Page 147 of Pretty Poisoned

"Yeah," I tell him. "I'm just tired. I'm not looking forward to another long bus ride, either."

"Well, we're almost done," he says. "Then, we'll take that vacation,wifey.And it's supposed to be eighty degrees in Dallas. I know you hate the cold—we can sit by the pool tomorrow and drink all day."

"Okay."

"Hey," Rhett says as we step onto the bus. "Missed you at the gym this morning."

"Had to take care of a couple of brats," Luca says. He smacks River's ass as he walks past to the kitchen.

"Ow!" she says.

"It wasn't even hard," he says, grabbing a beer from the fridge. "Tell her, Teag."

I lean against the bar beside her. "It really wasn't that hard," I say.

"Traitor," River says. She hooks her finger in the belt loop of my jeans and then leans in and kisses me lightly on the lips.

Luca inclines his beer in our direction. "See what I mean?" he says. "Control your wife, Haze."

"Why would I do that?" she asks. "If I'd known, I would have brought toys."

"What kind of toys?" I ask before I can think better of it.

"Oh, we have an extensive collection," Hazel says. "I wouldloveto show you."

Well, okay.

"Stop it," Luca says. "What do you want to drink, Teagan?"

"What is there?" I ask.

"Beer, water, vodka, White Claw—"

"I want one of those," River says.

"Of course you do." Luca takes one from the fridge and sets it in front of her. "That's pretty much it, other than blood bags."

I realize as soon as he says it what I want—I want the blood. I'm not going to tell him that, though.

"Water is fine."

"She wants the blood," Rhett says. "Did you see her face?"

"Do you?" Luca asks.

"Um…"

And now, when I hear the word blood, I crave it. I lick my lips and try not to think about it.

But I do think about it. A set of scenes flashes through my mind: first, Declan kneeling in a pool of my blood, licking it from a knife, then that girl at the house in Oregon dead on that marble slab.

Then, the couple Jared killed at the cabin, soaked in blood on the kitchen floor.

I don't really mind any of it.

"Pour her a shot," River says. "It's good for you; it'll wake you up."

"It's better straight from the source," Hazel says, pulling her knife from her bag. "Give me your wrist, Riv."

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