Chapter 9
I’d been looking forward to tonight all week.
Since Kian hadn’t been cleared to drive yet, Hannah and I saw each other quite a bit when she picked him up from the bar, but we hadn’t gotten much time to talk. Now that she was on a term break and I had a day off, we had time to catch up with each other.
Preparing myself for the cold, I braced myself before getting out of my car and locking it.
As I strode toward Liz’s front door, I shoved my hands in my pockets and pulled my leather jacket tighter around me, hoping it would ward off the chill.
It didn’t do much. Winter in New England was brutal, and when a few drops of snow fell onto my boots, I hastened my steps.
The warmth inside the bar was a welcome sensation.
I paused in the entryway, attempting to shake off the cold.
James stood behind the bar, observing Kian mix a cocktail.
Briefly glancing up, he offered me a grin before returning to his task.
Warmed from the inside out, I approached Hannah’s booth from behind.
“Hey, kiddo,” I said, ruffling her hair.
After more than a year, she’d stopped protesting when I called her that. “Hey!”
I slid into the seat across from her as she combed wild strands of hair back into place.
Then, clearly deciding that it was too much to manage, she gathered it into a ponytail and produced a hair tie from her wrist, twisting the long, dirty-blond strands into a knot on top of her head.
My mind flashed back to when I’d first met her in Vegas, and she’d done the same thing before I taught her to mix cocktails.
God, that seemed like forever ago. Even in such a short time, so much had changed.
I never saw myself as the settling down type until Hannah came along. All it took was one look at her to decide to abandon my party lifestyle and move home to Salem to do the parent thing.
When Hannah walked into The Devil’s Hopyard, she looked like nothing more than a scared little girl. That quickly faded. As pissed as I was at Erin for keeping her from me—and then trying to take her away again—I had to admire the amazing young woman she and Ben had raised.
“How’s school going?” I asked.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “I’d rather talk about anything but that.” So, she swiftly changed the subject. “How’s wedding planning?”
“It’s been, like, three days!” A hand came over my shoulder, and I thanked James with a gentle smile for the drink he’d set in front of me. “I don’t even know where to start with being someone’s husband.”
Or being a vampire. Absently, I scrubbed one of the bite marks on my neck, surprised at how hot the skin was to the touch.
Two tries and nothing was happening, other than being sick and sore afterward.
I knew I was useless on the paranormal front but when James and Gabriel couldn’t pinpoint why, something big was about to happen.
Hannah’s gaze noted the placement of my hand, but before she could comment on the mark, I spoke.
“I did find these cufflinks that belonged to my dad.” Ha.
That got her attention. “He always said I could have them if I got married, but it was more or less a nice idea. I don’t think he ever expected me to need them. ”
I took the box from my pocket and slid it across the table. Hannah eagerly lifted the lid, gasping at the jewelry inside. “These are stunning,” she said. “Are they vintage?”
I nodded, taking a sip of my drink. “My dad wore them on his wedding day, and his dad before him.”
Hannah picked one up for a closer look. They needed to be cleaned, but the plated gold and the deep ruby oval crystals still shone under the light.
But so did something else—a dainty gold band on Hannah’s left ring finger. All it took was a tilt of my head to make her drop the cufflinks back to the box and snap her hand under the table.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Nothing!” But even as she said it, she knew that arguing was useless.
“Show me your hand, Hannah.”
Knowing she was caught, Hannah couldn’t fight the grin that teased the corner of her lips. She brought her hand out from beneath the table, the tiny stones in the band glittering under the lights.
“You’re engaged too?”
A laugh bubbled out of her. “Not exactly.” Her eyes drifted over my shoulder. “We kind of skipped a step.”
I followed her dreamy stare to Kian at the bar. He looked up, his lips falling into an easy smile, his hands rolling a bottle of gin between their palms. Instead of lingering, he spun to put the bottle back on a high shelf, light glinting off of a new band encircling one of his fingers.
I spun back to my daughter. “Married?”
She only nodded, admiring the ring on her finger.
At thirty-six years old, I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole “dad” thing.
First, it was discovering I had a daughter to begin with.
Next, it was having a daughter old enough to drive, wear makeup, have a job, and go to college.
Now, I was supposed to comprehend the fact that she got married.
“When?” I demanded.
“A few days ago.” As she spoke, she still watched Kian over my shoulder, smile widening. “As soon as the courthouse opened after the holidays. After the accident, we, uh… decided we didn’t want to wait until I finished school. We love each other. Why put it off?”
My lips quirked. “You didn’t want the big white wedding?”
Hannah shrugged. “I’m a college student. Kian’s a bartender. We couldn’t afford it even if we wanted to, and I didn’t want to wait until the day we could.” She smiled at me. “This way, I get all the benefits for years while I plan exactly what we want.”
That was unsurprisingly sensible. Hannah had always been more mature than I was. “Want to plan mine in the meantime?” I grumbled into my drink.
“You’d let me?”
“Would you really want to?”
“Um, hell yeah I would! I love organizing stuff like that. All I need is a date, guest list, and a budget.”
I took a moment to consider it. It would be a lot of work to put on a nineteen-year-old who was still in her first year at an Ivy League University. Then again, the thought of organizing guests, and caterers, and florists, and…
Shit, there was that fist constricting my lungs again. Before I could tell Hannah that I’d ask James, my phone chimed with a text.
“Go ahead, love. I’ll help her.”
Of course he could hear everything we were saying. I wondered if being able to hear everything all the time would get overwhelming.
“We would love your help, Hannah.”
My daughter’s blue eyes brightened. “Great! Now let’s talk about those nasty marks on your neck.”
