Chapter 44
Morally Gray
The next day, I sat curled into a big armchair in front of a softly glowing fire, reading.
I’d spent the morning sorting the full wall-length wooden bookcase, filling it with new fiction Karson had delivered for me earlier today.
I already had a lot of new books I hadn’t read yet.
But staring at all those delicious new books made my heart happy.
He knew I needed a reprieve from the world we lived in, a place I could get lost in without leaving the safety of the house.
Or maybe he just wanted to distract me because Rodney and his crew had turned up to discuss matters with him.
“I want to go home.”
The words came out on a rushed breath of misery. I set the book down as Georgie perched on the edge of the couch. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and from the fading bruise her dick boyfriend gave her.
I unfolded my legs and said gently, “It’s not safe.”
She toyed with the fabric of the cardigan she was wearing. “It’s not safe here either.”
After last night, it was hard to make a solid argument. “Here you have protection.”
“If Sarah wanted me dead, she would have done it when I left the bar.”
I sat upright. “She might not have known you left the bar.”
“If she had us followed, then she knew. I’ve spoken to BJ.
His family is going to help me if I need it, but I can’t stay here anymore.
” She let out a fluttery breath. “I can’t live like this.
I can’t live in a world where everyone thinks it’s normal to kill each other.
That’s not normal, Amy, it’s psychotic.”
Fear clutched at my chest. “If Sarah comes for you, BJ and his family won’t be able to stop her.”
“It’s a chance I’m willing to take. I need to get on with my life. I need to get back to work, I have rent to pay, I have bills.”
“I’ll pay your rent and bills, Georgie.” My mother left me a large sum in her will, and I hadn’t touched it. I’d wanted to use it to buy a house, to set up a life for Tom and me. But I’d give Georgie as much as she needed if it kept her here and safe.
She shook her head. “It’s not about the money—Karson offered to pay it. In fact, I think he has because I haven’t had reminders … I have a life and friends I want to get back to. I miss Jodie and BJ, and I love you, Amy, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t see anyone else die.”
If Sarah still wanted revenge, there would be no life for Georgie, and the thought of losing her … “Does Karson know?”
“I told Michael.”
“And he agreed?”
She nodded and dropped her head, pulling her cardigan sleeves over her fingers.
“Michael said it was a good idea?” I pressed.
She looked up, peering under her long hair. “Not exactly, but he understood.”
“If Sarah finds out and she wants to hurt you, she will.”
“I know.”
“She will kill you, Georgie,” I repeated.
She sucked in a deep breath. “If I stay … I feel like I’m slowly dying inside. I don’t know much, but I do know in my heart I’m on this earth to help people, and I couldn’t do anything to help those girls or Leon. I watched as he killed them like they were nothing more than fucking bugs.”
“Please. I know it’s been hard, just give it a little longer.” I heard the fear in my voice. “I don’t want to risk losing you.”
She lifted her chin. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m sorry. I’m leaving tomorrow morning. I’d ask you to come too, but I know you’re stuck in this world whether you want to be or not. I don’t know how you stay sane.”
I picked up the book and showed her, lightening the mood. “I read dark romances. I’m used to morally gray men.”
Maybe that was partly true. Maybe the dark villain I enjoyed between the pages, with the miraculous tongue and impressively equipped cock who would destroy the world to save the heroine, was someone the little broken girl inside me needed to know was possible. Maybe she just wanted to be saved too …
God, it sounded like I needed a couch session or six.
A small smile filled her lips. “I read them too.”
“Oh, who knew you’re a closet dark-romance reader!”
“More like under the sheets.” Her smile grew. “It’s easier to fix the urges there.”
Laughter bubbled from my lips. “There’s probably a vampire or two floating around that could sort you out.”
“All those years on earth, you’d hope they knew what they were doing.”
“If you didn’t want to find out for yourself, you could ask Karson to bring back your memory with Ethan.”
She tilted her head to the ceiling and groaned. “I must have been so fucking drunk.”
“Drunk with lust,” I teased.
“Stop.” She groaned again. “Just because I’m leaving, there’s no need to torture me.” She stretched, her face serious again. “I better go and pack.”
Nodding, I tucked my knees to my chest and watched her walk out. A few minutes later, I went to the entertainment room and poured a vodka and soda water, and then another, and then another.
