Keenan looked down at her, his brow creased in concern. “But you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “His power didn’t harm me in the slightest.”
Folding her arms, Devon looked at Raini. “He didn’t help her out of the goodness of his heart. What did you agree to do? Tell me you’re now not officially his sex slave or something.”
Raini rolled her eyes. “Of course not. You come out with the weirdest stuff.”
“It was a valid question,” insisted Devon. “Right, Tanner?”
The hound’s mouth bopped open and closed. “I wouldn’t know.” He let out an oof when Devon jabbed his ribs with her elbow.
“He’s not a guy who’d want an unwilling female in his bed. He said so himself the first time I met him,” said Raini.
Khloé remembered that. Looking up at Raini, she gave her a faint smile and swallowed. “Thank you for what you did. I know that going to Maddox for something couldn’t have been easy for you.”
“No thanks needed,” said Raini. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my girls.”
Yeah, that was kind of what worried Khloé.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Sitting on the small, plastic slide, Khloé shifted slightly to get comfier and then took another swig of her pink gin. “I wonder if Little Bo Peep ever found her sheep. Or maybe she got new ones. Like for her birthday or something.”
“If I lost some, I’d put ‘new sheep’ on my birthday gift list,” said Raini, using her heel to gently rock the swing backward and forward. “And a sheepdog because, you know, it would just make things a whole lot easier.”
On the other swing, Devon pointed a finger at the succubus. “Bo Peep should’ve thought of that. She was such a disappointment, as shepherdesses go.” The hellcat flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I’d have been so much better at that job. I should totally try it.”
Sitting cross-legged on the lawn, Harper frowned. “But we need you to pierce people and help with tattoos.”
Devon sighed, disappointed. “Life always gets in the way.” She sipped from her red plastic cup. “We might need to head back inside soon; I’m almost out of gin.”
They’d come out to Jolene’s backyard to get a little fresh air. The air inside was hot and stuffy, since the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, and backyard were packed with people who’d come to celebrate Martina’s birthday.
Music blasted out of the open window, along with the sounds of people laughing, singing, and yelling to be heard. The birthday girl was currently in the dining room, killing Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” on the karaoke. The imps on the outdoor deck were doing the Conga dance while singing along. Another was using the green hose as a microphone while dramatically mouthing the lyrics.
Khloé figured it was a good thing that the neighbors were lair members or Jolene would be getting a high number of complaints about the noise. Especially since their family parties could go on all night and might even bleed into the late morning hours.
A breeze brushed over her skin and ruffled the grass and leaves. Khloé lifted her plastic cup to her mouth and took another sip of her pink gin. The sweet taste exploded on her tongue.
Raini leaned the side of her face against one swing chain. “You know, it kind of amazes me that Keenan left your side, Khlo. He’s been your shadow for weeks now.”
He had indeed. And he hadn’t once snapped at her mother for turning up at the house on a daily basis just to faff around Khloé. She suspected that was partly because he was glad Penelope had tossed out her useless boyfriend and was back on the sobriety wagon. Hopefully she didn’t fall off it again.
Keenan often watched Khloé like a hawk, as if searching for signs that the infection might have returned. It hadn’t. Maddox had definitely either neutralized or overpowered it, because even Vivian had confirmed that there wasn’t so much as a dot of death essence in Khloé’s system.
“He seems to have calmed a little since he slid this on my finger,” said Khloé, smiling down at the black diamond ring, just as she did many times a day. Such jewelry was a symbol of the ultimate commitment, so demons only ever exchanged them with partners they were utterly certain of.
Keenan had given Khloé hers the day after Maddox had healed her, saying that watching her almost die had made him realize that he never wanted to be without her. Since she felt the same, she’d asked him to wear the masculine matching ring. It had settled something in him.
“I wouldn’t say he’s calmed,” objected Devon. “Every time he has to leave you at the studio, he looks like he might spontaneously combust.”
“She almost died; the guy got a scare,” said Harper.
“We all got a scare.” Devon squinted at Khloé. “Don’t ever almost-die again.”