Bluffing the Devil(13)

"Well, Miss…? I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," I said honestly.

"I didn't throw it, Miss Riley," she said with a diabetes-inducing grin.

"Cute." I'm sure the sarcasm could be felt in at least three countries from my simple word, but, of course, it didn't faze her, one bit.

"Your plan?" she prodded.

"World domination, of course," I chuckled mostly to myself. Who me, a world leader? Ha! That was laughable no matter how you looked at it. "I have no plan passed the current one I am doing. I set my mind to something and I complete that task. When I accomplish my goal, I immediately set a new one and move on from there."

"You have nothing in your life that you want other than winning your game? That seems odd for such a beautiful and vibrant woman. Isn't there a love interest, hobbies, friends? You do have a life besides your game, don’t you, dear?"

"Of course I have friends and other things I like to do. Winning the tournament is not a life or death situation for me, truly. I just saw it as a great challenge and decided that I would like to see what I could do with that. It just so turned out that I am really great at the game, so now I have my sights on winning the bracelet," I answered honestly.

"No love interest? I see you skipped totally over that one," she didn't change her seated position even slightly the entire time. Perfect posture, gorgeous legs, incredible everything else. Bitch.

"I have no "love" interest, no," I answered. I was honest. The person I desired was not love, it was lust, pure and simple. I did feel like I cared for him and wanted him to be real all the time, but of course I cared for him. I created him in my mind. I should love all things that come from my mind, no matter how impossible and crazy they were.

"So, winning your game is your priority, then your friends, then this lust interest? Is that the order you would place things?"

"Why would I need to put things in order? I love my friends and family, the game is an important part of my life right now as I am right at the finish line with that, and my "lust interest" is none of your concern."

"I see. Let's just say hypothetically that it was my concern. Would you change your answer?"

"What do you mean by that?"

She leaned slightly closer to me and her voice came out like a soft ballad whisper. "What if I could make the one thing you want most in the world, yours?"

"Are you my fairy Godmother?" I asked jokingly as I took a play out of Victoria's book and rolled my eyes.

"Maybe something like that," she answered with a sweet smile. "I just want you to choose your words and thoughts wisely. You never know when someone might just swoop in and make your wishes come true. You know, that whole "careful what you wish for" sort of thing, that’s all," she said. Her demure smile was not fooling my senses, but something made me want to believe what she said also. It was a strange meeting and I was ready for it to be over.

"Well, this has been super fun and I appreciate your hospitality, but I really must go," I said as I slowly rose from my chair.

"Aww. So soon? We were just getting to the good stuff," she faux-pouted.

“Perhaps we do it another time then?" I offered.

"Sooner than later," she answered with a wink an instant before I woke up.

Chapter 10



What the hell was that?

I have to admit, things have been weird inside my head for a while, but that dream was just about to take some sort of trophy. Now I am dreaming of drop-dead gorgeous women who speak in circles. At least my dreams had some sizzle to them, I guess.

I lay in my bed, grouchy because I knew I hadn't been asleep for more than fifteen minutes. I got up and decided to have another pastry, and maybe sit on the balcony for a little fresh beach air. That always perked me right up.

I wrapped my giant fuzzy hotel robe around me and padded toward the kitchen. Everyone else was in bed, no lights were on anywhere. I was about to enter the kitchenette when I heard a gentle tap on the suite door. My first thought that it must be Rhea. Perhaps she forgot her key or she was trying to get in without waking anyone, so I went to the door and opened it, without checking the peephole.

Not Rhea.

Rey stared down at me. I tried to close the door in his face, but he stuck one very expensive Italian leather shoe in the jam before I could complete that task.

"I know this is very strange to you for me to be here. I apologize for the hour as well, but we need to talk."

Typically, that sentence would make people worried or frustrated, it just made me mad. "And what, pray tell, would you and I have to talk about?"

"Please Alexia, your life is in danger." The concern and sincerity on his face took me by surprise. I knew a liar when I saw one, but he was telling the truth.

