“Have you ever been in love?” It throws me because I didn’t expect that from him, I expected something dirty...this feels deeper. Like he needs to know, and I glance down at his fingers which are gripping the bedding tightly.
“No,” I admit. “My turn, have you?”
I wait with bated breath, I don’t know why, call it curiosity. “No,” he says immediately. “I think that will change.” I barely catch the whisper, but I pretend I didn’t hear it. “Have you ever been with a vampire?” he queries, his question loaded.
“No, I like my blood to be on my blade,” I counter.
He leans closer then, until our lips nearly touch. “Liar,” he whispers.
I yank my head back and jump up, throwing him a glare. “The game is over,” I snap.
“Bella, the games are never over.” He stands as well, stretching, and my eyes dart down to his body before I force them back up, but he catches me looking and winks. “But maybe you’re right, if we are not sleeping why don’t we get on the road?”
“Fine,” I growl. I grab my bag and jacket, checking the room over for anything else before storming out with the cocky vampire hot on my heels.
Nice ass.
“I’ll throw you in my boot again,” I warn, as I march down the stairs, heading straight for my car.
“You could try. That was a dirty move, Bella, I wouldn’t try it again,” he cautions, striding past me and heading straight for the car. “Nice ride, did you steal it?”
“Why? ‘Cause a woman like me can’t afford one?” I taunt, and his eyebrows raise as he leans back against it and stares me down.
“Touchy, aren’t we?” He winks.
“Get the fuck in the car before I get the shovel,” I grumble and shove past him, slipping into the driver’s seat and throwing my stuff in the back. I start the car, not giving him long to get in. He blurs around the front, using his vampire speed, and slides into the passenger seat, lounging there like it’s where he belongs.
I pull out of the parking lot, my tires squealing as I get on the road, and lean against the door, ignoring him. Movement catches my eye and I look over to see him searching in my glove compartment.
“Hey!” I snap, smacking his hands.
I grip the wheel and look back at the road. It gives him time to dig something out and I hear him hum. “Oh, Bella, I didn’t take you for a lace girl, but now it’s going to be all I think about,” he purrs, laying it on thick. I ignore my treacherous body which responds. My nipples pebble and my pussy wonders what it would feel like to have him purring between my thighs.
I glance over, already knowing what he’s found. He holds my black lace emergency knickers in his fingers, clutching them as he grins at me, his eyes sparkling, his shirt partway unbuttoned. He looks like sin incarnate, and fuck me if I’m not attracted to the bad in him. The bastard.
“Now, Bella, do I ask why you have panties in here?” he rumbles, leaning closer and twirling my panties between us. “Hmm, black lace.”
I grind my teeth and look at the road, trying to snatch them back, but he chuckles and holds them too far away for me to reach. “For emergencies,” I mutter.
He laughs then. “What kind of emergencies require panties in your car?”
I sigh, giving up on trying to get them back. I refuse to be embarrassed. “You never know, it’s a woman thing. There is a matching bra in my boot,” I admit, shrugging.
He groans, and I look over to see him clutching his chest dramatically. When he sees me watching, he brings the panties to his nose and sniffs them, closing his eyes in bliss. “Yum, smells sweet.”
I crinkle my nose and then swear when I look back at the road to see I nearly crashed into the back of a car. Swerving around him, I speed up, ignoring the bloodsucker in my front seat who’s trying to rile me up. I glance over and frown when I don’t spot them, instead I notice his hand pressing something into his pocket.
“Give them back, you perv,” I demand, looking between him and the road.
He just grins. “Not a chance, unless you make me.”
I growl, smashing my hands against the wheel to stop myself from punching that pretty boy’s cocky face in. Breathing deep, I clear my mind and offer him a smile. “Fine, I suggest you wank into them, it’s the closest you’re going to get to my pussy.”
He chokes on a laugh before it bursts free and he throws his head back, his eyes closing as he grips his stomach from the force of his laughter. I roll my eyes, but a smile quirks up my lips at the genuine amusement in the sound. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when he’s being genuine, like it’s all a farce, a ploy to get a rise out of people to see only what he wants them to see. His laughter cuts off suddenly.
“Yes, Bella, and they usually do. Why don’t you?” he questions softly, his voice deep and dangerous. It sends my heart into overdrive, and no doubt he can hear it, but for once he doesn’t mention it, just stares at me.
“I see the truth, I see the past and future on people. They aren’t that hard to read if you know how,” I admit, partially telling the truth.
“Tell me then, Bella, what do you see when you look at me?” he asks, curiosity lining his voice.
“Loneliness. You’ve been alone a long time. You mentioned brothers, but I’m betting you haven’t seen them for a while, so instead you fill your world with riches and sex and hope it fills that hole inside you, but in the dark you are truly alone and it gets to you. Darkness lingers in you, creating a powerful fight, yet you master it. You play the game, the playboy who’s always laughing yet you are the opposite. You love deeply and fear even stronger.” It falls out of my mouth, and I swallow and shut up, looking over at him to see his eyes shuttered as he stares at me. “Am I wrong?”
“Women never are, but you forget, Bella, people only see what they want. I give them that. So, my love, what do you want to see?” he inquires, leaning closer, his sweet-smelling breath drifting over my arm and raising goosebumps.
“The truth, always the truth. I lived a long time without it or the chance of freedom. I will never do that again. For no one,” I tell him, then snap my mouth shut. I’m unsure why I told him that. He goes quiet too, and I can feel him studying me, so I concentrate on the road.
“It should take us a few days to get there. We can stop every now and again. Let’s hope you are as good as you think you are at tracking, because, vampire, my life is in your hands,” I divulge, sharing another truth before I clam up.
He probes me, asking more questions, but I close down. I turn up the music and drown him out, refusing to make the same mistakes. I won’t trust anyone else ever again, it cost me my family. My love. No, not again. I will stop this man from telling the council of my existence, and then I will disappear into the dark. Forgotten like the ancient vampire sitting next to me.
By my choice.
Ciar
My life is in your hands.
She was deadly serious. What is this mysterious beauty hiding behind her dagger-like words and a wall so tall it rivals mine? She cut me to the core, she saw me and called me on my shit and then just shut down. I find myself wanting her to talk again, wanting to know everything even if the view she has of me is bitter and horrible...but probably true. Is she right? Have I been trying to stop, to fill that loneliness?