Chapter 27
With one painful meeting out of the way—and having gone surprisingly well—I killed time at home with Carlos until I knew James would be at the bar. That ache in my chest returned at the thought of seeing him again, but I had to let him know what I’d found: it had been Luke all along.
I paced outside the front door, trying to work up the nerve to open it. It was cold—fucking freezing—but the chill was preferable to facing my… ex? Did I consider him that? We hadn’t been a thing for that long.
Our short time together didn’t make this conversation any easier.
I turned on my heel, the door almost smashing my face when Dani pushed it open from the other side. “Ryder, what are you doing?” She pulled her arms tight around her as the wind blew. “It’s freezing out here.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets, a welcome change from running them through my hair. I indicated the back of the building. “Is he here?”
She gave me a sad smile. “He’s always here. You know he didn’t want you to quit your job.”
“I didn’t quit. I’m just taking some personal time.”
“Do you want me to tell him you’re here?”
I shook my head, eyes burning again. The wind—they were stinging because of the wind. “He knows. I guess I’ll just have to suck it up and talk to him.”
She held the door open. “Were you planning to do it before you froze to death?”
“I hadn’t decided yet.” Welcoming heat poured through the open door. Another gust of wind sliced through me, making my decision. I entered, and Dani locked the door behind us.
“I’ll be in the kitchen,” she said. “Making a lot of noise and unable to hear you at all.”
I chuckled. “Thank you.”
She disappeared down the hallway and into the kitchen.
I could see James’s office door cracked open from where I stood.
I swallowed hard, wiping my clammy palms on my jeans, then forced my legs to move.
I paused just outside the door, leaning against the wall and trying to make myself knock.
The soft sound of Luke Combs drifted through, lifting my spirits from rock bottom to plain miserable.
How could only a couple of weeks have passed since that night in the kitchen? It seemed like ages ago.
I listened until the song faded out, then took my chance before he started it over. The second I raised my hand, James cleared his throat and said, “Come in, Ryder.”
I nudged the door open and stepped inside before I could change my mind.
The window had been fixed. James sat on his couch with a book in his lap, one leg crossed over the other.
My breath hitched in my throat. I wanted to wash away everything that had happened over the past week and throw myself into his lap.
Pathetic.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he said, closing his book and setting it aside.
“I needed to see you.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “It isn’t safe, not while I’m being hunted.”
“I know who’s behind it. That’s why I needed to see you. Luke is the one hunting you, and he hasn’t stopped just because you ended things with me, so why are we making ourselves miserable?”
His expression softened. “I can keep myself alive. You’re the one I’m worried about, Ryder.” Then his brows furrowed. “Wait, did you say Luke? I told you I’m not worried about him.”
“It’s him,” I said firmly.
His eyes narrowed, and he sniffed the air. “How…?” His eyes went wide. “I can smell him on you! You fucked him?”
I spun, jumping back when I collided with James’s chest. I hadn’t even seen him move. “What’s it matter?”
“It matters because he’s obsessed with you. Apparently he’s also hunting me, and yet you jumped right into bed with him.”
I crossed my arms, standing my ground. “I’m not going to apologize, James.
I’ve never been a relationship kind of guy, but I was willing to do it for you.
You destroyed it—you destroyed me! I’m doing my best to put the pieces back together.
If that means falling into bed with the wrong person, then so be it. ”
He scoffed, facing away from me. “All right, Meredith Grey.”
“You watch Grey’s Anatomy?”
“When you’ve been alive for over three hundred years and don’t sleep, you get bored.”
I took a breath to center myself. “I didn’t do it to hurt you,” I said quietly.
Long seconds passed before, “I know.”
“What are we going to do about him?”
James grunted. “We aren’t doing anything. I’ll handle it, but you need to go home.”
“James—”
He raised his hand. “Thank you for telling me that Luke is a hunter.”
My eyes started to burn again, the knot in my stomach winding itself tighter.
Knowing it was futile, I lunged forward anyway, snatching his hand.
To my shock, he let me, and our fingers intertwined.
“I won’t leave things like this,” I said, squeezing his fingers, willing him to understand how much I cared for him.
“Ryder, I’m not angry. You’re right: you don’t owe me an apology for how you choose to fix what I broke. I refuse to put you in danger. Now, you need to leave.”
“I don’t want to leave!”
“Neither did Hannah, remember? But you did it for her safety.”
