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“Thanks, Mom.” He went to her and Lucia grabbed him and hugged him tight enough to make him groan. “Take it easy!”
“What happened to you anyway?” she asked bluntly, pulling back to stare at him.
“You look like shit.”
“Language, Mom. Look, I don’t really have time to talk about it right now. I have to find Laurent—he might be in trouble.” He started down the steps to get to where she’d parked her car. For a moment his heart jumped when he saw it was the Spyder. Then Lucia spoke behind him.
“I hope your friend won’t mind—it’s faster than my car and I thought we might need to get away from here quick. I’ve actually been looking for you for ages—I knew your pack’s place was somewhere around here but I didn’t know exactly where.”
“Uh, sure—no problem.” Paul’s shoulders sagged. For a moment he’d actually expected to see Laurent through the tinted windows of the little sports car. Had actually thought he would open the door and see the man he loved sitting there saying, “Mon amour. At last I have found you.”
At first Paul couldn’t believe his ears. But then he looked up and saw a silver Jaguar pulling up to the curb. The window was down and the driver’s eyes were obscured by mirrored sunglasses. But there was no doubt it was Laurent.
“Laurent!” Paul ran over to him, forgetting his pain, both inner and outer in his eagerness to see the man he loved.
“Paul.” Laurent’s skin was even paler than usual and he looked terrible. “Tried to get here in time. So glad…you are still alive. I…” He trailed off and slumped down behind the wheel of the car.
“Laurent? Babe?” Reaching in through the open window, Paul grabbed his shoulders and shook him anxiously.
But no matter what he did or said, Laurent wouldn’t wake up.
Chapter Seventeen
“Madre de Dios, a vampire out in the day—I never thought to see such a thing.”
Lucia ran over to where Paul was still cradling his lover through the driver’s-side window. “What’s wrong with him, Paul? Is he sick?”
“It’s the sun.” Paul spared a quick glance overhead. Florida wasn’t called the sunshine state for nothing—it probably wasn’t even nine in morning yet and the sun was already broiling. “He’s not really supposed to be out in it,” he explained to Lucia.
“He can stand it for a little while but it makes him really sick. He probably drove all the way here from Coconut Grove.”
Lucia whistled. “In morning traffic that’s a long drive. What can we do for him?
What does he need?”
“He needs blood and he needs to be inside someplace dark, fast. But not here.” Paul glanced over his shoulder at the pack’s bungalow in distaste. “The rest of the Locas might come back any time.”
“There’s a motel on the corner of Hibiscus and Grand,” Lucia offered. “I passed it while I was looking for you. It’s not very nice but—”
“Yeah, I know the place.” It was a fleabag that rented rooms by the hour but it would do. He opened the door and started to slide into the Jag but Lucia touched his arm to stop him.
“Wait, you’re still a mess. I’ll drive you—but not in this.”
“What? Why not?”
“He’s got a flat.” She nodded at the Jag’s left front tire. “And it looks like he was driving on it for a while. That rim is almost ruined.”
Paul looked at the flat and cursed. What else could go wrong? Laurent was going to die if he didn’t get him someplace dark quickly. “All right, you open the passenger side door of the Spyder and I’ll carry him over as quick as I can.” He hated to take the vamp out into the direct sunlight but he didn’t know what else to do.
Lucia nodded and ran to open the door. Paul pulled off his shirt—it was bloody and stained but he had nothing else to use—and draped it over Laurent’s pale, still face.
Then with a silent prayer, he lifted the vampire and walked as quickly as he could to the other car.
It was a good thing that Laurent wasn’t very heavy because Paul was still pretty weak himself. But love gave him strength and it wasn’t long before he was crammed into the tiny front seat of the Spyder with the vampire draped across his lap.
“Ready?” Lucia asked and when he nodded, she put the car into gear and hit the gas. Despite the jolting ride, Laurent didn’t even stir. Worried, Paul stroked his face and tried to reach him. Laurent? Babe? Can you hear me? But though he was touching the other man physically, mentally it was like talking to a blank wall. He couldn’t reach Laurent at all, couldn’t even feel inside to see if he was all right. It was incredibly frustrating.
A sudden stop made him look up and realize they were at their destination. Lucia put the car in park. “I’ll get a room.” She was back in no time holding a tarnished brass key attached to a large plastic rectangle with the number forty-two printed on it in faded black. “I got you one on the bottom floor. I’ll drive around so you can go right in.” She put the car into gear and pulled around the U-shaped building to the shadowed side where no sunlight fell. Then she ran around and opened the car door so Paul could get out while holding Laurent, who was still completely limp.
