Page 107 of Broken Souls

“This? It’s a phone call. It’s what happens when you –”

“Aleric.”

“Oh, that. He’s a vampire with a tiny, tiny cock, but gods, does he know how to use it. Just ask your –”

I hang up, take a deep breath, and do my best to calm down while I wait for him to call back. But it’s not even six o’clock in the fucking morning. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I am a fucking mess because Micha gave me a sliver of hope that we were healing last night, only for her to shut me out again.

As I look at my haggard eyes in the mirror, I tell myself it’s still progress though. She talked to me, and she only

yelled a little. We even managed to find a middle ground. So eventually, we’ll get through this.We have to.

I finish toweling myself off. Aleric still hasn’t rung back, but as much as I want to believe he’s just being a massive jackass because that’s who he is, I know he isn’t. There’s always a method to his madness. So I snatch up my phone and call him back despite knowing that’s what he wants. The action seems weak, almost like an apology, and it irritates every inch of my body to do it, but he either has news about Antonio or Talon, and I want to know both.

“What news do you have for me?” I ask, my voice calm and flat.

“Oh my gods!” Aleric says as if he’s a New Jerseyan gossiping at a hair salon he often visits. I put the phone on speaker and half-zone him out while I brush my teeth. “So Vlad finally went on a date last night, but not, like, with one of the vaginas I keep trying to set him up with. So obviously I wanted to know who the fuck he was seeing and why Margo from the cemetery or Daisy from the pound wasn’t good enough for him. Like, those bitches are so right for him. So obviously I, like, followed him, but he caught me and threw me against the wall and told me to mind my own business. Which is rude, right? But also, like, really fucking hot. I’m not gonna lie. I got rock hard. But then he phased away, and I lost him. Buuuuut I still did manage to come, so I guess it wasn’t a terrible waste of a night.”

I frown, wondering if it was Rudy he was meeting.My brother did go out last night, but he came back around ten o’clock. Bit early for a secret fling...

“And then there’s Cara Jervis. I’ve been trying to set that boo up for a while too because she has a terrible taste in men. Like Leno is ew.”

Leno?

I perk up at that. If I offer her a marriage with him, can I steal her from Aleric? She’d be a great asset to this Family, and she has to be fucking tired of working with him.

I spit and rinse my toothbrush.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong. He’s kind of hot with those scars across his face, and yeah, the tall, chiseled, dark haired guy is all the rage at the moment,I guess,but like, he uses a dog to see. Can you imagine him giving oral?”

“I’d rather not.” I flick my toothbrush and then put it away.

“Like, whose head is between her legs, you know?”

“I don’t think it works like that,” I say as I start to get dressed.

“So youhavethought about this?”

Irritated, I ask, “What do you want?”

“Oooh, you buying me presents already? In that case, I’m going to email you my TBR. One sec.”

I breathe out heavily as actual hold music comes on the line. After shoving my legs into a pair of shorts, I leave the bathroom with my phone in my hand.

Micha is still asleep, lying horizontally on the top of the bed. I stretch my back as I watch her, a weightless feeling expanding across my chest.

At least in her dreams, she doesn’t look so miserable.

Heading over to the bedside table, I pick up the empty glass and fill it with water from the bathroom sink. Then I grab a bar of chocolate from my stash and place it beside it before walking downstairs to get her an orange. I never see her eat them, but sometimes I find the wrappers and peel in the trash can.

After I place the orange down on the table, I stroke my fingers across her shoulder. She moves away from me, and I pull back, my throat tightening. Leaving her, I head for my office so I don’t disturb her sleep.

“Okay. Sent,” Aleric says just as I sit down in my new desk chair. “And like, Iknowthere are thousands on there, but IswearI’m going to get to them all one day.”

My phone beeps with a new email alert. I swipe away the notification without opening it.

“So anyway,” Aleric says, his voice changing to a more serious note. “I need to go take a shit.”

My jaw clenches.