Page 13 of The Devil’s Bargain (A Devil to Die for #3)

He shouldn’t be speeding, a respectable member of society such as himself and all that jazz, but what was the point in owning a car like this and not pushing it to its limits? Mercy sure as hell wasn’t going to, so it was up to Aodhan to do it for him.

Plus, he had places to be. Serious places.

Places where his feisty, bratty Third was already getting reprimanded by their domineering, control freak of a First.

Aodhan sort of had an idea what Calix was playing at, but like hell would he be the one to read Mercy into things. He was pretty certain, unlike him, Mercy hadn’t put two and two together yet.

Yet.

He would.

He always did.

But for now, he was riding that wave of possessive fury, and who was Aodhan to drag him off of it by pointing out the obvious?

Their little monster was poking the bear on purpose.

To what end? Hell if he knew, he wasn’t a mind reader, and being able to guess this much was more than enough.

It was kind of hot too, knowing that Cal had gone out of his way just to get a rise out of their First. Was he trying to follow Aodhan’s example?

How adorable.

He had to admit, it was never a dull moment with a Third around. Not that they’d struggled in that department when it’d just been him and Mercy, but…Damn it. Mercy had chosen well.

There’d been some doubt when Calix had lured them to Alter and taken to them so openly.

Aodhan had wondered if it weren’t just another trap in disguise, one he couldn’t see fully.

But since they’d returned, Cal had been nothing but the picture of the perfect boyfriend.

Even tonight, wandering off with a lowlife and allowing himself to become so inebriated he needed to be escorted home.

Take out the man who wasn’t him, and Aodhan liked it. Liked the hustle.

But only because he could see it for what it was.

If their little monster dared pull that stunt a second time, it would decidedly lose its appeal.

It was late, and he was distracted, but when asked later, Aodhan would still say the truck came out of nowhere.

One second, he was speeding down the lane, thinking about putting Cal over his knee while Mercy watched, and the next, there was a flash of blindingly bright lights and the blare of a horn.

There was barely enough time for him to turn the wheel to avoid direct impact before the truck hit the tail end of his car.

For the first time in his life, Aodhan experienced a real rush of fear. But it wasn’t because he was possibly about to die.

No.

It was over the fact that he might never get to see his First or Third again.

Might never get the chance to punish Calix for his bad behavior.

The sensation burst down the connection, sent straight to his pod in the second before his head whacked against the driver’s side window and the world went completely dark.