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“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says emphatically. “I didn’t…I didn’t realize you were in love with him.”
Now I’m nearly choking on part of the cookie I thought I’d swallowed. “What? I’m not in love with him!”
“Well, you looked like you were just kicked in the stomach,” she points out, eying me. I look down. I am in fact holding onto my stomach in pain.
“I’m not in love with him,” I say, trying to straighten up. “I don’t even like him. This is just a territorial thing. A possessive thing. I’m a vampire, remember?”
“Right,” she says slowly, her brow flicking up. “Anyway, regardless of what brought that reaction on, I shouldn’t have been so callous.”
Despite what I just told her, I still can’t shake the sinking feeling. “I don’t understand though. He acted earlier like he couldn’t have sex with me. I thought he maybe meant in general, like he took some celibate vampire oath or something.”
Amethyst snorts at that.
I give her a dirty look, to which she recoils slightly. “But,” I continue, “if he’s sleeping with a ton of other women, then why didn’t he…”
I don’t finish my sentence. It’s because he simply doesn’t want to. Each time he’s been hard as cement and aroused around me, I’ve been naked and pressed against him. Most men would react that way, and I’m sure vampires too.
“I didn’t say he’s sleeping with a ton of women,” she says, composing herself. “I don’t ask questions, but he’s almost always here and I’ve never met any of them. He’s a secretive guy by nature, not just his vampire nature, so I don’t think he shares too much of himself with others, even if it is just physical.” She pauses, weighing something in her head. “I only know he was in love once.”
“Once?” My heart pangs again. So he can love.
“A very, very long time ago,” she says gravely, and from the tone of her voice, I know this isn’t going to have a very happy ending. “She died.”
Oh, no.
I don’t want to ask the question.
But I do. “How did she die?”
She swallows. “He killed her.”
My eyes go round, mouth drops. “Accidently?” I whisper.
“He says no. It wasn’t an accident. They weren’t married, she had a little boy with someone else. He died too.”
“Oh my god,” I breathe, my chest feeling heavy. I can’t tell if I need to be sorry for Solon, or if I need to be scared of him. He loved her and he killed her? And her child?
I need to be scared of him.
“As a result,” she goes on, “I don’t think he lets himself get too close to women. Whether that’s on a physical or emotional level, I don’t know, maybe it’s all the same to him. So please, don’t take it personally. It’s just the way he is, and the sooner you accept it, the better. For everyone.”
I nod, taking a long sip of my tea, trying to soothe my feelings with the hot liquid. It’s not really working.
“You’ll patch things up though,” she adds. “He’s really fond of you.”
“Fond of me?” I repeat dryly. “Like some kind of pet.”
“Hey, I’ll take being his pet over being the woman who runs his nightclub,” she says with a sad smile. Something tells me those googly-eyes I saw her making at him are tied to her having been in love with him at some point.
Sucks to be her.
I feel the change in energy in the air and finish the rest of my tea, getting to my feet. “I should get going,” I tell her. “Thank you for the tea.”
I go over to the dresser and get my purse, relishing the weight of the chains as I put it crossbody. It anchors me to my past life somehow, my normal life.
“You’re welcome. Are you coming back?” she asks as she gets to her feet.
I shrug, heading to the door. “I don’t know. I’m sure there’s no escaping this place when you’re a vampire.”
“There really isn’t,” she says. “But if you ever want to get coffee or a drink, you know, out of this place, let me know. I already programmed my number into your phone. And if you ever need anything at all, and you don’t feel comfortable talking to Solon, you can always ask me.”
“Okay,” I tell her, feeling grateful. “Thank you.” I frown. “How did you get into my phone without the Face ID?”
She grins. “Magic tricks. Don’t worry, I’m still human. Someone has to keep all you vamps in line.”
“You have quite the job,” I tell her, opening the door. “And I thought my gig at Hot Topic when I was sixteen was hard.”
Amethyst laughs, a musical sound, and she walks me down to the front door, saying our goodbyes.
Once I’m outside the house, stepping into the foggy night, I feel eyes on top of my head.
