Page 18 of Blood Bonds

“Hey, Messy Nessy, you cleaning that thing, or trying to get a home run? Because I think you’re well past third base,” Stacey said in a teasing tone, jarring me from my thoughts. Also making me realize that I looked like I was trying to jerk off the coffeemachine’s steam wand that warms and froths the milk. I tossed the cloth aside and released a frustrated sigh.

“Are you alright? Only, you seem really distracted… was it…?”

I turned to my best friend and watched as she pushed her oversized glasses up her nose.

“Was it what?” I asked, feeling tense… did she know something?

“You know, the fortune teller, because you know it was just a load of baloney, right? I mean, she told me I would end up with three kids living in New Jersey and married to an electrician.”

I laughed at this before saying, “She didn’t tell you that.”

“No, but it made you laugh, besides… it was a plumber,” she said, now faking sucking someone’s cock and making me laugh even louder as she walked away ready to cash out.

God, I loved Stacey. She always knew how to make me feel better. Meaning this time when cleaning the machine, I did it concentrating on the job at hand and actually getting it done without trying to make the thing spill its load.

“Right, that’s me done, do you need anything else doing?” I asked, knowing Stacey was heading to her uncle’s tonight for dinner.

It was a Friday night tradition she always invited me to. Sometimes I’d go, but when I didn’t, I used the alone time to watch some of my favorite sitcoms, like Fraser or Friends. Of course, I had seen them all a million times and remembered most of the lines, but it was either that or read one of the many books I had on my never ending to be read list.

“Nah, you go ahead, I will see you at home tomorrow. I’m gonna stay over tonight because Jenny and the kids are flying in and… oh you know all this, go, go and don’t forget to double lock the door…”

“Yeah, yeah alright, Mom, will do. Have fun with your nephews,” I called back after grabbing my jacket and satchel, making my way to the door as I was stuffing my arms through the sleeves.

I hooked my bag across my torso, knowing that after last night, I really needed to start carrying it with me. Thankfully, getting home this morning hadn’t been too hard, seeing as I could walk it. Of course, it had taken me over an hour to get from Park Avenue all the way to Lower Manhattan, especially when I was constantly looking over my shoulder, like any second I was expecting to see him chasing me down the street.

But there had been nothing.

And why the hell had that affected me? I swear I was losing my God damn mind if I wanted anything to do with that man. No, not a man,a fucking Vampire!It must be mind control, it had to be. Maybe it took time to wear off or something. Yeah, that must have been it.

I walked outside, pulling my jacket together and zipping up my padded khaki, parker style jacket as the cold bit into my skin. Okay, so bad choice of words… the memory of him sinking his fangs into my neck assaulted me yet again.

I lifted up the cream, fur trimmed hood, and I tried to shake it off as I began the twenty-minute walk home. However, now that it was getting dark earlier, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy, constantly looking over my shoulder again. Which was why, in the end, I opted to head to the subway, because that way I wouldn’t be alone. There would be plenty of people clocking off and trying to get home just like I was.

I would have caught a cab but I didn’t really have the extra funds to splurge out on that luxury. So instead, I made my way to the station feeling better the second I saw the crowded space. Then I got on my train and took my seat, eyeing people around me like everyone else did.

There were business folk in suits, parents with their children, construction workers, and a few giggling teens talking about some party on Saturday night. Most people had their faces illuminated by their phone screens as they swiped away at them, trying to kill the time with social media. The woman next to me was scrolling through cooking videos, no doubt thinking about what to cook for dinner.

All of it was perfectly normal.

Human.

I couldn’t help but wonder what this journey would have been like had they known what was truly lurking on the streets of New York. That muggers, rapists, thieves and murderers weren’t the only threats out there. Would everyone simply be calmy living their lives like this or would everyone be looking over their shoulders like I was? I could just imagine the panic if people knew.

If people knew about…him.

I couldn’t help but close my eyes as I let my head fall back, last night’s events once more playing out in my mind. Those intense green eyes of his and that knowing grin… The large hands that gripped me and the feel of the solid wall of muscle at my back. Why couldn’t I stop thinking about him?

“Her mind is yours,”the big brute that worked for him had said, and this above all else was what worried me the most. What had he meant by that? How was my mind his? Of course, he soon proved this tol be true because the last thing he said to me caressed my consciousness.

“Sleep, my Peach…sleep for me.”

The memory of which had me suddenly jerking awake and startled the second I realized where I was.

I was still on the subway.

Only now the people that had once surrounded me no longer filled the seats. I shook my head, seeing we were pulling intoa station and, unfortunately, it wasn’t the one I had wanted. Central Park… Jesus, how long had I been asleep? But wait, that meant I had gotten on the wrong train to begin with.

How had that happened?

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