Chapter 8
I thrust out my hand. “I’m Owen, Jeremy’s new pool guy. Didn’t he tell you?”
The pair of them looked at each other. “He didn’t say anything about a new pool guy,” the big guy grumbled.
“I only started today. Right now, in fact.” I turned to face the pump house and the sprawled-out Theo. “I was just checking the hardness levels, and I found this guy in there. What are the chances?”
“That’s the Witherborne heir.”
“Witherborne who?” I asked, playing dumb. I’d been told, by Bet, that my dumb impression was extremely convincing.
“Lives next door. Why’s he out cold? Did you do that?”
“What?”
“Drugs.” The thin guy butted in, and sniffed.
Big Guy and I both looked over at him.
“What?” Thin Guy said, sounding defensive.
“Nothin’,” Big Guy hedged. “Just wonderin’ how you’d know that, is all.”
“It’s always drugs with that generation.”
“You’re probably right,” I butted in. I poked Theo with my shoe, for show. He didn’t wake. “I should uh . . . take him back next door, maybe? Which way is it?”
“Right over there.” Big Guy pointed toward the Witherborne Mansion’s lights barely visible through the palm trees.
“I’ll tell Mr. Briar about this.” I smiled. “You guys don’t need to worry.”
“So how come you’re checking hardness levels near midnight?” Big Guy asked me, now deciding to be suspicious.
“It’s uh . . . cooler. Perfect time to check the water. Morning water gets hard. You want it soft.” I waffled. “Soft is always better.”
“Not every morning.”
“I like it hard,” Thin Guy said.
Big Guy looked at him. “Don’t say shit like that near me, bro.”
“Like what? Hard water, it’s good for exfoliating. Look at my face, see how clean my skin is. Touch it.”
“I’m not touching your face.”
They finally ambled off, arguing about male skincare products. I made like I was packing up the pool stuff, until their voices had faded.
“Hey . . .” I crouched beside Theo.
Nothing.
A vampire who couldn’t face blood?
Here we go again.
I couldn’t leave him on the neighbors’ property with some kind of family feud going on and Jeremy being the likely murderer. Yet again, Theo Witherborne was a problem I was going to have to clean up to keep both of us out of trouble.
“Saving your fine vampire ass once was unlikely enough,” I sighed. “Twice makes it look like you aren’t even trying.” Weren’t vampires supposed to be all about control and elegance and poise? Why did I have to get involved with the one who was the opposite of all those things?
I grabbed his wrist, pulled him into a sitting position, ducked into his chest, and heaved him off the ground, flopping him over my shoulder. “Carrying your sexy ass home was definitely not in the job description.”
I headed back the way we’d come.
“So, what did we achieve? Not much, honestly.” I mumbled to myself. “We don’t know why Jay was here or why he was killed.”
Theo’s head bumped against my back. His arm dangled, brushing my hip every time I had to twist to maneuver us both through the bushes.
“We learned I can’t say no to you, which is kinda dangerous for a guy in my position. I should definitely ditch you as a client tomorrow.”
But I wasn’t going to, for reasons I wasn’t going to think about while trudging through the neighbors’ gardens.
“We learned their pool is well maintained. And I have a job there now. Hopefully nobody follows that up.” I found the gap in the fence, unceremoniously shoved him through, which took a whole lot of effort and grunting, scooted myself between the bits of old frame, then scooped him up and slung him over my shoulder again.
“We learned you get a lot heavier after being carried for a while.” But I didn’t mind, seeing as he was quiet.
“We also learned that up close, you’re the kind of gorgeous that is not my type. ”
I sighed and stepped around a pile of decorative rocks.
“Who am I kidding? You are so my type,” I said aloud, knowing he couldn’t hear.
“Chaotic, thrilling, funny, unpredictable, sexy as heck. Unreliable, probably sleep around, terrible boyfriend material. Trouble all the way through to the bones. Why can’t I find a nice boring golden boy?
Because it’s boring.” I mocked myself, getting into it.
“You’re going to die on the sexy bad-boy hill, Owen.
” But it would be a hill worth climbing.
During those few moments, when he’d had me stuffed inside the pump house, pushed up close, I’d definitely wanted Theo in multiple ways, all of them sexual. Damn, I’d wanted him so badly that any shred of my common sense had left the chat.
I may have seen some heat in him when he’d looked at me in that shed too. The kind of heat that came from desire, not hunger, or maybe a bit of both. Right before he’d noticed the cut on my arm and passed out.
Scared of blood. I huffed a dry laugh.
