Devil vs. Angel

Chapter 1-2

Black tie. God, I hated the black tie weddings. But if I wanted to work at Opposites Attract, I had to do it. Most of the time I wore a black shirt and pants and was fine, but for the brides who wanted a fancy wedding, I was required to wear a full suit. Including a damn tie.

Thankfully most people who came to Hawaii wanted to chill out and enjoy their wedding. We didn’t live a lavish life on the islands. We were laidback and casual. It was as close to paradise as you could get. I guess some people thought paradise should come with fancy clothes and servers in suits.

Not my fantasy.

My fantasies solely included a gorgeous woman who never demanded anything from me and liked s*x as much as I did. So far, my fantasies were only that…fantasies, because a woman like that didn’t exist. Or if she did, I sure as hell hadn’t met her.

The wedding was in full swing down by the water, so I went through the bar and made sure we had everything we needed. It wasn’t like working at Laughlin’s where we had every alcohol a person could think of, but Kiana did a pretty good job of stocking the bar. There were a few things I wished she kept on hand, but there were so few people at most of the weddings that it didn’t make sense to stock up on everything.

We were running low on vodka and whiskey, so I ran off to the kitchen to grab a few new bottles before the wedding was over.

“How’s my buddy?” I asked Micah when I walked into the kitchen.

“I’m good,” he said. “Dinner’s almost ready and the apps are already set to go out.”

I snorted a laugh. “I wasn’t talking about you. I meant David.”

Micah flipped me off without looking at me, but the smile curling his lip up told me he wasn’t really mad. “Whatever. My son is happy. And loving life. When are you coming to take him out again?”

“Why? You and Ginny need a night to yourselves?”

Micah groaned. “Yes. Always. Having a toddler is not easy. He wears us out.”

I shook my head. David was a cool kid. He was full of energy, but he was good. I was lucky that I could pick him up and play and then take him home for the hard stuff, like bedtime, but I couldn’t imagine he was that bad.

“Let me look at this week. I know I have a few days off. I gotta get back out there, but we’ll talk before we leave tonight.”

“Hey, Alvin,” Briella said from behind me.

I turned, but all I could see was a cake with legs. White with perfect plumeria flowers cascading down the cake. It was beautiful, and so were the long, curvy legs under it.

Damn. I never noticed that before.

“Can I help you with that, Bri?” I asked, moving toward her.

“Nope. I got it.”

“Cutting it close, Bri,” Micah said playfully.

Jealousy at his easy and flirtatious tone took me off guard. Micah and Bri had worked together for months, and they bonded over being the only ones at Opposites Attract with kids, but it had never bothered me before. Why now?

“I know,” Briella told Micah as she set the cake on the edge of the counter. “My ex canceled on me again.”

“s**t. I’m sorry. Is there anything you can do about it?” Micah asked, clearly more aware of what was going on than I was.

Briella shook her head. “Nope. I wish I could, but if I push back with him, it’s possible he’ll take me back to court and reduce the amount of child support he gives me.”

“He can do that?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Everything is negotiable in a situation like this. If he thinks he’s paying too much, all he has to do is ask for a review. If I’m making more than I was before, or if my expenses have decreased, or if I get married and have someone else helping me out, he can get the payments reduced.”

“You get spousal support, too?” I blurted.

She nodded. “I do. I didn’t want it, but my lawyer pushed for it since Vince makes a lot more than I do and I have primary custody.”

“Still, it doesn’t seem right that he can change things, especially when he’s the one not holding up his end of the bargain.”

Briella shrugged. “All that means is I could sue him for full custody instead of joint custody and likely win, but I’m not trying to take Kyle away from his dad. That’s not right.”

“Where is he?” Micah asked.

Briella nodded to the door. “Outside. He found a critter in the dirt and wanted to explore. I should get out there and make sure he isn’t ruining anything.”

“I need to get back, too,” I said, nodding to Micah.

He waved and turned back to the oven as Briella and I walked out.

“You look tired,” I said.

She laughed mirthlessly. “Well, Alvin Stone, you really know how to charm a girl.”

I laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“You have a sister. You know when a guy tells a woman she looks tired it’s a nicer way of saying she looks like shit.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t mean that at all, Bri. I just wish you didn’t have to do all this on your own.”

She shrugged and avoided my gaze. “I’m handling it. I’ll be fine.”

“I know. You always are. Still sucks he’s pulling this on you.”

She shook her head and looked toward the parking lot. “It’s not about me. I already know he doesn’t love me, and that he’s a selfish bastard. But Kyle…he still thinks his dad walks on water.”

I shook my head. “Kids always get the s**t end of things like this.”

She stood up straighter all of a sudden and turned stiffly to me. “It’s not like I got a good deal out of it. Or like I was the one who left.”

“I didn’t mean it to sound like you were, Bri. I wasn’t saying that. I just meant Kyle can’t understand everything going on, and you can’t tell him his father is a shitty person who only cares about himself. You know the truth, but he’s too young to hear it.”

She sighed and nodded. “He is. God, I hate all this. I was really looking forward to hanging around tonight and relaxing for a little while.”

“Why don’t you? Kyle can hang with me, and Micah is almost done. Between the two of us, you can get a little time to sit and have a drink.”

She was shaking her head before I even finished speaking.

“Come on, Bri. What’s the worst that could happen?”