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Fine.
“Gotcha.” I give him the “okay” sign, even though I’d really rather flip him the bird. “Well, thanks for coming down here. I should be getting back to work—”
Tamera taps the other vampire’s arm. “Don’t forget, Dominic. You also wanted to ask the wolf about the lamppost.”
Lunadamnit.
Thinkinnocent, Gem, I tell myself. I stand by fighting Monroe—he totally deserved the ass-kicking I gave him—but the lamppost…
“Lamppost,” I echo. “What lamppost?”
Dominic’s lips twitch. I have no idea if vampires can tell when a shifter is lying the same way an alpha can, but he knows I’m completely full of shit anyway. I’d put money on it.
To my surprise, though, he goes along with it. “A few blocks down from here. There was an… incident last night. One of the posts toppled over and fell into the middle of the main road. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“Uh…”
I swear, nearly all supernaturals act like they’re so much better than humans because of their gifts, but after meeting quite a few of them this past year, I’d argue that humans have a couple of knacks of their own. Take my fellow bartender, Hailey, for example. The chick can’t be on time to save her life, but, somehow, she has the perfect timing even so.
Like right now.
As soon as Dominic finishes asking me about the lamppost I kicked over earlier this morning, the door to Charlie’s swings open, a frantic Hailey racing toward the bar. She’s already wearing her Charlie’s t-shirt, keys in one hand, a white envelope in the other, and her purse hanging off of her shoulder.
She runs right behind the counter, throwing her keys in her purse, snagging the strap, and tossing the whole thing onto one of the empty shelves beneath the bar.
“Hey, Gem. Sorry I’m late—” Hailey stops short when she realizes that I’m facing off against a pair of vampires who are still waiting for me to admit to the destruction of Muncie property. “Oops. Didn’t see you were busy.”
Busy, my ass. One glimpse and she knows that these two aren’t any customers of ours. At least, not tonight.
Hailey’s a human, but she’s also a fang banger. Growing up in Muncie, she learned the truth about the supernatural world when she was a teenager and has made it her life’s ambition to snag an immortal vampire mate of her own one day.
Hmm…
“I’m not busy,” I tell her. True since, the way I see it, I’m done with this chat. “In fact, I was just finishing up with these two. But if they need anything else, I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to help them.” I smile at Tamera, ignoring the way her pale eyes bleed to red as I pointedly dismiss her, then gesture at Dominic’s broad chest. “Hailey, have you met Dominic? He’s Cadre, just like Aleks.”
Hailey’s eyes light up. She might be a non-supe, but I was right. She can pick up on a vamp from almost a mile away.
“I haven’t had the pleasure,” she says, her voice dropping to a purr. “Where’s your glass, Dominic? Didn’t Gem tell you? In Charlie’s, the Cadre drink for free.”
“When they’re not on duty, that is,” I add.
Hailey kicks my heel. She telegraphed her move so I could have avoided it, but I don’t. I owe her one hit for basically cock-blocking her, but that point right there is a pretty big one. Roman would have the head of any of his people who drank while they’re on the clock for him, and even though I know Dominic would refuse anyway, I have to remind Hailey that there are rules when it comes to playing around with a more powerful vamp like this one.
“Unfortunately, that is true,” he agrees, “but I’ll have to remember that for when I’m available.” With a small smile for Hailey, I notice that his eyes are glued to her neck. I’m not even a little bit surprised that, when I turn my head just enough to get a peek, I see a barely clotted-over bite. Freaking Hailey. “And you’re here often?”
“Most nights.” She crosses her arms, positioning them underneath her boobs, giving her girls a bonus lift. Don’t know why she bothers since Dominic’s fixation is purely on the bite mark already left on her throat. She might know a vamp when she sees one, but he doesn’t seem to mind that she’s a fang banger at all. “If I’m not here, I’m usually at home. I live just around the corner. Not too far.”
Now, I don’t mean to stare at her chest. In that pose she’s holding, her boobs are… well, they’reright there—and that’s when I notice that the envelope dangling loosely from her grip has one single name scrawled across it.
Gemma.
My name.
Wait—what?
Forget about Tamera and Dominic. Yeah, yeah, they passed along Roman’s warning about tearing into his vamps even when they’re the ones doing the provoking, and if they had any proof that I’m responsible for breaking that lamppost, they would’ve offered it up by now.
As far as I’m concerned, we’re totally done here. They need to go because I’m suddenly curious to know why Hailey’s carrying around an envelope with my name written on it.
