AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, of course, of course. The game. Yes, how silly of me.” Two groups of meatheads fighting over a scrap of inflated cow leather. How thrilling. “Please, continue.”
“We were at the game, Cecilia and I—”
“Cecilia?” Her name shone within the sentence, slapping my ears alive, honing my focus. Cecilia. My growing infatuation with her was so deeply and profoundly confusing. And undeniable. “Oh, uh, who’s that, again?”
“The student, the girl, I’m—you know, extremely interested in. Devoted to. Keen on, if that helps your British brain wrap your head around it.” He really was very worked up tonight.
“Oh, yes, I think I do recall you mentioning her.” Only every bloody day this week and nonstop when he wasn’t working or on the phone with her since he’d had that first kiss of his mid-week. “So, what happened?”
He made a harsh sound of annoyance, his bear still very close to the surface. He growled out, replying with decidedly more sharpness than I was used to. “I’d tell you, if you’d just shut up for two minutes.”
“Of course, I’m sorry. Please, go on.” I gulped more whiskey, feeling it burn its way down my gullet.
“We separated briefly, after the game was done, so I could chat with a colleague, and she could visit the bathroom. I lost her after that.” His voice brimmed with regret. “A lot of people were celebrating, taking selfies, falling over the place drunk, clogging up the exits. I couldn’t get through the crowds quickly enough and ended up leaving through a different exit. My phone had run out of juice too, so I couldn’t call her. I spent ages looking for her.” Face contorting into a grimace, he hung his head.
I placed a hand on his shoulder. The sweat-filmed flesh radiated intense heat into my palm. “Not your fault. Those things happen. And then?”
“Then I eventually decided she must have gone home alone. So I went along the route that runs quickest to her apartment.”
“Okay…”
“I found her being harassed by that vamp son of a bitch. It looked like he was trying to enchant her, get her back to his coven, no doubt to use her, in the worst possible ways.”
The image of that sweet, silly little human being preyed upon by a pasty-faced fang fucker, stirred a surprisingly strong level of anger inside me. I’d never felt such a need to punch something or go find her, to make sure she was okay myself. I washed down more whiskey, maintaining my calm façade. “And did you kick the living shit out of him?”
He shook his head, and pressed his index finger into his lightly haired, granite slab of pectoral muscle. I really was bloody envious of his chest, compared to my smaller and hairless one. “That’shisway, not mine. I got the bloodsucker to back off and leave though, by threatening him.”
I drained the remainder of my drink, catching two fragile ice cubes between my teeth, saying through crunching mumbles, “So, he left her alone, and you escorted her back to her apartment?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, so…”
“I suggested I keep watch outside, sleeping in the hallway, in case he came back.”
“And she wasn’t agreeable, obviously?”
“She said the building had secure communal entry, and her own door had a solid lock, and she didn’t want her mom to think anything was up and get sick from worry. She assured me not to worry either, and said she’d call the NLPD if she heard any strange noises.”
“Sounds sensible enough.”
“Except, I think maybe she was scared if I stayed—kept worrying—my beast would come out.”
“Oh, I see. She said that?”
“No, but I got that vibe from her. She was trying to calm me down.”
The girl’s instincts were clever. “I see. Well, not to worry, the vamp in question probably toddled off and found someone less trouble to have his fun with. There are a surprising number of girls willing for that sort of thing, after all.”
“I suppose so. But I don’t know, I should’ve insisted on staying outside her apartment. Just in case. I think I should go back. I’ve got a bad feeling maybe he’s still skulking around the area.”
I motioned towards his chest. “And ifhemakes an appearance?” I signaled right at his glistening muscles, which had started pulsing a bit, making my point absolutely clear. “Can you guarantee the outcome?”
Aaron said nothing, the flash of fear in his eyes giving the answer. The grizzly within him was wildly unpredictable, and we both knew it.
“Look, if this girl is precious to you, as my most valued friend, then, by default, she’s precious to me too.” I placed my empty tumbler on the living room table. “I’ll pop over and have a scout around the area. If there’s a vamp lurking,”—I tapped my temple twice—“you know I’ll pick up on it one way or another.”
“Are you sure?”
