Page 104 of Homecoming

“Not if you’re paying. No.”

“Hm…” Darius smirks as he punches at the buttons on the front panel. There’s a buzzing whirr as the weak coffee-like liquid dribbles into the paper cup underneath. “How is he? Matthew, how’s he doing?”

“He’s none of your damn business, is how he is. Darius, what the hell are you here for?”

“Don’t be such a bitch. It never did suit you. I’m just asking if he’s going to be okay?”

“I told you it’s not any of your goddamn business. Now why don’t you go back to your nest? I don’t need you here.” She steps forward and watches as he sips smugly from the hot coffee. “Why did you come? You knew I’d be here. What about Kat?”

He tastes the coffee, sneers at its putrid mechanical taste, and drops the full cup into the trash next to him.Disgusting.“Well, I’m certainly not here for the coffee, that’s for sure. I told you I brought Kat. She was worried about Riley.”

“Yeah, well, she’s here, so now you can leave. You don’t need to wait.”

“But I think I will… wait. I’m kind of enjoying the surroundings.” He sits down on the row of soft seating and spreading his legs, he stretches his arms along the back, stroking the fabric.

“Oh my God, you’re still so full of yourself. Darius, I don’t want you here, so please leave?”

“No. Not yet. First, I have something to say to you.” He sits forward, his hands clasped on his lap. “I don’t want you talking to Kat anymore. You’ve been telling her things. Things that should have stayed in the past. Did you deliberately do that to make me look bad?”

“I have no interest in you or how you look—good or bad.”

“I don’t believe you, Alana. I saw that look in your eyes when you were at the house. And why were you at my house?Hmmm… tell me?”

“That wasn’t my idea—and I didn’t know you’d be there, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.”

“Liar.” He stands upandbearing down on her, stares deep into her soul. “You ghost me for years, then at the first opportunity, you trash-talk me to Kat. What game are you playing? Is this payback for what happened between us?”

“I’m not playing any game. And no, it’s not pay back for anything. I’ve given no thought to you in years. And for your information, I didn’t trash talk you to anyone. She was the one who asked me—she put things together, and I didn’t realize she’d fallen so deeply for you. I should have, I guess, but I thought she was intelligent enough to see through you… see through this… what you are. Oh and believe me, if I could’ve stopped her from making that mistake, I would have. But as usual, you’ve sucked her in—somehow mesmerized her into thinking you’re something special.”

“If I remember correctly, it was you who did the mesmerizing game. And you don’t know anything about mine and Kat’s relationship.”

“I know enough.”

“You know nothing. All you know is jealousy and lust. After all, that’s what you are inside—lustful and jealous. You’re letting your feelings for me cloud your judgment.”

“Oh my God…Seriously?You are so full of goddamn shit. You really haven’t changed, have you? You’re still only in love with yourself. Do you really even love Kat? Because she’s convinced you do,” Alana laughs. “Or is it the same love you had for Isabella—for me? Self-centered and on your terms. Or is it just because she’s good in bed?”

“Now you are being a bitch. You know…” he steps close and sniffs at her neck, “you were a good fuck—but nothing more. Sure, you had yourspecialtalent, but when it boiled down to it… you were, after all, just a shifter whore. Isabella… Kat… they’re Blood Lunas—you can’t compete with that.”

“You fucking asshole!” She slaps him hard in the face. “You don’t believe that though, do you? You know, most people would think you’re a monster because you’re a vamp. I callbull…shit! You were always a fucking monster—even when you were a wolf, and I don’t believe for one second that you’ve changed—not even for Kat.”

“And I told you, you know nothing.”

“Darius, go away and leave me alone. I don’t need you here. I don’t need you full stop. I’m not that kind of girl anymore and I certainly don’t playthose kindsof games anymore.”

He stands over her and looks down. Brushing the blonde curl from her cheek, he smiles. Then, leaning forward, he stares deep into her eyes and whispers, as he kisses her lips. “You will always be that kind of girl. You know it never leaves you.” He smiles. “You still look so good,baby girl. You still have that same attraction, I see.”

There’s a growling snarl, and Alana smacks his hand away from her face. “Fuck off! I told you already, I am not that girl. You can’t seduce me into stupidity as easily as you did before. Let it sink in your head that what we had was a fantasy—a made-up fantasy. It wasn’t real. What I was, she wasn’t the real me.”

“Of course she was the real you, and she’s still in there. If you search for her, you’ll find her. What? Matthew didn’t like her, so you changed? I call bullshit. I know he wouldn’t have been able to resist either.”

“I know what real love is now. What Matthew and I have, is true love.” She wipes her tears from her cheek.

“Are you saying you didn’t have real love for me? It was merely a role you were playing?” Darius grins. “Are you really saying you didn’t want me, Alana? That I didn’t turn you on and it was all pretend because if it was, you were a damn good actress.”

“You are a completely arrogant asshole! You come here, to the hospital where my husband is laying in a coma down the corridor—the woman you ‘supposedly’ love is down there with my son—and you do this? Do you love her? Because if you do, show her and yourself some goddamn self-respect. I thought you said you changed… well, you haven’t… not really. Iknowwhat’s inside you.”

“Yeah… yeah you do. But I also know what’s inside you, too. I know what you are.” He growls with lust as his eyes brighten in a deep purple fire. He steps back and grins. “And don’t try to analyze me.”

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