All Bets Are On Read Free Page B

glass rattling with the thunderous sound of his anger as he grew, expanded, and filled the room, his skin smoking.
    Gaining control of himself, Cerberus stood upright, looking human once more. “Calm down, Boss. We thought it would be the best thing for you. You need a distraction, something to sink your teeth into, so to speak. And well, she’s a real nice girl,” he added, his upper lip lifting in a smirk.
    “Nice! You think I want or need nice?” Derek boomed. He leaned over and clicked open the email. One of those numbnuts had been conversing with a woman on his behalf—a Jaclyn. A nice girl . He felt himself shifting back into his human shape. He clicked on her profile.
    “The nine circles of Hell!” he cursed. The poor woman gave definition to the word boring. No wonder she had to stoop to using a dating website. Mousy brown hair and mud green eyes covered up by dark rimmed glasses. A grandma button-up shirt. He couldn’t see her skirt but if he had to bet, he’d say it was gingham and covered every bit of her pasty white skin. And apparently he was going to have coffee with her at ten the next morning. “In a cold day in Hell!” he blurted out loud.
    “What are you going to do?” Minos demanded. “Crush that poor girl’s hopes? It’s just a cup of coffee. And she’ll be so thrilled you’re having coffee with her, she might even give you a little tail right there in the parking lot. She’s absolutely perfect for you and just what you need.”
    “In what century?” Derek snapped. He didn’t date homely, needy girls. He liked them busty, blonde, and superficial.
    “This one. You know, the one where you haven’t been laid in the last hundred years.”
    “Get over yourself,” Derek said. “It hasn’t been that long and I’m not going out with charity cases. Can you imagine trying to make conversation with that girl? She probably hasn’t spoken to anyone but her cat for years.”
    “Since when do you want conversation?” Cerberus demanded. “This one will be so tongue-tied she will barely be able to speak. Seems perfect to me.”
    “What would it hurt to go out with the girl?” Phlegyas asked, clasping his hands together in front of him. “I bet she’s so excited, she can’t hardly wait.”
    “Yeah, imagine how her little, dull green eyes must have lit up at your email.” Minos snickered.
    Derek glared at him, wishing his eyes could shoot fire. He was going to make the man pay. He didn’t know how yet, perhaps a dunk into the river of boiling blood and fire. One way or another, he would pay.
    “Her small breasts must be heaving as we speak,” Cerberus said, bursting into laughter. Minos and Phlegyas joined him until all three were rolling on the floor, holding their stomachs.
    “You are disgusting,” Derek said. “All of you.”
    “Oh, come on, Derek.” Minos got to his feet. “We’re just having a little fun. You need to lighten up.”
    “Yeah, drop a load!” Cerberus added, and they all erupted again.
    Derek stormed out of the office before he did something they would all regret.
    “Wait,” Minos called. “Let’s make it a wager. We bet you a wax and wash for every vehicle in the showroom that you won’t be able to get that sweet little mouse into your bed within the next forty-eight hours.”
    “Are you shitting me?” Derek asked, astonished at the lengths they were willing to push this.
    Minos’s lips lifted in a wicked grin. “Anything to get you laid, Master.”
    “Yeah, but none of your mind persuasion tricks,” Cerberus added. “You need to get her there all on your own. If you can.”
    “Yeah,” Phlegyas cackled. “Derek the human has to bed her, not Derek the Prince of Hell with any of his little tricks.”
    Derek was ready to shed his human form right then. But instead he glowered and walked out the door. “You are assholes, all of you.” There was no way he was going out with that girl. But as he reached his car and tore off down the road, he