Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
SATAN IN A SUIT
Poe
“I’ll never be your knight in shining armor,
but I’ll gladly be your devil in disguise.” - A
I took another sip of my coffee, trying not to grimace as the bitter liquid burned its way down my throat. Ugh, this was awful. I couldn’t even make coffee. That was just sad.
I didn’t even know what I did wrong… okay, I did know. I was distracted and dumped too much coffee and not enough water. Honestly, I didn’t care. It was fine if it tasted like shit. I just needed caffeine to function after yesterday’s not-so-pleasant bombshell.
Azariel.
I had been a good person. At least, I thought I was. Yeah, sometimes my sense of humor ruffled some feathers, and I definitely didn’t always do or say the right thing—but that wasn’t enough to deserve this, right? Maybe I had pissed someone off big time in a past life. Seriously, tell me why the one person who could destroy my confidence with a snap of his tattooed fingers was the same person who now held the keys to my dreams? I must’ve kicked a puppy or something in my previous existence. Karma was really a bitch, and it had a vendetta.
I have been following Blackthorn Publishing for years. I’ve also been a fan of some of their authors, and to my knowledge, there had been another CEO—Anna Morgan. What had happened to her? What had Satan in a suit done to her?
The more I thought about it, the more my headache grew.
I pressed my “Wednesday Addams” mug—thanks, Mom—against my lips again, wincing as the coffee tasted like burnt rubber and poor life choices. I glanced at my laptop, where my mom's beautiful face beamed up at me like she had been waiting all day for that video call.
“How did the meeting go, Love Bug?” she asked, looking entirely too chipper. “Was everyone nice? Did you have fun?”
I couldn’t help but smile at my mom. Of course, she would ask that. Bless her heart for always being so positive, and also for still thinking of us as her little babies. Most people my age would have hated being babied by their parents and although it could be a little strange, I also treasured every second of it. One day, she wouldn’t be there to cheer me up and encourage me after a shitty day, and that thought made me squeeze my mug a little harder.
I looked at my mom, and for a second, I considered lying, but then I remembered I had never lied to her, and I wasn’t about to start now.
I swallowed the horrible brew again, my mouth still tasting like burned rubber and shit, and leaned back on my sofa. “Uh, the meeting was… fine,” I said, biting my lip. Azariel’s cocky grin flashed in my mind, and I felt my blood pressure rise a little.
Or are you afraid... How dare he? Please. I wasn’t afraid of him. Hurt by him? Yep. Disappointed? Absolutely. Annoyed? Oh, very much so. But afraid? Not a chance.
Mom narrowed her green eyes—same shade as mine. “What are you not telling me, Poe? My mother’s intuition tells me there’s more to this ‘fine’ story.”
Damn it.
Her mother’s intuition. Dad said it was something she made up, but I wasn’t so sure. She always knew way too much and knew when we hid things from her, even when we tried our best not to let it show.
I sighed. “Okay, it wasn’t fine. It just wasn’t great.”
“Was someone mean to you? Do I need to call your father?”
I smiled. Dad disliked Azariel enough as it was.
“I’m fine, Mom. Really.” I absentmindedly tapped the keyboard while I tried to think of something that wouldn’t make her worry. “Guess who the new CEO of Blackthorn Publishing is?”
“Who?”
“Azariel.”
She raised an eyebrow, but her face didn’t show shock. “Oh? That’s unexpected. And how did that go? I bet he was really happy to see you, baby.”
Unexpected? That was it?
I squinted at her. “You’re not shocked?”
She shrugged and leaned forward slightly. “No. That boy was crazy about you. Of course, he would infiltrate your world. I bet he was your number one fan—after your father and me, of course.”
Number one fan?
That boy? She surely meant that devil covered in ink and nice, expensive shoes.
And crazy about me?
He was crazy alright.
“You’re too damn nice, Mom,” I muttered, and took another sip of the rancid coffee. It was like acid on my tongue. I hated it, yet it left a sweeter taste than Azariel’s name on my tongue. “That boy you spoke of was a man now, and one without a heart.”