That had to be rough for a vampire.
Although, he’d said pre-transition, he could get away with not relying on blood. So things could have been worse for him. Theo had a lot going on, for sure.
Didn’t mean I was falling head over heels for the guy, though. Just because he had a hard time now and then. Everyone did. And yes, I was attracted to him. Because apparently my body liked things that were bad for it. I’d have to work on that.
I finally spotted the Witherborne pool house up ahead and clomped over, into the light. I’d get Theo inside the pool house and wait for him to come around, and we’d chalk this up to a valuable learning experience.
I made it to the sliding doors, and reached out my free hand to open it, the one not holding Theo’s leg.
A swoop of movement tore Theo from my grip and spun me around. My shoulders and head hit the wall of glass, making the window and my skull rattle.
The rest of my senses caught up. Theo’s brother sneered an inch from my face, fangs out, one hand on my chest, pinning me to the pool house’s wall of windows, the other around my throat. I had no idea where Theo had ended up, but I assumed he was still out cold on the ground somewhere.
My heart lodged in my throat and pounded in my head. I clawed at his grip on my throat.
“What did you do to my brother?!”
His hand pushed harder against my ribs, threatening to either cave my chest in or shatter the glass I was pinned against. My heart throbbed, my lungs starved of air.
I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t breathe in to form words.
My mouth opened, closed, opened. I tried to push him off. But he leaned in harder.
He smelled like clean linen, which was weird. Soft and cottony. And not what my brain needed to be focused on. For the first time in years, fear had free rein, and I realized I could actually die here, like Jay had. And nobody would care.
I tried to buck, but his arm pushed in like one of those hydraulic rams.
Bentley’s eyes blazed with ice-cold fury. His fangs gleamed. He wasn’t pretending anymore, this was the real monster. “You have three seconds to tell me, or I’ll tear your throat out, pool boy.”
I can’t breathe to speak!
A lounger chair swung from the left of my vision and smacked into Bentley’s side.
The chair’s flimsy legs bent around him, jolting him off me, and I twisted and bolted into the pool house.
The background music still played, the beers sat on the table.
Weapon! I needed a weapon. Fast! I grabbed a bottle, smashed it, spun, and brandished the jagged edges, expecting to stab Bentley.
But he hadn’t followed me. He’d turned on Theo outside.
“Don’t you fuckin’ touch Owen!” Theo yelled, fangs out too.
I watched through the wall of glass as the two brother circled each other.
Theo didn’t look so good, gray and washed out, a little wobbly on his feet, panting hard.
Bentley, his face illuminated in the pale blue light from the pool, looked exactly like the vampires who weren’t supposed to exist. The ones from old movies, all fangs and glowing eyes.
And the nails . . . His nails had gotten long and clawlike. Theo’s too.
They were going to throw down, and I didn’t fancy Theo’s chances.
“My whole life you’ve ruined everything I’ve enjoyed!” Theo sneered.
“Because you don’t deserve any of it!”
This was bad. Probably. Or the average evening’s entertainment in the Witherborne house. But it looked as though things were about to get vicious, and I did not want to see that.
A distraction.
Something to snap them out of their frenzy. It worked for angry cats, and this showdown gave off the same energy.
I spied the music player, dashed over, ramped the volume up to max, and covered my ears as Rihanna’s “Disturbia” played at ear-bleeding volume. So loud, folks in the bay could probably hear it.
Both vampires covered their ears, and sneered at me, their gazes locking on. Even Theo looked as though he wanted to tear my throat out for interrupting his little sibling fight.
I’d forgotten I was the prey in this scenario.
I turned the volume all the way down, leaving my ears ringing. The brothers glared, breathing hard, but less homicidal.
Working my jaw, I popped my ears. “Are you two done?”
Bentley’s top lip twitched in a sneer at me, then he diverted his glare back to Theo. “Why the fuck was the pool boy carrying your limp body in here?”
Theo’s gaze skipped to me, then quickly back to his brother. “I was high. I passed out.”
“No you weren’t,” I said, putting the broken beer bottle down on the table.
They both looked over at me again. I moved to the doorway and showed them the bloody tear in my sleeve. “I think Theo saw this—”
“It was drugs, Owen,” Theo growled with enough venom in his voice to cut me off.
I blinked and lowered my arm. Right. Okay. The whole “passing out at the sight of blood” thing was apparently a secret. I could have done with knowing that before now, so I didn’t put my foot in it.
“What he’s talking about?” Bentley asked.
“Nothing. Fuck off, Bentley. Why are you even home?”