Like a teenager caught sneaking through his bedroom window, my hand flew up to cover one of them—only to remember that there was another one to worry about. Hannah crooked a brow at me.
“You’re married now,” I reminded her. “Don’t act like you don’t know what a hickey looks like.”
She laughed. “Um, I do. And those aren’t hickeys.
” Hannah lunged across the table, pinching my chin and wrenching my head to the side.
“Those look like something out of the latest Predator movie.” I squirmed as she peered closer, thoroughly inspecting the first mark James had given me. “This one is pulsing.”
She could see that too?
I wriggled out of her grip, masking my concern over her ability to see the venom trapped beneath my skin. “It is not!”
She lowered her voice. “Eww, are those what vampire hickeys look like?”
Unsure of how to respond, I resulted to distractions… again. “Where do we need to start with the wedding?”
Skeptical, but accepting that I didn’t want to talk about it, Hannah sank back into her seat and withdrew her tablet from her bag. “Venues?”
With a sigh, I peered down into my empty glass. I was going to need another drink.
After the meal—and with a list of venues for me and James to look over—I took a moment to slip into the office where my fiancé was hiding.
He pretended not to notice me, which meant he was in the middle of something and didn’t want to be interrupted.
So I collapsed against the closed office door and waited.
A grin quirked his lips, one that let me know he was fully aware of my presence, but I stayed quiet until he finished his task.
Without looking, I knew his leg would be bouncing under the table.
Despite his tendency to stick to paperwork rather than being out on the floor, he hated sitting still for long periods of time.
As he worked, he gnawed on his inner cheek, which meant that he was working on a spreadsheet of some sort.
He hated spreadsheets.
He rubbed his temple. There was no way he was getting a headache, but the simple gesture meant he was getting tired—even if he was a vampire.
I couldn’t help the smile that curled my own mouth at knowing someone better than they knew themselves. Now that I had James in my life, in my bed, in my head—I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“That thing auto-saves, right?” I asked, advancing into the office.
“Yes… why?”
In place of an answer, I straddled James’s chair and slid the laptop shut.
“What was that for?” he asked, rubbing his eyes before grabbing me by the hips.
“You’re tired.”
“I’m not human; I don’t get tired.”
“Says the guy rubbing his eyes like a toddler who missed nap time.”
“Why are you in here bothering me?” James asked, a teasing lilt to his voice. “I thought you were having dinner with your daughter.”
“I was…”
“But then she saw the venom,” he finished.
“I dodged it, and she’s gone to her parents until Kian’s finished.” I sighed. “So you know exactly why I’m in here bothering you.”
James nodded. “We’ll deal with it tomorrow. As soon as we get answers about you, we’ll have answers about Hannah.”
With a deep breath, I relented. “You’re right.”
James’s response was nothing more than a satisfied hum as I leaned in for a kiss. Our lips met, my tongue darting out to mingle with his. He opened up for me.
And, of course, the office door opened.
“God, I’ve got to stop barging in on the two of you.” It was Shi, and they were… sniffling? “I’m sorry.” Before either of us could get a word out, they left, snapping the door shut behind them. Shortly after, the back entrance to the bar slammed.
James and I shared a look, and then we scrambled to our feet. We followed Shi’s path, and it didn’t take much—only soft sobs—for us to figure out where they’d gone. They hid behind the back door, starting when they saw us.
“I’m sorry,” they repeated. “I heard the door open and close and thought the office was empty. I needed a minute, and I can’t keep hogging the bathroom.”
Shi didn’t bother hiding their tears anymore. They flowed down their cheeks faster than they could wipe them away. My instinct was to grab Shi, take them into my arms, and protect them from the world. If the hand James had on my back was anything to go by, he picked up on it.
“What’s wrong, Shiloh?” His voice was calm, soothing. “Are you safe right now? Did your brother hurt—”
“Please.” A snotty laugh bubbled through the tears. “I’m more dangerous than he is.”
One thing I quickly learned about Shi was that if I kept my mouth shut long enough, they would open up to me.
So I waited. The bitter January wind flurried around us.
Shi and I both shivered, but I refrained from touching them—not until they said so.
James clenched the back of my shirt, seeming to struggle with the same restraint.
Shi opened their mouth to speak, but the back door opened, cutting them off.
Kian poked his head out, looking relieved to see the three of us. “I need help,” was all he said.
I interrupted James before he could jump into action. “I’ve got it.” I leaned in, whispering in his ear. “They clung to you, before. They trust you. Talk to them.”
I didn’t give him a chance to argue, following Kian inside. If our attraction to Shi was going to turn into anything real, James needed to work through his insecurities about them.
“I’ve never even heard of a Black Pearl,” Kian said, flustered.
I laughed. “That’s because nobody makes it outside of Disney World. It’s basically a glorified Long Island.” I nodded at the customer in question as I ducked under the partition. “When in doubt, don’t be scared to google. You wouldn’t be the first and you definitely won’t be the last.”
Just as we finished up, James appeared next to the bar, summoning me with a brief nod. “Can you stay with Kian while I take Shiloh home?”
“Of course. Is everything okay?”
I heard sniffling from the hallway before the office door clicked shut, but I couldn’t see Shi from where I stood.
James lowered his voice further. “Yeah. They said they’ll explain everything later.”
“Don’t rush back. I’ll close up.”
“You sure?”
“Of course.” I leaned in, planting a kiss on James’s lips and urging him down the hallway. “I’ll see you at home.”
After searching my face for any hint of reluctance—he didn’t find any—James offered Kian a wave goodbye and disappeared down the hallway.