Page 112 of Pretend Wife
“You and Allison can stay here while Maggie and I are gone?” Micah prompted.
I frowned. “Where are you going?”
“To get Joriel back.”
“What?” I demanded, looking back and forth between Micah and Maggie. He had to be joking. It had been over three years since we’d lost Joriel. He’d made a deal with the Devil before I joined the secret order and had been in Hell ever since Lucifer had collected.
“With Maggie’s ability, we have a chance to save him,” Micah said as calmly as if he were discussing the weather.
“I’m not following.”
“The deal Joriel made gave Lucifer a right to his soul,” Sam said. “We couldn’t just go into Hell and steal him back while his soul belonged to the Devil.”
“But doesn’t it still?”
“Maybe. But there might be a way to reclaim his soul. We’ll only know if we try.”
“And you’re okay with this?” I asked Maggie.
“It feels like the least I can do after what my father did to you.”
“He didn’t actually do anything. I would have healed Hayden and Scott even if he hadn’t been blackmailing me.”
“Still, I want to help your family. You saved my brother’s and husband’s lives. If I can save your brother’s, I want to try.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. In the past three and a half years, I hadn’t allowed myself to think about Joriel toomuch. I hadn’t known him for very long, and it didn’t feel like I had a right to miss him the way the rest of my family did. But the truth was that I did miss him. I wanted him back maybe just as much as my other brothers did. And I was terrified to hope that it could happen.
Everyone talked about details some more over lunch, and I tried my best to listen, but now that Micah knew everything and was dealing with the situation, I wasn’t really needed.
He and Maggie were going to plan a trip to Hell through some backdoor entrance Nate had once used to sneak in.
Allison and I were going to stay here and wait for Zeb to show up so Allison and Sam could iron out the details of some kind of deal that didn’t include blackmail.
Pretty much, I was just the bait to get the Prince of False Idols to the right place. I didn’t actually have todoanything.
After a while, I got up and headed into the backyard, phone in hand, and dropped onto a lounge chair in the pool area.
For a minute I stared out at the pool, watching the water sparkle under the afternoon sunlight. I wondered if Hayden liked to swim. In the time I’d known him, I’d never seen him in a bathing suit, not even in a photograph. He had the perfect body for swimming, lean and muscular.
My fingers dialed his number before I could talk myself out of it. I just wanted to hear his voice, even if it was just on his answering machine message.
The phone didn’t even ring before his familiar voicecame through. “Hey, it’s Hayden, leave a message, or better yet, call my office.”
There was a beep, and I debated hanging up, but instead, I started talking. “Hi, it’s me. I’m not really sure what to say. I know you probably don’t want to talk to me, but I miss you and I’m going crazy not knowing if you’re all right. Are you okay? Can you give me some kind of proof of life? I’m sorry, Hayden. I know it doesn’t change anything, but I am sorry. I wish things were different. I wishIwere different.” I sucked in a breath. “I guess that’s all. Bye.” I hung up, letting the phone drop to my lap as I whispered, “I love you.” Somehow I didn’t feel like I had a right to say that to him at this point.
“Hey.”
I turned to see Nate walking toward me. “Are you here to fetch me?”
“Nope. I’m here to keep you company. I’m not really needed in there at the moment either.”
I lifted my brows. “I find that hard to believe.”
He laughed. “Come on, Dani. You know I’m not going to play any role in making a deal with a grand prince of Hell. I wasn’t exactly born to negotiate with demons.”
“He was technically an angel first.”
“He’s still a ruler of Hell now. It’s pretty much written into my DNA to strike first and ask questions later. As we all saw last weekend. Sorry for going after your sister-in-law, by the way.”
