Chapter 6
Iended the call with Serena, then shuffled back to my chair at the kitchen table. I dropped down on it like a sack of bricks.
“Who was that?” Liz demanded. “You look like someone walked over your grave.”
My lips felt numb as I answered, “That was Serena.”
“The VGO bitch?”
I’d, of course, told Liz all about Robert’s would-be seductress. I’d raged about the vamp after Robert and I returned from Scotland. Though Liz had never met Serena, she loathed her on sheer principal, because that’s what best friends do.
“Yeah.”
Liz snorted. “What did she want?”
“She wanted to tell me that she’s with Robert now.”
“See! I knew there had to be a logical . . .”
I shook my head.
“What do you mean, with Robert? They’re having a meeting or something?”
“No, Liz.”
She coiled her neck. “Don’t tell me that crazy bitch really did kidnap him.”
“She said . . .” I swallowed. “She’s with him now. Like, with-with. As a couple.”
Liz made a sputtering sound. “She’s lying. The chick obviously has a few screws loose.”
“No.” It was all I could choke out.
“Okay, then she’s playing a sick joke.”
“She was pretty convincing, Liz.” I looked around meaningfully. “Robert is gone, isn’t he?”
“Pure coincidence.” Liz folded her arms across her chest. “Did you speak directly to Robert? No. Okay, then.”
“They’ve been talking behind my back since we got back from Scotland.”
“So she claims. Have you seen any evidence of this?”
I shook my head. “No, but I wouldn’t. Robert takes most of his calls in his office.
She also said she knew Robert from way back when—that they used to date and were only pretending not to know each other at the VGO headquarters to avoid a scene.
She acted like she was doing me a favor by finally coming clean. ”
“More lies.” Liz sounded so certain that I almost believed her. I wanted to believe her.
“Why would she go through all the trouble of doing this, though? What could she possibly have to gain?”
“You said she was being all flirty with Robert when you two were at the headquarters, right?”
“So?”
Liz waved an arm like a defense attorney producing watertight evidence that exonerated her client. “She’s obviously trying to break the two of you up.”
“So, where’s Robert?”
She shrugged. “Hell if I know. But not with—”
Liz and I locked eyes when Robert’s phone started ringing.
This time, it was Robert.
I’d never felt so much relief. “Are you okay? I saw the lamp tipped over . . .” I trailed off when a detail occurred to me. The caller ID.
PRIVATE NUMBER.
Just like Serena’s.
Oh my God. He was calling me from Serena’s phone. I pulled the phone away from my ear and checked to be sure.
My voice was shaky as I asked, “Are you with her right now? Is she listening?” I didn’t specify who I meant. Something told me he knew.
“I’ve been mulling things over lately,” he said in a flat and emotionless voice.
“You sound funny. Are you okay?”
“You and I, we’re different, Olivia. Not even the same species.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I need to be with someone more like me.”
“What are you saying? Is this a joke? Because I don’t think it’s—”
“Someone who understands what it’s like to be immortal.”
Liz’s hand closed over my shoulder, giving me a shake. “What’s going on?” she mouthed.
I swatted her off.
“Serena understands me.”
I didn’t realize I was sobbing until I spoke. “What’s happened? Why are you doing this?”
“She’ll never grow old. Never die. But you will, Olivia.”
“I thought we were happy!” I wailed. “What did I do?”
“I’ve been burying the feelings I had for Serena so long ago. Seeing her again, it stirred something inside me.”
“What the fuck?” I shrieked. I made ugly clicking sounds in my throat as I struggled to regain my composure. Nobody ever sounds respectable when they’re crying in anger. “I can’t believe it, Robert.”
“You must. We’re over.”
“No, I mean I literally cannot believe what you’re saying! You sound possessed. This isn’t you.”
“It is me. I’m sorry . . .” he said, fading out.
It sounded like he was far, far away. Probably sitting in a bathtub naked with that tart Serena in some opulent Parisian townhouse—which, despite my devastated state, I knew was ridiculous given how long it would have taken Robert to travel to France from California.
Even if he’d hopped on a flight the second I’d walked out the door to meet Nick, he’d still be over America.
That still didn’t stop the burning rage I felt.
When I couldn’t take the silence any longer, I said, “I find it incredibly hard to believe that in the past—” I looked at my wrist, though I’d never worn a watch “—few hours you decided that, no, you actually aren’t in love with me.
And, suddenly, you need to be with some vampire skank you claimed you’d never met prior to our trip to Scotland. ”
I didn’t care if Serena was eavesdropping as I disparaged her. She could go to hell, as far as I was concerned.
More silence on his end, but Liz’s mouth practically fell to her chest as she understood what was going on. She muttered a few curse words, all aimed at Robert.
“Well?” I demanded, since he still hadn’t said a word. I felt I deserved an explanation beyond silence.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he said, his tone devoid of emotion.
“You don’t know what to tell me?” I repeated, incredulous. “I don’t accept that. I can’t! I won’t! Please don’t do this, Robert!”
I cringed at my desperation. So much for dignity.
“I don’t expect you to leave right away. I’ll give you time to find a new place to live,” he said.
“You think that’s what I’m worried about, finding somewhere to live?”
As if I hadn’t spoken at all, he said, “I hope I can trust that you won’t create a scene over this. I don’t need to tell you how important it is that this stays between us.”
“Are you for real?” What did he think I was going to do, go to the tabloids?
“In the meantime, I’ll be staying at Serena’s.”
“Is this about me meeting up with Nick?” I asked frantically. “Because he’s gone, Robert! He’s dead—decapitated! So, if you think I’ve gotten back with him, or that we hooked up, you’re way off. The only reason I saw him was to get your fangs.”
“This has nothing to do with him.”
“Then what is it? You can’t end things over the phone with no explanation!”
“I’ve said all that I need to say.”
“Please! Wait—”
“Goodbye, Olivia.”
Click.