Gluttony Read online

  “Don’t beg for praise just yet. Candis was and you did almost pick her.” Luc raised a brow and waited for her to continue.

  “That’s irrelevant now. I didn’t pick her. Anyway, Amanda has had it rough, but she’s a fighter. Not like Ronnie, thank goodness. Amanda is more a fighter in spirit. But I won’t lie. She has her flaws. Although, I assume that you aren’t going for flawless, or we really would be looking for girls who exemplified the seven virtues.”

  “I’m not afraid of a bad girl.” Lucifer smiled. “In fact, I rather enjoy them.”

  “Just remember, Luc, punishing the bad is your job. You don’t want to end up with someone who makes you look like a hypocrite one day when she doesn’t find her way into your torture chambers in Hell.” Az twisted in his seat to look directly at Luc with one of his typical condescending angel looks.

  “First of all brother, I decide who gets punished and who doesn’t. And second, you know how I feel about you calling it that. They’re punishment kiosks, not torture chambers. No one down there gets anything they don’t deserve and you know it.”

  “Enough boys,” Harley shouted, cutting through their brotherly rivalry. “We don’t need to worry about that far into the future. Let’s find the right woman first. The rest can be figured out later. We are doing this by the original rules. The girl will be sinful. She will have flaws. But in the end, what matters, is that she will make Lucifer happy. Isn’t that what you want, too, Az?”

  “Of course it is.” Az dropped the look and sighed. “You know it is.”

  “So am I ever going to hear more about this woman, or should I just leave it all up to random chance?” Luc was growing bored with the two of them. All he wanted was to get the new month started. As much as he’d enjoyed getting to know Ronnie Falcon, it was time to move on. He was ready for his next opportunity to find true love.

  “There’s nothing random about this. I spent two weeks researching the possibles. She was carefully chosen.”

  “Okay, well how am I supposed to meet her? She’s clearly not looking for a job.”

  “No, but she’s a liquor distributor and you just happen to own a bar.”

  “My, how convenient.” Luc took another look at the mirror. Amanda was shooting pool with a few men in business suits now. They were eyeing her ass like it was a gourmet meal behind her back. She glanced over her shoulder, smiled, and took her shot. Instead of hitting the ball though, she brought the stick back way too far, and slammed one of the assholes in the nuts.

  Yeah, Amanda was definitely someone Luc wanted to get to know.

  “And since I’m so amazing, I’ve already set up an appointment with her.” Harley waited for Luc to agree.

  “Simply spectacular.” Luc feigned enthusiasm. “When does this meeting take place?”

  “Tomorrow. Day one of the gluttony month.” Harley waved her hand over the mirror and the images faded into nothingness. Luc almost wished she’d left it there for a while longer. He was curious to see how the feisty little blond handled herself some more.

  “I like it more when you say it like that.” Luc walked over to the bar and poured himself a bourbon.

  Az sighed. “No chance I can convince you to throw in a few virtuous girls too?”

  “Let me ask you this, brother. Which girl would you rather spend time with?” Luc swirled the liquid around in the glass before taking a quick gulp.

  Az smiled. “You know I like bad girls just as much as good ones, Lucifer. I try not to discriminate.”

  “Well then, why would you have me leave out the bad girls?”

  “I’m not saying leave them out. Just don’t limit yourself. You might just find that the perfect girl for you isn’t at all what you thought she’d be.”

  Azrael might have a point. Luc wasn’t sure who his perfect mate might be. What he was sure of, was that any woman who would fit into his life, and be able to handle him for the rest of eternity, had to be able to handle a little sin. Or a lot of sin. And he wasn’t going to find that looking for women who exude patience, kindness, chastity, or any of the other virtues.

  Lucifer was the devil after all. What he needed was a real sinner.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “The rent was due last week, Amanda. You can’t keep doing this to me. Work your shit out. And stop buying crap if you can’t pay your damn credit cards” Toby tossed a stack of bills at her and stomped into the kitchen.

