Page 43 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

“You should rest,” he said, forcing a barrier between them all over again.

She reached for him. “No,” she whispered.

“Good night, Little One.” He kissed the top of her head, stood, and walked away.

“Beckham, please. What did I do?”

He stilled in the middle of the room. “I am not the person you think I am. It would be best if you forget that ever happened.”

“And if I can’t?” He shook his head. “I think you want me to believe you’re not good. Because if Idon’tthink that, then I can get close to you, and you’re terrified to let someone in,” she said, gaining her voice.

Beckham didn’t say anything for a moment. “You can believe what you wish. But that won’t happen again,” he said and then left.

Reyna slumped back and pressed her hand to her lips. That couldn’t be the last time. The taste of him still lingered on her lips, and she knew even as she watched his retreating back that that was a promise he couldn’t keep.

Chapter Fourteen

Reyna walked through the hospital. It was strange to be on this side of the Visage building. She and her brothers had never had enough money to go to the hospital in the warehouses. When she got sick, she had to sweat it out in their cramped apartment with acetaminophen and hope. Now the sterile environment, packed with sick people who had lost hope and turned to the vampire hospital to keep them alive, surrounded her.

As soon as they made it inside, Beckham had vanished with barely enough instructions for her to figure out how to find Everett. The receptionist directed her down the hall to a nurse. The next nurse pointed her down another hallway. After a few more twists and turns, she finally found Everett tucked up in a hospital bed with an IV attached to his arm.

The IV made her shudder, but at least he was alive.

He didn’t look pale and sickly like when she had last seen him. A white bandage was stark against his neck, and she imagined the horrifying puncture wounds underneath. They were both so lucky Beckham had found them.

She knocked on the open door lightly.

“Hey,” she whispered.

“Reyna.” His face split into a smile. “It’s so good to see you alive.”

“I could say the same for you. Can I come in?”

“Of course you can.” He patted the bed.

She walked across the small room and plopped down into a chair next to the bed. She felt sick to her stomach that they even had to be here. Of course they were tremendously lucky to be alive, but that didn’t assuage the ache in the pit of her stomach. Life shouldn’t be like this. The dark shouldn’t hold these fears. Even back home, where it was supposedly more dangerous, she had never feared something like this happening.

After an awkward moment, Reyna broke the silence. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have ever put us in that position.”

“No one knew the vampire was going to be there,” Everett reminded her.

“That’s true, but I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Luckily, I’m safe now. All thanks to you.”

“Well, thanks to Beckham,” she told him. “He saved us both.”

“Wow,” Everett said. Surprise was written on his face. “A vampire saving humans. I’d never have guessed. What was he even doing there, anyway?”

“He was following me, I guess. I have a tendency to find danger, or danger has a tendency to find me.”

“Maybe you should have warned me about that ahead of time,” Everett said, but he was smiling.

She breathed out a sigh of relief that their friendship didn’t seem irrevocably broken after the traumatic experience from last night. Even though Everett had seemed interested in her and she didn’t feel the same, that didn’t mean she wanted him to die. Nor did she want to lose her only friend thus far.

Just as she was about to say as much, all of his friends bustled into the room. Mara was at the head of the pack. She rushed over to Everett, looking stricken. Her face was puffy and her eyes red as if she had been crying much of the night. Maybe she had been.

Reyna felt a pang of guilt. She had been locked away in Beckham’s apartment, sharing a kiss with him, while her friend was at the hospital getting a blood transfusion. His real friends had waited around for him to wake up. She tried to rid herself of the guilt, but it was difficult.

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