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More silence greeted me. His tone turned suspicious. "Boyfriend? I thought you didn't date. At least that was the story you gave me when you said you didn’t want to see me anymore."
"A lot has happened since we last talked. I preferred not to date until I met Stefan," I replied, pouring coffee into a mug and sipping it.
"Hmm. What makes this guy so special?"
What didn’t make Stefan special? His devotion, his love, his total disregard for his own safety to think only of mine were only a few of the things that set him apart. Aidan would never understand. I needed to keep it simple and not complicate an already tense situation. "Aidan, it's very serious."
"I should say I'm happy, but I'd be lying," he muttered sadly. "Send me the files and talk to your boyfriend. We'll all do lunch soon."
Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I sat back down in the chair. "Will do. Bye, Aidan."
He barely mumbled a goodbye in his haste to get off the phone with me. Tossing my phone on the ottoman, I went into Stefan's office to grab my laptop that had been charging. When I went to reach for my computer, I bumped his, bringing it out of hibernation. He'd left his e-mail account open and it began automatically downloading. One message stood out by the subject line: Your immediate testimony is required regarding recent activity. My eyes traveled over to glance at the sender: noreply@pb&c.com.
Temptation urged me to open the e-mail. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, trying to work up the nerve to press the button to open it.
No. It wasn’t my e-mail to open.
Biting my lip, I quickly closed the lid of the laptop before I changed my mind. I'd be furious if he went through my computer. Still mulling over the mysterious message, I snatched up my own computer and headed back into the living room. Sitting down at the counter, I powered it on and reached for my coffee cup. What did the message ‘your immediate testimony was required’ mean? Who and exactly what was PB&C?
Shooting a hurried glance down the hallway, I opened up my browser and typed in PB&C in the search bar, hitting enter. One result appeared. Clicking on it, a plain black screen greeted me, asking for my credentials and not just one, but different four sets of pass codes.
Nothing about the site gave me any clue what it was or better yet, what they did. The more I studied the web page, I came to the conclusion that this site was vampire related and my inquiry was now not only recognized, but more than likely would also be tracked by IP address. I wondered how long it would take for someone to appear at our door or better yet, contact Stefan.
Clicking out of the screen, I opened my e-mail and began typing out a quick message to Aidan. I was attaching the approved documents when I heard Stefan's phone ring in the bedroom. His voice was muffled, but I felt his anger spike. The anger slowly changed into mild aggravation, finally settling into mild curiosity and resolve. His emotions in my mind were going to be like riding a roller coaster. I'd have to work on shielding them or I'd be an emotional wreck.
Absorbing myself back in my e-mails, I barely noticed when Stefan entered the room. Peeking over the screen, I offered him a distracted smile. Still looking ruffled and sleepy, his eyes were fully alert as they roamed over me. They were bright blue, highly irritated and bored through me.
"You were not in bed when I woke up." Stefan accused irritably. He walked around the counter and swiveled the stool I was sitting in around to face him. He moved my legs apart to slip between them and braced me in with his long, muscular arms. "I missed you. Come back with me. Unless you have more snooping on the internet to attend to or you feel the need to resume your conversation with Aidan."
Several emotions detonated inside of me instantaneously. His closeness ignited my desire for him and an almost reptilian anger unfurled at his insinuations. I also had the answer to my earlier question. It took less than 10 minutes for the crypt keepers to trace my innocent exploration of their website.
"Excuse me?" I stammered. "My snooping?
"Yes, Josephine. Why were you attempting to enter the Board and Council website? Nigel was able to divert the information from being passed on," Stefan remarked sharply. His voice had taken on a similar tenor that he used with Lukas. He needed information and wasn't going to beat around the bush to get it.
"I was getting my laptop when I bumped your computer. It powered on and your e-mail was open. I wasn't snooping. I just happened to notice one e-mail that said your testimony was required. I looked at the sender and I was curious. Do you want to explain what that means?" I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow in expectation.
I listened to the rapid sound of his fingertips tapping on the wood. He pushed off the arms of the stool, crossing his arms as he stood in front of me.
"Do not attempt to divert the conversation. And no, I do not wish to explain right now." His blue eyes hardened and his jaw tightened.
"Tough. Start talking." I narrowed my eyes and sat back on the stool, waiting for him to continue.
Stefan let out an unnecessary breath. His posture relaxed slightly and he resumed his earlier stance of caging me between his arms on the stool. "PB&C stands for the Premiere Board and Council. My testimony is merely a formality. I killed a vampire. They need my version of the events for their records." Stefan shrugged. His mind fractured off into a half a dozen different directions. He was annoyed at me for my inquisitiveness, he was scanning the future of the Council members to see their response to Derek’s death. He was also worrying about Kian, probing the tie to Anna and wondering how irritated I was with him for not sharing this information.
"I'm not mad, Stefan. Just stop trying to protect me from everything. I'm capable of handling more than you give me credit for," I snapped, jutting my chin out defiantly.
He gave me a wry smile. "This is interesting news. The last time you were given information you did not like you crept out of the apartment like a thief, fleeing to drown yourself in tiny cups of coffee while refusing to take any of my phone calls. Do you understand my concern in sharing potentially upsetting news with you?"
His words deflated some of my anger. He was right. Stefan had a way about pointing out my flaws without making me feel guilty or angry. He only stated the facts.
"I'm doing better with this now. The information about our bonding on the plane was the perfect example. Can you at least explain what testifying entails?" Trying another tactic, I gently stroked the skin of his arm from where his t-shirt ended to his wrist. I felt his quiet enjoyment of the touch of my fingers on his skin. Continuing to caress his arm, I kept my gaze fixed on his.
"Vackra, we will discuss this at length later. Let us deal with Anna's situation and then we will contend with the Council. Can we agree to shelve the issue temporarily?"
Reluctantly, I nodded in agreement. "Yes. But once Anna wakes up, we need to have a serious talk about this Council business."
He grinned widely, his blue eyes gleaming. He kept me locked between his arms as his lips brushed against mine, softly pressing lazy kisses against my mouth. Groaning softly, I locked my arms around his neck to pull myself closer to him.