  “Hey.” Amanda followed, leaving the bills. It wasn’t like she could pay them anyway. “You know I’m doing the best that I can.”

  “Do I know that?”

  “Of course.” She huffed. What did he expect from her?

  “Yeah, see I don’t look at it that way. You go out every night. You stumble in here drunk off your ass. There’s six take out boxes in the fridge from the overpriced, fancy food you eat. Your room is loaded with packages that you haven’t even opened.”

  “Why were you in my room, you perv.”

  “Seriously? That’s the takeaway here? I was in your room?”

  “It’s rude.”

  “No. Rude is you leaving your clothes all over the apartment so I have to gather your shit and put it in your room. Rude is not paying your bills and leaving everything on me. Rude is spending money you don’t have instead of giving your best friend what you owe him. I don’t understand what’s going on with you.” Toby was breathing fast and giving her that exasperated look that he got about once a month, when the rent was due.

  It wasn’t like he couldn’t cover it. The trust from his rich daddy paid out more than enough every month. She still felt bad though. He was right. Her responsibilities weren’t his. She was lucky he’d taken her in and put up with her bullshit. But a girl had to eat. She also had to have fun and buy things. Not to mention that running a liquor distribution business required that she make contacts. What better way to make contacts for selling alcohol, than to go drinking?

  “I’m sorry. I know I need to get things under control.”

  “I worry about you, Mandy. It’s hard to sit here and watch you spiral out of control.” Toby leaned his elbows on the counter and dropped his face into his hands. “You can do better than this. I know you can.”

  “I’m not out of control. I promise.” Amanda reached over and pushed up the corners of Toby’s mouth to force a smile. “I’m just trying to get this business off the ground and it’s a lot of work. I’ll do better.”

  “Any worse and you might have to be a five dollar crack whore living on the street.”

  “Crack has never really been my thing. Maybe one of those winos who sit in the park with their bottle in a brown paper bag.”

  “Yeah the problem with that is that you’d probably be dressed in designer rags with three hundred dollar shoes, so nobody would give you change for your next fix.”

  “Even a homeless drunk needs to look good.” She stuck her tongue out at him and went to make tea.

  “That really could be your life, you know. I need you to make some sort of plan on how you’re going to get your shit together. Don’t make me give you empty threats of kicking you out. You know I will do it. Give you empty threats, I mean.”

  “I’ll save you the trouble. I have an appointment today downtown at that posh club, The Devil’s Playpen. They’re looking for a new distributer for local brands and specialty brews. Which just happens to be what I do.” She spun around, mugs in hand and flashed him a brilliant smile. “After I meet with the owner and dazzle him with my awesomeness, he will order so much from me that I’ll have trouble filling the orders. Then he’ll recommend me to all his other bar and club owning friends and I’ll have money coming out my naughty bits.”

  “There are some places you don’t want money.”

  “There is no place I don’t want money coming out of.” Amanda picked the kettle off the stove and poured two cups of tea. She knew Toby wasn’t the biggest fan of the beverage, but she made him a cup each day nonetheless.

  To help choke down
the tea, Toby pulled out a package of mini chocolate chip cookies. Amanda would eat most of them. They both knew it, but one or two would be enough to get him to drink the tea.

  “So how’d you land the new club?”

  “I haven’t yet.” She popped a couple cookies in her mouth and chewed a few times before continuing. “I got the call yesterday and they want me to come in. But come on, could you say no to this face?” She pushed her bottom lip out into a pout and swallowed the remainder of the cookies.

  “Others have before.”

  “Pssh.” She popped a couple more cookies in her mouth and continued without chewing. “Sure, but this guy won’t. I can feel it.”

  “Sure, with those manners. How could he deny you?”

  She popped a couple more cookies in her mouth, took a long sip of tea, and smiled. “I can behave when I need to.”

  “You’re going to get fat if you keep eating all that garbage. What happened to the apple pie I brought home from my Aunt’s house?”

