Page 59 of This Blood That Binds Us
Luke nodded and I left him in a haze of bodies in the middle of the floor.
When I reached Kimberly, she was stumbling around on her heels, her eyes hazy and confused.
“Kim! Are you okay?” I couldn’t hide the desperation in my voice. I scanned her shoulders to check for the faintest mark or bruise. There was nothing. She was unharmed. The world slowed, and I put my arms and pulled her close to me. “Don’t scare me like that.”
She blinked a few times before speaking. “Yeah, I’m okay. It was just...I don’t know what I was doing. We were dancing, and...”
The groggy look in her eyes didn’t leave immediately, and my throat tightened.
Her head snapped up. “William! He went to get me a drink and never came back, but I saw him go up the stairs. Then it was like I couldn’t control my body. But I wanted to go up there.”
She pointed to the tall, winding staircase next to us. Black iron all the way to the ceiling.
“You don’t remember what he said to you?” I said.
The blue lights accentuated the worry in her eyes. Kimberly frowned. “No, what did you hear?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to take you to Presley and don’t leave his side, okay? I’m going to go up there.”
She grabbed my wrist as I turned to lead her. “Aaron, wait!”
I glanced down at her hand and then back up to her face. “Kim, you’re going to be okay. I’ll be right back. I’m just going to see if he is still here.”
She kept a firm grasp on my wrist. “No, it’s not that. You have to be careful.”
A smile tugged at the edges of my mouth. “Are you worried about me?”
“Well, I mean...do you even know how to fight vampires or fight anyone?”
“I guess you have a point, but I have to go see if he is still here.”
“Aaron, something doesn’t feel right . . . I don’t know.”
Her blue eyes swallowed me whole, longing woven into her voice...for me. I wanted to bathe in the feeling.
“I’ll have Luke come with me. We’ll finish this.”
Her eyes grew wide, and she squeezed my arm. “Don’t tell him anything. Don’t tell him about me. Promise me you won’t. Please.”
She was backing out of our plan. I opened my mouth to protest. Her desperation flooded my senses. I was pathetic, absolute putty in her hands.
“I won’t. I’ll be very vague. You will have to let go of the death grip you have on my arm, though.” I motioned to my wrist, where she had been white-knuckling it.
She let out a breath. “Okay. Yeah, that’s a good plan.”
I snuck her through the crowd, leaving her with Presley, who, to my surprise, wasn’t too drunk...yet. He wrapped his arm around her, promising to keep her safe.
As I made my way back to the dance floor, Luke walked in step with me. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?”
“Kimberly has a...stalker. He’s been around all night, and I need to go and check and make sure he’s gone. Will you come with me?”
It was a bold move, saying a lie directly to Luke’s face. He wouldn’t buy it, but he would come with me. That’s all I needed.
Luke stared at me for a minute, looking completely sober. “Why can’t you just tell me the truth?”
“I don’t have time. We have to go now.”
I walked toward the iron steps looming in the distance.
