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Chapter 30
Piper
After the party, thingspretty much went back to normal. Wynn and I flirted around each other, neither one of us daring to take it any further. While in my bedroom, I pretended he was mine.
However, my daydreams had started to shift. It wasn’t just Wynn who whispered sweet nothings to me. More and more, my mind shifted back to that kiss in the hallway with Rayne. I couldn’t get it off my mind or the redhead in question, though I couldn’t say the same for him.
If anything, instead of annoying me beyond measure, Rayne had been avoiding me. If I entered a room, he left it. If I was in a room, he turned back around even if what he wanted was in the same room I was in. It was getting ridiculous.
“What are we, high schoolers?” I muttered to myself as I watched his back retreating from me once more. I had just sat down for dinner when Rayne had come in for his nightly ration of blood. His amber eyes locked with mine, and for a moment I thought he might stay, maybe talk to me, but then he swallowed visibly and fled the room.
“Master Rayne seems more distracted than usual,” Gretchen commented from the seat next to me. “Did something happen, perhaps?”
Licking my suddenly dry lips, I shook my head. I pulled my eyes away from where he had stood and back to my plate. “I wouldn’t know. I’m just the help.”
Gretchen snorted and exchanged a knowing look with Darren. The two of them knew the masters far better than I did, but if Rayne wasn’t telling about our encounter last weekend, I wasn’t going to be the one to do it.
“I hope you’re being smart.” Darren sat his plate down on the island on the other side of me and then slid into the seat. The warning in his eyes was clear, but I wasn’t taking the bait.
“Of course,” I snapped, stabbing at my food. “I do my job and go to bed. That’s it.”
“What about outside the house?” Gretchen asked, politely. “I’m sure a pretty girl like you has a string of heartbroken men out there just waiting for her to crook her finger their way.”
I barked a laugh. “Sure. Let me just find some time between warding off visiting vampires and cleaning the toilets.” I rolled my eyes.
“You have today off,” Darren reminded me with a frown. “Why didn’t you take that time to have a social life?”
Sighing, I pushed my plate away from me. My appetite had all but vanished. “Yeah, that’d be easy enough. And when they ask what I do for a living, what do I tell them? I don’t think Master Durand would be too happy about my spreading his secrets to the masses.”
Letting out an impatient sound, Darren folded his napkin in his lap. “You tell them you’re a maid which you are.”
“I think it would be healthy for you to find a friend outside of the house,” Gretchen went on as if there were no elephant in the room keeping me from doing just that. “Preferably a male one.” She winked at me, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Fine. Fine.” I stood and pushed back my seat. “I’ll find a boyfriend if that will keep you all happy and off my back. Perhaps you’d like a play by play of our relationship? Maybe a video and an invitation to the wedding?”
“A video is hardly necessary, but I wouldn’t say no to a wedding invitation.” Gretchen beamed at me.
“Who’s getting married?” Drake asked, standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
“I am apparently,” I halfheartedly announced, moving to the fridge for a drink. “You’re all invited.” Pulling out a bottle of water, I twisted the cap off and took a long refreshing drink.
“Oh good, Rayne finally stopped moping and asked you.”
I sputtered and coughed, choking on the very water I had been drinking. “What?” I gaped at Drake’s grinning face.
“Master Durand.” Gretchen tut-tutted with a motherly grin, waved a finger at Drake. “You shouldn’t kid about such thing. You’ll give Piper a heart attack.” She moved out of her seat and over to the pot. “Can I get you a plate?”
Drake shook his head, still grinning like a fiend. “Not today, trying to watch my weight.” He patted his stomach, making me frown.
Did vampires get fat?
Continuing as if he hadn’t just come into the kitchen to screw with me, Drake moved to the fridge and pulled out his container of blood. “I actually came I here to tell Piper that Antoine is looking for you.”
I groaned, and Drake chuckled over the lip of the cup.
Sitting my water bottle down, I walked toward the stairs. My shoulders slumped and my eyes on the floor. “If I’m not back in thirty minutes, buy me a ticket out of the country.”
“For what?” Drake asked.
