Page 53 of Devil's Work: Dark

“Dark…” This is going to be a long day.

“What?” he barks, affronted. “Bitch comes shouting sanctuary, but she’s not willing to rein in her bad decisions enough to keep her sister, niece, and nephew safe? It’s bullshit and I’m not letting it stand.”

“Classic Rae strikes again,” Dela then says, taking a dig at me.

“You wanna fucking explain yourself?” Dark yells.

“She’s this strong, take-charge woman until she gets with a man. It was the same with Jim—she turns into a fucking doormat.”

Whoa! That’s hugely unfair. “Caring about other people’s feelings, especially the feelings of someone sharing your bed on a nightly basis, isnotbeing a doormat. It’s called being an adult. It’s called being in a relationship.”

“Okay,” she scoffs. “Like Mr. Muscles here thinks of you as anything but easy pussy.”

“Get the fuck out,” Dark roars. If we were living in a cartoon world, he’d have steam blowing out his mouth, nose, and ears.

“Dark said a swear,” Ty calls out, and rather than get angry or cry, I plop down on the sofa and laugh my fool head off.

“Sorry, bud,” Dark calls back.

My big, bad biker—the man doesn’t apologize to anyone. He just said sorry to my five-year-old. I laugh harder. I think I might pee my pants.

“Rae… what the hell is wrong with you?” I think my sister is more pissed that her barb didn’t catch.

I can’t stop laughing. “Del. You stay here, you follow the rules.” I wipe the tears from my eyes. “Call me adoormatagain, put my family in danger… say shit about my man, you can go fuck yourself.”

She knows she’s screwed if she leaves. Rather than answer, my sister folds her arms over her chest then drops down into the chair next to the sofa in a huff.

“Floor’s yours, Dark,” I tell him as I try to get myself under control. “Give her the rules.”

“Right. You don’t leave the house without a guard. You don’t pick up dudes. You don’t bring anyone back here to the house. You keep a low profile until we get a handle on the shit going down.”

“So I’m a prisoner,” Dela grumbles.

“Not a prisoner. You’re free to leave at any time. But if you leave without a guard, you’re not welcome back here.”

Well, I don’t think Dark could have been any plainer.

“Good. Now that’s covered, Dark, honey… We need to go shopping for Ty’s school supplies.”

“Get the kids together,” he answers.

“You coming with?” I ask my sister. “You can pick out food you want.”

“For family time with the biker? No—I’ll stay here and crash for a while.”

“I’ll get a guard down here,” Dark says as he pulls out his phone from his pocket.

Twenty minutes later, with me and the kids already in the truck waiting, Green rolls up on his bike.Green. This should be interesting.

“Fu—fricking took you long enough,” Dark says to the man.

“Had work to finish.”

“Hi, Green,” I say to him.

“Hey, Rae.”

“She’s inside. We’re heading out.”

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