Page 66 of Vampires, Whiskey, and Southern Charm

I grabbed Betsy and headed inside.

“Hello, Masie.” Stark sat on the sofa, watchingAntiques Roadshow.

“Ah hell. What are you doin’ here, Stark?”

Stark flicked a finger at the TV. “This man found a clock in his attic. Can you believe it’s four hundred years old? How does such a treasure arrive unknowingly to a person’s attic? I smell fraud.”

“Whatthe fuckare you doing here?” I repeated.

“I thought you did not cuss.”

He must’ve heard me say something about that once, though I couldn’t remember the last time I mentioned it to anyone. My good-girl days were over.

“Yeah, well, I thought vampires only lived in books. How fucking wrong was I?”

Stark glanced over his shoulder in my direction. “Come. Sit. We have much to discuss.”

“I’m just fine right here.” I flicked off the safety on my shotgun.

“Tsk, tsk, woman. By now you should know that won’t stop me.”

“But it could slow you down. What do you want, Stark?”

“To talk,Mrs. Stark. I believe I just said that.”

I hated how he’d called me that. I would never accept my marriage to his brother as valid. “Then talk.”

He sighed with exasperation and stood. He went to the fridge, poured a glass of white wine, and set it on the counter. “I brought you this. It’s from my collection. A 2019 Vouvray with notes of figs.”

“I don’t want your fancy fig wine.”

“It’s from grapes. It only tastes like—you know what? Never mind. Just drink it,” he commanded.

“No.”

“You’re going to need it,” he said.

Oh no. What now?I took the wine, gulped it down, and set the empty glass on the counter. Tasted nothin’ like figs.Figment of his imagination maybe.

“How thefuckcould you marry him?” Stark roared, shedding his calm façade.

That was why he was here? To berate me over that bastard Lazlo?

He went on, “You had to know I’d find you after they took you. Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“How the hell could I’ve known that?” I barked back.

“Because you are mine!” he yelled, pounding a fist on my counter. The tile shattered beneath his fist.

“No. I’m not. And for your information, that asshole had my sister. I had no choice.” I looked away, refusing to cry.

“Did he fuck you? Did you enjoy it?”

Rage filled every corner of my mind. How dare he ask that? His brother had done horrible things to me, things that would haunt me for the rest of my life, and all he could ask was if I’d enjoyed it? “Get. Out.”

“Not until you answer me!”

I lifted my chin. “Leave or I will have you executed for defying my orders.” He wasn’t allowed inside Leiper’s Fork.