AllFreeNovel
Share Us
HAYLEY
Blood Promises
MY BODY HUMS at Knox’s closeness, the residual effect of his blood lingering with me even though it’s been two hours since I drank from him. I sit on his lap on the edge of Sawyer’s bed, now with fresh sheets and all evidence of us having sex gone, though the memory will never leave my mind. Sawyer and Monroe stand together at the desk, filling up a couple glasses of blood and one with water for me.
“I’m going to try not to make this awkward as fuck,” Sawyer says, breaking the silence. Turning around, he carries the glass of water along with his own and sits in the chair he brought from the desk. Monroe plops down on another chair from a small sitting area by the window, and I look between the both of them, wondering if I should put some space between me and Knox even if he doesn’t want it.
“I don’t think anything can make this any more awkward,” Knox mutters, finally shifting me off his lap to sit beside me. I think he only does it so that he can see my face. “It was unexpected, and the only thing I’m sorry about is not moving it to my room. You can kick my ass later.”
Sawyer tightens his mouth and flicks his gaze to me. “I’ll get over it. You’re lucky as fuck that I can only smell her still.”
I crinkle my nose. “I’m sorry.” Cringing, I recoil and cover my mouth, trying to remind myself that I shouldn’t apologize. Knox already told me as much in the gentlest way imaginable while we shared a bath and he washed my body and gave me a massage. “I mean, Knox is right. It was unexpected. I—don’t know what else to say. I like you all, and...it’s confusing. I know how vampires are, but—” I close my mouth and shrug, giving up on trying to explain something I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to. “This is why I wanted to talk to you all.”
I drop my gaze to my hands, not even knowing where to start. The three of them don’t push me and just sip on their glasses of blood, being far more patient than any vampire I’ve met. Alexander would’ve yelled at me by now and Opal would’ve asked a dozen questions to get me to say what’s on my mind. But Sawyer, Knox, and Monroe? They just wait.
I take a sip of water and rest the glass on my knees. “I need to know what we’re doing.”
It’s not exactly what I intended to say, but I guess it’s a start. Communicating isn’t my strongest skill set, and it’s hard for me to articulate my feelings. It’s almost painful to do so, watching them glance at each other in silence.
“I mean, what is it you get out of this with me? I want you to be honest. You guys are different, and it excites me but also freaks me out. I’m a donor, and Alexander owns me. Monroe already told me that I have to go back to the Aris Hotel tomorrow, so...I want to know what I need to prepare for. I already never know what to expect, and this drives me crazy.” I puff a breath through my nose and bump my shoulder to Knox’s arm. “You drive me crazy in a good way but I’m afraid.”
Sawyer sets his empty glass of blood on the floor beside him and leans his elbows on his knees, groaning. “We honestly don’t fucking know, Hayley. When we were planning to put hooks into Aris and force the fucker there to pay us to keep things civil, we hadn’t expected you. We only went to Vampire Nights to case the place.”
“And then I saw you and fuck. I was gone.” Knox slides his fingers through mine. “I’m nearly fucking certain you hypnotized me.”
“Fuck, right?” Monroe asks, flashing his fangs with his brilliant smile. “I thought your ass was joking when you told me about her.”
The two of them playfully punch each other, and I can’t stop the smile from crossing my face. I flick my attention to Sawyer, but he remains expressionless, his eyes flashing and his thoughts not giving anything away.
I slowly reach out and rest my hand on Sawyer’s knee, drawing his attention to mine. Grabbing my wrist, he tugs me to him too fast for Knox to intervene and wraps his arms around my waist until I join him in his chair.
“We don’t know what it is about you, Hayley, but all I know is that we’re not going to stand by and let Aris keep you. It’ll just take some time. We’re in the middle of preparing for a hostile seize of the city to get the fucking six heads of the Strip out of here before they destroy our home.” Sawyer rests his chin on my shoulder. “The last thing I want is for you to get trapped in the middle of a blood feud. The others on our crew fear you might be our weakness, but I know you’re going to be our rise.”
“You’re going to try to take over La Vega?” I ask, shifting my gaze to each of them.
“It’s probably weird to hear because you’ve always been kept out of things, but things are turning to shit. More and more donors are getting kidnapped and trafficked between hotels when it was in our original agreement after The Divide not to separate them again. The hotel heads are getting careless, and others from outside of La Vega are trying to get their fangs into our city. There was a reason why we didn’t incorporate with any of the territories. We had other plans and enough donors to create something we could all be happy with, but power has gotten to a lot of dickheads.” Sawyer strokes his thumbs over the sides of my hands, his words sinking in to me.
“I had no idea,” I say, pursing my lips. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about earlier? About Henderson Evada?”
Sawyer nods. “I almost can’t believe how we lucked out. It feels like fate brought you to us. We’ve been trying to figure out who has been behind snatching the donors we protect and picked up the asshole today attempting it. He’s not the first, but he’s the first to spill who his boss is with his guts.”
“You should’ve seen it, little bird. The fucker won’t ever try that bullshit again.” Monroe wags his eyebrows at me. “Neither will anyone who sees our warning. I think it was Walcott’s best work yet. Tatum had him add a dick on his cheek in your honor, too.”
I laugh in exasperation and whip my hair back and forth, letting it pelt Sawyer in the face. “Why that in my honor?”
Sawyer growls at him and smacks him in the shoulder. “You better not fucking answer.”
My brows peak on my forehead. Now I have to know. Pressing my hand over Sawyer’s mouth, I say, “Yes, you fucking better. Why did she have a damn cock tattooed on that guy in my honor?”
Sawyer groans against my hand, glowering at Monroe.
“Relax, Sawyer. Hayley is fucking chill.” Grinning at me, Monroe grabs my hand. “The bastard got a dick tattooed in your honor because Tatum has deemed you the queen of our cocks. Which is fucking true, little bird. Especially now. This—” He waves his hand between me and Knox. “This makes me want to bow down to your grace. I’m desperate to earn my place and dip my dick in that glorious pussy that makes my mouth water ever since you teased me over the damn banana.”
I tip my head back and laugh, his dramatics balancing out Sawyer’s intensity. Knox chuckles and steals me back from Sawyer, spinning me away. I squeal at the quick movements and lock my legs around him before he tosses me onto the bed.
“Do I even want to know?” Knox asks, smiling against the crook of my neck.
Monroe play-growls. “She climbed me like a damn tree, teased me with some thigh muffs, and then practically deep-throated a banana all in the matter of seconds. It was fucking awesome and infuriating.” He snaps his fangs at me. “I bet she tastes as amazing as her blood.”
