Page 42 of B Negative

“My actions were justified.”

“Maybe so. But that doesn’t negate how much they fucking hurt.” I slammed the phone back into the cradle. “So goddamn stubborn!”

I looked to B and Sunny for support, but instead, they exchanged a conspiratorial glance.

“What?”

B put his hands up. “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”

“Sunny?”

She shrugged, making herself comfortable on the cloud chair while tapping away at her tablet. “He’s almost as stubborn as you are.”

“What?” Horse shit. Brazen, bald-faced lies!

“How long did it take you to tell the king you needed an apology?” Sunny asked.

“Why should that matter? He should have known. I told him multiple times how he hurt me.”

Sunny nodded, nose still in her tablet. “You’re right, you did. But you’ve yet to see it from his side, have you?”

“What does that mean?”

“You accepted my apology without a second thought, right?”

“Yeah. You actually gave me one.”

“Exactly. You haven’t once thought about the reasons why that might be the case. You impugned his character, without trying to step into his shoes.”

I sighed and sank onto the bed. “You probably have a point.”

“Glad we agree.” Sunny put her tablet down and stood. “Our books will be here any moment. Help me rearrange the room to fit the dinette table in here. I’m not putting those dusty tomes on my linens.”

B and I moved the dresser out of the bedroom while Sunny stacked and balanced three chairs in one hand and the dinette table in the other.

“OK, what is with that?” I asked Sunny’s blurring form.

“With what?”

“Everyone here, including you, seems way stronger and faster than me.”

“I’ve noticed too,” B added. “Those guards gave me a run for my money up the steps. And I do cardio three times a week.”

I nodded along. “Yeah, he does. He tried to get me to do it too when we were training.”

Sunny smiled. “There are benefits to drinking blood from willing donors.”

B nodded. “Interesting.”

I mulled her words over in my mind. “It is interesting. So then why does Titus drink from a decanter?” Seemed to me a king would want to be as strong and fast as possible.

“That, you’d have to ask him,” Sunny said quietly as her gaze moved toward the floor.

I froze on seeing it. Her tell. Sunny glanced downward every time she lied or hid something. Except Sunny was too polished, too well-versed in vampire politics and decorum to not have scrubbed all her natural tells and emotions away.

Sunny glanced at me, and upon seeing the realization in my eyes, gave me a wink.

She was telling me without actually telling me.

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