[M__M 03] Misery Loves Company Read Online Free

practiced one I’d first seen.
    Steph wormed her way around the table, and they exchanged a tentative hug. The sort you give someone when you don’t know them well but feel like it’s the appropriate thing to do.
    “This is Jess.” Steph motioned to me. “She owns all your books.”
    Eric beamed and offered me a hand. “Thank you so much.”
    I grinned back as we shook, and I tried not to let my concern for his addict state influence my opinion of him. “Nice to meet you.”
    And that was that. We exchanged a few more words, Steph told him we were staying for the reading, and Eric signed his new book for me. Then we stepped out of line, and Steph made a dash for the coffee just like she’d said she would. I could have used another cup myself, but I made my way to the register to pay for the book first.
    The bookshop had cleared out an area near the back for people to gather for the reading, and the space was mostly filled. With my receipt tucked into the book, I leaned against one of the rustic wood pillars and once more examined Eric Marshall.
    I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was an addict. Selling one’s soul for success was a cliché for a reason, and Eric Marshall’s success was the sort that should have led to those rumors. He’d been twenty-six when his first book sold for an enormous sum. Twenty-nine when the blockbuster film came out. And that was only the start. Five books and three movies later, Eric Marshall was big news.
    To be fair, his books were good. I liked to think I had excellent taste, and I liked them. But sometimes good wasn’t enough to lead to riches and fame, and if those were a person’s goals, there were ways to cheat fate. Eric must have used them.
    He was a greed addict, which meant he’d struck a deal with a goblin. I had no clue what the exact terms would have been, but somewhere lived a goblin who owned Eric’s soul. Eric had gotten everything he’d probably wanted at first, but now it would never be enough. The goblin’s power would make him crave more, and that unrequited longing would feed his goblin master.
    I shivered and hoped Eric had known how to bargain. Hoped he’d known to set a time limit on the deal so that it would end without his soul being fed upon to the point of no return. Hoped he’d have some life left at the end that he could enjoy.
    “Coffee?” Steph slid the steaming paper cup under my nose.
    I breathed it in, relieved to stop thinking about her cousin. “Thanks.”
    Fifteen minutes later, the line for signed books trailed away, and everyone had gathered around the reading area. The store had to be violating some fire code to squeeze in this crowd. Grateful for the coffee, I buried my nose in the cup’s dregs so that the aroma would overpower the perfume that the woman standing in front of me was wearing.
    Eric chatted about his book and the research that had gone into it, which was interesting, then settled in to do a reading. Yawning, I adjusted position against the column supporting my weight. I let my gaze un-focus, concentrating on the sound of Eric’s voice to stay awake, but it didn’t help. He kept speaking more and more quietly. I wondered if he was tired too.
    Then he stopped reading altogether.
    An unquiet pause overtook the store, an emptiness that soon filled with the sound of chairs creaking and people shuffling. Someone sneezed, a noise as loud as a 747 in the unexpected silence.
    That stopped my mind from drifting, as the mildly butterscotch confusion of the crowd increased. Frowning, I stood on my toes to see what was going on.
    As I did, Eric dropped his book. It hit the wide-beamed floor with an ominous thud, and Eric doubled over in his chair. My stomach knotted, and mine likely wasn’t the only one. Under the confusion ran a river of fear that swept away the butterscotch-candy taste in my mouth and replaced it with something like a sour cherry cough drop.
    Steph grasped my arm as someone ran forward. The crowd