Page 18 of Destined for Shadows
“Then I am wasting my time here.”
As he began to turn away, she called out to him. “Bartol, wait.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Yes?”
“I’m not keeping this a secret for the reasons you might think.” Cori lowered her head and sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“So is my life, but that has yet to stop you from interfering with it.”
She rubbed her face. “You’re right.”
“Of course I am.” It was about time she realized that.
“You won’t look at me the same if I tell you, and I’m just not prepared to face that,” she said, slowly lifting her gaze to meet his. That hint of vulnerability he’d seen the other night was back again. The man who had tried to attack Cori had certainly affected her on a visceral level.
Bartol barked out a laugh, choosing to lighten the mood. “I can’t possibly think much less of you.”
Her lips thinned. “Fine, if you really want to know…he’s my ex-husband.”
He stilled. Out of all the possible answers she might have given him, that was not the one he’d expected. He would have to be a fool to think she’d never been with another man, but not once did he consider she’d ever been married. Her lifespan seemed far too short for her to have made such a commitment and to have ended it already.
“How long ago did you divorce?” he asked, taking a step closer.
“About seven years ago.” She cleared her throat. “I was young and stupid.”
It was like he was seeing her for the first time as a person with a real history. Though she hadn’t revealed much, there was a wealth of emotion in her voice that told him the story was far more complicated and painful than she wished to discuss. He suddenly wanted to know every detail. How did this wild and crazy woman become the person she was today?
“Why did your former husband come after you?”
She let out a snort. “We didn’t end things on the best of terms.”
“I gathered as much, but why did he come after you now?”
“I’m still trying to figure that part out.” Cori grabbed her beer and slugged the rest of it down. Avoiding his gaze, she reached for another one from the ice chest.
He hesitated for a moment, then settled into the chair a few feet apart from hers. If she was willing to open up, he supposed it wouldn’t kill him to remain with her a little while longer, especially since the aroma wafting from the grill motivated his stomach to stick around. He could hardly blame himself for wanting to keep the woman company under the circumstances.
“Lucas told me he might be a vampire,” he said, taking a sip from the flask.
The potent liquid burned going down his throat. Bartol couldn’t remember the last time he’d drunk such a strong concoction, but it had to have been before he went to Purgatory. Perhaps it was even the reason he’d ended up in the damned place to begin with, or at least the start of how he got there. He would have to take it easy this time so that he didn’t do anything he might regret.
Cori rose to her feet, not answering him right away, and went to check on the steak and chicken she was grilling. She flipped them, keeping her back to him as she replied, “We don’t know for sure, but the signs are pointing in that direction.” She paused, and her back stiffened. “It didn’t even occur to me he might be a vampire, though I should have figured it out with the way he moved and looked.”
“How long has it been since you last saw him?”
Cori shut the lid on the grill and took her seat again. “About four years.”
Bartol stared at her. She was focusing a little too much on opening the bottle of beer she’d pulled out earlier, and she’d yet to look directly at him in the last few minutes. Whatever was going on with this ex-husband of hers, he doubted a simple lack of chemistry was the reason for their separation.
“Why did you divorce?”
She finally got the cap off of the beer and took a long swig. Almost a minute passed before she answered, still keeping her gaze averted. “He wasn’t a good man.”
Bartol clenched his fists. “Did he hurt you?”
“Yes.” Cori finally turned her head toward him, and he saw bitterness written all over her face. “I was weak back then, and I put up with it for too long before I finally got out.”
“You weren’t weak. You were young and inexperienced,” he said, hating to see the self-loathing in her eyes. He was the one with the monopoly on that.
