Page 33 of Wicked Believer

Or what I thought was safe, at least.

All I knew back then was that Times Square was somewhere I could get a hotel, even if it would cost me.

I stare up at the flashing neon signs, at the vast living thing that is New York City, my mouth going dry at the sights before me.

I can be literally anybody now. Anybody I choose to be.

I take a step back and bump into something hard, nearly knocking it over. A card table. And a girl, the contents of her table now scattered.

Oh crap.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I scramble to help the girl sitting there pick up her cards. A Tarot deck. A pile of them have fluttered across the table and down near her feet.

But she simply smiles at me. “The Wheel of Fortune reversed,” she says, pointing to one of the few that fell face up on the table near me.

I’d been instantly transfixed by her “witchery.” By what I’d been taught my whole life is the work of the devil. After all ...

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Though these days, those words hit a little different.

“Followed by the Chariot.” She points to a detailed image of a pharaoh flanked by a black and white sphinx. “And lastly ...” She points to the final card, though another still sits unrevealed, in her hand. “The Devil.”

A slow smile builds on her lips as she watches me curiously. “We’re going to be very good friends, I think.”

Several hours later she was letting me into her apartment, renting me a place to stay, at least temporarily, though temporary turned into permanent quickly.

That’s just the kind of person Jax is.

She makes fast friends wherever she goes, trusts fiercely, jumps first and asks questions later. She’s more courageous than I’ll ever be.

She smiles at me, almost like she knows what I’m thinking.

We’re ride or die now. True besties.

A knot forms in my stomach.

Even if I ... haven’t been a very good friend to her lately.

Ian joins us at the counter a second later, oblivious to my reminiscing. “Mind if I take one of these to go?” he asks, snagging a small, unclaimed container and giving it a little shake. He’s looked a bit put out ever since I arrived.

“You’re leaving?” Jax makes an exaggerated pouty face. “But you just got here.”

I glance between them reluctantly.

She’s denied it at every turn, but I think if he were interested, Jax would date Ian in a heartbeat.

He looks down at his phone, clearly too distracted to notice her disappointment. “I need to swing by my place to get changed before my shift starts.”

His shift at The Body Shoppe. One of Azmodeus’s clubs.

I flush at the memory.

“I’ll leave you ladies to it.” Ian makes a few quick goodbyes, giving me a stiff nod with a muttered, “Mrs. Lucifer,” before he ducks out of the apartment.

The moment the door swings shuts behind him, a pang of guilt runs through me.

“Sorry to make it awkward,” I mumble to Jax and Evie.