A Job From Hell (Ancient Legends #1)

excuse.”
    “I’ll say the company went bust.” I nodded
to myself. That was definitely a good excuse.
    Dallas seemed impressed too. “Not bad. Dad
might buy it, but Mom—” he shook his head and sucked in a sharp breath “—she’ll
probably want to send the poor guys a fruit basket and a greeting card.” He had
a point there. Dallas’s face lit up like it always did when he thought he’d
come up with a cunning plan. “You could say your boss was kidnapped.”
    I slapped my forehead. “You’ve got to be
kidding.”
    He sat down next to me and grabbed my
shoulders. “No, listen! It’s brilliant. Just say your boss disappeared and the
police need to keep it a secret until they finish their investigation. She won’t
poke her nose around for months, and by then you’ll have another job and she’ll
have forgotten all about it.”
    From all his stupid ideas, this wasn’t even
such a bad one. I might consider it. Dallas looked at me expectantly, waiting
for the praise to start flowing. I nodded to please him. “It might work. I’ll
think about it.”
    Dallas walked over to my dresser and picked
up Cameron’s picture. “Could he have something to do with you quitting your
job?”
    “That’s not fair,” I said.
    “Is it fair to display his picture when you’re
dating the boss?”
    “Aidan and I aren’t really dating. Besides,
I’ve been meaning to take it down.” It wasn’t even a lie.
    Dallas put the picture back. “What
happened? I thought you two were going to take a break and then try and work it
out.”
    I grimaced. “We were. Until I called him at
three a.m. and a bimbo answered his phone.”
    Dallas blew out a breath. “What a jerk. I’ll
kick some sense into him the next time I see him.”
    “If I don’t beat you to the punch,” I said.
He laughed, and I found myself laughing with him, forgetting my worries for a
moment.
    “Can we go back now? I think I’m getting a
phone number tonight,” Dallas said, grinning. “There’s something about that
redhead.”
    No doubt he had Cass in mind. From all the
women in the world trust my brother to be attracted to a nerdy demon. It was a
bad mix, like oil and water. If Dallas screwed up this relationship, her father
would be on his trail, striking him with lightning bolts, sucking his soul into
hell, tossing him in a fiery dungeon, and throwing away the key. Dating Cass
was not going to happen in this lifetime.
    “I was thinking Cass and I could watch a cool
movie on Friday night at my pad. Any suggestions?” Dallas continued.
    I tapped a finger against my lips,
thinking. “ Drag Me To Hell, Demon Hunter,
Storm The Gates Of Hell, Succubus, Blue Demon —have your pick.”
    “Ah, I get it. She’s into horror flicks big
time. Do you think she’d wear those Halloween horns on our first date?”
    I sneered. “I have a sneaking suspicion she
would.” I had to get him out—and fast—before bad things happened,
like producing offspring. They’d give a new meaning to the expression ‘demon
child’. I got up and gave his shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. “I’m sorry to have
to break it to you, but Cass’s not available.”
    “She’s what?” Dallas looked confused. I
rolled my eyes inwardly.
    “She’s seeing someone,” I said. “Besides,
the girl has issues.” Maybe it wasn’t even a lie, I consoled myself. Judging
from the few books I’d read on demons, Cass probably had a new guy every
weekend. Granted, the books had been fiction but, apparently, basing one’s work
on research was all the rage in literature.
    Dallas’s shoulders slumped. His expression
betrayed disappointment. For a moment, I considered laughing it all off as a
joke, but I had to remain strong even though I hated to see his hopes crushed.
No way was I letting my brother get sucked into this crazy world. It was too
late for me, but not for him.
    “You sure?” Hope flickered in him, then
died down like a blown-out candle as soon as I nodded. It wasn’t like him to
fall for someone at this speed. Maybe there was something about the demon, some
sort of demonic thing that drew guys to her.
    I gave him a tight hug and decided to
change the subject before he started asking questions. “Thanks for bringing the
stones. I’ll call you before I return to London.”
    He lifted his chin a notch and turned to
the door. “Yeah, you do that.” We climbed down the stairs in silence. Dallas
hesitated as we reached the hall on the ground floor. “I should