The Devil’s Reward: An Opposites Attract Romance (The Devil’s Soldiers)

Thank God for Shadow.

It’s been a shit day. I don’t even know where to begin, but I know that I’m grateful Macy is going to Maddie’s for a sleepover. Maddie is her best girlfriend in her class, and tomorrow is a field trip day; thankfully Maddie’s mother offered to take them both, so it isn’t so hectic tomorrow. That, and she’s chaperoning; a job I do not envy her. I can think of much better things to do than supervising an entire class of five and six-year-olds.

So instead of heading home, I walk to my favorite ice cream spot for some self-comfort. Nothing like stuffing your face with ice cream to make the day better. It’s also rare for me to go alone, and hopefully, the walk will help ease the tension headache at the base of my neck.

The day started off well enough, even with Macy not giving me a huge fight about going to school. Probably because she knew she was going home with Maddie today, but I’ll happily take the win. Except, that was all that was good about my day. I spent the rest of the morning dealing with one particular client who is not happy to be medically discharged, and trying to fight it tooth and nail. Refusing to leave the base, refusing any help, and refusing to interact with me at all other than to be an arrogant asshole.

My favorite part was him informing me that the only way he would give me the time of day was if I got on my knees and to give him a blowjob. And while he fucked my mouth, he would work out how to make the military change their minds.

Of course, that was the end of the session with him, and I referred him to one of my male co-workers, explaining the situation in the email. Thankfully, Theo is understanding and has no problem in taking him on. He actually referred over one of his own clients who admitted she would prefer to speak with a female, and I’m happy to do that.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one I had to deal with today.

My second and third clients weren’t much better, though they didn’t ask for blow jobs or remark about me sexually. In fact, one of them gave me a look of disgust. I won’t lie, that stung, but I let it go. It’s not the first time someone has looked at me that way, and probably won’t be the last.

Still, it was the fourth client that pissed me off the most by showing up almost an hour into his appointment high as a kite. I had to call him a cab, and then babysit him until the cab got there. I’m not even sure how he made it to my office in the first place.

When I told Crypt about becoming a statistic, I wasn’t exaggerating. I don’t want to see that happen to anyone, but unfortunately, I can’t help this man yet. He needs to help himself, but unless he figures out how to take those steps, well, all I can do is hope.

Still, it saddened me, and by the time I called it a day, I decided I needed to walk it off before I went home. There are bad days in this job, and I learned from the beginning never to bring it home with me. I have enough ghosts and memories already, and I don’t want to add more. So, instead, I’m going to go to the ice cream shop and I’m going to let myself window shop until I head home.

I stop when I hear a chime in my purse. Grabbing my phone out of it, my heart races when I see the message is from Maddie’s mother, Lori. I swipe it open and then relax when I see the picture of the girls having fun swimming in the pool, looking happy as can be. Lori assures me Macy is fine and says to have a good night.

I tap back a quick message, thanking her again for doing this, and I slip the phone back in my pocket. Alright, that helped brighten my mood considerably.

I keep walking, but pause when I see the homeless man by the mouth of the alley with a sign asking for money. He looks sad and tired, and I pull out a couple of bills from my purse, moving towards him. He looks up at me with untrusting dark eyes, but I put on a smile and hold out the money to him. I don’t say a word, but he snatches the money quick enough and then pushes off the wall. “That’s it?” he snaps at me, going from sad to indignant in the blink of an eye. “Ten measly dollars? Bitch.”

“That’s all I have on me,” I tell him calmly, stepping back.

“Yeah, fucking right. I saw that phone. You got money to afford that, you got money to give me,” he snarls. He immediately tries to grab my bag. I step back again but he keeps advancing. Shit.

“Leave me alone,” I bark at him, moving across the sidewalk to get away from him, but he keeps following.

“Not until you pay up, fucking whore,” he screeches, eyes bright from whatever he’s on.

