Chapter 19 A Vampire, a Nun, & a Jealous Priest #2
A comfortable silence falls between us. While I eat, he sips his coffee.
After a few full and filling swallows, I suck down my water in a couple long swigs and sit back against the booth.
Like a plant left out in the sunshine, I can feel my body soaking up the nutrients and dispersing it everywhere.
I can hardly believe how different I feel now compared to earlier.
“Better?” Gray asks, setting his mug down.
“Mm. I really needed that,” I hum, stretching my arms high above my head. Talk about sore.
“Two vampires fed on you tonight. Of course you needed it.”
I suppress a shiver at the mere mention of it. “How bad is it? This thing with Dante, I mean.”
“Depends.” Gray frowns, but doesn’t evade the question. “He’s always been the jealous type. I’m sure he thinks that you and I are together.”
“But we’re not,” I say too quickly. “Together, like dating, I mean.”
“That doesn’t matter to him.” Gray shakes his head. “He probably scented me on you and assumed the worst. The dead man, though? I’m not sure of his motive.”
“He sounds spiteful.”
“That’s a dangerous understatement.” Gray moves the coffee cup aside and folds himself forward, crossing his arms on the table. “Spiteful is an angry ex locking you out of your home. Dante would lock you in the house and set the whole place ablaze.”
“Oh, so he's fucking psychotic.” Of course Dante would check every single box that would and could make him a hot, but crazy, ex. The burst of energy I had before is gone; I’m tapped out. This has been the most exhausting night of my life.
“Millie, I’m… I’m sorry. I want you to know that.
” Gray bows his head, silver-white hair spilling forward over his arms. I want so badly to reach across the table and run my fingers through it, to feel how feather soft each strand is against my skin.
But I don’t. I pick at a fry and take an absent bite, chewing mindfully.
“It isn’t your fault. I mean, you couldn’t have known that this would happen, right?”
“You’re too forgiving.” He gives a little shake of his head, but doesn’t look up.
“We can handle him,” I say, startled when his head shoots up.
“No.” His voice is cold and harsh. “There’s no reason for you to get involved any more than you already are. I’ll handle him.”
“Seriously?” It wasn’t the response I was expecting, especially when I thought we made some headway tonight. “What is your issue?”
“It’s complicated.” Gray runs a hand through his hair and leans back against the seat.
“I bet it’s not.”
He levels me with his gaze. “I told you before… I don’t get mixed up with mortals.”
“Says the guy who turned my leg into a juice box forty minutes ago.” I squint, scrutinizing him with the full power of my face. He’s trying to pedal backward now. “Be real.”
Speechless, he rubs the back of his neck and groans. “It’s obvious that I’m not the best at controlling myself around you.”
“I’ll say.” I pick up another fry and bite into it heartily. “For someone who doesn’t want to get mixed up with a mortal, you were more than willing to add sex to our deal. Remember?”
“I do.” He flinches at the accusation. If he was alive, then I’m sure all the blood in his body would have turned his face red by now. It’s easy to see that I’ve caught him red-handed, and he’s embarrassed.
“Don’t make this into a thing, Gray.”
He considers me for a long moment, then sighs.
“The night we met, I mistook you for someone else,” he says, brows furrowed. “Do you remember?”
“I do.” How could I forget? It was partly the reason he didn’t kill me. If I'm honest, it still hurts to hear it said aloud. “Francesca, right? What about her?”
“She died, and I blame myself for her death.”
“What do you mean?”
“While I was locked away, she… she tried to help me and it cost her her life. Just like you’re trying to do now.” His entire body is rigid with tension. This isn’t something he’s forgotten about since the tower.
“Gray, that’s not fair! I’m not—” But I trail off. I’m not what? Her? The woman he lost? He knows that, right? He has to know that.
“I know what you’re going to say, but it doesn’t matter.
” He crosses his arms tightly over his chest and bears the full weight of his gaze down on me, like I’m a child being scolded.
“I promised myself that I wouldn’t let it happen again.
And I plan to keep that promise, if only to do good by her memory. ”
Who the hell was she to him, and what the hell does that have to do with me?
“Look,” I start seriously, teetering on the edge of irritation and full-blown anger, “you don’t get to decide where I stick my nose, got it? I don’t need you to babysit me or cover my eyes. If you do that, then I can’t be helpful to you.”
“Good. I don’t need your help.” His tone is stringent and dismissive. “Not with this.”
Brr. That was fucking chilly.
“Fine, be like that.” Two can play at this game. “Let me remind you that we made a deal. You need me as much as I need you.”
His jaw ticks. He doesn’t like that at all, but doesn’t offer a rebuttal. For the moment of silence he’s granted me, I press on.
“Let’s get a few things straight.” My voice sounds harder than I intended, but I have to get my point across.
“Chivalry is dead. Which means I’m not responsible for some vow you made to another woman before I was even born.
It’s my life that’s on the line now, got it?
I’m not going to sit on the sidelines so you can play white knight.
I’ll give as good as I get, and if I go out, then I’ll go out kicking and screaming if I have to. ”
He doesn’t say a word.
“You two save room for dessert?” Our waitress returns, unaware of the apprehension stretched taut between the two of us. She simply refills Gray’s coffee and goes on, “We got plenty of pie. Key lime, pecan, apple, you name it.”
I’m the first to break eye contact as I plaster on my best smile. “No, thank you. Just the check and a box, please.”
“Alright. Be right back, sweetie.” She turns on her heel and leaves without a fuss. I wish it was that easy with Gray.
With a sigh so deep it shakes my ribs, I slump against the booth and pinch the bridge of my nose.
This isn’t the time to be fighting. While I’m wholly terrified of both Dante and my undead stalker, I don’t want to be at odds with Gray.
I would rather be kissing him and running my hands up his shirt, tracing the ridges along his chest and feeling the way I had in the bathroom while he rubbed circles on my naked back.
That felt good. This, though? Not so much.
“Please let me help you, Gray,” I plead one more time.
“If you have to teach me to fight a vampire, then do it. Drink my blood when you need it, whatever it takes, and when it’s all said and done, we can go our separate ways.
You get to keep your promise, and I get to keep my head on my shoulders. Okay?”
The look he gives me is unreadable and just as empty as my words.
Right then, the waitress drops the check off and a box. It’s the longest minute of my life waiting for her to leave again. When she does, Gray finally breaks.
“Fine.” Short, terse, and to the point. It’s all I’m going to get, but at least it’s an answer.
With that out of the way, I drop a few of the bills I stashed in my coat pocket earlier and drop it on the table with the check.
I pack up the cheeseburger and fries, fully intending on taking it back to my room when we get home.
Gray, already standing, offers his hand again to help me out of the booth, and I take it.
He doesn’t look at me, but I don’t need to see his face to guess at what he’s feeling.
Betrayed, annoyed, maybe a little admiring. It’s impossible to know his mind.
Me, on the other hand? I’m a mess. I know I said we could go our separate ways after this, but hearing it aloud?
It was all hollow. Ever since my breakup, I’ve felt like I’ve been going through the motions, trying to build myself back up after crashing to the bottom.
Life after her was anything but normal, but I knew it could never be.
Now, though, it’s starting to feel like my skin finally fits again.
I feel better than better—I feel alive. If a little dose of the strange and unusual was what I needed to light my fire again, then who was I to argue with the universe?
I like Gray. I like him a lot, and if any of what I’m feeling has even a fraction to do with him, then I’m going to hang on for as long as I possibly can.