“Of course, he was walking around without a heart, sweetie. You were his heart,” Mom said seriously, and for a nanosecond my heart stopped before it started up again.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Nope.
I tried to ignore how Mom’s words caused a slight hope in my heart. No. Didn’t be foolish, Poe. Stayed strong.
No. I wasn’t going down that road.
“You’re wrong, Mom. That man didn’t know the meaning of love.”
Mom let out a soft chuckle. “Still holding a grudge, huh?”
Oh, hell yeah. I held a grudge like it was my full-time job. My reaction to Azariel Solonik was proof of it.
Hell yeah, I did. The spawn of Satan was impossible. Every single time I was near him, he acted like I was a disease. Like I was invisible—or worse, like I was beneath him. I didn’t care if my dreams were in his hands, he was an insufferable ass?—"
I stopped myself mid-rant, realizing I was about to cross into territory I promised I’d never revisit. I lowered my voice, my eyes flicking away from the screen out of habit—like somehow that’d help me keep my own secrets. I never told my parents how much Azariel really meant to me, or about our moments in the garden. I didn’t just feel heartbroken—I felt humiliated. After he shattered my naive heart, he acted like I was the dirt on his shoes.
Maybe I was being overly dramatic then, but he didn’t just hurt me once. He hurt me many times. He was the reason I overthought friendships. The reason that it was so hard for me to open up to people.
“Funny how you’d always been a little too intrigued with Satan and the dark, my girl.”
I narrowed my eyes, feeling a little bit betrayed by my mother pointing out things I would rather have forgotten.
“That had nothing to do with who shall no longer be named.” I forced a smile that felt faker than it sounded.
“Sure, it didn’t.” Mom tilted her head, studying me. “Was there something you wanted to tell me, Poe? Something more than him just being a little jerk to you?”
I froze, my breath catching. It wasn’t the first time she’d insinuated that my aversion for the heartless prince had to do with something more than him just being an ass, and every time she did, it stung. My chest tightened, and I couldn’t seem to push it back down. Yeah, it was something more. So much more. He was the reason why I didn’t believe in love. Not love like I yearned to feel. A love I thought I would grow up to have… with him.
Because I did dream of him. I always dreamed of gray… of him.
And he killed that dream the many times he made me feel like a fool for even thinking of offering my friendship and my heart.
I rubbed my chest when pain started to take over it.
“No,” I said, with a coldness I didn’t entirely feel. A coldness my mother didn’t deserve. “There was nothing more. He was just my asshole boss now, apparently. Nothing more.”
Liar…
I was a liar. Deep down, I knew. I cared. I cared too damn much. He made me feel things I didn’t want to feel. He’d always made me feel, and neither time nor space had stopped it. But I wasn’t ready to admit it. Not to Mom. Not to anyone. And especially not to myself.
“Whatever you said, Love Bug. Just knew that not everything was always as it seemed. You had to look beyond the darkness to appreciate the light.”
I frowned but said nothing else, and she sighed before speaking again.
“So, when was your next meeting?”
Shit.
I’d left the meeting after signing my talent and my dreams away to the devil, but I hadn’t told Mom that.
I bit my lips. “They messaged me to schedule another meeting tomorrow. I guessed I’d be seeing more of him.” And I’d probably hate every minute of it.
But I didn’t. I knew that. There hadn’t been a single moment in my life where I hated the beautiful, dark and heartless Solonik prince. Not even when he had been cruel and dismissive. I loved him even then.
And that made me an even bigger fool than him.
“Oh, good. You two kids play nice and have fun showing him what you’re made of, sweetie. You are a Nicolasi and we are magic. Sprinkle that shit all over him and see what happens,” she said happily— too happy —before saying goodbye and blowing me a kiss before ending the video call.
Oh, yes, I will sprinkle something on him alright… but it won’t be magic.