Page 67 of The Vampire Kingpin
He let out such a nasty growl that I jumped a little. “He told me you have a line on a lot of cash. What did he mean by that?”
I spread my hands. “How should I know? Ask him.”
“I did. But he kept changing his story. So now I’m asking you.”
I shook my head, fresh out of lies.
“Lark. I wanna help. At least tell me what’s going on—you owe me that much, don’t you?”
I moistened my lips. Luna help me, I wanted to agree.
But this wasn’t about me. This was about saving Spider from Jared, and even Troll, because any minute, Troll was going to be forced to drop out of the shadows, and then he’d attack.
I had to get Spider to leave, and suddenly, I knew exactly how to do it. He’d handed me the reason himself.
“Dude,” I said, sauntering toward him. “Get over yourself. I don’t owe you anything I’m your thrall, remember? Your prisoner.”
He went rigid, his brown eyes glittering with fury and hurt.
The hurt nearly did me in, but I drew a breath and plowed on. “I’ve been your good girl in bed, haven’t I? Did everything you asked. So why the third degree? If I wanna talk to my cousin, it’s none of your freaking business.”
His fingers gripped the doorjamb so tight the thick wood groaned. “I trusted you.”
“Did you?” I was close enough to touch him now, and the urge to do so was so strong, I crossed my arms over my chest to stop myself from following through. Not an angry pose, a protective pose, with my hands fisted and tucked under my upper arms. “You wouldn’t even let me leave the Cavern until I begged you. You have people watching me all the time. If that’s trust, I’d like to see what not trusting me looks like.”
A muscle jumped in Spider’s cheek. “That’s called protection, dammit. You admitted yourself you’re hiding from someone.”
He’d been protecting me?
For a heartbeat, I just stared at him. Then I shook my head.
Not that I didn’t believe him. But I was still caught up in selling the lie because he couldn’t get involved in this.
Spider grabbed my upper arms. I thought he was going to shake me, then his nostrils flared. “Who hit you?”
My mouth opened and shut.
“Tell me, dammit. Unless—” He tensed. “Was it one of my people? Because?—”
“No!” Too late, I realized I should’ve lied. I couldn’t accuse Troll, after all. But I couldn’t bring myself to finger an innocent person. “It was during the fight,” I hurried to say. “I fell, remember?”
He bit out a curse. “The truth, Lark.”
I pressed my mouth together, shaking my head.
He growled. Then to my shock, he enfolded me in a hug, my unhurt cheek against his chest. “Okay, forget that for now. Who’s after you, baby? Let me help you.” His voice softened. “You can trust me. I’m on your side.”
I dragged in a deep breath. I never wanted to forget how Spider smelled.
Then I pushed at his chest. “I told you, this is business. So if you want to fuck, at least get me out of here so we can do it on a clean mattress.”
“Business?” He recoiled and released me. For an endless moment, we just stared at each other.
This was it. The end.
Inside, my heart pounded and thrashed like it wanted to leap out of my chest and beg him not to believe me, that it was one big lie. I pressed the heel of my hand against my breastbone, willing my headstrong heart—and my mouth—to stay silent.
He broke the stand-off first. “You don’t mean that,” he said with a pointed look at the hand I had against my chest.
