Page 31 of Bitten By Desire (Crooked Point #1)

Tuesday

“Did you get the pocket watch?” Zoey asked as I hurried over to her and Callum.

I shook my head. “It wasn’t on him.” It wasn’t technically a lie.

The watch hadn’t been on Bennett. It was in his desk drawer.

But I didn’t want to talk about this with Callum.

I needed some time alone with Zoey to sort through all the thoughts colliding in my head.

Right now I could barely even look at him.

He’d told me Bennett used the watch all the time.

That he used it on me. And it didn’t seem like that was the case at all.

“Are you sure if wasn’t on him?” Zoey said.

“Positive.”

“Well, how thoroughly did you search him? Both front pockets? Both back ones?” She grabbed her butt like I didn’t know what back pockets were.

“Of course.”

“And you went deep enough? All the way down?”

“I know how pockets work.”

“Oh, did he get suspicious after your striptease? Or was it the fact that you only took his pants off during it? Because I told you to take his shirt off first…”

“I didn’t take his pants off.”

“What? Emma, that was a key part of the plan.”

Her plan. Not mine. “I told you I wasn’t doing any of that.”

“Then how did you distract him? ”

I could feel Callum’s eyes burning into me.

I wasn’t going to tell him about kissing Bennett.

Or the fact that I’d touched Bennett’s penis.

Or the fact that I was really freaking confused right now.

“Look, I’m exhausted. I barely slept at all last night.

I desperately need a nap. We’ll figure out another plan later, okay? ”

Zoey shook her head. “You should have just followed my plan. But let’s go get you a nap. Because we’re going to need to strategize the rest of the day now. I’ll give you two a moment.”

I turned to finally meet Callum’s gaze.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”

“I’m just tired. Someone kept me up most of the night.” I tried to smile, but I knew it probably looked forced.

He definitely wasn’t buying my fake cheeriness. “Did he hurt you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I really am just tired.”

“Okay.” He reached out and touched the side of my face. “You’d tell me if it was something else, right?”

He could definitely tell I was lying. But I nodded anyway.

He dropped his hand. And it felt like he was slipping away from me. I didn’t want that.

I believed Callum.

But I believed Bennett too.

And I knew one of them was lying. I just needed to figure out which one.

Callum cleared his throat. “I have a few showings this morning and afternoon. I’ll text you when I’m done and we can figure out another plan to get the watch back.”

“Sounds good. ”

We stood there awkwardly for a moment. His eyes fell to my lips. Which I’m sure were swollen from my heated kiss with Bennett. He knew. Of course he knew.

And my eyes fell to his left elbow that was covered with his shirt and jacket. Was there really a scar there? I couldn’t exactly just ask him to strip in the middle of Main Street. I needed a whole new plan for that.

“Um…later,” I said and hurried off after Zoey. Later? God, that was so awkward.

“Are you okay?” Zoey asked. “You look a little pale.”

Why did everyone keep saying that? Of course I was pale. I felt physically sick. How had I gotten tangled up in all this?

I looked over my shoulder to make sure Callum was far enough away from us. “Zoey, the pocket watch was in Bennett’s desk drawer. Not in his pants. He doesn’t keep it with him all the time. He wasn’t manipulating us at all.”

“So he didn’t have it on him when he convinced us that Callum was a vampire?”

Shit. “I didn’t think to ask that.” I’d been more concerned about asking him about the Ferris wheel and office incidents.

“But he said it again. While the watch was on his desk. And he said he didn’t know why the golden pen didn’t burn Callum last night.

But that it definitely burned his skin ten years ago.

Right here.” I pointed above my left elbow.

“Well then you already know if Bennett’s telling the truth. When you were banging Callum on the couch last night, he took his shirt off, right? Did he have a scar or not? ”

I hadn’t told her that we’d had sex. Why did she just assume that? Probably because I’d had sex with Callum after just a few minutes when I first met him. And because I’d been in love with him ever since. “I didn’t have sex on your couch. What kind of terrible house guest do you think I am?”

“What? You didn’t have sex with him last night? Then you are a terrible house guest.”

I wasn’t following her logic. I sighed. It probably had something to do with the fact that she wanted me to stay in town forever. “I did have sex with Callum. Outside. In your back yard.”

She smiled. “All is forgiven then.”

Okay…

“So did he have a scar or not?”

“He didn’t take his shirt off. It was spur of the moment. And I certainly wasn’t staring at his elbow while we were having sex under the moonlight. That would have been weird.” It had been romantic. And so freaking dirty.

“Why would that have been weird? Elbows are right above the forearms. And men’s forearms are so freaking sexy. Especially when they roll up their sleeves of their dress shirts. Yum.”

“Zoey, focus.”

“I am focused. Wait, so are you not actually tired? Because I’m kind of dying for a coffee right now.”

“No, I’m not tired.” I couldn’t possibly sleep. I’d just end up staring at the ceiling again.

She pulled me into the coffee shop where I’d first met Bennett. I stared at the éclairs as we ordered our coffees. That size was actually pretty spot on .

“And one éclair,” Zoey said and pointed to the biggest one. The exact one I’d been staring at.

“Oh, I don’t need that.”

“We’ll share it. Besides, you’re practically drooling over it.”

I am not.

We sat down and each took a sip of coffee. I probably didn’t need caffeine either. I was already jittery. But we’d come up with tons of amazing caffeine fueled plans in the middle of the night in college. We did our best thinking on coffee.

“So if you didn’t do the strip show thing, how did you feel up Bennett’s pants?”

“I just…kissed him.”

She raised her eyebrows at me.

“And he mistook me rummaging around in his pockets as bad aim.” I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “He put my hand on his éclair.”

