The Demon King and I Read Online Free PDF

“Oh, crap.”
    “What?” Bailey leaned forward.
    “I forgot about the Windrige fund-raiser tonight. I’ve canceled on their last two parties. Argh! Technically, I’m supposed to be in São Paulo at the gallery, and flying home, so I’m not expected. Bothers me, though, that I totally forgot about it.”
    Bailey leaned his elbows on my desk. “Mira said you and Emmy baby are on the outs.” Secrets didn’t last long in my family no matter how hard you begged someone not to tell. My brother didn’t think much of my former Latin lover. In fact, he seldom appreciated my taste in men. I used to think it was that brotherly thing, looking out for his big sister and all that, but I’m beginning to believe he just had really good instincts when it came to the jerks I dated.
    “Don’t look so smug, poodle head.” I sneered. “I kind of liked him. Sort of. Well, since I’m already over him, evidently I didn’t care as much as I thought,” I confessed, and he watched with his genius eyes.
    This was what we did. He listened, made fun, and we moved on.
    “What time did it start?” Bailey stood and stretched.
    “What?” I was lost in my diatribe and forgot what we’d been talking about.
    “Gilly, for a smart girl . . . the fund-raiser?”
    “Oh, nine. But I don’t want to go. Besides, it might look suspicious if I show up, after being in Brazil four hours ago.”
    “It’s not even ten yet; the party will be going strong.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Today’s your lucky day, big sis. I’ve been trying to get in the same room with Katy Harrison for weeks. I saw her on the beach at Cannes, and she wears bikini bottoms like nobody else.”
    It took me a minute to realize that he meant she’d been tanning topless.
    “You’re such a perv, but thanks. Someone from the family should be there. Be careful with Katy—I have a meeting with her dad in the morning and I want to be able to look him in the eyes.” I pointed a finger at him. “Whatever you do, don’t get thrown into jail.”
    My brother had a tendency to live in his own world, a place that had a different set of rules than the ones the rest of us followed. Part of it had to do with his extremely logical brain. Unfortunately, the police didn’t like it when he told them that they were wrong.
    Bailey glanced down at his clothes. “I can be ready in thirty minutes. I’ve got to throw my tux in the steamer. I accidentally crammed it in a desk drawer.”
    Bailey “accidentally” did stuff all the time. Once his mind began a project, he became totally focused. Ordinary, everyday things, like dry cleaning and showers, tended to be forgotten.
     
 
A half hour later we walked toward the parking garage.
    “Let me guess, you want me to drive you to the hotel and take your car to the house?” I took the keys he held out.
    “Got it in one, Gilly. That way I can drink up my courage to talk to Katy, and when I fail miserably I won’t be able to drive my drunk self home.”
    I laughed. “Just remember her eyes are above her chest. Women like it when you look them in the face.”
    He laughed at that.
    Bailey headed to his Mercedes SL600 Roadster. His was black. Mine was red. Dad had given them to us for Christmas three years ago. Bailey had rigged it so they both worked as hybrids.
    I preferred my truck, but the Mercedes was easier to park, and I didn’t like listening to the lectures from Mira and Claire about how I was hurting the planet by using my fossil-fuel-chugging machine. So I only used the truck when I had to haul something.
    The event was at the Driscoll, only a few blocks away. The valet opened the door, but I didn’t move. “Not staying, Ms. Caruthers?” He reached a hand to help me out.
    “Not tonight, Darryl. You never saw me, okay?”
    It took him a second, but he nodded his head and smiled. “Okay.”
    “Make sure my brother gets a ride home or stays in our suite. He plans on drinking tonight.”
    He laughed. “I’ll alert the