Page 18 of First Bite
Chapter Seven
Itossed and turned for what seemed to be all night. Boots slept curled in a ball on the side of the bed I’d been waiting for Braden to return to. I glanced over at the clock display that was lit up on the nightstand.2:30 a.m. Damn it.I needed to sleep, but I couldn’t help but wonder where Braden had gone.
I had dozed off watching a random documentary on whales and woke up to Boots being my only company on the bed. What the hell was wrong now? It felt like Braden and I may have crossed a line, but Braden wasn’t the type to sit back and let the rest make him feel like shit for doing so. If anything, I was hoping he was explaining how he got through it, telling them how I heard his thoughts, and they were all working it out and getting on board with feeding on me.
I noticed the intense connection that we had both experienced earlier was starting to fade. I didn’t know what was going on, and with everything racing through my mind, I knew there was no way I was ever going to get any decent sleep tonight.
By 5:45 a.m., I decided trying to get any rest was futile. I crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom. I filled the old-fashioned, claw-foot tub almost to the brim with piping hot water and gingerly sank down all the way to my neck.
I lay there preparing myself for what I was in for today, and it took until the water turned cold and I was turning into a raisin for me to get out. I dried off and was quick to dress in a hoodie and jeans before I headed out to find out what went down last night.
I took a glance in the mirror before I left the bathroom, noticing that flawless appearance I had after letting Braden feed on me was long gone.
I walked out toward the kitchen, hearing two female voices. They were giddy and cheerful, but they quieted down as soon as their vampire hearing caught me approaching where they stood around the bar counter.
“Hey, Elle,” the brunette from yesterday beamed. Her honey-colored eyes and friendly smile was a definite change from last night.
“Hey,” I answered, looking around for the guys.
“My name’s Lacey,” she said, walking up to me. “Sorry about last night.” Her eyes followed mine to where I searched for the guys outside of the window. “They’re gone. All but Cole.”
“What! Why?” I asked.
“Last night after Braden made dinner, the questioning about him drinking from a Life Blood—you—started in.”
I looked at the blonde girl, Madison. “Let me guess, Cole had something to do with the interrogations?”
She frowned, “Yes and no. Braden voiced his concern too.”
“Shit.” I pulled myself up into one of the high bar stools and crossed my arms on the counter. “I don’t get it. One minute they’re all about trusting themselves with me, then they’re back to this shit again. They’re going to drive me crazy.”
Lacey laughed. “The Banners do a great job of making girls crazy.”
I glared over at her, “I’m sure they do. I’m sure they had that effect on you when I went to bed last night too.”
I could hear the jealousy dripping out of my mouth and inwardly cursed myself for showing this side of me.
Both laughed in unison.
“If having your blood drawn into a blood bag, being ignored and then told to disappear until they need more blood can be referred to as having an effect, then you’re right,” Madison answered.
“Listen,” I responded, “I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. My emotions are all over the place, and we just met.”
“I get it. But I’ll admit, what’s going on between you and the Banners is pretty intense,” Lacey said. “We were blown away when the guys chose us to feed on.” She laughed and cleared her throat. “The Banner cousins are very well known in our coven. They’re sort of like celebrities. They’re as sexy as fuck, they only feed on vampires, and they’re the strongest immortals in existence. So that’s pretty much why we were all in when they chose us to feed on. Little did we know, they weren’t going to let us anywhere near them for our blood at the time.”
“Can you tell me what happened with them? Braden was supposed to come back to my room after he brought me dinner. He never came back, and now I’m waking up to only you two in the house.”
“He was hostile last night, to say the very least. Shit went down between the guys, and then they all blasted out the front door. Lacey and I felt like we definitely didn’t belong here until they asked for our blood again. After that, Cole said he was staying behind for you, he disappeared into a room, and the others left.”
“You didn’t hear anything specific with your vampire hearing? Don’t you guys hear everything?”
“We do, but we can’t with the Banners. Those guys have a way of shutting vampires out. It must be because of their connection. They aren’t like other born vamps. They can do shit the rest of us can’t.”
“That’s enough,” I heard Cole’s authoritative voice fill the room, silencing the room instantly.
Great. I get stranded here with two strangers and a massive asshole.
I turned back to see Cole approaching wearing a tight, white cotton shirt and dark denim jeans.
