Page 21 of Bullets and Blood (Hunting Hearts #1)

Chapter Eighteen

Nix drove the car. It had been a while, but it was nice to pretend life was normal. He wanted to squeeze every drop until the illusion ran dry. He took the back roads, narrow roads that cross-crossed the region barely wide enough for two cars to pass. He drove too fast but didn’t care.

As much as Nix didn’t want to admit it out loud, he was enjoying playing the tourist couple.

Ridiculous because they were neither tourists nor a couple.

But when he looked at Lance, he didn’t like the way something softened within him as though all the careful walls he’d built were made of nothing more than sand, and they were disintegrating under the first wave.

For the first time in his life, he wondered what it would be like to eventually age, to lose his blood hunger and die in his sleep instead of dying violently the way he’d always expected.

To have lived a life with someone who knew not just the bits that were suitable for public consumption but the horror as well.

Someone like Lance. Living that long was such an absurd idea that he couldn’t really imagine himself being old or happy.

Lance gripped the door as a ute went by. “Can you not flirt with death while I’m in the car? If you crash, the insurance is under my name.”

Nix tossed him a grin. “I want to show you something. A dream that could be a plan.”

He turned left, kicking up gravel, and then stopped at a gate that had seen better days. Unlike the other wineries that were open for tastings and lunch, this one was closed. A weathered for sale sign hung off the gate.

“It’s not open.”

“I know.” He’d found it by accident riding around one night when he couldn’t sleep.

It was well out of his price range—like most things—without Hadley money, but he could still dream.

Camping gear was one thing; buying property was another.

“I thought in Reid territory, I might get the chance to actually live again. Get my inheritance and start over.”

He’d begged for their intervention when he’d first crossed into their territory and had been curtly told no.

The Reids wouldn’t want a war with the Orlans, he understood that, but the bitterness remained.

He’d come so close to having what he wanted, only to have it snatched away.

It wasn’t Lance’s fault, and he liked him too much to blame him.

But he wanted Lance to know that he wasn’t the man in the dossier.

He wanted more than blood and sleepless nights.

“You want to buy this place,” Lance said.

“Yeah.”

Lance stared out the windscreen. “Looks fairly run down.”

“It is. I might have jumped the fence one night and had a look around.”

“You like to make plans.”

“Always.” It was all he’d had for years. Though most were only dreams, not plans.

“If you’ve got the money, why not buy something that doesn’t look like it’s falling apart?”

“Because I want to build something. I want it to be mine. I’ll go to uni, and I’ll learn how to make wine and?—”

“And you’ll have the life that was taken.” Lance scowled as if not really understanding. “You really wanted out of the family business?”

“Yes. That’s what I said.” And Lance had thought him a liar all this time? “I’m good for more than murder and fucking.”

Lance shot him a glare. “I didn’t say that you weren’t.”

“You didn’t need to.” He reversed out of the driveway.

He’d shown Lance his deepest desire, and Lance hadn’t been excited.

He barely believed that Nix could be something other than what he’d been made into.

Nix wanted his walls back so he could hide behind them.

He wasn’t brave like he’d once been. He knew how bad a broken heart hurt.

This time, he wouldn’t be alive long enough for it to heal.

* * *

Lance wasn’t sure if Nix was trying to give him a heart attack or if he always drove like he wanted to be pulled over for speeding, driving recklessly, and half a dozen other charges.

The winery Nix wanted was a dump. He’d tried to say it nicely, but Nix hadn’t taken it well.

Having spent the last three days together, Nix had only three settings: smiling and impossible to resist, distant and morose, or dangerous, like trying to handle a pissed-off tiger snake.

He also hadn’t slept through a single night, always ending up on the sofa or an armchair with a knife in his hand as though he could fight the ghosts that wouldn’t let him rest.

Lance sucked in a breath as a tourist bus passed them with what had to have been only millimeters. “Maybe I should drive?”

Nix grinned. “I haven’t driven for years. Let me have this fun.”

Lance debated if he should press to get the keys back, but Nix’s smile was returning, and he didn’t want to waste it. “Why didn’t you drive.”

“There was an incident.”

That wasn’t in the dossier. “How many people died?”

Nix glared at him. “Not because I had an accident. But afterward, I wasn’t even allowed to drive myself to the beach at night.”

