Bitten to Death

“Hey, you’re the one who called me! So quit your bitching and get on it!” What. An. Asshole! “Well?”

“Oh, all right! God! Were you always such a prick or was it something you had to practice for an hour every day?”

To my surprise, he laughed. “Talk to you later,” he said, and then he hung up. As I stared at the phone I realized I had another message from Cole. In an effort to put off my coming conversation with Vayl even longer, I pulled it up.

Mark’s long overdue. (Sigh.) I’ve named my steering wheel Lucretia. Don’t be jealous. She’s just a fling.

Oh, Cole, what am I going to do with you?

We’d made it back to the suite by now. Vayl opened the door for me. Feeling like a condemned woman trudging to the gallows, I walked through. And jumped about a foot off the ground when I felt a pinch on the butt as I passed.

“Aah!” I spun around. “Did you just—?” Vayl put both hands up like I’d just attempted to mug him. “Stop smirking!” I demanded. “There’s nobody here but you!”

“What is a small tweak between partners?”

“Are we? I mean, we are, but can we be? I don’t . . . Vayl, my life’s been in the crapper so long, I’m honestly not sure I remember how. I thought I’d torn myself free of that safe house where it all went down. But it’s still got me by the ankles.”

“Yes, well, perhaps I was too harsh with you before. It seems to me that your heart may be leading you to a new dwelling.”

“Yeah?”

He tugged at a curl as he walked past me. “You seem to have taken to Trayton. Bergman and Cassandra are fond of you. And that idiot, Cole.”

I shut the door. Not quite a slam, but almost. “Would you knock it off about him? He’s harmless!”

“Do you see what I mean? You leap to his defense in what I would call a loyal gesture. Something a friend would do.”

I threw up my hands and strode away from him, at a loss to see how I could make him understand. The fountain stared impassively at me until I wanted to knock her head off. Instead I crossed my eyes at her. I also considered flipping her off, but thought better of it since Vayl would probably catch the gesture and how would I explain the crazy out of that? I turned around. “I care to a point,” I acknowledged, “and then I stop.”

Vayl came toward me slowly, as if he thought I might feel threatened by his approach. My throat did kind of close once he hit the three-foot mark. And when he murmured, “Sit,” I plopped into the chair like my knees had turned to tapioca.

He sat opposite me, pulling his seat so close that our legs brushed against each other as he leaned forward. “What?” I asked as his eyes stared into mine and I could no longer bear the silence.

“You have been through a great deal in such a short time. More than any one person should have to bear.” He opened his hands and the relief I felt when I slid mine into his was like coming up for air after diving into a deep, dark pool. “You are not alone anymore. I will never leave you. All you have to do is pick up the phone to be surrounded by people who care for you. Friends.”

“Like you?”

He nodded. “If you would allow me to take the first step.”

“Which is what? A pinch on the butt?”

He shrugged, the dimple on his cheek making a rare appearance. “Was I out of line, then?”

“Hell, yeah. Nobody pinches my ass until they first buy me a waffle cone full of cookie dough ice cream.”

“I had no idea you enjoyed that flavor.”

“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me. And vice versa.”

“We do have a great deal to learn.”

I looked down at our intertwined fingers. “This isn’t always going to be easy for me. I’m . . . sort of queasy about the idea of being close to people again.”

Vayl leaned in until his cheek brushed mine and his breath tickled my earlobe. “Then I will have to work to make sure that is your only desire.”

The hall door slammed open, causing Vayl to rear back so fast that his chair’s front legs left the floor and he nearly toppled backward. Our fingers tightened on one another and together we pulled him upright. But we didn’t have time to congratulate each other on the save. Because I had hit my feet and lunged for the entrance. Prevented only from throttling my brother by Vayl’s arm snaking quickly around my waist and his whisper in my ear. “Give him a chance to explain.” Just as quickly he let me go, giving me the freedom to decide.

I stood still, squeezing my fists so tightly that my hands cramped. Dave came toward me, staggering slightly as he tripped on an untied bootlace, spilling some of the liquid from his open bottle of tequila. As he came toward me, I glanced at the bedroom door and kicked myself in the pants for assuming he’d decided to get some shut-eye before our dognapping mission in the morning.

“Get me outta this place,” he demanded, grabbing me by the shoulders, slopping some of his booze down the arm of my jacket.

I tried to shove him aside. “You smell like a roach-infested cantina.”

“You can’t imagine what I’ve seen.”

“How much have you had to drink?” I pushed him into the chair I’d just left.