"Oh, okay," I said still sounding slightly hesitant, but too worried to care about how it would look if anyone woke up to see him in our suite. "Come in. We can talk over there." I nodded my head toward the couch.

"No. Not here," he started and then quickly put his hands up and added, "I am not up to anything, I swear it. Things are not as they seem and I am not even sure who is who, and what is going on, but I need privacy to be completely honest with you and I cannot do that with your brood stalking your every syllable."

He had a good point. No matter how low we talked, at least one of them was going to be awake, hearing the entire thing, or something. Rhea might even have the place bugged and recording everything just so she can brush up on her security. The woman was a machine and never rested, seriously.

"Fine, where then?" I asked feeling suspicious, nervous, and anxious all at the same time. The feeling was actually quite nauseating but I kept a strong stance.

"Somewhere neutral works for me. Just meet me at that diner off of California Avenue?"

"Why can't we just go there now together?" I asked before I realized.

"You would chance being seen with me?" his eyes never left my face.

"Well yes, I'm a big girl and can come and go as I please, and leave with whoever the hell I want to."

The gush of breath as I said my words showed that he had been holding his breath waiting for my answer. A tiny grin teased the corner of his mouth. Gone was his cocky exterior and even the creepy glimmer from his eyes was less predatory and more tender. It was weird for me to notice those things at that specific moment, but maybe my mind was clinging on to hope that he wasn't going to take me down some abandoned alley and gut me for fun.

"Give me two minutes and we can go," I told him as I hurried across the suite to change my clothes.

I grabbed a ponytail holder, baggy sweatpants, a t-shirt, and some old sneakers. I didn't have anyone to impress, and I was going out near the beach in the middle of the night. I feared there might be a chill, so no need to be cute with shorts or something like that. I snagged my rainbow hoodie and stepped out of the room to find Rey pacing in the living room area.

"Let's do this," I partially whispered at Rey.

His eyes snapped up, "Oh. It's been two minutes already? You are quite fast. I don't know any other women like you."

"I am not sure if I should feel sorry for you or be happy that you don't have to suffer such things!" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

His head hung a bit and then he looked up and said, "Okay, let's get out of here."

"Lead the way!"

~





The diner was truly only a few minute walk and we were there before either of us realized. The walk there was quiet and tense. I started to feel like I was in high school and my boyfriend was about to break up with me or something. It was a strange feeling to have, especially in reference to the guy I was walking with, but who can truly explain emotions properly?

When we got to the diner, true to form, Rey held the door for me.

"You don't…"

"Have to?" he finished my sentence for me. "I know, I don’t have to, but I like to be good at something and this is the one thing I know I can do properly. Please let me."

"Okay, thanks," I quickly slide my way into the diner and made a beeline for the back, corner booth. That part of the diner was always deserted, especially at four in the morning.

We sat and the most adorable waiter came over to greet us, offer us coffee, let us know what the specials are and what foods to truly avoid, and then sashayed away from our table to fetch us both a coffee.

"I'm a demon," Rey muttered abruptly.

"Ummmm, excuse me?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes, I have no idea how to do this, I've never told anyone what I am before, but I need to tell you and get this off of my chest. I feel horrible and I hate myself, I just can't do this to you!" His words had started to roll together, but fortunately, being a girl, I was well versed in say-as-much-as-you-can-in-one-breath. "I was sent here to stop your success by any means necessary. To throw temptation at you, and ultimately try to earn your soul for my master, but I just can’t do it. You are a really great person and I've just never seen such a tough woman before. You never fall for anything I say or do and you are so loyal and honest that I just don’t know where these emotions are coming from, but I can't do that to you. I have never even had emotions before, so this is really new to me. Usually, I am contemplating on which person I can use the most efficiently, ruin their name, and run off happily into the night. Even if I could figure out a way to do one of those, you would handle me before I could do the rest. You and your friends are a force to be reckoned with and even someone of my standing doesn't want to come between that."