Page 19 of Inferno (Chronicles of Nick 4)
But he did like it.…
“Ooo, Akri-Nick, looking spiffy like the Simi in your all-black clothes. Except you’re a boy and not a Simi, but you know what the Simi means. You finally coming into the demon world in all your finery. Now all we needs is to get you some barbecue sauce, and a big ole plate of Cajun boudin rouge, cracklin’ and hog’s head cheese. Yum. Yum. Yum!”
Laughing at the unique singsong accent that was unlike anything else he’d ever heard, Nick turned as Simi came up on his right and paused to look into the mirror over his left shoulder.
A little odd … no, take that back, a lot odd, Simi was another good, demonic friend of his. Today her ever-changing black hair had a purple stripe on the left-hand side that matched the short, frilly skirt and Doc Martens she wore. A matching purple corset peeked out from beneath an ornate black lace jacket that reminded him of an anime drawing. She was absolutely breathtaking and always good for a laugh. “Hey, girl! What are you doing here?”
With a wide smile, Simi lifted her arms to show him two wrists full of bangles that she jangled. “Buying the Simi some new sparklies. I was feeling kind of low ’cause of that heifer goddess Akri won’t let me eat, and thought some good eats would cheer me right up, and I know they will.” She snapped her teeth together.
Nick still had no idea who the heifer goddess or the Akri was that she spoke about all the time. She acted as if he knew, and if he asked her, she’d say as much. Which really didn’t help him figure out their identities.
Simi pursed her lips. “What you doing here all alone, by yourself, with no one else?”
Casey wrapped a possessive arm around his waist and tugged him away from Simi’s grasp. “He’s not alone … By far.”
Could her tone be any icier?
But Simi was undaunted and uninsulted as she glanced around the store in sharp, short head gestures that reminded him of a bird. “Where’s Akra-Kody? I know she didn’t leave you alone, by your lonesome. She know better ’cause Cajun boy get into all manner of trouble whenever he’s left on his own, by himself.”
Her words returned the lump of sadness to his stomach. Simi was right. He and Kody had been basically inseparable.
Until now.
“We broke up.”
Simi made a tsking noise that sounded strangely like someone typing on a keyboard. “Now why you want to go and leave a perfectly good akra for something else?” She passed a less than complimentary glare over Casey’s body. “And here the Simi thought men traded up, not down…” She dropped her voice to a deep baritone. “Like way down. Bottom of the barrels.”
Casey came around him with a snarl.
Nick caught her and pulled her back. He’d seen Simi in a fight and Casey was no match for an angry demon with mad Simi skills. And if Simi had her customary barbecue sauce in that coffin-shaped purse she always carried, she’d make really short work of Casey.
“Maybe we should talk about this later, Simi?” he asked pointedly.
Simi hissed at Casey like a cat. “We can talk later, but the Simi say you not gonna listen ’cause you hearing something else right now and it ain’t got nothing to do with your boy ears or brains but rather your boy parts.” She held her hand up imperiously to keep them from interrupting her. “But mark the Simi’s words, Mr. Gautier. Some counsel…” Hesitating, she pressed her finger to her lips in thought. “Or is it council?” She waved it away with a flounce. “Oh who cares? Some things ain’t worth listening to. So don’t let them things into your head, Nicky, where they,” she lowered her voice to where he could barely hear her, “whisper, whisper, whisper.” She straightened up and pinned Casey with a gimlet stare. “Ticked-off demons are hard to exorcize and get out of your skin. Trust me on that ’cause the Simi know her demons … and their demons, too.”
With one last nasty hiss at Casey, Simi turned and stalked off.
Nick started to go after her, but Casey stopped him.
“You need to pay for your clothes, Nick.”
Oh yeah … dang. Last thing he wanted was to be arrested for shoplifting in Saks. How could he have forgotten so easily? The soft, well-fitting clothes felt very different from his usual hand-me-down wear.
Still, he turned his head to look past Casey, trying to see where Simi was going. But it was too late. She’d vanished completely.
Dang, that demon could motor.…
Sighing, he left Casey’s side and returned to the dressing room to change into his old clothes, then he went to the register where he almost choked at the price of his shirt alone. But the clerk didn’t take mercy on him or his wallet as he rang Nick out. The cost of it all made him hyperventilate. Holy cow and beef jerky …
Really?
To his credit, he didn’t show his mortification, even though he wanted to cradle his wallet to his chest and run for the door before he bought things he really didn’t need. It was so hard to act nonchalant over something tantamount to two months’ rent. Thank goodness his mama wasn’t here. She’d beat him for the waste.
Good lord, when did it get so expensive to buy a pair of shoes, socks, one black T-shirt, and three outfits? No wonder his mom shopped at Goodwill. Those ugly shirts weren’t so ugly after all.
Don’t think about it, Nick. You make enough money now, and besides, their cost is the least of your current problems.
True, he still had Kody out there, wanting him dead.
And if you have to die, go out well dressed.
Yeah, right. His happiness completely vaporized by the mere mention of Kody’s name, Nick reached for the bags.
“Wait.” Casey turned back to the clerk. “He wants to wear the last outfit home. Cut the tags for us, please.”
Nick almost whimpered when the clerk obeyed. There was no way to return them now. Once he walked out, they’d never take the items back. His stomach shrank at the thought.
Even more upset than before, he took his new clothes to the dressing room to swap them out.
I am so whipped. He’d stood up to zombies, demons, and a deranged coach out to steal his soul, so why was telling one pretty cheerleader that he didn’t want to go broke on a pair of jeans so hard?
Because I’m tired of being a loser. Just once in his life, he wanted to look like somebody. Feel like somebody.
