Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Colt drives us across the state.
The hours trickle by, the unbroken lines in the center of the road stretching on and the night sky dotted through with stars.
Grayson and I huddle together in the backseat, his skin warm without the overwhelming inferno of heat from the moon madness. Rather than the pressure in my head, there’s calm.
Whatever suppressant the witches came up with, it seems to have worked. He’s not scratching or hearing voices.
I’m not constantly aware of our slide into damnation.
It won’t last long, though. Instincts have taught me that much.
“Seriously, we’re never going to make it there in time if you keep driving like a grandma.” Lacey points to the speedometer and Colt’s fingers tighten on the wheel.
“Why does it have to be grandma?” he asks. “Besides, do you really want to get caught by the cops? Try explaining two vampires and two werewolves trapped in a car, heading for a circus of the damned?”
It sounds like the start of a great television show or a terrible joke.
“If you want to keep bitching, then I’ll let you drive and we’ll deal with the consequences,” Colt gripes.
“At least we’d make better time.”
Their version of sweet consists of arguing playfully, and small touches. They insult each other and soothe the ache away with a quick look, a slow smile. It’s…nice.
It’s the easy peace of two people who really care about each other and know exactly what they bring to the table. They have history together, but their past doesn’t define where they are today.
And the transition to full vampire only seems to have deepened their bond from the last time I’d seen them together.
My knee bobs and I slap a palm against it for something steady. My body doesn’t really care what I want, though. It never does.
Lacey chuckles at something Colt says and he glances over at her, a stray line of moonlight illuminating his profile and the clear affection in his eyes.
I’ve never seen Jrue look at me that way. No one ever has.
He’s always been a decent guy, friendly and funny. He always does exactly what my father asks him to do without any hesitation or argument. He’s treated me respectfully.
I want someone to laugh with.
I want someone who doesn’t stick around because he’s told to or because his parents wanted him to mate with an alpha’s daughter.
Folding my hands on my lap, I wrinkle my borrowed shirt, knotting it over and over. It doesn’t matter.
Grayson nudges me with his elbow. “I know what you’re thinking about.”
I jump, blushing.
“You really miss the hunter’s flannel. I know. The dude had great taste.” There’s a glimmer of mischief in his eyes.
Relief sags me forward.
“Oh, you’re right,” I say, deadpan. “I think flannel is going to be my look from now on. You did say it’s adorable.”
He winks. “It’s versatile too.”
The image of Grayson with nothing but flannel wrapped around his lower half threatens to undo me.
What would it be like to be with him?
To exist in the comfort and stability of his arms?
Since he’d been bitten, we hadn’t had a lot of chances to laugh together. If the dread and the moon madness were gone…what kind of people could we be?
My gaze dips to his lips and the easy way they part as he looks at me.
What would it be like to kiss him? It’s easy to see it in my head, his large hands falling on my waist and dragging me to his chest. I’d know the heat spared no one, the same desire binding us together.
Maybe he’d grab my chin and tilt my head up to him. Maybe he’d take his time and ease us both into the kiss.
But I don’t want him easy.
I lean forward and the car jolts as it turns into a parking lot, finding the one and only hole where asphalt meets gravel.
“Oops, sorry,” Colt calls out.
“Want to watch where you’re going?” Grayson rubs the side of his head he hit against the window.
Shit, I shouldn’t have daydreamed about Grayson at all. It can’t happen.
He and Colt snap at each other until we pull into a parking spot and the engine cuts, throwing us into quiet I feel in my teeth.
Colt holds up a hand. “Look. We’ve gone as far as we can go. The sun is rising. We have to stop here because we have no choice. I know you want to make good time, but we can’t go any further.”
I pat my hand against Grayson’s thigh to soothe him and catch myself, snatching it back. “I’m sure it’s fine to stop for a night.”
“Sure. And miss the shaman when the circus picks up and leaves.”
I don’t blame Grayson for his agitation. Whenever he and Colt share the same air, they butt heads. It’s almost like a personal mission at this point.
Getting on each other’s nerves is a privilege we can’t really indulge in right now.
My knee bobs again. This time, I let it go.
Stomach knotting, I follow them into the hotel lobby and hide my surprise when the overworked overnight clerk shakes her head.
“You’re catching us at a really bad time, I’m sorry to say. We only have one room left with two double beds.”
“It’s fine,” Lacey assures the woman with a hasty grin. “We’ll take it.”
