Page 29 of Devil Inside: Green

“He, the stepmonster, and the demon spawn are at Ricky’s game. I didn’t want to go for obvious reasons. I’ll leave him a note.” I hear scribbling in the background and then paper tearing. “There,” she says. “Now he can’t give me shit.” The next thing I hear is a car engine starting. “I can’t believe you’re here. This is… This is amazing. I’m so excited.”

“Toppings?” Green asks. “What does Misty like?”

“Is that amanin the background?” she asks.

“Yes,” I answer my sister. Then to my old man, “Her favorite is cheeseburger pizza.”

“Got it. Drinks?” he asks.

“Coke if they got it, Pepsi if they don’t.”

“Oh my god,” my sister whisper-yells in my ear. “You’ve never dated a man who sounds like him.”

How much do I tell her over the phone… with Green in the room listening? “I wouldn’t exactly say we’re dating. Green doesn’t…date.”

But he does apparently snicker when he hears me talking about him.

“Green? His name is Green?” she asks.

“He goes by—” I cover the receiver. “Is Green your last name or just a nickname?” I ask him quietly.

He laughs at me, and yeah, it’s funny. I’ve fucked him how many times and am just now getting to learn his last name. Whose world am I living in? “Both, babe. Green’s my last name, but I was ‘Green’ as a biker prospect. It stuck.”

“It’s his last name,” I tell my sister.

“What room are you in?”

I rattle off the room number and impatiently wait until the knock sounds on the door. Even though I know it’s her, Green holds me back, answering it himself.

My sister’s eyes go huge and she slowly leans around him until she sees me. “Wow,” she mouths. Wow is right. “She’s dating Darry,” she says to the air and I throw my head back laughing. “You’re dating Darry.”

“Come on in. We got pizza coming.” Green steps out of the way, shutting and locking the door behind him. Then to me he says, “She reallyisa cheerleader.” Her hair is up in a thick, high, expertly coiffed ponytail with purposeful whisps and curls at the ends. At the same time, she wears short gray cotton shorts and a pink cropped T-shirt that saysChisum High School Cheerin glittery letters.

“You’re one of those bikers,” she says. “The ones hunting the man who killed my mom.”

I rush her, swinging her up into my arms. “Sister, this is such a story.”

When I let her go she drops down on the closest bed. “I got time.”

“So here’s the deal. I drove to Kentucky to meet with the Bedlam Horde.” I use my thumb to point to Green. “Their president agreed to help, but he’s been dragging his heels. Green has reason to want him caught, too. So we hooked up, then wehooked up.”

He raises an eyebrow at me in that ‘woman’ way he has. “Don’t let her diminish our relationship. She’s my old lady.”

“My sister is dating a biker.”

“We’re notdating, sweetheart. We’re together. This isn’t a get-to-know-you thing. This is it. Bikers don’t date. We fuck or we take on old ladies.”

Part of me wants to admonish him for using that crass language in front of my sister, but if we’re going to be together, then I’m not trying to change him. He’s a sexy man who saysfuck. I’ll have to deal.

“You fuck or take on old ladies?” she reiterates.

“Pretty much. There’re pussies who show up to the club specifically to party and fuck the brothers. They get off on it, we get off on it. No pressure. No commitment. No hurt feelings when someone goes off with someone else.”

“That makes sense,” she says, sounding much more mature than I remember her being before.

“Right. But then we got old ladies. They’re the women the brothers choose for the long haul.”

“So… a relationship?” she asks.

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