“Oh dear, I take it you’ve had a rough day?” Mary said, eyeing my drink.
“Georgie wants to go home tomorrow.” Mary didn’t look at all surprised. “You knew?”
“She and Josh were talking about it in the kitchen this morning.”
My mouth fell open. “What? Josh agreed with her?”
Mary pulled a stool closer and sat down. “No, Josh definitely didn’t agree. We both tried to convince her to stay. But she said she was done. Once your heart has been hurt too many times as Georgie’s has been, there’s no going back.”
“Unless we make sure her mind is changed,” I murmured, then grimaced, barley believing the words had fallen from my mouth.
“Yes, that’s an option.” Mary didn’t bat an eyelid. She must have seen and heard everything over her lifetime with Karson. “But it’s not one she will thank you for if she ever finds out. I don’t think a friendship would ever recover from that kind of betrayal, Amy.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. If I didn’t let Karson change her mind then she might die, but if I did and she found out she would hate me. But she would be alive to hate me, at least. “I don’t know what to do.”
Her eyes ran over my face with affection. “You do, you just have to still your mind and listen to your heart.”
I sighed. “That’s easier said than done.”
Rodney’s laughter and voices coming from somewhere in the house cut through the room.
Mary glanced at the open door; her lips thinned. “Let’s hope the prick doesn’t stay too long.”
He probably heard her. I threw my hand over my mouth and chuckled.
Her eyes sparkled. “The cacti of Mexico have nothing on him.”
“Stay for a drink with me?”
She shook her head. “I can’t, I have a room of old farts and a game of bingo calling my name tonight.” She patted my hand. I stifled a gasp; her touch was as cold as a sheet of ice. “I will see you tomorrow.”
I watched her leave. Despite the warmth in the room, a cold rolled over my skin. Throwing down the rest of my drink, I poured another. I felt the vampire behind me, his presence. It was not unpleasant, it tingled like bubbles in champagne.
“I’m looking for Bruce Lee.” His voice like gravel and silk, rocketed to my heart.
I sat completely still, barely breathing, staring into my drink, barely believing. “If you’re looking for him, you’ll need to travel to another realm,” I answered, tears burning in my eyes.
“Did a six-foot-seven basketballer take him out?”
“No,” I whispered, the lump in my throat taking my voice. “He could have handled him pretty easily.”
“Lucky.” His voice slipped to a low growl. “Or a vampire might have had to kick both their asses.”
I couldn’t sit still anymore. I twisted back. He stood just inside the door wearing a long-sleeved white top like an angel sent from heaven. His dark hair had grown and was tousled over his forehead. His eyes glinted like a summer’s ocean.
“Ethan,” I cried, lurching from the stool and throwing myself into his arms. He wrapped them around my back and twirled me around, laughing. When he stopped twirling, we clung to each other, his body warming my skin, his presence warming my heart. I rested my cheek on his shoulder.
“Hello, little witch,” he murmured.
“I missed you,” I breathed, inhaling his sweet, honeyed scent. I didn’t realize just how much I’d missed him until I saw him standing here. Emotion choked my chest and tears of joy slipped down my face. I tried to blink them back, but it was useless and they just kept falling.
Too soon, he pulled back, cupped my cheek in his hands, and studied my face. He feathered the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs. “You look—”
“Like shit,” I finished for him, wiping quickly at my face with my knuckles. Lack of sleep these last few days and crying probably had my eyes looking like a three-part deflated balloon.
He waited for me to still. His eyes locked with mine, the blue in them as deep and mysterious as an ocean. “I was going to say beautiful.”
Even though he was lying, his compliment was sunshine to my veins, and my face flushed with heat. My eyes dropped to the damp patch on the top of his shirt. I wiped at it lightly and smiled. “Don’t even think about cracking a joke about that wet patch I left on you.”
His returning smile lit up the room. “Only in my dreams.”
“They must be good dreams.”
“Oh, trust me, they are.”
We both laughed.
I stepped back and stared at my friend. He looked rugged with a dark shadow on his jawline and his longer dark hair.
The dark shades made the contrasting blue of his eyes stand out, made him look stunning.
Or maybe I just missed him so much my eyes were deceiving me.
“Have you heard Sarah is supposedly here?”
His smile fell. “We had an inkling she’d left Paris. No one had caught sight of her for days. But neither of us thought she’d be stupid enough to come here.”