“I don’t fucking thing so,” a deep voice says dangerously behind him, and the man instantly freezes. I step back hastily and see my rescuer is none other than Shadow, and behind him is Viper, who looks none too happy. “You trying to put your hands on a woman, Frank?” Shadow demands, jaw clenched.

“No, no, of course not,” Frank rushes to assure him, stepping away.

“That’s not the way I saw it,” Viper chimes in, crossing his arms forebodingly over his chest. “Looks to me like you were seconds away from mugging her to get her bag.”

“A simple misunderstanding,” Frank tries to assure them, though the hateful glare he sends me is clear. If they hadn’t shown up, Frank would have indeed mugged me.

“Take whatever you got and get gone, Frank,” Shadow barks. “Now.”

Frank doesn’t hesitate, quickly moving around Shadow to grab his sign and run off. “I’ll be back,” Viper says as he takes off after him at a much slower pace.

I swallow hard, my body trembling. “Thank you,” I whisper, staring up at Shadow.

“You alright?” he asks, concern evident in his voice. He gives me a quick once over, like he’s checking for injuries.

“Just shaken up,” I say honestly, swallowing hard. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”

He frowns and steps closer to me. “Frank’s known around here, but he’s never been violent. Mostly just a drunk that bums money for booze and cigarettes. Sometimes he’ll get food, but he’d rather drink it away than eat.”

“I was stupid for getting so close,” I say tiredly. “It’s been a bad day, so I guess I can add this to the running tally of bad things for the day.”

“Where’s the little scammer?” he asks me, glancing around in concern.

“She’s at a friend’s place for the night,” I assure him. Thank God. I don’t want to even think about what could have happened if she was with me. “I was just, uh, walking to get some ice cream. You know, drown my sorrows in something that will go straight to my hips but is worth it in the moment.”

Oh my God, someone stop my runaway mouth. That was way too much information.

“I’ve heard that ice cream is a cure-all for bad days,” he agrees. “Might ruin your dinner though.”

I give a shy smile. “Well, that’s the fun part about being an adult. Ice cream can’t ruin your dinner if ice cream is dinner,” I reason.

He chuckles. “Good point. How about I walk with you, just to make sure you don’t have any more unwanted encounters?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I rush to tell him. “You guys were obviously heading somewhere and I don’t want to keep you.”

He shakes his head. “Nah, it’s nothing that can’t wait.” He indicates for me to go ahead, and I hesitate for a second before I turn and start walking.

“Don’t you need to wait for your friend?” I ask awkwardly as we make our way down the sidewalk. I look behind me but don’t see any sign of Viper or Frank.

Shadow shakes his head. “He’ll text me when he’s ready to meet up. So you had a crappy day?”

I blink at the abrupt subject change, but decide to go with it. “Yeah. Started out with a client basically telling me I’m worthless and then demanding that I either, uh, give him a blowjob, or leave him the hell alone.”

His expression turns thunderous. “I hope you punched him in the damn face,” he growls, looking down at me.

I shake my head. “I just told him I wouldn’t help him, and that I would refer him to someone else. He left, thankfully without issue.”

“Good. You have security or something to help if someone doesn’t want to leave?”

“Technically, yes,” I say with a wince. His eyes sharpen on me. “The guy the clinic hired is a retired Vet, but he spends more time walking the halls and talking to people than being security. I guess they figure since we don’t deal with people like in the hospital who are suffering from severe PTSD and other things, that we don’t need a security team.”

His scowl deepens. “Unacceptable,” he says fiercely. “Anyone who thinks that doesn’t know a damn thing about Vets. It can be anything that sets you off, even the smallest shit. The normal looking guy can also be the deadliest. I saw it plenty in my time with the Forces.”

“Well, I’ve worked there for five years and we’ve never had a problem.”

“There can always be a first time. You still have my number?” I nod. “Good, you run into a problem, you call me. And if I can’t get there, I know people who can.”

