Chapter 3 #2
I stood for a moment longer. I didn’t take orders from anyone but Nic. So, I waited a few beats longer. Then, when it was my choice, I deliberately pulled out a chair and sat slowly on it.
“So, how are we going to do this?” She tapped long, manicured fingernails against the wood now, like she had too much excess energy.
I shrugged. She wanted a reply, but surely, she already knew exactly how she was going to introduce me to the Blackbloods? If not, what the hell was I doing here?
Temple had vouched for this chick, and it wasn’t like him to pick flakes.
But no. Esmé wasn’t a flake. Her eyes were too intelligent for that as she watched me, like she was trying to turn the tables, force me to respond.
I shrugged again and redeployed my drawl. “Lookin’ for a job?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, that will work. It’s how I find all my best people, anyway.
” She glanced meaningfully in the direction of the stairs leading to the upper floor where we’d left Sam.
“So many towns where folks are looking for jobs. And what good fortune to come across a vampire, right off the bat, right?”
She tinkled out a delicate laugh this time, and I tensed against the sound. She gave off fragile vibes with her tiny frame, white-blonde hair, and huge blue eyes, but I couldn’t afford to underestimate her.
But I nodded. “Just lookin’ for a job,” I confirmed.
“I’m going to propose you to Brock as an enforcer.” She flicked a glance over me then returned for a slower perusal. “You certainly have the build for it.”
Her tongue flicked over her lower lip and her pupils dilated, leaving her with a hungry look and me with no doubt of what images might be playing out in her head.
Before I needed to ensure I’d adequately concealed my disgust, there was a noise to my left and Sam stumbled through the door, wobbly but smiling as she sipped on a glass of orange juice.
“Hey, guys,” she exclaimed, her voice too loud, her tone far too jolly. “Thought I might find you down here.”
I stood and offered her my chair, but she shook her head. Disappointment crept into my chest that she’d refused my chivalry. But damn, why was I even being helpful? This woman meant nothing to me. She was a thrall. A pet. A fucking human. I just had to remember that.
Only it felt like it might be easier said than done.
Worse, she was the enemy’s pet. A human under Blackblood control and being so beautiful that my cock jerked with awareness every time I looked at her only made Sam more dangerous, not less so.
“Are you ready to go? I can drive you back to your side of town in my car,” she asked.
I glanced at her, hardening myself to see only the venom-drunk thrall. Did I really want that behind the wheel?
“Well, she’s woken up quicker than I expected, but she’s fine.
She drives all the time.” Esmé gestured expansively with her arm, the movement lazy as she seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.
“Her reactions are still good enough to brake when she needs to. Besides, what are you worried about? You might die?” Her laugh was less fragile and tinkling this time, but no less hideous for that.
I wasn’t used to people reading me or my hesitations, which meant Esmé was probably even more dangerous than I’d given her credit for.
I nodded at Esmé. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Then I turned to Sam. “Good to go.”
“Wait.” Esmé’s voice was suddenly cold as steel.
“I’ve just had an even better idea as to how I found you.
” Her lips curled up in an unpleasant smile, and she waved a hand.
“I mean, sure, you want a job. Who doesn’t?
And who wouldn’t want to work with Brock?
He has power, influence…” She ticked off the words on her fingers, but her tone said blah blah blah as she continued.
“But what if you have a more personal connection?”
She glanced meaningfully between Sam and me before clasping her hands together over her heart and tilting her head.
“I think my little Sammy just got her first boyfriend.” She spoke in a sing-song voice she might have used with a baby, and my insides all curled at the edges. “What a gift I’m giving you, Sammy. A guy. You want to experience love, right?”
“What?” Sam’s eyes widened and she almost seemed to avoid looking at me. “Esmé, no. I can’t…We…”
But she didn’t finish her sentence. She just shut her mouth with a click as Esmé’s expression hardened.
“You’ll do as I say. And if you brought this stray home, it makes a lot more sense why I’m helping him. And I think you need a guy. The life you took from me.”
“But Brock thinks you found him on your own, and you don’t share credit…” Sam sounded like her throat had dried and her tongue had stuck to the inside of her mouth as her voice emerged the smallest of croaks.
“And as long as you remember that, we’re fine.
