Page 244 of Blood & Betrayals

“Hi.”

“Are you all right?” he asks again.

I swallow. “Yes.”

I hear him exhale. “You don’t call me, so I was alarmed.”

Alice mouths,“Alarmed?”Then she writes on the board,Old?

I bite my lower lip. If only she knew. “I’m sorry that I… alarmed you.”

I hear him move. There is the sound of tightening leather as if he’s just sat down. “I don’t mind you calling. I’m just surprised.”

Alice writes,Hot voice. Glamourized?

“Don’t mind?”

I hear a cork being pulled from a bottle and then the sound of liquid being poured. “Such a brat,” he croons darkly, and I tighten my fingers on the phone. “Why did you call?”

I look at Alice, who is fanning herself. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly.

I hear him take a sip and then swallow deeply. “Hm.”

“What?”

“Surprised you called me and not your boy angel.” I hear the smirk in his voice, the satisfaction.

Every muscle in my body tenses. Fuck. “Right, well, I’ll let you go.”

“I didn’t mean for you to…” His words trail off, but I wait for him to continue, hoping he can justify this for me so I don’t have to.

He clears his throat, and I hear him shifting. “Talk to me. I enjoy hearing your voice.”

“You do?”

“I do.”

“Can I hear your voice? Your real voice?”

“You ask for dangerous things, little fae,” he says, and his voice changes only slightly. It’s deep, dark, dangerous, and seductive. I shiver, my breath catching in my throat. There is a slight lilt of an accent, though it’s not always there. It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before.

I blink at Alice, and she just gapes at me.

“Little fae?”

“Stranger.” My voice trembles slightly.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes,” I reply.

“Does my voice surprise you?”

“A little.”

“Why?” he asks, his voice a little tighter.

“It’s sexy.” The second the words leave my mouth, my eyes widen, and I quickly end the call. There was the line, and I crossed it. I fucking crossed it. I’ve crossed it all fucking night.

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