“To surf and play with the sharks?”

“Yeah. I can’t surf during the day. The sunscreen washes off too fast. Besides that, I think my mother liked to make sure I had someone with me just in case…”

Lance hated to say it but had to. “In case you were the target for one of us?”

He nodded. “There were three attempts.”

“Because you were her son or because you were so efficient?”

“I don’t know, both? How many times has someone tried to kill you?”

“Today, I think about four times.” His foot pressed the floor, wishing he had a brake.

Nix skated through the stop sign and around the corner.

“I’m sorry I said mean things about your winery.

But please slow down. If you get arrested, who’s going to bail you out and make sure the cops don’t jail you? ”

“I’ll ensorcell his pants off, and he’ll be thanking me for stopping and cuffing him to the fence.”

The way Nix said it, as though he was sure it would work, made Lance take his eyes off the road. “You’ve done that, haven’t you?”

“Maybe…but if it happened, I would’ve also gotten into huge trouble at home and had to promise never to cuff a cop to a fence again.”

“And if you had allegedly done that, what was the punishment?” Lance closed his eyes as they swept around a blind corner.

“Relax, my reflexes are so much faster than yours,” Nix said with a laugh.

“How much faster?”

“You know when a ball is coming toward you, and you need to catch it? It’s more like the ball is landing in my hand.”

“You’re also very good at changing the topic.”

“Clearly not that good. Vampires heal fast, so punishments were physical. I put the family in danger. I learned my lesson. I also had to apologize to the cop.”

“Oh God…was your mother trying to put you in prison?”

“No, she just wanted me to realize I couldn’t treat humans like toys. It worked out fine. I dated the cop for nearly a year, much to my mother’s chagrin.”

“Did he not realize who you were? Did you keep him ensorcelled?”

“There’s plenty of non-vampire Hadleys. And no.

I don’t like my lovers ensorcelled; I’d much rather them be open about what they want instead of having to trick it out of them.

” Nix swerved to avoid a snake making its way across the road.

“I ended it with him after the Flinders Street Station incident.”

“Because he knew?”

Nix shook his head. “Because I liked him, really liked him. But that evening, I was in the war room, dealing with the fallout, and he’s messaging me the things he’s going to do to me when I get over.

” He smiled. “Penalties for being late. And I realized that I would destroy him. He was a good cop, honest, and the system hadn’t gotten to him.

But being involved with my family would make him dirty, and I couldn’t do that. ”

“What happened?”

“I went around there and let him keep his promises, and then kissed him goodbye. I told him I was one of those Hadleys. The look in his eyes…” His voice caught, and the car fell silent.

Lance didn’t know what to say at Nix’s obvious heartbreak.

He’d never tried to date a human—but he hooked up with plenty.

Blooded vampires didn’t associate with the unblooded in his family, and even then, he didn’t want to be dicking around with distant cousins.

“I can’t believe you dated a human, a cop. It was him you made forget.”

“It was too long for him to forget. I just muddied some of the memories. My mother was right, but she had the grace not to tell me until I was acting as though I’d put my heart back together.” Nix took his eyes off the road for three terrifying seconds. “Not in your file?”

Lance shook his head. So much was missing from Nix’s dossier, or at least the one he had access to. While Nix had verified some of the information, he hadn’t volunteered much extra. In contrast, the Hadley dossier on him was accurate. But then, there wasn’t much to tell. “Where are we heading?”

“The maze, like we planned.” Nix glanced at him and grinned, fangs out. “I’m going to give you a five-minute head start. I think it’s my turn to chase you.”

“And when you catch me?” Lance’s heartbeat quickened.

“I’ll show you what I did to the cop while he was cuffed to the fence.” Nix grinned, the tips of his fangs visible.

Lance could already imagine. “You know there’s no incentive for me to actually get away.”

“The longer it takes me to find you, the longer it will last.”

“Just so we’re clear, there’s no pain involved?”

“My cop enjoyed himself very much—he’d fantasized about someone wanting to get out of a ticket in that way for a while. Not that he’d ever planned to go through with it.” Nix’s fangs glinted in the sunlight. “Deal, or do you not want to get blown in public?”

Lance’s heart stopped. He did, and he liked the idea of Nix chasing him a little too much. “You’re trying to get us both arrested, aren’t you?”