“Love the new look,” Dante says, sizing him up like a piece of meat.
“Let’s skip the bullshit.”
“You’re no fun, darling.” Dante tilts his head to one side, rolling his eyes with the movement. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? I want you back.”
Gray scoffs. “And what makes you think I want anything to do with you?”
Dante levels their gaze with Gray. It reminds me of the way Granny would look at me across the kitchen table when I wouldn’t eat her special meatloaf. As a kid, it was enough to make me finish my meal. Now, though, seeing that same look on someone so smug, it just gives me chills.
“Do we really have to do this again?” Dante sneers.
“I told you three-hundred years ago that we were done. I would have thought moving overseas would have made that final,” Gray says without missing a beat. “Clearly not.”
I shoot Tannis a questioning look, and they return it with a slight nod. So Dante is the reason they left so long ago. Traveling overseas just to prove a point is a powerful message, and it either went over his head, or Dante didn’t care.
“Darling, listen—”
“Drop the pet names,” Gray snarls, his hand squeezing the top of my chair. I don’t have to see it to know that he could break it off at any point. The whole frame is shaking, and I’m still sitting. “It’s demeaning.”
“Fine.” Dante’s upper lip pulls up to reveal his teeth. Perfectly white, with two sharp canines peeking out; I flinch at the sight of them knowing full well how they feel. “Gray, please, rethink this business and come home. I miss you.”
“I’ve had plenty of time to think about this,” Gray says. “And my answer is no. You’ve come for nothing.”
With lightning fast speed, Dante stands two solid feet away from the three of us. He looks big, powerful, and absolutely terrifying. His red eyes are so bright, they could be on fire the way they glitter.
“Youfuckingant,” Dante grinds out. “I gave you everything, didn’t I? Money, power, blood. Endless sacrifices, and for what? Disappointment.”
“Get used to it,” Gray says, monotone. I want to reach for him when my hand stops. Dante’s attention shifts from Gray to me with the tiniest bit of movement.
So now he wants to acknowledge me.
“Is this what you want?” In a blink, he rips me from my seat and pulls me to my feet. Gray is there in a flash, holding my body against himself while my arm remains captive. “An overpriced slut? I can find you whores with the same aspirations for much cheaper, if that’s what you want.”
I flinch at the comment. I’ve heard worse throughout my life. Making a career out of stripping as a post college dropout turned a few heads for sure, and it caused a lot of conflict with Ronnie, but I loved it. It wasn’t just the money or the surface level vanity that kept me going. I genuinelyloveit. I love being the center of attention, the one that captivates an audience and collects the wealth from it.
More than that, I love the connection I feel with my body when I dance. Sexuality is part of who I am, and I’ve embraced that part of myself since I was able to understand what it was I wanted. Touching, kissing, dancing; it’s all the same to me. And when I think about that night in the club with Gray’s eyes following me around the pole, sweating, naked, and flush, I can’t imagine doing that anywhere else where I can feel half as good with clothes on as I do without.
So, fuck Dante and fuck aspirations!
“Yeah, well,” I start before I can stop myself, “I bet none of them have tits as fat as mine that are even half as real. So, get over it.”
Tannis is the only one that laughs.
“Millie…” Gray warns.
A roar rips through Dante’s throat. He throws my arm back at me, and Gray hustles me behind him just as his brawny ex-boyfriend brings both arms down to attack. There’s a scuffle that I don’t see, but there is a crack so loud it sounds like thunder, followed by a hard crash. I push myself past Gray, who appears untouched. At the center of the room, Tannis is standing over Dante’s struggling form. The furniture he was sitting on is ruined underneath him, which explains the scuffle. The thunder I heard must have been the sound of their bodies connecting.
“Listen up,” Tannis says, and four figures blur into view. I can tell by their eyes that they’re vampires, too. They standby, moving in closer to Dante as Tannis speaks, “This is my home. My turf.”
“You have no power here,” Dante snarls.
“Oh, but I do.” Tannis snaps his fingers, and two of the vampires flanking him surge forward. They grab Dante by his arms and haul him upright. The other two vampires take pieces of the shattered furniture and jam them into Dante’s gut. He cries out, catching himself on the ground when they drop him.
Tannis continues, unbothered by the new blood staining his floor. “Make no mistake that while you’re here, under my roof, there is a law, and that law is mine. No council, no elders, just me. I will fuck you up,Bonocchi.”
“If you kill me, you know what will happen.” Raw hate flashes across Dante’s pained face.
“Don’t be so dramatic. No one is killing you tonight.” Tannis crosses their arms and gives their head a shake.
