know. At first, I was livid—scared out of my mind, too, but I think I did a decent job of masking that with anger. But then, Xander and I actually had a decent conversation.”

I sit in stunned silence for a few beats. “How do you feel about it?” I much prefer talking about Harper instead of what happened in the gym.

“I’m torn between wanting absolutely nothing to do with him and being somewhat curious. You know I’ve always wanted a sibling, but the king of hell is definitely not what I was expecting. Talk about a painfully ironic example of ‘be careful what you wish for.’?”

I chuckle at her dry tone. “Maybe it’s not something you need to figure out immediately?”

“Yeah,” is all she says, her tone distracted.

“Well, since you shared that you saw Xander, I guess I better tell you that I saw Blake tonight.”

“Hold the fuck up.What?”

“Uh-huh. He’s in New York.”

“I’m on my way. I’ll kick his ass straight back to hell for bothering you.”

A faint grin curls my lips. Harper will never stop having my back, even from a different state. “He came to tell me that Xander wanted to see me. Actually, he came to bring me back to Seattle, apparently. Though he didn’t snatch me off the street and force me to go with him, so I’m not sure what Xander actually told him.”

Harper curses. “Don’t get me wrong. I miss the crap out of you and want to see you so badly, but I’m glad you told him off and that he didn’t pull some shady shit on you like he did to me.”

“You and me both,” I say around a yawn. “I should go and try to get some sleep. You should, too. What are you even doing up right now?”

“Late-night training session and then a bunch of us went for drinks.”

“Keeping busy, as always. Hopefully, you can take a break to visit me soon. Do you have Thanksgiving plans?”

“Is your dad cooking?”

I laugh. “I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but probably?”

“Then I’m there,” she says without missing a beat.

“I see how it is,” I tease. To be fair, my dad’s cooking is amazing, so I can’t fault her.

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