Page 37 of Bound By Blood

She groaned and lifted her arm out of the comforter to rest the back of her hand on her forehead. She was not entirely sure why she said it. By saying it, the fragile truce and budding bond between them cracked wide fucking open. They were further apart now than they were in the beginning.

Maybe she said it because she had never done this before. She’d never felt this way toward someone, and she put up a huge wall when he mentioned that they were only fuck buddies.

To guard her heart, she had lashed out. And she shouldn’t have done that because now she had nothing. He clearly wanted nothing to do with her anymore if the lack of contact was anything to go by. She hadn’t seen or heard from Landon since that morning. She felt that ache in her chest since then, and every time she stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror, she was reminded of their time by the healing bite marks all over her body. All that was left of them were little pink scars.

She rubbed at her temples. It had been the best sex of her life. And before she fell asleep that night, she had considered what it’d be like to actually be with him. Now that chance was gone because she was a dumbass.

“You’re mine,” he had declared after she had staked her claim on him. She doubted that was still the case, and the thought made her nauseous. Imagining him with someone else . . . She had no right to dictate his life anymore. If he had been with someone else since their night together . . .

If she had any sense, she would walk away from Landon Creed completely. Screw this bond between them. Screw this Kata chick. Just walk away before she caused any more damage that couldn’t be reversed. Like her heart being dragged through coals. No one recovered from that.

Grunting, she whipped back the covers and planted her feet on the floor. Today would be no different than yesterday. She would eat, work, nap, all the while, battling the sinking feeling that ripped through her core.

She headed to her closet and picked out a pair of gray sweatpants and a baggie band t-shirt. What did it matter what she wore today? No one would see her but Lily.

Once she was dressed, she dipped into the bathroom and stepped before the mirror. She leaned across the sink and touched her face. God, she had bags under her eyes. She slept all the time, an escape from her feelings. She shouldn’t look like the dead.

Grabbing her brush, she worked through the tangles and pinned her hair up in a messy bun. She needed to get her shit together. Landon was just a guy. A hot, sexy creature of the night who made her body react whenever he was near. But still, he was just a guy. Nothing more. She could move past him. She could move on.

Couldn’t she?

She exited the bathroom and made her way to the kitchen for breakfast and to get started on work for the day. Lily was there already, seated at the kitchen table next to the seat Carly always took. She was dressed in dark leggings and a red and black flannel blouse. She must not be ready for work yet.

She watched Carly’s every move as Carly went to the fridge, opened it, and plucked out the milk. She needed the most sugary cereal to drown her sorrows. It never worked, but Carly had hope that it might.

Silence stretched in the room as Carly poured her cereal into the bowl. She knew Lily wanted to say something, but she hadn’t as of yet. Hell, she’d been staring at Carly since she came home from Landon’s, hovering without saying a word. Questions were constantly on the tip of her friend’s tongue. She had picked up on Carly’s mood right away and had been stuck at her side ever since, except when Lily went to work. When she went to work, it was the only time that Carly felt that she could breathe because she didn’t know if she was ready to talk about her feelings yet. Feelings were not Carly’s strong suit.

Lily sighed deeply, and Carly glanced at her friend as she took a seat at the dining table. “What?” Carly asked as she dug into her cereal. Milk dribbled down her chin, and she quickly wiped it away.

“Don’t what me, Carly. You know exactly what.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Carly said. She looked at her bowl, refusing to meet the eyes of her friend, who saw right through her.

“You’ve worn nothing but sweatpants for the last three days.” She poked her pointer finger onto the surface of the table. “You mope. You sleep all the time. You look like a zombie. I will no longer stand for no answers.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Carly shoveled another spoonful into her mouth so she didn’t have to say anything else.

“You look like hell.” Her tone held nothing but sympathy, and her voice was barely above a whisper. “Talk to me.”

Carly slowly lifted her gaze to her best friend. “There’s nothing to say.”

Again, she found herself plagued with the fact that she couldn’t tell her friend that she fucked a vampire. It killed her. Every time she looked into Lily’s eyes, she was reminded of what a shitty friend she was to her. It was not a straight-up lie to not tell her, but it was dancing around with it. It was for her own safety, though. One human knowing about vampires was one thing, but add another? It would put Lily in danger, and Carly would never compromise her friend’s safety. She could live with the lies if it meant that Lily took another breath.

Lily crossed her skinny arms over her chest. “Let’s start with Landon Creed, shall we?”

Carly stiffened and halted with the spoon midway to her mouth. Her heart panged in her chest at the sound of his name. Lily hadn’t asked why she was mad at Landon Creed or how she knew him yet.

She recovered quickly. “What about him?”

A perfect brow arched into Lily’s forehead. “How did you two meet?”

Carly couldn’t tell her everything, but she could give her bits and pieces. Now that the topic had been brought up, she knew Lily wouldn’t leave it. “I met him on the way home from the bar the last time we went.”

Both eyebrows raised. “The same night I came home to you passed out in your bed with a bite mark on your neck? The same night you claimed you can’t remember?”

A blush rose to Carly’s cheeks. She could feel her skin heat up. Her voice was thick with guilt when she said, “Um, yes.”

“We don’t lie to each other, Carly,” Lily said quietly.