Chapter 67
Lost Without Him
Istayed at Ethan’s that night, alone, and the night after, and the night after that.
A whole week went by and I didn’t hear anything from Karson.
I didn’t contact him either. My shift at the bar was swapped to a day shift, which, in truth, I preferred.
It gave me more time to talk to the patrons.
Except, he wasn’t there. I trained a lot, but I could barely eat.
The weight fell of me. My heart ached so badly, it hurt just to breathe.
‘When he’s bored of you, he will throw you out like trash.’
And he had. It was so painful, I couldn’t face it. So, I buried it deep.
I came back from a late afternoon jog. Ethan and, to my surprise, Darcy sat on the couch, watching Rambo. Ethan never had visitors other than Dahlia and the vampires. He kept his home as a sanctuary from the busyness of the outside world.
“Hey, Aims.” Darcy glanced up with a big grin.
“Darcy, hi.” I threw him a smile and a quizzical glance at Ethan.
“Darcy came for a visit,” Ethan explained with a bemused grin.
I frowned, noticing a beer in his hand. “And you’re letting him drink?”
Ethan moved his shoulders up with blatant look of indifference. “He’s almost old enough.”
I doubted that. I wasn’t sure why it annoyed me, it wasn’t like I hadn’t started drinking young, but it did. “But he’s not, Ethan, and you’re not his parent, so it’s not your call.”
“Actually, my driver’s licence says I’m twenty-one,” Darcy said flatly, glancing sideways, then his turned his attention back to the screen.
“What, are you saying you are actually twenty-one, Darcy?”
“No, I hacked in and changed the year before they printed it, it’s simple,” he said, taking few chips out of one of the two glass bowls full of chips on the coffee table, popping them in his mouth.
“You hacked in and changed the date, so now all your files say your twenty-one?” I asked, gobsmacked.
He swallowed the chips down. “No, Aims,” he spoke a little slower so I, with my lesser intelligence, might understand.
“I hacked in right before I had to go and get my picture taken and changed the dates. I got my licence, then hacked back in and put the correct date in.” He turned his eyes back to the screen, taking a loud sip of beer.
“Well you still shouldn’t be drinking, Darcy.” I raised my brows. “Ethan.”
Ethan smiled wryly at Darcy. “Someone’s a little cranky.”
Darcy nodded. “She’s got her period, or about to get it. When women get those their oestrogen and progesterone increases, which affects the amygdala in their brain, lowering serotonin and the neurotransmitter GABA which makes them all stressed and quite irritable.”
“I don’t have my period,” I said, exasperated.
“Okay, well it’s coming then,” Darcy said soberly, his eyes not leaving the screen.
Ethan sat forward with a broad grin. He jumped up, throwing his arm around my shoulders.
“I think someone needs to go out and relax instead of moping around. Why don’t you call your friends, and we’ll meet them at the bar.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to go there.”
“Karson is away, Amy.”
I didn’t need to ask where he would be, or what he might be doing. The thoughts hit like pins-pricks in my mind, stabbing me over and over again. Would he just be drinking blood, or more? Would the redhead be there? Suddenly, alcohol with my friends held some appeal.
“Fine,” I relented. I climbed the stairs, and I muttered under my breath. “And I haven’t been moping.” But that was a lie.