Page 21 of Blood Claims
“It’s true, I just didn’t know how to tell you… well, you know why, as it’s not exactly…normal.”I gritted out the last word, knowing they would get the inner meaning.
“No, I guess not. Er… maybe we could talk about this in private?” Stacey suggested, flicking her eyes toward her bedroom door.
Tal’s arms tightened around me the second Stacey had given me the silent,‘what the fuck, get your ass in here now and tell me every little detail’look. Once her back was turned and I took my first step away from them, Victor was quick to hold me back. Then his lips were at my ear from behind, so he could issue his threats.
“Another word of warning for you, Nessa…Vampires have great hearing.”I gritted my teeth and yanked out of his hold so I could deal with my friend. And of course, the very first thing she said when I walked through her bedroom door was…
“Seriously, was one not enough?”
7
CHINESE WINNING WHISPERS
And here I was.
Back again.
Only, this time I wasn’t waking up in a locked bedroom questioning all my life choices. No, I was just asking myself how I had fucked up so royally. Because not one damn thing had gone to plan.
I now found myself back in their penthouse fortress in the heart of the city with its view over central park. The night I first met Victor came back to me every time I saw that damn beautiful park.
Well, at least now I knew why I had felt the irrational pull to walk in there that night with absolutely no reason to do so. And as for Victor, he had known who I was the second he saw me. Now had he not been cursed, then who knows, he may have just let the asshole rob me while being on his merry mafia way.
But of course, I hadn’t been able to tell Stacey any of this. Nor could I involve her any more than I already had. So, when she pulled me into her room and closed the door, her question came with a curse as she asked,
“What the fuck?”
“I know… I know,” I said, throwing my hands up and walking past her.
“Oh good, because I was worried you missed the two hulking hot guys in our living room that seemed to be eyeing you like candy,” she replied sarcastically and well… she had no fucking idea how close she was with that one.
“You told me they were gay,” she accused, and all I could do in response was shrug my shoulders and admit,
“I didn’t know what to tell you.”
She released a sigh as I deflated back on her bed, before lying back and covering my face with my hands.
“Hey, it will be okay. I’m not judging you.”
I lifted one hand enough so she could see the disbelieving rise of my brow.
“Okay, so I’m judging a little but, hey, can you blame me?! I mean, how many people do you know that are dating twin brothers that look like that?! Jesus, where did you find them, Hot Buff Guys R’Us?” I would have laughed but instead focused on my question.
“How do you know they are twins?”
“I gather that drunken text message you sent me that night was true and the gay part the next day was the lie,” she assumed, making me groan into my hands and admit,
“God, I am such a shit friend!”
“No, you were just embarrassed, that’s all. I get it,” she said, trying to comfort me when I didn’t deserve it. Not if she knew the whole truth and remembered anything from earlier, because I had all but welcomed the foxes into the henhouse.
“So, is that why they turned up at the store asking about you?”
I winced, before sitting up and choosing to tell her half a lie,or was it more like leaving out the half-truth?
“I kind of woke up and freaked out. So, I snuck out without leaving my number and they had no idea where I lived, so I thought it was just a one-night thing,” I told her, sitting up and pushing all my hair back.
“But they wanted it to be more, which is why they turned up at your job hoping to find you there,” Stacey guessed, making me shrug.
