Chapter Nine
After lying in bed all day, trying and failing to sleep, the very last thing Verity wanted to do was go to the Exchange for her support group. After the things she’d seen, the biting and kissing, the blood, how was she supposed to go to the group as if nothing had happened?
Theo’s warning rang in her ears.
I don’t know if I can fix this.
She had seen things she shouldn’t have, and if Theo couldn’t fix it, then what?
We’ll talk Monday.
Monday? She couldn’t wait until Monday! She had questions now!
Just act normal.
Well, normal meant going to her support group. So she went, and she really wished she hadn’t. The second she walked through the door the cool kids pounced on her. Laughing and joking and teasing.
“So,” Adam sang, elbowing her in the ribs. “Where did you and Theo sneak off to this morning?”
Verity blushed. She didn’t know why, they hadn’t done anything, but the implication alone was enough to heat her cheeks.
“You naughty girl,” Adam giggled and Sienna rolled her eyes.
“Ignore him, Verity. He’s still on one,” she said.
“Am not!” Adam laughed, smile crinkling his bright eyes.
“We were just having some drinks for his birthday,” Verity said.
“If you insist! But I saw the way he looked at you! Bet he ate you alive!”
“Adam! Take a breath!” Sienna snapped and Adam clamped his mouth shut. “Go sit down,” she told him. He did and Verity couldn’t decide whether she was relieved or horrified that he’d followed her order without question.
Sienna watched him go before turning to Verity. The others were still milling about, being loud and obnoxious. Same as every week. But not Sienna. Never Sienna.
“It’s like herding cats,” she said to Verity with a smile.
“They are a little wild,” she agreed.
Georgie sat next to Adam; the two started chatting and she looked… fine. Better than fine. She looked great, happy and smiling, practically glowing. Verity couldn’t take her eyes off the girl.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Sienna said. “They feed from us all the time, that’s why we’re here. We all do it but seeing other people… it’s different.”
Verity turned to her. “Yeah, wasn’t sure what to expect,” she admitted.
Sienna smiled. “Harris doesn’t like it either, public feeding. He prefers it more… intimate.”
Verity didn’t know if they were still talking about feeding but nodded anyway.
“Would everyone like to take a seat!” David called, and everyone shuffled over to the circle of chairs.
Chairs screeched on the polished wood as the group settled and Sienna told Georgie to move so that she could sit next to Verity. The redhead happily obliged. David’s smile was more forced than normal as he watched before meeting Verity’s eye and nodding.
He knew? It had barely been twelve hours, and he already knew she had been to the club. Shit! She quickly ran through what little she had said to Sienna, wondering if any of it was incriminating, if her every move was going to be reported to Phoenar only knew who.
Her heart raced. She had learnt early on that this group wasn’t really for sharing and gods she hoped no one asked her anything.
Panic had her scanning the circle and freezing when she found Mike staring at her. Watching her. Great. No doubt Mike now thought the real reason he was given a new client was so she and Theo could fuck. She squeezed her eyes shut at the thought.
For some reason it worried her more for Theo’s sake than her own. Her reputation was already in tatters, but if her actions somehow besmirched his name? If he had to pay the price for her… recklessness? Verity wouldn’t forgive herself.
David gave his little speech like he always did. Then a few donors took turns sharing dull, pointless stories, but it was all white noise. None of it mattered. Verity only sat in silence, waiting for it to be over.
When David finally asked if anyone had anything to add, and no one spoke up, he thanked the group for coming, and Verity breathed a sigh of relief.
“When are you at the club again?” Sienna asked her, as they left.
Verity shrugged. “I don’t know, depends on Theo.” Never, hopefully.
Sienna grinned. “He’s got a bossy streak, hey?”
“Don’t they all?” Verity laughed as they reached the door and stopped dead.
The usual row of blacked-out sports cars and SUVs lined the street outside, and right in the middle, leaning against his four-by-four, was Theo.
A cluster of humans loitered on the benches that lined the street. They had jeered and shouted at her when she arrived, the usual donor/slut shaming that she had become accustomed to. Now they fell silent. Watching the donors exchange goodbyes before heading to their waiting rides.
“Is that what he’s like at home?” Sienna asked, watching Theo. “All hot and brooding?”
Verity didn’t trust herself to answer as she took him in. He was hot. The suit always got her flustered but there was something about the crisp polo shirt he wore, buttons undone and sleeves tight over biceps she had never noticed. It heated her blood.