He tucked his tacky Hawaiian monstrosity and threadbare jeans and worn shoes into the bag, then went to meet Casey, who bit her bottom lip when she saw him. Her entire face lit up.
Yeah, okay, the price was worth it. At least that was the thought until another memory cocked him hard.
Kody had always looked at him like that without his having to go broke for it. I like your Hawaiian shirts, Nick. They’re your signature.
Signature tacky, maybe …
But Kody had never once been embarrassed or made uncomfortable by his mother’s insistence on his fugly clothes.
Unlike Casey.
Nick bit his lip as he tried not to go there. Change was good, right? Everyone needed to shake things up. Defy the norm. Try something new …
But if that was true, then why did he feel so bad right now? It was stupid. Yet he couldn’t shake the funk that had him in a fierce headlock. While he liked the clothes, he didn’t really like the reason he was wearing them.
Casey stopped him as they passed by a mirrored column and forced him to look at his reflection. “Who is that handsome, refined gentleman?”
But Nick didn’t see himself. Instead, he saw a female clerk behind them who was staring at him with a hunger in her eyes that matched Casey’s. More heat exploded over his face. He wasn’t used to women paying him much attention, unless they were insulting him or laughing at something stupid he’d done.
Without commenting on Casey’s question, he started for the doors, but she reached out and stopped him. “Not so fast. You need sunglasses to go with your new posh image.”
“I’ve got a pair already.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not those cheap things you wear. The right pair of sunglasses can make or break the man.”
He would argue that point, but he had to admit that the ones Kyrian and Acheron wore were exceptional. And while he didn’t think it would break the man, it did lend an air of coolness to them that he was sadly lacking.
So he allowed her to haul him over to the sunglasses counter where designer eyewear was laid out like a bright, shiny banquet Simi would most likely cut a swathe through with her barbecue sauce.
Yeah, okay, these really were a lot better-looking than the scratched-up pair he’d bought in a gas station clearance bin three years ago for a buck. Honestly, he’d never known that there were this many kinds or colors.
A female clerk beelined for them. “Can I help you?”
Nick had a compunction to look behind him to see if someone else had walked up. It’d taken the other clerk ten minutes to acknowledge them in the men’s department. And even then, he’d been reluctant to help until he realized Nick had a platinum credit card and Casey wasn’t afraid to use it.
“Which ones do you like?” Casey asked.
Nick shrugged. How could one mere mortal, or in his case, semi-immortal man choose from so many? “What do you suggest?”
The clerk pulled out a pair of yellowish Oakleys. “These are really popular. A lot of guys go for these.”
Yowza! Nick had to bite back profanity at the price tag. But he was sure he’d gone bug-eyed when he glanced at it. Were they out of their ever-loving minds? Who paid that for something you were going to drop in the driveway and possibly back over? Or worse, sit on them and crush them or leave them in a restaurant somewhere?
Grimacing, he shook his head and moved away from her. “Do you have Predator sunglasses?” He had no idea what they cost, but that was what Acheron wore, and Ash, in all his Goth glory, didn’t strike him as someone who would give over a body part for fashion.
“Of course.” When the clerk started to hand them to Nick, Casey intervened and pulled the tag off before he had a chance to see it.
Casey set them in his hand. “They’ll be my present to you if you like them.”
Nick hesitated. “I don’t know about that, Case.…”
“Shh.” She put her fingers over his lips, causing his body to erupt again. Dang, he should have bought a longer jacket.…
“Don’t think, Nick. Just try them on.” It was definitely hard to think straight when she looked at him like a Victoria’s Secret model.
His throat dry, Nick did, and froze as he saw himself in the mirror on the counter. With his new haircut and the stylish glasses and clothes, he looked grown. There in the mirror, he didn’t see the scared kid who normally stared out at him, afraid he was going to accidentally cut his throat while he shaved and bleed out before his mom came to find his body.
He looked like a man. Confident. Sophisticated.
Rich.
Was that really him? He turned his head to verify it. Yeah, it was definitely his reflection.…
But it didn’t look like him.
Casey arched an expectant brow. “Well?”
“I like them,” he said before he could stop himself.
She smiled and dug out her own pink Visa card. “We’ll take them.” She handed the card to the clerk.
Still, Nick hesitated. It was one thing to have her buy him a Coke. Another to take something that could very well be a hundred bucks or more. “Casey, I really can’t—”
“Yes, you can,” she said, cutting him off. “Just say thank you.”
He wanted to argue, he really did, but she had that unique girl expression that said, “Boy, don’t you dare argue with me or you will regret it.” His mom and Kody had tutored him well on what happened to any male dumb enough to try their luck when that look was present.
Submit …
Taking a deep breath, he inclined his head to her. “Thank you.”
She kissed him. “You’re very welcome.”
“They really do look good on you,” the clerk said as she handed Casey the receipt to sign. “You wear them like they were custom-made for you.”
And that caused him to be even more uncomfortable. People, stop complimenting me. He really didn’t like it. “Um, thanks.”
Casey handed the signed receipt back while the clerk gave them the case and bag for the sunglasses.
Nick couldn’t explain it, but he did feel different. Much more confident. Was this what Kyrian, Caleb, and Acheron felt like all the time?
It was kind of cool not to be self-conscious. To have clothes you knew didn’t come from a thrift store sale rack.
Lifting his chin with a newfound pride, he followed Casey out of the store.
Casey watched Nick very carefully as they headed to the lot where she’d parked her car. While he’d been cute in his regular clothes, in his new ones, he was absolutely stunning. She’d had no idea when she started this little confidence-building game what the Malachai really looked like.
Dang …