“Bob?” I asked, stepping away from him and shifting to the bar to sit down.
He perched on the stool next to me. “He’s gone to see Marg.”
My stomach churned for what they must be going through. “She must be beside herself.”
“She is.” He reached over and poured himself a vodka and soda and took a sip, swallowing before he spoke. “They both are.” His sadness, his exhaustion, I saw them in his face, felt them in my veins.
“Did you get to speak to her at all or get to pass information on to her?”
“No. We asked around, told people her father was looking for her, but if anyone managed to talk to her, they didn’t let on.”
“Ethan.” Rodney’s voice turned both our heads. I groaned and rested my elbow on the bar, watching him from the corner of my eye. He stalked across the room, his black jacket nipping at the top of his long, black-laced boots. “It’s good to see you, my friend.”
Ethan shook his hand. “I heard you were in town, it’s good to see you too.” The comment seemed to be genuine. For the life of me, I couldn’t work out why anyone would like the guy.
“You two seem well acquainted,” Rodney said. There was a question in the comment.
“We are. Amy lives with me,” Ethan answered casually.
Rodney’s brows lifted. “Lives with you and not Karson?” The accusation was as obvious as a boner at a tea party. “How interesting.”
“Ethan and I are friends,” I stated. It was the truth; he was my friend—my best friend. “I live with him in Church Heights.”
His gaze drifted lazily between us. “I see, a witch living with not one but two vampires. How does that work exactly, especially when one is Karson?”
I sighed. “Cut it out with your suspicious bullshit. You don’t like me, fine. I have a news flash for you—I can’t stand you either.”
Rodney sneered. “You’re a witch to the core, aren’t you.”
“Takes one to know one,” I retorted.
Karson appeared from nowhere. He didn’t greet Ethan. He’d clearly already seen him. He stepped up to my side so I was flanked by him and Ethan. Karson said nothing; he didn’t need to. I felt his annoyance, but whether it was because he wanted to strangle me or Rodney, I couldn’t be sure.
“How very clichéd,” Rodney droned with a bored flick of his hand. “Surely, you can think of something a little more interesting to reply with?”
“Sometimes the parts we despise in others are merely unhealed parts of ourselves dwelling in our own shadows.”
Rodney huffed a laugh. “I don’t hate the witch inside me, it gives me power, it gives me strength.
” He leaned closer, so close I could smell whiskey and something sweet on his breath, something rusty.
Karson and Ethan both subtly stiffened. Not so subtly that Rodney didn’t notice; a lazy smirk edged his lips.
“Tell me, Amelia, why do you hate the witch inside you so much? What is it you’re hiding from? ”
I picked up my glass and pretended equal boredom. “I don’t.”
He eased back. “But I think you do.”
I shrugged. “I don’t give a fuck what you think.”
“I can answer that for her.” Monique swanned into the room, her brown-heeled boots clicking on the floor. “She’s in love with Karson and she knows of his torrid history with them, so she prefers to pretend she isn’t the very thing he despises.”
Her comment stung like salt rubbed in a wound. I knew Karson loved me. He protected me. But if I could change anything for him, it would be what I was. I kept my face blank, even as the truth burned.
“I have no problem with what I am. I know what’s in my heart, Monique, and I sleep well at night.
” Instantly, I wanted to bite my tongue and tear that last line off.
She knew about my nightmares, and I steeled myself for her smart-ass response where she pointed that out and made me look like a fool.
But she continued across the room, behind the bar, reached into the cooler, unscrewed the top, and began to pour a glass of white wine.
“Now, now, children, I see you haven’t been playing well together while I have been away,” Ethan said, throwing his arm around my shoulders, as if this was nothing more than light-hearted banter.
Karson made a sound that was a cross between a grunt and a growl, as his eyes moved from Rodney to me.
There was no guessing now; I was confident the person he wanted to strangle was me.
“She may be a witch, but unlike most witches, she can’t hide anything.
Amelia struggles to conceal her emotions. ”
“Yes, I see that,” Rodney answered casually as he moved behind the bar and poured a whiskey. “It won’t bode well for you in battle if they can read your every move.”
I wanted to tell him I didn’t want to fight, didn’t want to kill. I just wanted to live with love and peace and a sense of belonging. But he wouldn’t believe me, so I just gave him a tight smile and said nothing.