Page 28 of The Final Deal

Someone grabs my arm and pulls me into a hard body. Adrian’s tattooed arm extends, pointing at the little thing. “Look.”

It twists and turns on wobbly knees, cooing and babbling as it peers up into the streetlight above with an open mouth. Two tiny glints make my jaw drop.

It’s fang baby. Here on Devil’s Bridge.

“Un-fucking-believable,” I whisper in shock.

Adrian smacks Shannon’s shoulder. “Guess we can’t give Zak shit for it anymore, huh?”

Shannon makes a face, studying fang baby. “Nah, he shoulda been able to take it on still.”

My phone pings in my back pocket as they continue talking shit. The screen lights up and a familiar name displays that makes my eyes widen.

Look any harder and you might find what you’re looking for.

Chapter 11

Bad Influence

–Hot Milk

I grab Dree’s arm.“We need to go.”

“Why?”

“It…” I glance around, noting all the shadows he could be hiding in. “It’s fucking creepy out here. And I don’t want any of us turning into another vampire.”

Dark eyes study me for a moment before he shrugs. “Seems like a dead night here, anyway.”

Of course it’s fucking dead, I think to myself as Dree pushes away from the truck and pats Shannon on the shoulder. There are no devils to show up for here.

Adrian laces his fingers with mine and leads me toward the Tacoma.

“What do y’all normally do out here?” I question. “Wait around for people who want to make a deal with the devil to show up?”

He snorts and swings our hands between us. “Kinda old school, don’t ya think?”

“I… I don’t know what to think.”

We pause at the front end of the truck. Adrian peers into the distance and fidgets with my fingers. “We make most of our deals on the road—on tour.” He shifts his weight around and rubs his clean-shaven chin, glancing at me uncomfortably. “I kinda… supplement. When I go out around town.”

My brows knit together at the implication. He didn’t do anything when he took me out on a date a couple of weeks ago; he was in my line of sight the entire time. The only weird thing that happened was…

“Jesus Christ,” I mutter in disbelief as I stare at him incredulously. “You’re the dancing devil of El Camaroncito.”

He shrugs. “I mean, technically no, since that story’s like twice our age.”

“You know what I mean.”

He nods, half-smiling. “The guy I replaced couldn’t handle the scene anymore; made sense to get a rock star in the mix.”

My eyes bug out of my head. “You’re kidding, right?”

The half-smile blows up into a full grin.

I smack his arm. “You little shit!”

He plants a kiss on my cheek and squeezes my hand.

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