” Esmé smiled coldly at Sam then at me. She focused back on Sam.
“A swansong performance, Sammy. Hell, I don’t care.
Lose that fucking V-card. Go out with a bang.
” She laughed cruelly then stalked away, deeper into the luxuriously appointed quarters, a cold breeze seeming to swirl behind her.
After a moment of hesitation, Sam turned, pivoting to her left without a word and led the way back out of the strange underground wing and into the part of the house that smelled like a BO-stained T-shirt from lost and found.
We left through the front door, and I squashed myself back into the front seat of her car.
It was like we were a pair of robots on autopilot.
“Give me directions, okay?” She tossed the instruction to me as she squealed out of the driveway.
She didn’t actually look at me, though, and her unease permeated the interior of the car, the tension likely a result of Esmé’s instruction that she was to pretend to be my girlfriend.
I shook my head as Sam revved the engine. This woman didn’t do anything stealthily. She didn’t talk much as she drove along, responding only to my directions, and I didn’t push her to say anything.
Being a thrall must be tough, and I couldn’t imagine anyone choosing it. Still, if she was stupid enough to stay human after all this time, that was her own fucking fault. There were ways to avoid the long, slow, humiliating death, after all.
But a tiny part of my heart couldn’t stay hard as I imagined the agony that awaited her.
Still, she had to have gotten herself into this mess somehow, right?
And it wasn’t like I had the time or the headspace to start worrying on her behalf or thinking how to get her out of it…
Yet as I stole sidelong glances at her, gears that hadn’t cranked in my brain for a long time started turning.
Even though her situation was absolutely none of my business.
Sam stopped the car and climbed out when I did. I cast her a quick glance. Where the hell did she think she was going? But I didn’t ask the question. The answer was obvious as she followed me up the steps.
My apartment was as shitty as I remembered but if Sam noticed, she didn’t say anything. It was probably a step up from where she called home. It didn’t smell like a hobo’s sweaty crotch, at least.
She stopped just inside the doorway, her face still that strange mixture of venom-induced animation and worry.
She nibbled her lip for a moment before speaking.
“It wasn’t always like this,” she started, using her hands to gesture to everything and nothing as she spoke. “Esmé used to be my best friend.”
“Not my business.” Each of my words was short and bitten off at the end.
I wasn’t here for some sort of girly or heart-to-heart chat, regardless of the image Esmé had decided we should project in public.
Besides, no one could see us inside this tiny hellhole, so whatever Sam thought she had to do to follow Esmé’s orders on our status was null and void.
I had a mission. I looked past her, out of the door, inviting her to leave.
She glanced behind her like I might have been focusing on something in particular but when she looked back at me, her eyes had lost some of the excitement they’d had when she’d started to talk.
She took one step backward before glancing behind herself again.
Then she lifted on tiptoes, and pressed a fleeting kiss to my cheek.
“In case anyone can see,” she murmured.
I closed my eyes as her perfume lingered in the air around me, and I kept my lips flat as she seemingly waited for something else.
She didn’t move, and I could barely hear her breathing.
When I opened my eyes, I nodded and gestured quickly at the door.
She took the hint and left, disappointment fleeting in her gaze.
If I felt bad, it was only for a moment. Only for as long as it took me to wedge the door closed behind her. I wasn’t here to make friends. I had shit to do.
Speaking of shit to do… I reached for my burner phone and contacted Sebastian on the burner phone number of his I’d memorized.
He answered right away but didn’t identify himself or me. “Hello.”
“Hello,” I replied, but that was probably all I could get away with and stay neutral.
We didn’t have a code for passing unexpected information.
“There’s something else going on besides the usual chaos and destruction.
” I just needed to make this fast. “I’m not sure what it is yet exactly, but I’ll keep you posted. ”
Before he could reply, I hung up, disconnecting our call as quickly as I could. For both of our safety. Plus, it gave me great pleasure to hang up on him. Could’ve been a legitimate security concern but could also have just been me being a dick.
Yeah, I was a dick.
A dick whose official duties for the day were all done. Except… Part of me almost wanted to talk to Sebastian for a little longer. I wanted that connection. Only I couldn’t.
But I could talk to Jason. And I was hungry, anyway. I needed to find a bar. A vampire one. Preferably with a good stock of O Neg.