Page 43 of First Bite
Chapter Fifteen
As I towel dried my hair, I smelled the most delicious smell coming from the kitchen. I combed my hair out, slipped on a sundress and flip flops, and headed set out to see what was for breakfast.
“Hope you made enough for two,” I said, treating Cole like he was a roommate.
Cole turned and slid a fluffy omelet onto a plate before he looked up at me.
“Good to know you’re hungry. How did you sleep?” he asked.
I noticed his emerald eyes were duller than usual, and the dark circles under them were much more pronounced than before.
“I slept pretty well, thanks,” I said as I stepped up to a tall barstool at the counter and pulled my breakfast plate closer to me. “I have a nice bed; hopefully, I’ll get to stay in it for a while.”
I stabbed my forked into my cheese-coated omelet and heard Cole sigh.
“I highly doubt we’ll be moving any time soon. Enzo’s collectors would be the reason for that. If the guys find this new nest serves Enzo’s cause, they’ll wipe them off the face of the map, and we’ll just be on guard to see if Enzo misses any vamps down in this little community. I highly doubt Enzo will worry much about missing soldiers since he’s most likely more occupied scouring your mom’s last location. We’ll just take it one day at a time in keeping you safe, and if we are forced to relocate, then we’ll make sure you are comfortable wherever we end up.”
The conversation was going nicely for the most part, and that was a relief. “You want to join me? You look like your starving.” I watched Cole knock back half a glass of bourbon and purse his lips. “Trying to fight off the cravings for my blood?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said as he headed out of the kitchen.
“Hey!” I said, stopping him from leaving. “I haven’t forgotten you guys telling me that my blood is the only thing you can drink. If you can’t drink from me because you’re above that or whatever, draw my blood so you don’t starve to death.”
He folded his arms, biceps stretching his short sleeves, and his expression made me instinctively shy away from his predatory nature. “I’m notabovedrinking from you,” he said. “I just…” He shook his head and paused. “I can’t explain it, and you wouldn’t understand it if I tried.”
“Try me.”
“Listen, I appreciate your offer. If I start feeling weak due to lack of blood, I’ll probably have Braden draw your blood for me.”
“So you’re going to just stay closed off to me?”
“I’m not known for sharing my feelings.”
“God, Cole.” I glared at him. “I’m not asking to have a cup of tea and break into your inner issues, I’m just trying to figure it all out. I’m done with secrets and keepingElliein the dark. I’m part of this supernatural world too. Hell, I’m part of all of your lives now. And what about how you treated me the night right before Boots stopped everything. What about that? I thought things were going pretty well between us.”
“That night was a selfish mistake on my part. I should’ve never let it get that far and do what I did. I’m sorry if it screwed with your feelings.”
“Yeah, it fucked with my feelings all right. Why is it the others are okay with this—I’m okay with this—but you’re not?”
His eyes glistened under his thick black lashes, “You’re a beautiful young woman. You’re extremely strong, mentally, for the shit a human your age has gone through. But,” he chewed on his bottom lip.
“But?” I pressed for him to finish.
“I’m not in love with you.” His eyes were wide with shock when he admitted it, and my heart sank. “Fuck! This is why I don’t like to talk about feelings. I can’t get it out the right way. Yes, Elle, I am in love with you, but not by my own choice. It’s this bond that’s taken control of my feelings, and it’s like I have no other choice. It’s not that this is a bad thing.” He laughed in disbelief, “It’s actually a great thing. A miracle, so to speak, I just don’t like something fucking with my emotions. I want to decide, not have supernatural forces decide for me.”
“You’re a stubborn asshole, you know that?” I said before I turned back to my food.
“I’ve been called worse,” he said from behind me. “If you need anything, I’ll be in the study.”
What a dick!Who needs his arrogant ass anyway?Well, I did. Inside—very deep inside—my body,my bondwith my vampires told me I needed him. I felt a weird void trying to surface because I’d not been close to Cole like I was with the others, and mostly, I felt a certain amount of guilt for not being able to provide nourishment to him like I knew I could.
I closed my eyes, sensing these new emotions of sadness and emptiness. A knot twisted in my stomach like I had lost something dear to me. It was strange and completely unexplainable. It was as if I had been in a deeply committed relationship with someone and found out they no longer loved me. I felt tears well up in my eyes. The pain was unbearable, and I wanted to throw my plate across the room in frustration that there was nothing I could do about this.
I spent the rest of the day trying to rid myself of these feelings. I lounged on a beach chair in the sun, and I decided to read a book for a while. When I went to Cole to see if he learned anything new, I quickly realized that was a stupid decision. My pain and angst grew just by seeing his face and hearing his low, smooth voice. He was so beautiful, smart, and determined, and my heart was broken by being in his presence and not having him take me in his arms.
Like some hopelessly-in-love fool who’d had her heart crushed, I did the only thing I knew to do. I went to the couch with a bowl of ice cream and turned on the TV, hoping Netflix had something I could binge-watch while I waited for my guys to get back with answers.
Thirty minutes into a true crime documentary, Cole came out of his hideout.
