Page 35 of Inked & Bloodbound
“Oh!” she exclaims, and I hear the relief in her voice. “Yeah, it’s good. Healing well. Actually, do you want to see?”
Before I can answer, she’s standing up and tugging her shirt up to expose the ink. She holds the camisole bunched in one hand, barely protecting her modesty, and traces her fingers along it with the other.
The bottom of her breast peeks out from under the silk, and I almost start salivating. I avert my eyes and swallow. “Any flaking or itching?”
She drops the fabric, her cheeks burning. “No! God, no! Nothing like that. It’s all been perfect.” She settles back on the couch. “You did such a beautiful job; you’re really talented. How did you get into tattooing?”
When you have an eternity, you can master anything. I’d always been drawn to art, even as a boy, but centuries of practice turned natural talent into real skill. Back when I was human, I thought my life would go in a completely different direction—I was studying at the seminary before my father came and turned me. He changed everything.
“There’s no story there,” I say. “I was just good at art and needed a job.”
“Well, you’re damn good at it. I don’t know what my stepdad is going to think about it, though,” she says with a nervous smile. “He always told me not to get one, but I think he’ll be happy once heknows it’s a tribute to Mom. That reminds me, do you have a number or something? So we can text?”
Internally, I groan. I hate the damn things, but I take the cursed device out of my pocket anyway and hand it to her. “You can put your number in here.”
“Great,” she says, tapping on the screen. “I’m going to Pat’s tomorrow, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. So I’ll text you, and we can get together next week or something.”
She’s leaving town? This isn’t good.
I try to keep the irritation out of my voice, but I can hear it bleeding in. “Leaving? When were you going to tell me?”
She reacts to my tone, frowning as she hands me back my phone and shrugs. “I know, and I’m sorry. I know I said I’d help with Megan and everything. It’s just…something weird happened today, and it freaked me out. I was only planning on going to San Antonio for lunch, but I have decided to stay a little longer.”
She pauses and reaches out to lay her hand on my arm like she’s trying to placate me. “I’ll be back and when I am, we can go back to practicing. As long as you need. I really want to help. I just know she’s the key to finding out about my mom’s tattoo, and I’ve always had a thing about waifs and strays.”
“What happened today?” I ask, ignoring her hand stroking my arm.
“I’m probably being a big baby, but I think I was followed home.” She sighs, breaking contact and leaning back. “I know it’s nothing…but I’ve been feeling weird all day. Ever since Paloma gave me that warning, I’ve been on edge.”
As her eyes dart to the window, I cup her cheek and nudge her face towards me so she’s forced to meet my eyes. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
She balks when I touch her face, but she tells me everything. About how she picked up a tail on Sixth and how scared she was. I listen intently as my blood gets hotter and hotter until it’s almost boiling in my veins.
They followed her here, and now they know where she lives. I should have known Lazaro would do this. He must have read my reaction to her back at his office and decided to get one of his little familiars to do his daytime dirty work, knowing he could use her as collateral. Knowing it would affect me.
I take a deep breath. “What can I do? How can I make you feel safe again?”
She laughs. “I hate to let the patriarchy win, but I’d feel a lot safer if there was a guy in the house. I keep a baseball bat in my bedroom, but you’re…what? Six-foot something and pretty jacked. Plus, you’ve got that whole dark-stare thing going on. I think you could probably scare the bad guys away.”
“Done. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“What?” she says incredulously. “I was kidding! I can handle myself.”
She appears defiant, but she’s not convincing, so I insist.
“Seriously, it’s no trouble. I can stay on the couch and keep an eye out. I’ll be out of your hair by morning. It’s probably nothing,” I lie. “But staying at your stepfather’s for a night or two isn’t a bad idea. Until things settle down.”
Her eyes soften, and relief floods her face. “Thank you, Cassini. I really appreciate it.”
I’ve been lying herefor hours, waiting until it’s closer to dawn, listening to every sound in the street. Every creak of the house—quietly seething as I try and make a plan. The only thing that calms me is the steady rhythm of her breathing, the humming of her heartbeat, the knowledge that she’s safe. It’s not a long-term solution, but I’ll take it. She is safe for now. No other vamp can come in here without an invitation, but I still can’t risk leaving her alone, especially as she’s agreed to help.
That takes care of Beau, I guess. I just hope we’ve got enough time to find Megan and free me from this contracted hell. I’ll just have tofigure out what to do with Lily after. I could even bring her with me when I run, take her away and protect her from my kind, but then I’d have to tell her what I am. She’s bound to find out eventually, but I want to keep the secret for just a little while longer. For the first time in a long time, I feel like a man. Not just a monster.
I jolt when I hear a noise upstairs, ready to leap into action, but it’s just her soft footsteps padding across the hardwood floor, so I settle back down on my back with my legs partially hanging off the end of her tiny couch.
When I open my eyes, she’s standing beside the couch in an oversized Def Leppard T-shirt that falls to mid-thigh, her honeyed hair tangled from tossing and turning.
“Can’t sleep?” I ask.