“Thank you, but I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I assure him with a small smile. “So, ah, how are things with you?” I awkwardly ask as we lapse into silence for a couple minutes.

He glances at me. “About the same as every day,” he says with a slight smile. “Running a business and the club take up a lot of my time.”

“What’s that like? Being in the club?” I ask, unable to stop myself from asking the question that’s burning in my mind.

He slows his pace as we round the corner and I can see the ice cream shop up ahead. Shadow stops and looks down at me, his eyes watchful. I flush at his stare, fighting not to look away. “It’s probably the only thing that saved me when I got out,” he tells me, his tone serious. I stare wide-eyed up at him. “You see it yourself, when people get out; some have nothing, and I was one of those people. I had planned on being a career recruit, but life had different plans and threw me a curve ball. When I joined the club, it gave me a purpose again, and I had men who had my back no matter what.”

“Just like in the Forces,” I murmur.

He nods. “Just like in the Forces. That’s not an easy thing to find, but I got lucky.”

“And you think Crypt is going to be lucky too?”

“If he wants to be. It’s all up to him.”

“A good thing to know. And you seem to have some nice women around too,” I add with a shy smile. “They seem like they keep you on your toes.”

“You have no idea,” he sighs. “Trust me, those two on their own are nothing compared to the group as a whole.”

I laugh. “You did call them a coven,” I remind him. “Are they really that bad? They seem so nice.”

He groans. “They already got to you,” he sighs. “Should have figured.”

“What did they do to make you warn me off?” I ask curiously.

“Nope, if I tell you, you’ll want to join them,” he reasons, though his eyes hold a sparkle of humor. Damn, he’s good looking. I just want to stare at him. A man shouldn’t be this attractive.

“Or, it could make me want to run the other way,” I counter.

“Hmmm,” he says thoughtfully. “The better question is, what haven’t they done?”

“I’m starting to worry you’re about to tell me they robbed a bank or something,” I joke, though I am starting to worry.

“I wish they had,” he mutters. “No, they are constantly getting themselves into trouble and dragging me into it,” he reluctantly explains.

“Is this why you said you have a bail fund?”

He smirks. “Trust me, the amount of money I have saved up for that occurrence is nothing to sneeze at. I’m waiting for the day they clean me out.”

“Wait, those two women have you setting up a bail fund? But it’s just two of them.”

He snorts. “Sorry, honey, but that is incredibly inaccurate. Though those two are the ring leaders, they have larger numbers. That’s why I’m telling you to run the other way before you get sucked in.”

I smirk. “Well, now you’ve just issued a challenge, sir. Don’t you know better than to do that with a woman?” I tease, feeling brave.

He eyes me warily. “If you say so, but I would think a smart woman like you would have the good sense to heed my warning.”

I shrug. “If you think so.”

His phone buzzes, and he grabs it from his pocket. “Sorry, but I have to run,” he sighs, looking down at me. “You good to get home?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I assure him. “Ah, thank you again for helping me. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.” He pauses and then says, “You have my number, so if you have any problems, call.” I hesitate for a moment, but then nod.

When he starts to walk away, he suddenly stops, turns back towards me, and asks, “One more question.” He pauses, like he’s considering how to ask it, and I wait patiently. Finally, he asks, “Did you ever know a woman named Samantha Nolans?” His gaze is intense as he stares at me, and I get the feeling the question isn’t one he’s asked lightly.

I frown, trying to place that name. Finally, I shake my head. “Not personally. I’d have to check and see if I know her through the clinic. Why?”

“You remind me of her,” he says vaguely. “I’ll see you around, Quinn.” Then he turns and heads back the way we came.

I stare after him for a moment, trying to process what just happened. Something tells me that whoever Samantha Nolans is, she’s important to Shadow. My curiosity is piqued, but I push it away. I have ice cream calling my name, and an empty house to get home to.

I’m both sad and elated at the thought.