Mean. Mean, mean, mean, mean.
Chaos spent some time entertaining himself by trying and failing to move different muscles, but that got old pretty fast and made him too aware that his wings and tail were crumpled underneath him. That was going to cramp later for sure.
He shifted to daydreaming, planning what he’d do first when he was summoned. Because he would be; he was sure of it. First Kai and now Nix? It was obvious their Book had been found, and now it was only a matter of time before Chaos got his turn in the human realm.
And then Chaos wouldn’t be contained any longer, would he? No more boring Void. No more lazing around with only three lousy demons for company.
And while he couldn’ttechnicallyhurt the human who summoned him—bound by the magical terms of their contract—there were ways around that. Always a loophole or two to be found, if need be.
Because Chaos refused to be leashed or muzzled any longer. He was finally going to befree, damn it. He would no longer bow to any master beyond the pandemonium that ruled his nature, and the poor, foolish human who summoned him was just going to have to deal with it.
So take that, boredom! Chaos would even be smirking right now, if his facial muscles were working properly.
It was all going to be so. Much. Fun.
1
Cooper
The upside of not showering for five days was just how amazinglycleanCooper felt now as he stepped outside of the steam-filled cubicle in his overly large bathroom.
The downside was, of course, the shame in remembering he’d just…forgotten to bathe for five days in a row. Not that it was the first time that had happened.
Nor would it be the last…
Cooper grabbed blindly for his towel, scrubbing at his hair and face first so he could snag his glasses from the counter and shove them on before he tackled the rest. He supposed it was a good thing Ivan had called, demanding Cooper’s presence today. Cooper had gotten way too invested in this little challenge he was working on. He was close to breaking it, he knew, and it had been all too tempting to just keep at it until he cracked it.
But not tempting enough to risk Ivan’s wrath; that was for sure—he may have been Cooper’s cousin as well as his employer, but family ties didn’t mean much to a man like Ivan when he was displeased.
Cooper made a point ofneverdispleasing him.
Working as the main tech guy for a branch of the Russian Mafia wasn’t the career path Cooper would have chosen if left to his own devices, he was pretty sure, but it was hard to know at this point. His dad had reluctantly signed him up to work for Dimitri—Ivan’s late father and the old head of the family business—when Cooper was still a teenager.
Cooper hadn’t had a chance to know anything else.
Luckily, now that Ivan was in charge, Cooper was able to do most of his work remotely. Gone were the days of him gofering between lieutenants at all hours, gut twisting as he tried to interact with hardened mobsters without drawing attention to himself.
But now Ivan wanted Cooper there in person.
It made Cooper’s throat go all dry and tight, the thought of facing him in that cold office building, nothing between them except Ivan’s admittedly massive desk.
Then again, leaving the house at all these days made Cooper feel all kinds of ways.
His dad would be so disappointed. Cooper could hear him now.I don’t want to see you become a recluse,umnitsa.
Cooper frowned at the thought as he rifled through his dresser for clean clothes, his towel wrapped haphazardly around his hips.Then you shouldn’t have left me all alone, old man.
He settled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt he was mostly sure he’d washed recently, throwing one of his well-worn hoodies over it. He ignored his mirror—he wasn’t going to be able to do anything with his not-sure-if-it’s-wavy-or-straight tawny hair, anyway—and headed back to his workroom.
To get to his computer, he had to wade through the mess on the floor: a sea of empty energy drink cans and takeout containers. It’d be embarrassing if there was ever another human over to see it.
Whatever. At least the takeout containers were a sign he hadn’t been forgetting to eat. He’d clean when he got home from his meeting.
Cooper opened the encrypted chat he’d had minimized on his laptop. There was a message from RedRabbit waiting for him.
R:You’re close, aren’t you? I can tell.
Cooper nibbled on his thumbnail as he stared at the message, then realized what he was doing and shoved his hoodie string in his mouth to chew on instead.
