AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 15
Piper
This was such a badidea. I grunted and groaned, limping down the sidewalk after my second class with Billy.
"You did great," Billy called after me. "Be sure to ice your muscles!"
I waved weakly behind me. Billy’s laughter followed me, mocking me as I tried my best to keep from crawling on my hands and knees.
Where had I gotten the horrible idea to learn self-defense? Why in the world would I put myself through this kind of torture? I mean, what was I thinking?
Oh, I know what I'd been thinking.
I was tired of waiting. Tired of sitting around while Antione and the others did God knew what to outrun the vampire hunters. Which didn't seem to be going very well. If it had been, I wouldn't still be stuck here with...Darren.
Sighing, I paused on the sidewalk, finding a bench to collapse on. It wasn't that being here with Darren was horrible. It was the tension and awkwardness between us. I know. I know. It was my fault. I was the one who suggested the threesome. I couldn't very well be upset at him for doing what I wanted to do.
Except I can, and I am.
It wasn't rational. Any therapist would tell me that I was pushing my anger and frustration about the situation onto an easy target. Not that Darren made anything easy, ever.
No, ever since that night with Antoine, I kept seeing Darren differently. Not the same as before. I mean, we've technically had sex with each other before then but not this way. Not purposely trying to bring pleasure to the other.
Now, I couldn't stop noticing things.
The way his hair fell over his face when he was concentrating. How he tugged on his gloves when he was nervous. All the little things that used to be just him, and now they brought a strange fascination that made my pulse race.
Fuck. Yesterday, when Darren passed me the salt, our fingers brushed and I nearly dropped the glass container.
If Darren was affected the same way I was, I couldn't tell. He was the same pain in the ass as before. Overly neat and tidy to the point of OCD. So put together in his appearance, I wanted to push him onto the bed and-
"Ugh!" Why couldn't I get these dirty thoughts about him out of my head?
I gained several strange looks by people passing. I glared at them in return, and then painstakingly stood from the bench.
Limping down the street, I cursed under my breath with each step, "Fuck, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck," until I reached the hotel. I waved weakly at the evening receptionist and tried my best to not look like I was dying, though I felt like I was. Wasn't being a human servant supposed to have all these restorative powers? If so, mine seemed to be broken.
I didn't understand how every single muscle in my body felt like it had gone through ten rounds with a master vampire. Billy wasn't even close to a master vampire. If anything, I was stronger than him, but the fact that I had no idea how to throw a punch, let alone block one, kind of worked against me.
Once at the room, I struggled to get the door unlocked so I leaned my head against the door, and banged it over and over. Suddenly the door wasn't there, and I fell into Darren's waiting arms.
My face pressed against a white T-shirt stretched tight against a warm muscular body. Inhaling deeply, the strong scent of pine needles and something that was purely Darren. When I'd fallen, my hands had automatically wrapped around Darren's waist. My brows furrowed. The material rubbing against my arms weren't that of a pair of dress pants but the rougher texture of blue jeans.
Lifting my head, my mouth falling open as I took him in.
Darren, perfectly put together, never a hair out of place Darren, was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. A quick look at his feet showed tennis shoes—no loafers in sight. I gaped at him for a few more seconds before I realized what I was doing.
Pushing away from him, I flushed deeply. "Uh, thanks."
"Why didn't you just come in?" Darren asked, amusement filling his eyes.
I held my key up. "I couldn't get it to work." I tried to step into the room and winced.
Darren reached for me, his hands still wearing white gloves. "What's wrong?"
Ignoring his question, I pushed past him and frowned at his appearance. "So, you go to all the trouble to change your clothes, but why the gloves?"
Darren looked at his hands briefly, then crossed his arms. "Some things are harder to change than others."
