Page 14 of Falling for Lucifer

Cries were heard in the other room, and Lucifer led them across the marble floors and into a carpeted living room, where two dogs lay on a fluffy gray doggy bed, while Harley and a man who looked like Lucifer sat on the couch.

The puppies immediately jumped up and ran to Lucifer when they saw him, and Ellodie thought it was the cutest thing. They jumped at his legs and sniffed at Etta’s car seat.

“Hi, babies,” Ellodie cooed. She bent down to pet them. “What are their names?”

“Gotham and Pixie.” Lucifer pointed them out while giving them each a pet on the head.

“Who the fuck are you?” A loud voice boomed in front of her. Etta immediately cried out, and the baby in Hades’s arms wailed even louder.

Harley, who looked exhausted, halfheartedly hit him on his tree trunk of a leg as he stood and mean mugged Ellodie, who looked between him and Hades.

“Man, shut up with all that and give me my niece,” Lucifer said, stepping further into the living room.

“And you give me her.” Harley grinned as she reached her hands out for Etta.

Lucifer placed her car seat in front of Harley before giving his sister-in-law a kiss on the head. “You aight?”

“Just tired,” Harley mumbled as she unbuckled Etta, who continued to cry.

Lucifer turned to Hades and reached for Kali, but Hades pulled her out of his reach. He didn’t seem to care that the baby cried mercilessly in his arms.

“It’s a strange woman in my house, nigga. Who she?” Hades asked, his frown deepening.

“That’s Ellodie, and that’s Etta. Ello, this is my dick head brother.” Lucifer made introductions, leaving Ellodie laughing nervously as she waved a hand at Hades.

“Hades, stop staring her down and give Kali to Lu. You know he’ll calm her right down. We need a moment of peace,” Harley said. She’d already made quick work of quieting Etta down.

Hades grumbled something but handed the baby over as he continued staring at Ellodie.

“Come sit down, love. That nigga won’t bite you,” Lucifer said as he sat on the other end of the large couch from where Harley was.

Ellodie tiptoed by Hades, scared as hell that he would, in fact, bite her.

When she made it safely by him, she sat as close to Lucifer as she could.

They hadn’t lied about Hades. He was intimidating, and it seemed as though he would say whatever came to mind.

Couple that with him not seeming to have one nice thing to say about anything, she was a bit afraid of him.

Finally, Hades sat down, but he kept his eyes on her. When he spoke, she jumped slightly. “You the one who had my brother bitchin’ up?”

“What? I?—”

“I ain’t a bitch, Hades.” Lucifer’s tone held a warning to it, and Ellodie thought they would for sure come to blows. Hades didn’t seem like the kind of man who liked to be challenged.

Hades surprised her when he simply waved Lucifer off and asked, “Y’all together now?”

Ellodie wondered what Hades meant about Lucifer bitchin’ up as she opened her mouth to speak. Lucifer responded before she could though.

“Nah, but we faking like we are.” He grinned at Ellodie, who would have turned beet red if her skin was a few shades lighter.

Harley eyed them. “What do you mean you’re faking? Still?”

Lucifer nodded and glanced at Ellodie. “Don’t be embarrassed now, baby.

You told ya cousin. Only right I get to tell my people.

” He winked at her, and she forgot about being embarrassed for a moment and melted into the sofa.

Kali finally settled down as Lucifer rocked her gently.

Ellodie found it so charming that he could calm a wailing baby so easily.

It meant he had a good spirit, something she had picked up on pretty quickly.

“That shit sounds dumb as fuck. Why y’all pretending to fuck on each other?” Hades asked as he glared at them.

Ellodie’s eyes grew wide. “No, we aren’t pretending that . . . I mean . . .” She guessed they kind of were pretending to do exactly that. She sighed. “My parents, my mom, specifically, is a bitch. There’s no other way to say it.”

“Can confirm,” Harley mumbled.

Ellodie let out a nervous giggle. “Lu’s just helping me out. I don’t really know how else to explain it.”

Hades mugged her for a few long seconds before he asked, “You know what I say about shitty parents?”

Ellodie hesitated before she shook her head. She had a feeling he was about to say something completely off-the-wall. “What?”

“Fuck them mothafuckas up.”

Ellodie cocked her head to the side and repeated what he said in a hesitant tone. “Fuck them up?”

He nodded. “Fuck ya mama up. That’ll teach her. Then you can stop playin’ wit’ my brother. I’on play about him, so if you or ya peoples hurt him in anyway, guess what I’ma have to do?”

Ellodie gulped before she responded, taking a stab at what he was about to say. “Fuck us up?”

Hades nodded. “You and ya peoples up, and I’on really wanna do that.

You see my daughter?” Ellodie glanced at the baby resting in Lucifer’s arms. She looked just as chunky and cuddly as Etta.

Her skin tone made her look like a Hershey kiss, and she had a mass of brown curls on her head.

When she met Hades’s eyes again, she nodded but didn’t respond verbally.

“She retired me from being a certified crash out, but if a mothafucka wants to try me or my people, I’ll have to come up out of retirement, feel me? ”

Ellodie suddenly second-guessed her situation with Lucifer. She hadn’t thought about the possibility of him getting hurt in all this. Her mother could say some lethal things when she wanted, and there was also the issue of them clearly gaining feelings for one another.

Lucifer must have picked up on her mental battle because he put his arm protectively around her and addressed his brother.

“You done, man?” Hades simply shrugged. “Don’t listen to him.

I already told you that man is a certified nut.

I’m a big dawg, baby. I don’t break easily, if ever.

Be careful with me, keep it real with me, but don’t be afraid of me or this situation we got going on. That’s all I ask.”

