Chapter 14 #2
“I said, get down before you break your fool neck,” he barks out.
Ouf. He just doesn’t listen, does he? “No, I don’t think I will, I’m enjoying the view,” I reply, and toss my nose in the air, turning away from him and wrapping my arms around my middle as I do.
I stare at the sun until tears bead at my eyes just to spite him.
“Fucking infuriating female,” he mutters, before tromping back inside the way he came, looking much like a bulldozer on a warpath.
I lean a bit to see if he’s really gone and wince.
Jeez, you would think after my efforts last night the guy would let loose a little, but he seems to be wound tighter than ever. But the poor schmuck has another thing coming if he thinks he can boss me around.
I made damn sure to be on the roof at 9 a.m. to see his reaction, and I guess I just got it.
My brows raise when I hear the door opening and shutting again, and Frank’s broad back stomps back outside and glares up at me.
I offer him a smile in return, and he scowls harder. What did he think was going to happen? That I’d trot down like a well-heeled bitch?
“This is your warning. I don’t do well with being disobeyed when I give an order, Miss Crenshaw.”
I scoff at that and cross my arms over my chest. “And I don’t negotiate with terrorists. At least not at the buttcrack of daw—”
I’m left slack jawed the next instant when he moves in a blur of motion. He bends his knees and in a burst of speed jumps and grasps the roof's edge. Muscles ripple beneath his shirt, and I watch awestruck when he vaults himself onto the roof’s eaves like a ninja. “What the actual fu—”
“I fucking told you to get down,” he says, spreading his big legs to keep his balance.
“Now just you wait a minute,” I say, getting to my feet. “You are so not yanking me off this roof,” I argue, noticing how his hands flex as if to grab me.
A devious light sparks in his gaze as he steps closer.
“Ach! No, no,” I say, pointing and waving my finger like I’ve seen parents scold their kids on walks in the park. “Why don’t you join me instead?” I find myself saying, and it’s not a half bad idea, since he’s up here now he can tell me what all this stuff is in his backyard.
“It is not safe up here,” he states, as if I don’t already know it’s unsafe to walk along a roof when the roof is this many stories in the air. Frank takes a step toward me.
“I’m fine. I was only trying to see the buildings off in the distance. What are they?”
“They’re none of your concern,” he replies, and takes me by the waist.
“You really need to work on your communication skills.”
I catch a glimpse of what looks like a huge round paddock in the distance as I’m tossed over his shoulder with a hard oomph that knocks the wind from my body.
A firm slap rains down on my backside, his palm so wide he crosses both my cheeks with one hand next and I attempt to hoist myself off of him.
“Ouch! You asshole, that hurt.”
Another slap, and true terror shrieks from my mouth as he jumps off the roof and lands on the balcony below, holding me easily and breaking the impact of my fall.
“Let me go!” I cry out, wriggling harder, wanting away from him in case he decides to jump the two stories to the ground.
He doesn’t make a sound as he rolls his shoulder and effectively drops me, letting me fall to the balcony floor.
“Oomph.” My hip smarts where I land, but I can tell he only hurt my pride.
“God, you are such a dick, you can’t just go around jumping off of houses with people, you jolly green giant,” I mutter.
I get to my feet and pad off my backside of debris, checking over myself as I do.
Thankfully, I’ve only bruised my dignity while the dickhead stands looking down on me like a disproving parent.
“I wouldn’t have to, if you foolishly hadn’t climbed up onto it,” he says, glancing at the edge of the balcony and then up, as if wondering how I got up there in the first place.
Pfft. He can keep wondering. Just because I’m short doesn’t mean I can’t do things. I take one last glance at the backyard.
I’ll just have a look around later, and if he thinks to bar me in my room, well, I’ve always wanted to escape somewhere using bedsheets.
“As much as I appreciate your ability to toss me around like a damsel, no means no, Frank.” I stalk to my mug of coffee, knowing there’s no way it’ll be warm after being outside this long.
“Your opinions are irrelevant, and until you fix what you fucked, I need you alive more than dead, so traipsing about on the rooftop isn’t happening,” he bites out. “After all of my belongings are returned, I’ll toss you to the roof myself.”
He crosses his meaty arms over his chest, and the urge to punch him becomes almost insurmountable.
“Ugh! You are the most aggravating male I have ever met in my life,” I toss back at him and move past to grab my cup, emptying the contents over the stone rail before making my way back inside my new room.
I glance up at the huge glass balcony doors, wishing someone hadn’t had the foresight to make them big enough for Frank’s hulking frame.
It would be fun to watch him jump to the ground and use his super strength again.
