Page 25 of I Hate Myself for Loving You
For fuck’s sake. This was ridiculous. Did everyone think Lassiter had a thing for her?
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?” she asked.
“Yes, we all think Lassiter likes you,” he said, reading her mind. “It’s sort of bizarre, the vibes I get from you two. I haven’t been able to pinpoint it.”
“It’s called lust, honey,” JC answered for him, waddling into the kitchen. “It’s what gave me this.” She pointed to her belly and smiled. “I take it we’re talking Lassiter and Avery?” Lowering herself into a chair, JC sat down and folded her hands together.
Max’s head bobbed up and down.
Avery hopped up from her chair and thwarted any further conversation about her and Lassiter. “Do you want to know how I know Lassiter isn’t really an Adams or not?”
“Oh, relax, Avery,” JC chided. “It really is okay to be hot for a bad boy. We’ve all done it once in our lives. Lassiter is pretty hot, even if he is kinda pale. Lassiter has some deeper issues than building condos, that’s for sure. I just don’t know what. But I’ve seen him with that bird and I know he’s not a meat murderer, as you call it.” Clucking her tongue, JC shook her dark, curly head. “I just can’t figure him out.”
Avery waffled only for a moment before she said, “Well, I did.”
“Pumpkin?” Max said to JC, smiling at her. “Avery has something she’d like to say.”
She leaned back in her chair and looked toward Avery with an expectant expression.
Shoving her hands into the pocket of her worn jeans, Avery looked back at them both. “I know he’s not an Adams because he’s no werewolf.”
“Well, we didn’t know for sure,” JC reminded her. “It’s why we haven’t beaten him up for ruining the land out there. If someone were to know about us, we’d be in far worse trouble than we are now. It’s rather irritating to know Max could annihilate him and he hasn’t for fear of being found out. Talk about your hands being tied behind your back, huh? So do tell. How’d you find out he’s not a werewolf?”
He wasn’t going to go into the deceptive game of “here, doggy-doggy” she’d played last night, but she was going to tell them what she’d learned.
Swallowing hard, she replied, “He’s a vampire.”
“Wow. Like drinks blood and sleeps in a coffin, vampire? How do you suppose he put a coffin in that little trailer out there?” JC wondered out loud, completely unfazed by what Avery had just revealed.
“Did you hear me, JC? Lassiter Adams is a vampire,” Avery repeated, hopefully this time with effect.
Taking a long sigh, JC nodded. “I know this is the part where I’m supposed to freak out, but do remember where I found my lifemate. In the pound. And also remember, Max is essentially a big dog, which should explain how he fooled me. He’s just like you, Avery. Nothing could faze me after that. I have no doubt that there are plenty of you critters around, and I have no doubt there are critters I know nothing about. I’m not egotistical enough to believe I’m the only life form that roams the planet. I’m good with it. It’s really sorta X-Files, if you ask me.”
“The point is, if he’s a vampire, he can’t be an Adams,” Avery stated.
JC cocked her head up at Avery and giggled. “Er, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The Adams are a busy bunch. Look at Max and I. I’m human. Martine is a cat. Hector is a vegetarian. Xavier is a lion. Why would it surprise you that a vampire might be related to them? Nothing surprises me when it comes to this bunch of cuckoo for cocoa puffs.”
Avery’s brow furrowed. “You can’t possibly believe that what he says is true.”
JC stood, pushing back from the table and placing a hand in the crook of her back. “After what I’ve seen, honey, I’d believe anything.” Coming to stand near Avery, she picked up a lock of her shoulder length hair and examined it in the sunlight. “You know, Avery. I’ve been thinking about your hair. It’s so beautiful. Never been dyed, silky and the color is gorgeous. Why don’t you let me trim it? You could use a trim.”
She’d just told them that Lassiter was a vampire and JC was offering product tips and makeovers. “Are you people insane? Lassiter is a vampire. A vampire!”
Max barked a laugh. “Yeah, and so?”
JC laughed too. “It doesn’t change anything. He still bought the land and paid those trumped up back taxes. He owns it. Even if he’s an alien with two heads. He has the right to dig it up.”
“And he digs you, Avery,” Max teased.
Deflated, Avery knew she was going to have to confess to them about her past relationship, too. It would save the questions later if they found out. She’d rather they heard it from her than someone else, or maybe even Lassiter. “I also have a confession to make.”
JC rolled her eyes. “Lord, Avery! What else is there?” Throwing her hands up, she said, “Forget I asked that. Never mind. I can only imagine. Go ahead, tell us.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Avery sighed. “Lassiter and I were once friends. We kind of spent some of our last years in high school together.”
Rocking back on his chair, Max gave her a knowing smile. “I knew I felt something between you two. I knew it. Question is, why didn’t you tell us before?”
