Page 22 of Every Bite You Take
My words vanished. My mouth felt parched. I swallowed. I didn’t know what to think, but I knew what I wanted at that moment. Reaching up to my tiptoes, I whispered in his ear, “Let’s get out of here.”
A throaty growl rolled out of him.
“Yesss,” he murmured.
As he steered us out of the lounge, he moved with vampire speed.
I chuckled. “Human pace, please.”
He paused. “Sorry, got a little excited.”
“Good.” I smiled at him. “Me too.”
He held my hand as we descended the staircase at a more reasonable pace while my pulse raced with anticipation.
CHAPTER 14
DAMIEN
The cruise was zipping by quicker than any other, and I wished I could find a way to slow it down. When I met up with my bandmates for practice, they joked and laughed, but I remained detached, unable to join in.
Kylie’s impending departure weighed heavily on me.
“Man, what’s going on with you?” Van nudged. “You trying out for the role of broody vampire in an upcoming production?”
“Just have stuff on my mind,” I muttered.
“Does it happen to take the form of a woman with purple hair?” he teased with arched brows.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “Kylie.” I grazed the strings of my guitar.
Cal snorted. “She really has you twisted up inside, eh?”
“I don’t know what to do.” I put down my guitar and ran my hand through my hair in frustration. “I feel things for her—stronger than I’ve ever known. And I don’t know how to handle it. She’s leaving in just two more days.”
“Well, what you need to do is focus on the set tonight,” Angus snapped.
I scowled at him. He was right, but it didn’t mean I had to like it.
“Same with you.” Caleb snarled at Angus. “Focus on your performance, not your ego.”
“Ha, that’s rich coming from a gargoyle who’s more rock than roll.”
Oh no, here we go again. The bickering with these two. No one said band life was easy with all the creative ideas and egos clashing, but these two were like granite heads butting.
“Easy, boys,” Van said, smoothing his hands to each side. “Let’s focus.”
After a few more barbs, Angus and Caleb abandoned their strife and we got back to practice. While we played, I thought about Kylie leaving. What the hell could I do? We lived in different worlds as two different species. We would part ways eventually.
Was there anything I could do to change that?
I metup with Kylie after our set and she went to see a musical in the theater. My senses heightened just being near her.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to be normal—or at least sound that way. “How was the show?”
“Incredible.” She beamed with a wide smile and told me about the performance.
My muscles clenched as I braced myself for what I had to do—push through fear of rejection so I wouldn’t live with regret.