I glance between the clerk and Grayson as though there’s something that can be done with panic alone. He stares ahead at the wall until he catches me looking.
His grin isn’t soft, but it’s familiar in the way it pulls his cheeks high.
Colt slides a credit card across the desk and once the paperwork is filled out, we take the key to the last room. As though the fates are not smiling down on us. As though they’re playing some kind of crazy game to see how far into my worry I’ll drown.
Anxiety drips into the hole inside me with every footstep to the room on the second floor, the iron railing overlooking the parking lot.
The keypad peeps when the card slides home and the door swings open with a small push.
Inside, the tile floor is clean. The beds are made with thin comforters in orange and tan like the owners took style advice from some old ninety’s television show.
Lacey moves in first and flings herself on the bed farthest away from the window. “I’m so glad you guys are cool with sleeping on the floor so the girls can have the beds,” she calls out. “How awesome of you!”
Colt grumbles at her tease. “I guess it’s been decided, then.”
She grabs one of the pillows and throws it at him. He moves with preternatural speed to catch it and toss it at her face.
“You’re no fun,” she says, breaking off on a yawn, the pillow bouncing harmlessly to the bed.
“I’m fine with the floor,” Grayson assures me. “I’m not delicate.”
He’s doing a hell of a lot better after taking the suppression potion. No more scratching or listening to phantom voices. But the last thing we need is for him to sleep on the floor and have something happen to set him off. We’re close to the full moon.
He’s been lucky so far.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“I need a couple of blankets. One of those pillows too, if you don’t mind. I’ll be fine,” he assures me.
I pull the comforter off the bed and hold it out to him. “If you get too cold or…”
“Mandi.” He stops, taking my hands through the blanket and squeezing. “You worry too much.”
He has no idea.
Once Colt is settled on the floor near the bathroom door and Grayson between the two beds, the vampires sleep.
We closed the curtains and secured them with hair ties, even moving one of the chairs over to make sure no light gets in. And although I know I need to sleep, it’s not happening.
I’m too worked up to rest.
I manage to close my eyes for a full hour before they pop open again, the digital red numbers of the clock proudly showing eight a.m.
My stomach rumbles, an ominous reminder of our failure to pack snacks.
Colt and Lacey don’t have to eat like the rest of us.
I peel the thin blanket off my legs and creep over to the door with the money RJ tossed me like a softball. Enough to get us by, she’d said.
Enough for the vending machine, anyway.
A glance behind me shows everyone settled when I undo the chain across the door. A sliver of light spills in before I hastily shut it behind me and the lock clicks tight.
My stomach grumbles out a demand but the first few rows of the vending machine offer nothing I want. It’s all heavily processed garbage with fake food coloring. The cheese curls might be decent but—
“I had a feeling this is where you’d go.”
Grayson’s voice snaps my spine into place. I turn as he cuts through a wall of sunlight, his smile deceptively loose. His arms flex at his sides, the muscles pulling his shirt tight.
Oh boy.
My hunger is a river, splitting into two directions, one for food, and one for Grayson.
Those lines of scratches where he’d marked himself still stand out. They haven’t healed yet. Color returned to his cheeks and where I expected anger at my betrayal, I see only composure.
“You knew I’d go for a vending machine?”
“I haven’t seen you eat this whole time we’ve been together, not really. I mean, the cabin doesn’t count. You chugged coffee like a champ but hell, those were extenuating circumstances. Forced proximity.”
He says it like a promise and I shiver, crossing mental fingers he doesn’t notice.
“I figured you’d have to eat eventually because sleep is out of the question.”
I blow out a breath. “Vampires.”
“Their schedule seriously sucks.”
“Hey, we’ll get to the shaman in time. I promise.”
“Empty promises mean nothing, Mandi,” Grayson says.
His fingers tap against the glass, his shoulder resting in a practiced lean I’m sure sent the girls in his school wild with longing.
“Then the least we can do is stuff our worries with cheese curls. Right?” I point to the last bag in the line of clearly popular junk food.
“Here I was thinking about a sweet treat.”
It’s entirely in my head how he says it like I’m the sweet treat. I’m imagining things because I want to hear them, not because he actually means it.
I break eye contact and stare at the machine. “Think I can hit it hard enough to knock everything loose?”
“Yes, I know you can. But why?”
“Just wondering.”
Borrowed money burns a hole in the pocket of my borrowed pants.