He sealed his words with a swift kiss on her lips. It shocked the hell out of her because they weren’t in a situation where they needed to fake their relationship, which made her feel like he kissed her because he wanted to. She beamed up at him, and they stayed locked in each other’s gazes.

“Aw, baby look at them,” Harley said. “Reminds me of us when we first met.”

Ellodie tore her eyes from Lucifer and looked at the couple on the other side of the couch. Harley snuggled into Hades while Etta drifted off to sleep in Harley’s arms.

“Nah, I ain’t even like you when we first met.” Hades looked around the room like what he just said wasn’t bizarre.

Lucifer laughed deeply while Harley hit him on the back of the head.

“Yeah right, nigga. You was a goner,” Lucifer joked.

Hades glared at him. “Looks like you the goner now, my boy. Y’all sure you just pretending?”

Ellodie squirmed in her seat and was thankful when Harley intervened. “Leave them alone.” She looked at Ellodie and Lucifer. “We were just about to order some food. Y’all want to stay for dinner?”

Lucifer looked down at Ellodie. “What you think, love?”

Whenever he called her that, her insides turned to jelly. She nodded quickly. She was more than okay with spending more time with Lucifer, even if it meant being in the same room as his crazy ass brother.

Sleepiness seeped from Ellodie’s pores as she fumbled with her keys to unlock her door. Her eyes felt heavy, and she prayed Etta was just as tired as her and slept well that night.

“Let me get that, love,” Lucifer said, grabbing the keys from her and unlocking the door. She leaned into him lazily as they walked through the threshold. After the door closed, he wrapped one arm around her while he held Etta in the other arm since he left her car seat in his car. “You good?”

“Just exhausted,” she mumbled against his chest.

He chuckled. “You need me to stay tonight to help with her?”

She perked up at that idea but instantly knew it wasn’t a good one. If he stayed the night, she would be compelled to stay awake and talk to him. She wanted to know more about him and maybe steal a kiss or two in the process. She sighed and shook her head. “Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow?”

Understanding danced in his eyes. “Definitely tomorrow. I’ll call you.” He tipped her chin up and pecked her lips. “Thank you for kickin’ it with me and my people today.”

“I had a good time. I love Harley,” she replied.

He chuckled. “What about Hades?”

Her brows rose. “He scares me, but he might grow on me.”

“Stick around and he will.” Hope soared inside Ellodie at his words. H e wants me to stick around. “I know today went against our make-believe situation, but it was good to kick it without the theatrics. I hope we can continue to do that.”

She grinned. “Me too.”

His smile made her tingle inside. “Aight.” He handed Etta over to her, who was knocked out. “Get some rest, and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

She nodded. “Good night, Lu.”

“Good night, love.” He opened the door, and as soon as it closed behind him, she locked it.

All she wanted to do was feed Etta one last time to prolong her waking up, then shower, and then get into bed.

She moved toward the couch and sat down before removing her T-shirt altogether.

Before she could unhook her bra and wake Etta up enough to eat, she caught sight of something moving in the hallway.

She yelped and stood up, ready to bolt for the door, when her worst nightmare appeared from the shadows.

“What’s good, Ello?” Wes asked. He was shirtless with a pair of black basketball shorts on. He looked comfortable, like he belonged there, which both pissed her off and instilled fear into her heart. “Aye, I got a question. Who was that nigga?”

He scratched the top of his head nonchalantly, but Ellodie saw the restraint he exhibited by the popped veins in his arms and forehead and the rage dancing in his eyes.

She clutched Etta to her protectively and slowly backed away. “Wes, please . . .”

He took a threatening step forward. “I’m tryna be cool since you got my daughter in your arms, but you ’bout to make me spazz, for real. Who was that nigga?”

“N-nobody. Just a friend.” By now, her entire body shook with fear.

Wes was not a good person. He didn’t care about hitting women or mentally abusing them either.

He was used to getting what he wanted, by any means necessary, and always picked on people smaller than him.

It didn’t surprise Ellodie that he waited until Lucifer left to make his presence known.

Lucifer. She knew if she could only get out the front door and away from Wes, she could call him to come get her.

As if he read her mind, Wes closed the distance between them before she could blink and clutched her arm painfully.

Etta woke up and immediately cried. Ellodie knew it was because she sensed the danger in the room, and tears fell from her eyes, too, because she never wanted her baby to experience this kind of environment.

To keep her calm and safe, she put on a fake smile and blinked rapidly to get rid of the tears.

“It was just a friend, Wes. He’s just a friend.”

He glared down at her. “You a fuckin’ liar.

It’s cool.” He let go of her arm and walked toward the couch.

“You was ’bout to feed my daughter?” Still shaking like a damn leaf, she nodded.

He gestured toward the other end of the sofa.

“Go ’head. And when you’re finished and my daughter is asleep, you have a lot of making up to do.

” She gave up on trying to stop her tears.

She let them fall freely as she slowly walked toward the couch.

When she sat down, he said, “Give me yo’ phone. ”

Dread filled her, but she knew there was no winning with Wes. She didn’t understand when he became so evil. He used to love her, or she thought he did. He used to treat her with kindness, but a switch flipped, and that man was long gone.

Slowly, she reached into the pocket of her biker shorts and pulled her phone out. When she slid it over to him, she asked, “How did you get in here, anyway?”

“I been had a key made.” She shook her head. He didn’t care about boundaries or doing anything illegal, like making a duplicate of her key without her permission. “Feed my daughter.”

He grinned, which sent chills down her spine. She knew she had to find a way out of her condo ASAP, if not for herself, then for her daughter.