Page 34 of High Stakes and Soulmates
He lets me take the phone from him, and I press my finger over the app and delete it.
“What’d you do that for?”
“You obviously didn’t like anyone on it, and it’s causing you stress,” I say before pushing him back so I can get out of the car. That is definitely why I deleted it. No other reason than that. “Zach likes you. Not me. He pulled me aside to ask if you dated men. He’s been trying to flirt with you, but you’ve been so stuck on this idea that he wants me that you’ve been ignoring it. Go on a date with him.”
Ezio hesitates and I slip by him, but before I can get far, he grabs my wrist and pushes me against the car, blocking me so I can’t continue on.
“You’ve known about this for days.”
“Yeah?”
His eyes are tearing me apart, trying to figure out what he’s missing. “So why did you keep it a secret from me?”
“Why’s it my right to tell you his feelings?” I ask.
“It’s not even his feelings. You let me believe that you two were a thing. You knew that’s what I was thinking. So if you really wanted me to date him, why didn’t you clear that up?” he asks, as though he thinks there’s a reason I didn’t tell him.
“I don’t know. I just didn’t want to mess up whatever Zach was doing.”
He doesn’t look convinced. “Were you really? Look me in the eyes and tell me that’s all this was.”
“Did you have something to do with the deaths of Isabella and Pedro Torres?” I ask.
Ezio hesitates. “What? How did we get here?”
“Did you?”
He opens his mouth but before he can say anything, Julian shouts to us. “Hey, guys. We’re waiting on you two to start. If we don’t start soon, I’m confident Casimir and Steve are going to brawl. And while… I would kind of like to see that, I feel like I shouldn’t see that at all.”
“I’m sorry,” I say as I move toward him, leaving Ezio behind.
“What’s going on now?” Julian whispers as he looks back at Ezio.
“Nothing. He was just showing me his new dating app.”
“Oh? And what did you think of that?” he asks with a look in his eyes like heknowshe did it to try to push me toward Ezio.
“I think it’s a great idea,” I say, refusing to tell him that I’ve deleted it. WhydidI delete it? Why am I an awful person who is over here stringing Ezio along while refusing every advance? But more importantly… why did he hesitate when I asked about my parents?
I feel like something is squeezing my stomach and find it hard to comprehend. I want to go back out there and force him to tell me what he knows, but I’m also too afraid to do so. Instead, I find myself trailing after Julian as he walks into the council hall, with Ezio not far behind us. As soon as we’re inside, my eyes get drawn to a vampire I don’t know. His physical appearance is young, maybe eighteen at the oldest, and he’s standing near Yorick, who is busy chatting with him. When I walk in, he glances at me and Ezio before looking back to Yorick, and I find myself questioning why there’s a new vampire among us.
“That’s Phil Witt. None of us knew he was showing up, but he arrived here about an hour ago,” Julian explains.
“Witt as in the son of the elderly couple we found dead last night?” I ask.
“Exactly.”
“I didn’t realize he was a vampire. Was this not on a report? Especially one that young.” I look at Ezio, who isn’t saying anything. Is it because of our talk right outside? “Ezio?”
He startles before looking up at me. “I never saw anything about him being a vampire,” Ezio says quietly.
“Casimir spoke to him about this and he said he’s been living in a city that doesn’t require registration,” Julian informs us.
I watch as the newcomer follows Yorick over to a seat, and I find myself sitting away from them. Yorick looks over at me like I’ve committed some grave sin of avoiding him while he waves wildly to the two chairs he clearly saved for Ezio and me, but I just… I don’t like being around vampires I don’t know. Somehow, I’ve become used to most of the others here. And while I don’t trust any of them, I would prefer to sit next to them instead of some random man I’ve never met.
Ezio sits next to me, and as he does so, he reaches over and squeezes my hand that’s sitting on my leg. It’s such an odd gesture that I can’t look away from it. I feel like I’m waiting for someone to tell me something horrible. And I’m prepared for whatever Ezio is going to say.
He pulls his hand back and stares at Casimir and Julian while they talk. I can tell they’re talking about the incident, and as head detective, I really need to be paying attention, but I can’t seem to focus. All I want is to rewind time. But I can’t tell if I want to know what he has to say or if I want to take back ever asking him as I realize that this is why it’s taken me so long to even bring it up with him.
