Page 43 of Blood Bonds

I couldn’t help blushing crimson, especially when he put an arm to the back of my chair, and at the same time he put his nose to my cheek and breathed me in deep.

“Better than if I could cook?” I asked, needing something to say, but his response completely flipped me inside out because it was totally confirmation that I was indeed…

Falling in love with this man.

“Fuck cooking…I want the girl that can make me laugh.”

After this, two things happened. The first was that it became apparent that he was content to spend the rest of our meal sitting next to me. And the other was that he couldn’t seem to stop touching me. The way he tucked my hair behind my earwhen I was telling him some mundane thing, looking at me like I was reciting poetry or ancient proverbs. Or how when we were in between courses, he would hold my hand, running his fingers along the inside of my wrist just like he had done the night before.

In fact, I found myself wishing time would slow down or just stop altogether because I could have sat there with him all night. The attention on me was intense to say the least, but it was also like a drug I was quickly becoming addicted to. I had never once felt like this. I had never been made to feel like what I said actually mattered, but Victor hung on every word I said.

Now he was either the best damn actor in the world, or he was the man I was hoping for him to be…genuine.Because I couldn’t help but question if not…then what was his end game?It wasn’t like my ex because clearly, I had no money for him to steal. I wasn’t a supermodel or some eye candy to be seen on his arm for the night. I was just me, and he made me feel for the first time that was more than enough.

That it was all he wanted.

But the self-doubt in my mind had me unable to stop myself from asking…what was the catch?What was the dark secret he kept? And if so, just how scary were those skeletons in his closet? Because he seemed too damn perfect to be single, to want to be with someone like me.

Of course, if I had said that in front of Stacey, she would have wanted to slap some sense into me. But a lifetime of mental abuse from those who were supposed to love you was hard to get past. Like a beaten dog expected to trust its new owner. It took time to forget and sometimes you just never did.

So, the main question was…could I trust Victor?

Unfortunately, my answer to this came just after our plates were taken away once our main meal had been consumed. Theanswer not being the one I wanted, but being more of the indirect deadly kind!

An older gentleman was walking across the restaurant being shown to his seat, with whom I would have assumed was his wife. The couple stopped and recognized my date, calling him not by the name of Victor, but of someone else.

A name that had my blood freezing as if felt as if my heart had turned to ice.

“Mr. Erebus, nice to see you out this evening.”

My body must have given me away, because I stiffened next to him to the point that I felt his hand land on my thigh as he too was preventing me from escaping. Because what were the fucking chances of him having the same name as the Vampire!?

Fucking zero, that’s what!

I suddenly felt my safe little world unraveling, even as I was still scrambling to hold myself together, asking how this had happened…why this had happened?

I couldn’t think.

I had no answers and as he made tense small talk with the man, internally I was crapping myself. His hand felt like a fucking anvil for the weight of it on my leg. As if it were a cage trying to consume me. I knew right then and there that I needed to leave. I needed to escape at all costs. So, using the man who was speaking to him as a lifeline, hoping he would try anything in front of witnesses, I suddenly blurted out,

“Excuse me a moment, but I need to use the restroom.”

I couldn’t tell if my voice was steady or not, but in my mind it felt as if I had screamed. His hand tightened on my leg a moment but one look at my eyes must have told him something. Perhaps it was the tears I could feel filling them, or it was the panic and fear he could no doubt feel coming off me in waves. Whatever it was, it was enough for him to remove his hand. The second he did, I was up out of my chair like someone had fired a gun.

A gun I knew he still had in his possession from last night. Did he have it on him now? Would he shoot me down should I try to run? I had to take my chances because, clearly, he had plans for me. I just didn’t want to wait around and find out what they were. So, I excused myself again, muttering my words as if I were speaking through mud. I felt like I was about to suffocate in my need to get away.

One of the waitresses looked at me and pointed to the back, before she caught my face, her own frown forming in question as I could feel the first of my tears fall. I swiped at them angrily, glancing behind me just in case he was following. But I was surprised to see he calmly remained seated, the man he had been speaking with now gone. The look on his face wasn’t one I could read but I knew it wasn’t anger in his gaze like I would have thought.

Was it pity?

Disappointment that the charade was over so soon? That the game was at an abrupt end? I told myself I didn’t care. I told myself all that mattered now was getting back to my mundane life, one where Vampires didn’t exist. But wait, what was he doing now? Who was he calling on the phone in his hand?

It didn’t matter.

Nothing else mattered. So, I quickened my steps and instead of going to the toilet I walked right through the door that said staff only. The smell of once delicious food now made my stomach churn as it sat in my body like an overstuffed bag of lies. A chef shouted something at me, waving his spatula, but I ignored him and kept going. I just needed a back door. One I knew they must have. All these places did.

I kept running until there it was, past an office and a storeroom. I cursed myself when I realized that I had left my bag in the car. Shit, I couldn’t worry about that now. It wasn’t like I had anything with my address on in there.

Just my phone, money, bank cards… all things I could replace. But as for my life, well, that I couldn’t replace. Which was why I practically burst from the door and into an alleyway, filling my lungs the second I did. My heart burst with fear as the door slammed shut behind me. A fear that soon had good reason not to yet leave me.

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