  “That shit was amazing.”

  “Did you eat the whole thing?” Toby glanced around the kitchen looking for leftovers.

  “Not the whole thing. There was a piece missing.”

  “Seriously, Mandy? How do you not weigh three hundred pounds?”

  Amanda shrugged. “High metabolism?”

  “You’re going to get diabetes.”

  “Nah.” Amanda waved him off. “This body was made for sweets.”

  Toby shook his head and sighed. “What time is this appointment? You want me to go with you?”

  “I can handle it on my own. Just like every other time. Why are you being all weird today?”

  “Because I saw your room. It’s like one Amazon delivery away from an episode of Hoarders in there. What the hell are you buying?”

  Good question. Amanda wasn’t even sure herself what was in all of those boxes. She had a bad habit of online shopping at night when she was tired or drunk. By the time the shit arrived, she stuck the box in a corner, and forgot all about it.

  “Um… stuff?”

  Toby set his mug on the counter and looked up at her. “You don’t even know what you bought?”

  She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.

  “There has to be thirty boxes in there. How can you not know?”

  Amanda shrugged and popped two more cookies in her mouth, then washed them down with the rest of her tea.

  Toby watched her, intent look on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again and shook his head.

  “We’ll just have to find out.”

  Before Amanda could register what was going on, Toby made a mad dash for her room and was tearing open boxes.

  “A pizza cutter in the shape of an ax?” He held up the item, made a face, and tossed it on the bed. “Socks covered in corgis? Since when do you like dogs?”

  Amanda tried to pull the next box from his hands, but he had a hard determination that she’d never seen in him before.

  “A toilet shaped coffee mug? What the hell do you need that for?”

  “Oh that. It was a gift.”

  “For who?”

  He couldn’t expect her to have all the answers.

  “I don’t know, but I bought it for a gift. What? It’s funny.”

  “It’s stupid and a waste of money. Which by the way, you don’t have enough of.” Toby tossed the mug on the bed and went for the next box, but Amanda dove over the boxes he’d already opened and tried to pull it from his hands. Unsuccessfully.

  “Enough. I get it. I shop too much. You made your point.”

  “You need to send this stuff back, Mandy. And you need a twelve step program or something.”

  “I most certainly do not. I’m not addicted to shopping.”

  “What about drinking? Or eating? Or every other thing you do in life? You have a problem, honey. We both know you do.”

  “I think you’re the one with the problem. You come in here, uninvited, and open my packages. That’s a federal offense, you know? Who are you to judge me? You think you have your life all figured out? Tell me, Toby, who was the guy who left here at dawn? Did you even catch his name? And what was that, the third time this week?”

  Toby stared at her, eyes wide, mouth slightly open. She’d basically just called him a slut, something she’d never done before, and it was clear she’d crossed a line. Instead of responding, Toby placed the box he’d been holding on to on the floor, and calmly walked past her.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” She followed after him, but he went into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. “Toby, come on.”

  The shower started and the exhaust fan flicked on, drowning out any possibility for conversation. She might have been wrong, but he was being a baby about it. She did apologize.

  “Oh whatever,” she said to the empty room and went to get ready for her meeting. They would work things out later. Right now, she needed to get herself together and land this contract. Once she had some decent customers, she’d have enough money to not only pay her rent, but to buy whatever she wanted. Then Toby would see that she wasn’t the giant mess he thought she was. And he was definitely getting the toilet mug for his next birthday.

  All she needed was to land the contract.

  ***

  “Are you excited to meet Ms. Gluttony?” Harley set a drink down on the bar in front of Luc and flung the bar towel over her shoulder.

  Luc picked up the drink, swirled the liquid around a few times, and placed it back down. “Why did you pick her?”

  “What?”

  “Out of all the available females on this planet, what was it about this one that made you think she might be the one for me?”