He’s never confessed to being anything other than human, so seeing him shove off the balcony like that is interesting to say the least.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” he snaps.
Ignoring him, I stalk inside, throwing the door shut behind me and smirking a bit when I hear him catch it before it slaps him in the face.
“Sorry Lurch, I don’t function properly without at least half a gallon of caffeine in the morning, so if you want your belongings back, I’d learn some patience,” I say.
A smile pulls at my lips as I take in how beautiful the bedroom is, the soft white and cream colors of the main suite make the room feel like a fairytale wonderland. The big bed in the middle of the room is like a cloud. “I swear this room is so pretty.”
“At this rate it will be years before you work off your debt to me,” he states, as if its already fact.
My stomach does a little somersault at the thoughts of being stuck up his ass for years. If the man really is a vampire, just how many years is he talking?
My brow lifts as I turn to look up at him.
His stare tells me all I need to know. Frank is dead serious and truly assumes I’ll be here decades to pay back his time. Hah!
“I doubt you could put up with me if I truly didn’t want to be here.
In fact, I’ve no intentions of being here longer than it takes to get your things back Mr. Stein.
You’re the one who kidnapped me, remember?
And because of that, I’m just adapting. I found your shipments and I think a little vacation is a little overdo, don’t you?
Especially since I’ve got such an upstanding employer, who is absolutely thrilled to get his things back,” I snap.
While I give him a moment to ponder that little tidbit of info, I head to the door. I wasn’t kidding about the caffeine, the telltale signs of a headache starting just at my temple tells me I’ve not yet met my quota.
A deep growl of frustration sounds behind me, and I pick up my pace down the sage-painted hallway, half worried the man will try to stop me from making it to the kitchen. But if he tries to keep me from my coffee, so help me, I won’t be held accountable for my actions.
“If I were your employer, Miss Crenshaw, I would have fired you the moment you ignored my edict,” he blusters from not far behind me according to the sound of his voice.
I glance back at him and have instant regret when my gaze lands squarely on his chest.
His overly large and muscular chest I want to lick just once in my life.
Ever since I was a little girl and watched Buffy for the first time, I’ve wanted to kiss a vampire, just like she did.
If this guy even is a vampire…What’s a girl got to do to get a supernatural dude to show off his powers?
I’d be willing to get a papercut, I think absently when the long elegant wooden staircase railing comes into view. It’s curved and looks like an exact match to one I used to slide down every day in the all-girls boarding school my grandmother stupidly tried to make me attend one year.
A grin pulls at my lips as an idea comes to mind, pure joy swirling in my veins at how confused he looks when I turn around and shove my empty cup into his mammoth-sized hands.
“Hold this for me,” I tell him, not waiting for him to say no.
Like a child giddy with excitement, I rush toward the grand staircase, gripping the cool wood and quickly pulling myself up to straddle the thick balustrade like I used to as a kid.
“Don’t you dare,” he yells out behind me.
“Bye bye now,” I announce, cackling with glee at the frustrated look on his face. Let’s see what you can do, Mr. Vampire.
About halfway down, I start gaining momentum around the curve and belatedly remember how the last time I went flying down a staircase, it took three girls to catch me.
It isn’t lost on me that I’m quite a few pounds heavier than I was then, and all of the sudden, it seems rather foolish to risk my life to prove Frank Stein is a vampire.
“Oh shit!” I cry out, when instead of gripping the railing to slow my descent, my hands slip on the railing, unable to find purchase on the hard wood as the smell of beeswax fills my nostrils. Oh my god, this is how I die, flashes through my brain as I careen toward another green wall.
A huge crack sounds, thundering in my eardrums over the sound of my erratic heartbeat. Hard arms catch me just before I splatter, knocking the wind from my body.
I recover quickly, looping my hands around one of his arms. “I am never doing that again,” I chuckle, but the sound dies on a rough gasp when I get a glimpse of Frank’s face, the blood draining from mine.
What the fuck?
He could be made of stone with as immobile as he is, as I have seen him many times, but never like this.
Orange streaks, not unlike bolts of lightning, swirl thick and wild from his open eyes, so dense I can’t see the gray irises I’ve come to expect from him.
The air crackles with energy, making the hair on my body stand on end, and I notice a tingling sensation on my skin everywhere his body touches mine, getting hotter to the touch by the second.
An inhuman sound escapes him, something between a growl and a heavy sigh, and I swear my entire being leaves this plane as a sharp clap of thunder that seemingly comes out of nowhere radiates through me and shakes me to my core.
A lightning bolt pierces the sky out the small nearby window, throwing the giant man’s figure in light.
“Oh my god. You’re not a vampire at all, are you?”