Read Online Four Letters (The Lust List: Devon Stone #3) by Mira Bailee - Free Book Online Page B

practically drooled when I told him what Lex is doing. It’s so unbelievably frustrating that I can’t get through to anyone, but I’m also not in the mood to fight.
    I grab my drink from the coffee table in front of us and finish it off. This night’s a bust. I pull out my phone and figure I can distract myself on that until it’s time to leave.
    Ten missed calls.
    Five unread text messages.
    “Devon, something’s wrong with Maddie.”
    I swipe across the phone’s screen, hurrying to get to the texts.
    I need to talk to you.
    Answer your phone.
    O, this is an emergency.
    I need you.
    The fucking bar caught on fire.

My heart sinks and I jump up. “We have to go. Now.”
    “What is it?”
    “There was a fire at Maddie’s work.”
    He follows me out of the VIP room and we stop by the bathroom to grab Lex.
    I grab her arm and yank her away from her new friend, Mara. “We’re leaving.”
    She resists, but she’s too high to do much about it. “I’m staying,” she says, her speech excited and hurried. “I want to dance and get up on the stage and—”
    “Come on,” I say again, this time with force, and she pouts as she follows behind.
    Keeping my grip on her, we wade through the sea of dancing bodies until we’re out front again. Devon’s got Mark on the phone and he’s pulling around now.
    He hangs up and looks down at me, genuine concern on his face. “Is she okay?”
    “She didn’t say.” I try calling her but it goes to voicemail this time. “She just left a bunch of messages.”
    Mark pulls up and we pile in. I tell him to go to Brecken’s Sports Pub.

    Fifteen minutes later, we pull up to a hectic scene. I’m already a nervous wreck, but seeing all the police tape and fire trucks and smoke still billowing up from the bar’s roof, a real panic sets in. Where’s Maddie?!
    Devon and I get out, but Lex is curled up on one of the seats with no intention of leaving the limo. That’s one good thing that’s happened tonight. At least she won’t be out here causing a scene or getting into trouble.
    We’re barely halfway through the parking lot when I hear, “Olivia!”
    Maddie’s standing next to an ambulance with a blanket wrapped around her and an EMT checking her vitals.
    “Oh my god, Maddie. I’m so sorry I didn’t see my phone sooner.” I throw my arms around her, disregarding the medic trying to work. “Are you okay? What happened? Was anyone hurt?”
    Maddie’s makeup is smeared like she’d been crying. “Everyone got out. They said it was started in the kitchen. Someone dropped a towel on the grill or something, but this night’s been…weird.” She looks at the EMT. “Can I go?”
    He nods an approval. Maddie tosses the blanket in the back of the ambulance, grabs her purse, and we walk back toward the limo—which, by the way, looks horribly out of place next to all the emergency vehicles. We get back in, this time with Maddie. She gives Lex a quick glance and looks at me, eyebrows furrowed.
    “Don’t ask,” I tell her. Lex isn’t a priority right now. “Are you really okay?”
    “Not really. I think the bar’s destroyed. That’s why the whole thing doesn’t seem right.”
    Devon pours Maddie a shot of whiskey, but I intervene. “She might need to give a statement or something.”
    Maddie takes the glass and swallows it all in one gulp. Never mind.
    “How does a towel, accidentally catching on fire on the grill, lead to the entire interior of my workplace being scorched?”
    “No one was around to witness it?” I suggest.
    Maddie shakes her head no. “We had staff back there. They extinguished the towel really fast. But there was something on the floor—all over the floor. That’s what ignited the whole place.”
    “So grease? Oil? What?”
    She shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. We’re really particular about keeping the floors clean. We just had an inspection. It doesn’t make sense unless…”
    Devon finishes the thought with a tone of amusement