I felt like he’d slapped me. “I-I—” I tugged on his hand, and despite his superior strength, he let me pull him in.
The two parts of me warred with each other.
One half was threatening to lock up my heart again and throw away the key.
I could almost hear the chains rattling as they fell into place.
The other half, however, couldn’t walk away from my vampire.
Mine. I stood there longer than I cared to admit, brushing my thumb over his knuckles and fighting myself over what to do.
In the end, I crumbled. I leaned in, brushing my lips over his cheek.
James didn’t react, but his voice was a whisper as he said, “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be. Go home. I will seek you out when it’s safe again. I’m sorry.”
His free hand cupped my cheek, and I barely refrained from crying. Two long decades of detaching from my emotions to avoid being hurt, and I still felt like the dam was close to bursting.
Once James let go of me, I did what I do best: I fled. Tearing myself away, I left the office and beelined for the front door.
“Ryder!” It was Dani. I stopped, keeping my back turned so she couldn’t see the agony on my face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Though the way my voice cracked begged to differ.
“Why don’t you come back tonight after we close and have a drink with me? I’ll make sure it’s just us.”
Her offer reminded me of Raleigh. Not to mention I’d drank what alcohol I had at home anyway. I cleared my throat. “That sounds great actually. Text me when it’s clear?”
“I will.”
With that, I left the building, the bitter weather reflecting my state of mind. It also afforded me the solitude I needed, because the tears didn’t wait for me to reach my car before they started flowing down my cheeks.
I cried more than I ever had in those few hours I waited for Dani to text me.
I’d put my heart on the line, and again it came back to bite me in the ass.
I sat on the couch, watching some stupid show playing in the background.
Carlos wasn’t a big fan of the tears—that made two of us—and kept leaping at my face to lick them away.
I’d be lying if I said it didn’t help a little bit.
I grew restless, pacing around the house until I decided to get the dog involved—someone should benefit from my jitters. We walked around the block three times until he finally gave up, throwing himself down to the pavement and refusing to budge. It was dark by the time I got him back to the house.
I was pleasantly surprised when my phone chimed during dinner.
I’d expected to have to wait several more hours, but James had decided to close early, and Dani was finishing up with her closing duties.
Carlos commenced his husky screaming as I left, and I prayed my neighbors wouldn’t murder me tomorrow.
I let myself into the building with my key, where I found Dani behind the bar mixing a couple of drinks.
“You sure that’s strong enough for what I need?” I joked, noting the bottle of sweet liqueur in her hand.
“Trust me,” she said with a wink. “Pick a table, I’ll bring them over.”
I slid into one of the booths. I was surprised when she sat down next to me instead of across from me. She pushed one of the cocktails over.
“Thanks for this,” I said. “Drinking at home alone after—” I gestured toward James’s office. “—all that didn’t seem like a very good idea.”
“It’s not a problem. I thought you could use a friend. One who won’t try to sleep with you.”
I cringed. “James told you about Luke?”
“No. Luke came in here bragging. James threw him out, which is why we closed early.”
I groaned, bringing my glass to my lips. “This is a nightmare.”
“You want to talk about it?”
For the next hour, I talked Dani’s ear off about everything: Hannah, Luke, James—I even divulged the stuff about him being hunted.
“Did you know?” I asked her as she brought me a second drink. I downed it in record speed.
“Know what?”
“That James was being hunted.” I twisted, sitting so my back was against the wall and I could rest my head against it. Whatever Dani mixed was strong—my head was spinning.
“I had an idea,” she said. She looked across the bar, eyes semi-vacant as she pulled a necklace out of her shirt. Wait, why does my throat feel funny? “We almost had him too.”
“What?” I coughed against the tightness in my throat. My vision started to blur, but not before I noticed the silver cross dangling from the end of Dani’s necklace.
What. The. Fuck?
I tried to speak again, but my tongue felt like rubber.
If I could stand, I could jump over the back of the seat and run out the front door.
Dani was small—I could outrun her. I placed a hand on the back of the booth, and the other on the table.
I pushed… just to wobble in place and fall right back down.
Damn it. She’d drugged me.
Panicked, I looked at Dani—the person who’d become my friend in the last couple months. With cross in hand, she smiled at me, but the smile turned sad. “I really like you, Ryder. I’m sorry it came to this.”
Before I could ask what it had come to, Dani’s hand whipped up. I released a whimper as something sharp pricked my neck.
Everything went dark.