The Devil's Due by Jenna Black Page B

there without buying anything, but maybe we both needed a couple minutes to cool down.
    “Just plain coffee,” I finally said. When I leaned into the soft chair, my back informed me that the bruises were well on their way to setting in.
    Adam came back before I was ready to face him again, but then that would probably have been true if he were gone for an hour. He laid my coffee, along with one cream and two sugars, on the end table between our chairs. From the scent that wafted over to me from his cup, I gathered he was drinking mint tea himself. It seemed a strange choice for a tough guy, but then people thought the froufrou drinks I ordered at bars were strange for a tough broad with a tattoo and multiple ear piercings, so who was I to judge?
    Adam took a sip of his tea as I began doctoring my coffee. When I was finished, I leaned back into the chair—more carefully this time—and waited for him to say something. It didn’t take long.
    “I don’t want to hurt Dom,” he said, staring into his tea.
    “Yeah, you said that already.”
    But he shook his head. “That’s not what I mean.” He looked up and met my eyes. “Since Saul’s been gone, I’ve come to realize that what we did together served more than one purpose. Yeah, it was a sensual pleasure, for both of us. But it turns out it was a good way for me to blow off a little steam, too.” His eyes slid away from mine once more. “I have to be so careful with Dom,” he said softly, his breath stirring the steam that rose from his cup. “If I don’t … let loose every once in a while, I’m afraid of what might happen.”
    “Shit,” I muttered as I finally understood what he was getting at. “You really think you’d hurt Dominic if you didn’t play your little games at the club?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t want to find out.”
    I let out a long sigh. Obviously, Adam wasn’t my favorite person in the world, but in this one instance I suspected he wasn’t doing himself justice. “Far be it from me to suggest you have any redeeming features,” I said, “but if there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you’d never do that to Dom.”
    He looked up at me, obviously startled. “You really believe that?”
    “Yeah, I really believe that. I also really believe you need to talk to Dom about this. If you can convince me to cut you some slack about it, then I’m guessing you can convince him, too.”
    Adam laughed, and I could almost see the weight lifting off his shoulders. I laughed a bit, too, but for different reasons. How ridiculous was it for someone like me to be giving relationship advice to anyone, much less to a sadistic demon?
    “Maybe you’re right,” Adam conceded when he stopped laughing. “I’ll think about it, I promise. Now tell me, what on earth were you doing in The Seven Deadlies?”
    “Good question,” I muttered under my breath, then proceeded to tell him all about my lame-ass plan to meet with Tommy. I’d drunk half my cup of coffee by the time I was through, but the jolt of caffeine didn’t make my plan sound any better.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Adam shaking his head. “And what were you going to do if by some miracle he blurted out a confession?”
    I shifted uncomfortably. That had always been the weakest part of my plan.
    “That’s what I thought,” Adam said, then leaned forward in his seat, drawing my gaze. “You’re not a cop. You’re not a private investigator. You’re an exorcist. Leave this to the professionals, love.”
    Yes, he was totally right, but that didn’t stop me from bristling. “It was me Claudia Brewster hired, not you.” Well, maybe technically she didn’t hire me. I hadn’t accepted any money from her.
    Adam seemed less than impressed. “You brought the case to me for a reason, and it wasn’t because you wanted to hang out with me. Let me do my job, okay?”
    I’d have loved to argue with him if he weren’t making so much sense. Of course, being me, I