  “First of all, you do realize that I do narrow these women down a bit. You might have some difficulty getting to know a girl who lives in the middle of Siberia. And second, as far as what made me think she could be the one, a lot of things.” Harley shrugged. “What is it you really want to know, Lucifer? Are you getting sick of the game already?”

  Luc ran his finger along the rim of the glass and took a deep breath. “Of course not.”

  “Then why are you questioning me? You don’t trust me?”

  “I trust you. You know I do.”

  “Sometimes I wonder.” Harley poured herself a drink and tipped it back. “There’s more to a person than meets the eye. If I tell you everything about her, then how will you make your own mind up? The whole idea is that you get to know her and make up your own mind. You don’t need me influencing you.”

  Luc trusted her. He did. But there was something that felt suspicious about the women she picked. Ronnie had been a good choice, someone that he might have fell for, but Harley had to know that the timing was all wrong. Ronnie wasn’t ready for it. She had a lot of growing to do before she was ready to find her soul mate.

  And still, she picked her.

  Harley would never hurt or sabotage him. He knew that much. But something still felt off.

  “You want to share those thoughts?”

  Luc looked up at Harley and shook his head. “Nah. What is the devil if he’s not a little mysterious?”

  “Slapped in the head if he doesn’t stop talking about himself in the third person.”

  “If the devil can’t talk about himself in the third person, who can?”

  “No one,” Harley deadpanned.

  “Fine. When does the lovely Amanda show up?”

  “She just walked in.” Harley motioned over to the front where a stunning blond stood, carting a hand truck full of boxes. Luc had to admit, his distributors never looked like her. The few women he’d done business with had all had a similar look to them. Short haired, stocky, and weathered. Amanda was none of those things.

  It wasn’t that she went out of her way to look overly feminine. Her nails were short and unpainted. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail. Her clothes were appropriate for lugging around boxes and still impressive enough to land an
important contact. But none of that mattered. The thing about Amanda was, she just exuded sex appeal. If she dressed in a burlap sack, Luc would still have felt the same.

  “She looks lost.”

  “She’s just preparing herself.” Harley waved a hand over to Amanda and motioned for her to come over.

  Luc’s stomach twisted, maybe for the first time ever. Was he ready for this? With Ronnie, he was thrown into things, not really prepared for, or understanding what he was getting himself into. This was different. He knew what he was in for. At least he thought he did.

  “Amanda Mitchell.” She held her hand out towards Luc and showed him a professional smile.

  “Lucifer Morningstar.” He took her hand and shook.

  “Like the devil?”

  “Exactly like that.” Somehow that never grew old. “This is Harley, my senior associate.”

  Harley shot him a sideways glance before taking Amanda’s hand. Well what did she want him to call her? Bartender didn't feel right and demon BFF wasn’t exactly an option.

  “It’s great to meet you both. I brought some samples and lists of the options I have.” She went on about IPA’s, and specialty liquors, and local wineries, until Luc tuned her out. He liked alcohol just as much as the next devil, but all the information was too much for him at that moment. His attention was on her brilliant blue eyes. There was something about the way they sparkled that made Luc want to know more about her.

  She was mysterious and Luc was looking forward to learning her story. It wasn’t even that he thought she might be the one for him. He felt no closer to that than he had the day he met Ronnie Falcon. It was more that he was excited to learn who she was… as a person.

  Luc shook it off. Harley would laugh at him if he told her what he’d been thinking. Hell, he wouldn’t blame her. Maybe Az was right. That this game was changing him. Or maybe the change was inevitable, game or not. Not that change was necessarily bad. He could be the King of Hell, and a damn good one at that, and still grow and change.

  In fact, he would prove that he could do just that.

  Harley laid out some glasses and Amanda started pouring samples of various beers, wines, and liquors for them to try. After each taste, Amanda told them the history of the drink, the company, and other odd tidbits that Luc had no interest in. It was clear that this was her passion. She knew everything about every bottle she’d brought. Harley even asked her a few questions that would have certainly stumped any of their other distributors, but Amanda knew every answer.