He was also brooding.
“Only when I’m in trouble.” Verity scowled and Sienna gave her a tight-lipped smile.
“Well, don’t have too much fun,” Sienna said, but there was something in her voice. A seriousness that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Was Sienna trying to warn her?
“See you next week,” Verity said, heading for the car.
Theo didn’t say anything as she approached, only opened the passenger door in silent command. It would have irritated her if not for the relief in seeing him. Thank the gods she didn’t have to wait until Monday.
He didn’t smile though. Didn’t offer a hand or warmth as she climbed in, no comfort. He was still angry.
Buckling her seatbelt, she watched him move around the car and… fuck, waving to Mike. Another reason for the other donor to hate her.
Theo slid into his seat, started the engine and pulled out, not saying a word. It only took a moment for Verity to realise they weren’t heading for her house.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To talk,” he said.
“Where?”
“Not far.”
So, she sat in silence, waiting, until he pulled the car onto a narrow lane on the edge of a country park and found a lay-by. It was dark outside, pitch black. No streetlights, no people or houses. Nothing.
“Where are we?” She couldn’t bring herself to be scared of Theo; she trusted him too much, but he was still a vampire. And she had disobeyed him.
“Lovers Lane,” he said and Verity cocked an eyebrow. “A bit on the nose but we need to make a point.”
“We do?” she asked and he turned to her.
Frosty blue eyes bore into her, cold in both colour and expression. During donation, Verity had become accustomed to being close to him, but this felt different, trapped in the car before him. Truly alone. “You want people to believe that we’re…”
“Having sex,” he finished, making the idea sound more clinical than passionate. “How about I talk and do questions at the end?”
Though framed as a question, it wasn’t. So, Verity nodded, lacing her fingers on her lap.
Theo straightened his shirt, settling in his seat, readying himself for an uncomfortable conversation.
“So, clubs like SubRosa…”
“There are others?” Verity asked, and Theo shot her a glare. Questions at the end.
“Yes, most cities have one or two. The point of them… do you ever go out for dinner with friends?” he asked.
Verity nodded, she used to. Now at most she’d get a takeaway with Cora after closing the cafe, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Well, that’s the point of the clubs. When we… feed, it’s something we are expected to feel ashamed of among humans. Something we have to do behind closed doors. Sometimes… it sounds crass and I apologise for that…”
“It’s okay,” Verity said, and she meant it.
“Sometimes we want to enjoy a meal with friends too.” He looked away as he said it, like it really was something to be embarrassed of.
“I can understand that, but that club…”
“That’s what it was supposed to be,” he said.
“What it once was, but people take things too far. Also,” he ran a hand through his hair, “human-vampire relationships weren’t always…
frowned upon. The whole reason we started discouraging them was to stop things like this happening.
To stop donors being taken advantage of. ”
“Hold up,” Verity said, raising her hands. “You say we like you personally decided to discourage it.”
He looked up as if seeing the stars through the car roof, brows scrunched. “I was part of the decision-making process.”
“To tell us all that vampires and humans can’t be together?
” She could hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth.
She had been trying her damnedest to stay away from him after spending a lifetime being told that such things were wrong, only to learn that the whole thing was propaganda made up by the very guy she was crushing on.
He shrugged and Verity crossed her arms with a huff. “You’re a dick.”
“I was trying to protect you,” he beseeched. “I was trying to protect all humans.”
She was showing her hand, but she didn’t care. If he didn’t know how she felt by now, then he really was an idiot. “Have you had relationships with humans before?” He looked away again and she scoffed. “Fucking hypocrite.”
“They never end well, Verity. Never. I’d never be able to give you children. I couldn’t grow old with you…” he paused. “Hypothetically.”
She glared at him, pouting.
Theo cleared his throat and said, “It wouldn’t end well.”
This wasn’t why she was there, as much as she wanted to understand why he felt the need to discourage human-vampire relationships. Lines were crossing and overlapping, and they were getting off topic.
“The clubs take it too far,” she reminded him.
“Yes,” he said, sounding relieved for the reminder. “Things get out of hand. Standards are lowered and normalised. It can be a dangerous place to be, and just as dangerous to know about.”
“So, I’m in danger because I know too much,” Verity said. Wonderful.
“You’re in danger because everyone knows that you know too much, and because you have a history of making a statement.”