Bluffing the Devil(22)

"You might be right about that, but let's just not chance it, okay honey?"

"Okay fine, I’ll just stick with what I know!"

"Being sexy?" Devin questioned as he poked his head out of the room wearing only a towel around his waist. The steam wafted out of the roof around him, creating a very sexy image that I was sure wasn't wasted on Victoria as well.

"No, poker and violence," Victoria answered for me.

"Violence? She's as timid as a field mouse," Devin said with a sweet grin.

"Ha! She hasn't needed to spar with you or otherwise attempt to dismember you yet. You're lucky!" Victoria said as she walked toward the kitchenette. "You guys need anything?"

"No, I am saving myself for dinner. I'm starting to hit starvation mode though, where is everyone?" I could hear that I was about to become whiny when the suite door opened and Rey and Rhea barreled through laughing, and generally being very buddy-buddy together.

"Well, aren't you two the friendly bunch?" I asked with a wink to Rey. "Must be one of the 1%, hmm?"

"Seems so," he agreed and handed me a huge bag of things. "There are underclothes, pants, shirts, boots, shoes, and a few other things in there as selections. While we are out, we can hit some stores and things to get him some more stuff. I wasn't sure of his style, so I just winged it." He looked over at Devin with a head nod, "Hope you don't mind, bro."

"No dude, thanks. Whatever you got will work. Just need something to cover up my sexiness before Alexia plays slice-and-dice with some strangers face. I hear she's prone to violence."

"You have no idea!" Rey agreed and I grabbed the remote off the table and tossed it at him. "See? Violence. I did a nice thing and still she tries to hurt me with things!"

"It was that or watch the rest of that horrible football game! What sort of person wants to watch a San Francisco and Seattle game anyway?" I said, placing my hands on my hips and quirking my eyebrow in a blatant act of team-bashing hatefulness.

"Um, sinfully amazing people do. That's one of the best rivalries ever. What is wrong with you? Are you about get girly on me? Stop it. Stop it right now!" Rhea shook her finger at me to scold my awful taste in football teams.

"Bro, you're going to have to work on your girl. I don't know if I can maintain a friendship with someone that likes some team named after their town milling industry whose uniforms make them look like deficient bumblebees, seriously." Rey apparently had been paying way too close attention to conversations and had enough ammo to harass me back, even about what sports I watched. Just like any other typical male. Demon or not, that guy was just like everyone else. Annoying and in need of a beating.

"It's ok, dude. I feel your pain. Imagine I am going to have to be the one that watches that lame team now! Do you know how terrible their quarterback is? Maybe they would let me play for them. I can't possibly be any worse!"

"Okay, enough of the rising bromance! Go get dressed so we can eat!" I shouted as I pushed Devin to the other room with his goodie bag in hand. "We will see if we can find Carly on the way out. Was she at least dressed and ready when she left?" I asked Victoria.

"Yeah, she had on a cute little dress and heels. She was sharp, you know how she is. She put a lot of effort into that outfit tonight, I'm sure she's not wasting it. We had plans together, but you know how she is, babe, flighty, random, unavailable. Don't hold your breath for her to be there. She will show up when she's good and ready," Rhea stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, good and yeah, I know. Her random side trips often make her late for things, but we always entertain ourselves, no biggie." If I was truthful, her showing up late all the time and not really caring about our plans upset me and hurt my feelings often, but it wasn't worth fighting about or pointing out to her. The three of us always rocked out our night no matter what.

"Give me a few also, while Devin is getting ready and I will change, too," Rhea added as she dashed off to her room to change.

Victoria and I looked at each other with wide eyes and I mouthed, "What the??" to Victoria. She returned the sentiment. Rhea was not a girly girl either. None of us, besides Carly, were. For any of us to get dressed up for a night out was rare. For all of us to do it, something was definitely different. It felt nice to want to get dressed up, and be together and have a good time without stressing about the game or anything else.

"What time does our tournament start tonight?" Rey asked, as if in my thoughts.

"It started at 9pm. We have tons of time," I assured.

"Yeah, I don’t even want to go, but I will since I made final table and all. Plus, it will be great to kick your ass now. I always enjoy kicking your ass." His grin didn't even annoy me for once.

"You say always like you have done it every time. I've handed your ass to you many times, don't front!" I argued back playfully.

"Yeah, whatever. Women can't play poker," he said just to get a rise out of me.

"I'm not a woman, I'm a ninja!" I struck a dangerous looking pose and everyone joined in a round of laughter at my expense. "Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence, jerks!"

We all continued to giggle and poke fun at each other until Rey came out of the room. His hair was still damp and hung slightly over one eye, making him appear shy. The shirt Rey had brought him was the exact shade of blue of Devin's eyes and made him look incredibly sexy. The pants and shoes were clearly choices directly from Rey's Italian fashion sense. Nearly everything Rey ever wore was high-end fashion, expensive, and Italian made.

"You tried to make Devin be one of your sidekicks, also?" I teased.

"No, woman. I gave that man a bag full of awesome and hoped he would put it together properly. He gets an A for this class. Next class will be in how to make women weak in the knees," he goaded me.

"Maybe you should let him teach you that one?" I poked back.

"You two are like brother and sister, I swear," I heard Rhea complain from the other side of the room.

We all turned to see her walking toward us in a pastel babydoll dress with the cutest wedges I have ever seen. Her hair was pulled up in a twist and secured with a simple clip. The blue streak in her hair (this week) was blended in, but also matched the blues in the dress. She looked demure and sweet. I had never seen her look like either of those things.

"Wow, Rhea. You look incredible!"

"Geez, don't sound so shocked. It's not like I don't own clothes, I just never have a reason to wear them anywhere," she added and glanced toward Rey. It looked like she was seeking his approval. Another thing I had never seen her do before.

If she wanted his approval, she didn't need to wait a second more. "Wow, sweetie. You look amazing. Care to join a demon for a bite to eat? I promise it won't be you that is dinner, this time," he said with a slight grin as he offered her his arm.

To my shock, she accepted his arm!

"Thanks. Okay let's go before everyone has a fit or dies or something," she said rushing us out the door.

"Do I need to make a formal invitation, love?" Devin asked me moments later.

"No, of course not, let's go get some grub!" I said giggling.

"That's my girl," he said happily as he grabbed my hand, laced our fingers together, and walked toward the elevator.

"Our mission is to hunt down Carly so she doesn't miss out on the food. You know she will cuss us if we leave her out when there is food involved," I said with a giggle. The round of agreement behind me was enough to ensure me that everyone was on board.

Chapter 15



We looked at all of the usual places for Carly, but couldn't find her.

"Well, we tried, babe. Don't feel bad. Maybe she got wrapped up in something. She knows where we are going since she picked it, so maybe she's going to show up there?" Rhea added.

"Yeah, you're right. Or maybe she thought she missed us and she's there waiting for us now?"

"True, let's just head over, get seated, and then see what happens. Plus, she's a big girl, if she shows up, great. If not, she was busy. No big deal, let's just have some fun and enjoy some great food with our friends," Victoria added.

"You guys know me, I always just worry too much, that's all."

"Of course you do. You're the mother hen," Victoria soothed. "Well, after me. I actually only really mother you though, huh? Everyone else can kiss it." Her giggle carried through the entire group and she put her arm around my waist as we walked.

The restaurant was only three blocks away so we decided to just walk and enjoy the late afternoon weather. Everyone knew of my love of the beach and nearly everywhere in walking distance of our hotel had a lovely view of the ocean. It made me smile that my friends did things purposefully to make me smile.