Page 58 of Love Bites And So Do I

I didn’t respond, too caught up in my thoughts.

“Isadora?” His tone sharpened.

The worry in his voice snapped me out of it, and I nodded. “Sorry. I zoned out there for a moment.”

“That’s all right,” he replied. “As long as you’re okay.”

I hesitated another moment, then said, “Thank you, Lucien.”

“What for?” he asked, his voice incredulous, as though he truly believed I had nothing to thank him for.

“For the blood? The phone? For helping me?” I rubbed my temple. “All of it, really.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment. I pictured him standing in his office, maybe peering out his window. He couldn’t see my bar from there, but I imagined him looking for it.

“I’ll see you soon, Isadora,” he said at last.

Then the line went dead.

I stared at the phone a moment longer before blacking out the screen. Maybe people didn’t often thank him. I could see that.

I set the phone aside, finished my bottle, then resumed scrubbing out the fridge. There wasn’t much I could control right now—my feelings included—but I could control this. Cleaning would keep me distracted for now.

The rest?

Well, I’d figure all that out in the morning.

Maybe.

Chapter

Seventeen

ISADORA

Thorne released a slow, scandalized whistle as she paced a wide circle around my loft. Much like Lucien had, she paused here and there and clucked under her breath as she assessed the damage.

“What a mess,” she muttered. “You know what pisses me off the most, though? We spent hours cleaning this place. Hours, Isadora. Do you know how long it took me to scrub clean that mysterious stain from the baseboards? And for what? Just so some coward could barge in and trash all our hard work?”

She turned to me, eyes aglow with an unmistakable amber sheen that screamed wolf. “When you find whoever did this, give them to me. I’m not saying I need them for the whole night. But just for like, two minutes. I won’t kill them. Probably. Eh…no promises.”

I raised a brow. Guess Lucien wasn’t the only one feeling a little dramatic. Honestly, their immediate leap to violence warmed my insides. I’d only been in Eternity Falls a few days, and already I had two people ready to commit murder on my behalf. A bit macabre, yes, but also…no one in my old life would have reacted that way. They would have clutched their pearls, whispered, “Why I never,” then spread more gossip from behind their cocktail glasses. It was nice to have people care about me for once.

“You can have ten minutes alone with them,” I assured her. If there was anything left after Lucien got his hands on them.

“Well…” Thorne surveyed the place again, then dug her phone out of her pocket and started scrolling. “This is above my pay grade. Time to call in the big guns.”

“Big guns?” I echoed, only slightly wary.

“My brothers,” she said grimly.

Exactly how many brothers did she have? But the call connected before I could inquire further.

“Ricky,” she sang into the phone in a tone that absolutely screamed mischief. “How would you feel about committing a crime?”

My eyes bulged.

“Oh, nothing big. Nothing felonious. Just some light intimidation, maybe? I mean, if things get rough, well, we’ve buried bodies before.”