Page 99 of Homecoming

“You have to know I was missing you so fucking much and I… I got drunk—sofuckingdrunk. So drunk that even I balked at my bar tab. But I had a need—a physical fucking need. What I am, it needed to satisfy its lust and I… Kat, I’m sorry. You don’t know how angry I am with myself.”

“Oh my God… please tell me you didn’t sleep with someone. Darius, did you cheat on me?”

“No. No, you have to know I didn’t cheat—I mean, the thought was there, sure, but… I didn’t go all the way. I was at the club and like I said, I got drunk. I had just read your letter after all that time and I was so damn angry. Angry because I wasn't there to protect you. I was drinking and the girls, they were there like they always are, waiting to take care of needs.”

“So you thought you’d sleep with one of them? A vampire whore at the club—you fucked one of them? But I thought… Darius, you told me you waited. This here tonight you said you waited for me. So this all a lie? You’re a liar and a cheat?”

“No, I told you… Kat, I didn’t fuck anyone and if I could just point out for one second you did actually give me permission before you left—not that I’m using that as an excuse, I’m just saying you did give the permission. But I didn’t go all the way. She just gave me head, that’s all—I swear it. I was just fulfilling a drunken fuckin’ need.”

“You let someone suck your dick, then bought me a ring because you felt guilty about it?Wow… fuck, I don’t even know what to say about something like that.”

“I know—I’m a complete fucking asshole, right? But believe me, I was so angry with myself. I wish I could take back what I did, but I can’t. No more than I can take back what happened in the past with Alana, the club, Isabella—I can’t change a damn thing. I have all this power, all this strength and yet I can’t actually change anything because of what I am inside.”

“So all this… tonight, spoiling me, it’s not real? Is anything real with you? Do you actually love anyone?”

“I love you. And that’s why I’m telling you this. You’re right, I don’t want any secrets. I want you to know me—I want you to know what I am.”

“Then be honest, did you love Alana? Was she really just a whore at the club?”

“No. I didn’t love her. I told you it was complicated. I was married, and I was an asshole, but losing Isabella and my pup because of my behavior, it changed me. I was a mess for a long time after that happened. I lost everything and had to build back from the ground up. If it hadn’t been for Marco and his damn fool idea of taking on this rundown hotel—well, I don’t know where I’d be. Kat, I’m a far better person now, or at least I try to be.”

“Well, I’m not so sure about that.” Kat slumps on the bed, pulling the black satin sheet around her. “If you’ve changed so much, then why would you do this to me?”

“I told you, it’s the darkness inside me. The vampire part of what I am it... Kat, it was purely a physical need, nothing more. Do you know how hard it is to contain what I really am? Sometimes it's too hard. And you’ve seen when I lose control, even a little. You need to understand, I hadn’t been intimate with anyone in over five months and then when I read that letter... I was burning with rage—Travis… Auriel… I just wanted to find them and kill them. I got so angry and I wanted to lash out. I thought maybe sex would be a release for that rage. It was alright for Digby… Noah, they got to be with you.”

“Noah didn’t. He waited. He waited for me. Why couldn’t you?”

“But he got to see you. Be around you all the time. I came out to that mountain three times and Luna wouldn’t even come near me. She rejected me every damn time.”

“Because she was afraid of what you really are. She was afraid for her pup, that’s all. I am truly sorry for that.” Kat looks up at him and the box in his hand. “So was it really expensive?” she tilts her head and smiles.

“Yeah, it was expensive,” he grins as he reopens the box. “I told you I was really drunk. Kat, believe me, I didn’t go through with the service. I left the club and stumbled along the street for hours until the effect of the liquor wore off. I came to a stop outside a twenty-four-seven pawn store. And there it was in the window... This ring was the most expensive thing on display—hell, probably the most expensive thing in the whole store. I went right in and bought it. Fuck, the guy couldn’t process my credit card fast enough. I had this crazy plan all laid out where I was going to declare my undying love and ask you to marry me.” He swallows as a tear escapes his eye. “But then I realized, just like Isabella, I couldn’t protect you. I hadn’t been able to keep you safe. That fact and my guilt for what I did, I didn’t know how I was going to face you.”

Kat stares at the sorrowful pain etched in his face as he fumbles with the ring box. “Darius… it’s okay. Baby, it’s okay.” She kneels up, her finger tracing the line of her name etched in burned ink on the muscles of his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck, she kisses gently against the side of his face. “I understand, really I do. I just… Darius, I love you so very much and I would marry in a heartbeat, but you know I can’t. I can’t because… there’s not just you to consider.” She focuses on his eyes and holds his gaze. “Darius, I’m telling the truth about Evelyn. It is possible and I will prove it. She needs you. You’re her daddy and I want you to be there for her. Please... can you do that? Be there for her.”

“Kat, I’m not the right person. I'm sorry I can’t be there for her.”

Kat takes a breath and lays back on the bed. “You know, sometimes I wish I could slice myself into three—give a third of myself to each of you but I can’t do that. If you really love me, then you have to learn to share me. Can you at least do that?”

“That I can do.” He smiles and presses a firm kiss against her lips.

Kat drops her mouth to his neck and kisses the cool curve of his skin. She closes her eyes then, holding her breath, she bites hard into the softness of his flesh.

The surprise catches him off guard and he gasps, “Fuck…Kat, what the hell are you doing?”

She remains silent as her teeth break his skin and blood trails in lines down his chest. When finally, she sits back on her heels, she wipes the blood from her lip with her hand before she kisses his mouth.

The taste of his own blood—its bitter-sweetness makes Darius growl and as he smothers her lips with his, he then returns with a ferocious and all-consuming kiss.

Kat grins as she notices Darius’s blood smeared across her breasts. “Hot tub?” she smiles.

“Oh you got it.” He snarls with desire as he picks her up in his arms and hurriedly carries her into the bubbling water of the floor sunken jacuzzi.

Blood trails in deep red streaks over the muscles of his chest as the pair sink into the swirling warm water. The bubbles froth with red-tinted foam around them as Kat cleans herself. Then sitting, legs splayed around his waist, she forces herself onto the hard waiting want of his cock and with a snarling moan, she rocks her firm curvaceous body against his.

“Kat, I—”

Quickly she silences him with a finger pressed to his lips and he can hear the loud howl build in her chest as she demands, “Shut the hell up and fuck me.”

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