Page 20 of Blood Sport

The alarm clock on Rylee’s beside table reads 3:20 a.m. and I sigh, flopping back down on the mattress and pulling the comforter up to my chin.

Why now, twelve years later, is my subconscious forcing me to remember the details of that night?

And who the hell was that shadowy figure I saw that night?

My mind must be trying to tell me something. I just don’t know what. But I’m willing to find out.

8

Evie

I’m not sure that this is a good idea, but I don’t have much of a choice. I can’t say no, even if I wanted to. But the thing is, I don’t want to say no. Even a little bit. I’m in this tug-o-war with my sub-conscious about doing this because a part of me knows I should decline my brother’s offer, but then there is the other side nudging me forward to the edge of the deep black hole lurking in front of me, blindly telling me to just go and get it over and done with, despite Jaylen being present.

It feels like I’m being torn in two. I know I have to keep my distance from Jaylen because he’s my brother’s best friend and needs women to satisfy his bloodlust (I looked it up online recently), but I can’t help but feel a slight pull to him, like a rope has been wrapped around my wrist and it’s slowly being tugged on, drawing me closer. It’s been just over a week since I learned his secret, and to say I’m nervous to see him again would be an understatement. This is new territory for me.

Either way, I need to keep him at arm’s length. Well, try to.

This past week, whenever I wasn’t doing work for class, I was trying to research anything I could find on vampires. But all I could find was lore from Dracula, Twilight, and Vampire Diaries, and those don’t help me in this situation, not when I’m dealing with the real thing. I was hoping to find a secret Reddit thread detailing someone's experience with a real vampire, but I was shit out of luck. I kept coming up blank and it frustrated me to no end. But I’m determined to learn more, even if I have to get the information straight from the source.

When I got Miles’s text message earlier today during one of my research sessions asking if I wanted to come over for pizza, beer, and a movie, my first question was: who else is going to be there? I know for a fact that Jaylen will be present since they live together, so that wasn’t news to me, but I wanted Miles to think I wasn’t too keen by agreeing without asking who was coming first.

Turns out, my plan worked.

Miles responded that Ethan and another friend of theirs, Preston, would be stopping by as well, meaning I’d be in an apartment with four men—one vampire and a potential second. I haven’t yet figured out if the mystery man Jaycee is seeing is Ethan on the soccer team and one of my brother’s friends. But I’m sure as hell going to find out.

Walking up the sidewalk to Miles’s apartment, I look up at the dark brick building, my eyes landing on the third floor out of six and move across the windows until I reach the one on the right—his apartment. Flashes of light illuminate from behind the sheer white curtain, an indication that the guys are already watching something on TV. Glancing down at my phone in my hands, I see I’m right on time.

To my annoyance, there is an unread text message from Roman. Ever since he began texting me a week ago threatening me with nude photos in an attempt to get him back, I have received multiple messages from him. Some with photos I didn’t know existed of me that were not PG 13, and others were just threats to get back together with him if I didn’t want the images to get out. It was exhausting, to say the least. And I’m getting over it. Fucking big time. I tried to call his bluff, but he has been relentless.

At this point, I don’t know what else to do.

Roman: Come on, Ev. How long are you going

to hold out on me? I have more of these if you’re

wondering. And I’m willing to show everyone. Just

say the magic words and I’ll stop.

With a huff, I ignore the message and slip my phone into my pocket. I can’t believe this fucking guy. It seems he’s not going to stop, but I don’t know what to do about it. I can’t go to Miles for help because he’ll lose his fucking mind, and I don’t want him to do something he’ll regret. Besides him, I have no one else to turn to for help, leaving me to deal with this on my own.

As I approach the front door of the building, I glance at the motorcycle in the parking lot beside the apartment building. A shiver runs down my spine. I know who that bike belongs to, and I know for a fact how sexy he looks when he’s riding it.

Damn, you, Jaylen Black.

Inhaling slowly, I walk through the front door to the building and climb the rusted metal staircase until I reach apartment nine. It doesn’t take long for me to hear loud voices and laughter alongside the volume of the TV as something plays. Whatever they’re watching is making them all laugh hysterically, my brother’s booming laughter the loudest of them all.

Rolling my eyes, I lift my hand to knock as hard as I can against the flimsy wooden door. I just hope that it was loud enough for someone to he—

The door swings open and a pair of bright ocean eyes stare down at me, a cheeky smile touching his lips.

Did he hear me coming with his heightened vampire senses? I should’ve known he would.

My breath catches in my throat at the sight of him as his strong sandalwood cologne consumes my senses. It takes everything in me not to audibly gulp at the way his lip ring glints under the light in the hallway or the way his hair is messier than usual and slightly damp as if he’s just gotten out of the shower and hasn’t styled it yet.

I pinch the skin on the top of my hand to remind me that we’re not the only two people in the apartment right now. Any second my brother is going to appear—

“Ev!” Miles calls from behind Jaylen. In a flash, he’s standing beside his best friend with a smile on his face. “You’re just in time. The pizza should be here any minute.”

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