“Tell. Me. Everything.”

“That is everything.”

“What? No. I mean, like how big are we talking?”

I nodded to the éclair on the table.

“Really? I kind of thought he’d exaggerated a bit. Most guys do. But damn.” She lifted up the éclair. “Wow. I really didn’t see this coming. What was the grooming situation down there?”

“It was over the pants.”

“Interesting. He probably wasn’t even fully erect then. It could have been even bigger.” She stared down at the éclair with stars in her eyes.

Okay, this was really off topic. “Zoey, one of them is lying. And I don’t know which one. What do I do?”

“You keep dating both. ”

“I can’t keep dating both. That’s not my thing.”

“Why not?” She took a bite of the éclair and some of the yellow filling dribbled down the side of her chin. “I love when that happens.” She licked it off with her tongue. “Sorry, we really should have gotten two of these.”

“So that you could double fist them?”

She shrugged. “Wait.” She swallowed down her bite. “Hold everything. You’re brilliant. Do that.”

“Do…what?”

“Bang them both at the same time. Then you’ll know for sure which one you prefer. Or you’ll just decide to keep both.”

Keep both? “They’re grown men. Not pets.”

“You’re so weird.”

“Me?” I couldn’t help but laugh as she took another messy bite. “Zoey, seriously. I don’t know what to do. Bennett really is convinced that Callum is a blood sucking vampire. But he also admitted that he robs banks. And that he has another secret he wants to show me tonight.”

“Well, then what are we even talking about? You just gotta go see what his other secret is tonight.”

“But what if he like…murders me or something? Are you forgetting about the fact that there’s a serial killer loose in this town?”

She laughed. “Honestly, I did kind of forget that.”

“What if it’s him? What if that’s his secret?”

“Bennett doesn’t need to murder hot girls. He can get whoever he wants. Especially with his…you know…” she glanced down at the éclair in her hand.

“I feel like this whole conversation has been about Bennett’s dick. ”

“And I feel like I didn’t get a good enough description.”

If I was holding the éclair I would have thrown it at her by now. “It was huge. What else do you want me to say? Zoey, this isn’t a game. Bennett might be a serial killer. And Callum might be a vampire.”

“Actually, I think I have it all figured out.” She finally set the éclair down.

“You had a dream about Callum sucking on your neck. And a bunch of random theories about that. But it was really Bennett who convinced us it was true. I thought it was because of the pocket watch controlling our minds, but you said he said it again today. So Bennett like reeeeaaally believes in vampires. So there’s only one logical conclusion. ”

I waited. But she didn’t continue. “Which is?” I took a sip of my coffee.

“It’s so obvious. Bennett is trying to take the heat off himself. Because he’s the vampire.”

I almost spit out my coffee. Wait. Huh. “That somehow makes a lot of sense.”

“I know, right? It’s so obvious. And he’s really close with all his friends. Emma, I bet they’re all vampires. Do vampires usually travel in packs like that?”

I nodded. “I think I heard that somewhere. Oh my God, and he said to meet him after the sun sets tonight. And that he could show me his secret.”

Zoey clapped her hands together. “They probably lose control under the moonlight or something. Or turn into bats? Or sleep in coffins. Either way, we know vampires love the dark. And you just said that you and Callum had sex under the moonlight. He’s not the vampire. He never was. Bennett is.”

“He’s going to kill me tonight. ”

“No. He’s not. You’re going to kill him.” She pulled out the wooden spatula from her purse.

“Why are you still carrying that around?”

“Because I haven’t trusted anything that anyone’s said. And I’m not about to be bitten by a vampire.” She handed it to me. “Oh, and you’ll need this too.” She pulled out a garlic clove. And a container of garlic powder. She tossed them at me.

“Garlic powder?” I balanced all the items in my arms.

“Yup. Put a little in your fist so that you can blow it right in his face. He’ll never even get close enough to bite you when you do that.”

Wow, that was a really good idea. I looked down at the items in my arms. Or was I really just sleep deprived? And confused?

Because suddenly I was a vampire hunter? “I can’t kill Bennett. He’s a good guy. Maybe. And we didn’t get our money out of the bank yet.”

“Eh, I was freaking out about nothing. I saw him put the code into the vault yesterday. After we get rid of him and his traveling band of vampires, we can just go into the vault and take all those relics. I bet they’re worth a fortune.”

“You want to rob their bank?”

She shrugged. “You can’t steal what’s already been stolen.”

I wasn’t sure if that’s how anything worked. But for some reason all her logic seemed very sound to me right now. “I feel like we’re going to wind up in prison somehow.”

“Officer Davis would never arrest me for reals.”

“So…just for like sex stuff? ”

She shrugged. “Let’s keep brainstorming though. Because it really seems a shame to drive a wooden stake through someone’s heart when that someone has such a magnificent cock.”

“Good point.”

She pulled a flask out of her purse and put some into her coffee. “Want some more?”

I just stared at her and then down at my cup. “This coffee is spiked?”

“Yeah, we always spiked it in college and came up with our best ideas.”

“I never knew it was spiked!”

“Really?” She laughed. “How did you not realize that? Seriously, almost every time.”

“It’s not even 10 am!”

“I know. All our ideas would have been terrible if we were sober. Good thing I always carry a flask in my purse. Or we’d never have figured out that Bennett is the vampire.”

I found myself nodding along. “So true. Cheers.” I lifted my coffee cup. It was empty. But I didn’t feel confused at all.

I tapped it against Zoey’s cup.

She nodded.

And I nodded. We knew what was going on. Bennett was the vampire. And I was going to blow garlic powder all over his perfect face.