Page 11 of Soulmates
The silence returns, but shorter this time.
“I’ll call Sheena and ask her to take you to get a new phone in the morning.”
He blinks a couple of times, his youth showing through the bravado. “Thanks. If I go too long without responding to my sister’s texts, she’ll get the whole pack agitated.”
We wouldn’t want that.Keeping my mouth shut and my eyes on the road, I steer us to safety.
OXO
When a vampire is powerful enough to start siring other vamps, theresults are halfway between family and a murder of crows. The sire is responsible for everyone’s security; therefore, Jacques’s string of safe houses with vampire-ready rooms.
I’d tried to talk Jacques out of buying this particular house, a big Spanish barn on the end of Wild Oak Drive. The neighbors are too close, for one thing, but he likes the view of the Hollywood sign and therumors ofanotorioushistory involvingpretty young boys and lines of cocaine.
David surveys the marble floor, wrought iron trim, and spacious living room as if hidingout in million-dollar homes is his standard. We drag hisbagsto the closest bedroom, the only one on the main floor.
I wonder how long it’s been since he had something to eat. “The kitchen should be stocked,” I say, pointing him down the hall. “Well, there won’t be much fresh stuff, but you should be able to scrounge something.”
“Not hungry.” He kicks off his shoes,slidesoff his hoodie,and crosses the living room. There’s a lanai running all along the front of the house with a view down into the canyon. We’re isolated, but not isolated enough.
I stop him when he tries to open the door to the lanai. “Don’t go out there.” The living room doesn’t have near enough furniture for the space, but rather than crowd him, I pause next to the large leather sofa.
“Why? No one knows we’re here.”
He’s right, but no one knew we were going straight from the airport to that gay bar either. “Don’t want to give anyone a target.”
Knocking the door frame with the side of his fist, he gives me a disgusted once-over. “I was supposed to get laid tonight, and instead, here I am with a guy with blood on his shirt.”
I tug on my wrecked crewneck. At least my wounds from the nail-bomb have healed. “I’ll go change.”
“Where’s the remote?” He gestures to the flat-screen television opposite the windows taking up most of the wall.
I shrug, irritated by his demanding tone. “Somewhere.” I leave him in the living room, muttering curses. Those curses turn to laughter when I return wearing Mickey Mouse. A gift from Sheena, I brought the faded T-shirt for sleep, and it’s the only other thing in my bag that hasn’t been shredded.
“Well, look at the badass vampire now.” David points the remote at me. “You look gay enough to watchDancing with the Starswith me.”
Great.He’s found the remote. I should have disconnected the cable. The dancers on the big screen are spinning fast enough to make me dizzy, or maybe it’s the volume, so loud the bass is pounding on my sternum. “I still need to call Sheena.” Any excuse to escape.
“Can I borrow your phone first?”
“Why?”
“To text Abby, my sister.” He stretches both arms over his head, showing off tufts of soft brown hair, and I’m caught by the urge to nuzzle against him, to burrow into his sweet and earthy scent.
“Might as well have hung onto your own phone.” I hold out my iPhone. The last thing I wanted was a string of text messages from every member of the Collins Pack. “Have her delete this number after she sees your text.”
After a minute, he hands the phone back. “You said you’re going to call Sheena? Are you going to tell her where we are? Can you trust her?”
“Of course. She’s an Amazon.”
He crosses his arms, fingers tapping on skin, a hank of hair flopping down over his brow. “I never met any supe who wouldn’t sell you out for the right money.”
So much bitterness. He might be young, but he’s not naïve. His messy hair makes me self-conscious about mine, and I run a hand over the top of my head. Maybe I’m escaping to call Sheena, or maybe I’m unsettled by my response to a man I shouldn’t get involved with, who seems to have a target on his back, who’s seen my Mickey Mouse shirt and lived to tell about it.
“If an Amazon swears loyalty, they don’t falter, and Sheena and I go back a long way.” We’d been taking turns saving each other’s asses since I was a card shark and she was running gin.
The noise of the television is muffled in the dining room. There’s a table long enough for twelve large chairs, and the windows look uphill toward Griffith Observatory. I talk to Sheena, but my mind is on the young man in the other room. He’s cheering for someone named Darius, and I’m curious to see what kind of man he’s attracted to. Probably not an oversized Italian with unnaturally pale skin.
Sheena promises to arrive in the morning, and I give myself a moment before facing David. I need to keep him safe, which means I need more to work with than some bullshit about family drama. The guy came on a spring break vacation by himself, which all of a sudden feels like a big red flag. For all his talk about getting laid, I have to wonder if he’s got some hidden agenda.
