Page 3 of Ouch! My Vampire Doms Don't Sparkle
“Yeah, that would be okay.”
“Good.”He grins.“I didn’t want to have to stalk you.”
He steps forward, crowding me, and then forward again.
I back up until I hit the edge of the table.He toys with the bottom of the shirt I’m wearing, the back of his knuckles brushing against my bare thigh.
“Then again,” he says, “I like stalking.Chasing.Do you like to run, little love?”
“I—”
My stomach takes that moment to make a loud, hungry growl.
Chuckling, Will gives me a swift kiss on the cheek and lets me go, returning to the eggs.
“We’ll have lots of time to explore what you like, later,” he says.“Breakfast first.”
I remember him chasing me in the library.Maybe we can do that again sometime, when I’m not so scared and confused.I was turned on even then, but now that I know what he can do to me?Even better.
Xander
Fucking Will.Thinking with his dick again.Yes, I understand that this girl is powerfully attractive and our chemistry with her is beyond anything we’ve experienced in decades.
So fucking what?All of the good times will end if she dies.
I didn’t know vampires could be optimists, but he seems to think things will be different with Autumn, that we won’t fuck things up like we did with Elisabeth, that we’ll magically be more responsible now than we were then, and have more control.
The very last thing I feel when I’m around Autumn iscontrol.
Example: after she spotted me outside of her hotel room, I remained watching over her from the shadows.I couldn’t leave her alone after learning what was happening in her life.Even as I told myself I did not care, even as I told myself I was making everything harder on myself.
No control.
And that is precisely why I am holed up for the second night in one of Will’s and my apartments.We have three of these places currently, spaced throughout the city as safe houses.Because we do not age, it is prudent to have several homes and rotate between them, as well as selling and buying often, changing our surnames every few years.
Eventually, we’ll even have to entrust The Corbin into someone else’s care, and we will start a new private library in some other city.Or if not a library, then a bookstore.Elisabeth loved books, so it will be something to do with them.
This apartment is just as impersonal as the others, fully furnished by strangers, bland and boring.It does, however, have a spare laptop.If I can’t be with Autumn, I at least want to know more about her.For her own protection, I reason.
Not because I’m obsessed.Not because I’m a heartsick dumbass.
I open up a web browser and type in the name of Autumn’s stepfather.Dale Smith.It’s a generic-sounding name, unfortunately, but I have better results when I addAltera, Californiato my search.He has social media accounts on all the major sites, although it doesn’t appear he is very active on any of them.I click around, finding precious little in the way of casual interaction.
Boring.Nothing of note.
Although on one site, I find a photo of him standing with Autumn.They’re both smiling.His smile appears contrived, and hers?Her lips are smiling, and even her eyes are crinkled up.Despite that grin, all I see is sadness and loneliness.
The way his arm is around her shoulders, it appears they posed for the photograph.I bet he stepped away from her as soon as the photo was taken.He doesn’t look as if he cares for her.He doesn’t look as if he cares about anyone except for himself.
I check out the links farther down on the search results page.Press releases, ceremonies, and charity galas.Autumn is with him at some of the functions, well-coiffed and polished.She looks like a pampered little princess in her fancy dresses and jewelry.My heart slams hard in my chest at the sight of her, not only because she’s gorgeous as she always is, but because I wish I could reach out to her in those photographs and take her hand.If I could, I would tell her that she isn’t alone, that she’s my little mouse.
Fuck.I need to get it together.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I force myself to focus on Smith and his associates.Who are the powerful people he spends his time with?What organizations does he support, where does his money go—and where does it come from?
His involvement with JonBell Tech Solutions, a now-dissolved group which was full of criminals, from what I recall in a recent exposé, makes him appear slimy in my eyes.Of course, not everyone associated with JTS was a criminal, and some were likely surprised by the undercurrent of immorality.It’s the way Smith can be found shaking hands and smiling for the camera while buddying around with James Bell that makes me think his involvement was far from innocent and casual.
There are other companies as well, along with politicians and wealthy families.If someone has any claim to power in California, Dale Smith can be traced to them in some way.
