Aida gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “You give me too much credit.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit sometimes,” Cassidy said.
Aida grinned at her as she put the mug into the microwave. “You’re right; I am pretty amazing.” She turned away from the microwave to focus on Dante. “Julian and I have been saving money in the hopes of opening a gallery. Unfortunately, rent is an issue. Boston’s not cheap.”
“No, it’s not,” Dante agreed.
Cassidy squeezed his arm. “I’m going to change.”
“Okay,” he said.
She released his arm and rushed down the hallway. Julian wouldn’t be gone long, and she planned to escape before he returned. She couldn’t avoid her brothers forever, but she wouldn’t mind a few more hours without them.
Cassidy changed before heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face, and pull her hair into a ponytail. She reemerged to discover Dante standing at the counter with Aida and flipping through one of her photo books.
“You are really talented,” he said.
“I like you.” Aida looked up to wink at Cassidy as she walked over to join them. “Cassidy better keep you around.”
“I agree,” Dante said.
“We should go, or we’re going to be late.” And my brothers will be here soon. As soon as she thought it, the doorknob rattled and turned.
She bit back a groan when Julian entered the apartment with a few newspapers tucked under his arm. However, it wasn’t enough that her older brother had returned, but somewhere along the way, he also found her twin.
Cassidy almost smacked herself in the forehead. She should have dressed faster, but they probably would have run into them on the street. At least on the street, she could have grabbed Dante and run the other way; now, there was nowhere for her to run.
Julian and Kyle stopped walking the second their eyes landed on her, and then those eyes traveled to Dante.
“We were just leaving,” Cassidy blurted. “We have an appointment.”
Her brothers looked back to her as Dante closed the album and straightened away from the counter. The amusement in their eyes caused a ball of dread to form in her stomach.
“Oh, I’m sure you have a few minutes to spare,” Kyle said as he kicked the door shut with his heel.
When he grinned at Cassidy, she ground her teeth together until she was sure they’d break. He was smiling now, but she would make him pay for this. Oh yes, she would make him pay.
“I’m sure Dante wants to tell us more about himself,” Kyle said.
Dante glanced at his watch. He wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of her brothers barraging him with questions, but he’d rather face it now than later because he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I’ve got five minutes to spare. What would you like to know?” Dante asked.
“See, sis,” Kyle said. “Dante doesn’t mind if we get to know him better.”
Cassidy plotted her revenge as Kyle rubbed his chin, and Julian walked around the counter to give Aida the papers. She handed him his breakfast and rose on her toes to kiss him.
“What are your intentions with our sister?” Kyle asked.
Cassidy lowered her head into her hands as Julian laughed. “Don’t answer that,” Cassidy said.
“We only have your best interests at heart,” Kyle said.
“I’m going to make you pay.”
Fear flashed through Kyle’s eyes, but he quickly covered it up, and Julian laughed. When Cassidy turned her scowl on him, he held his hands up.
“Hey, I am not messing with the queen of the prank wars,” Julian said.
“Prank wars?” Dante asked.
Cassidy smiled sweetly at Kyle, who gulped. “I told you we like to torment each other,” Cassidy said. “We used to pull pranks on each other, which escalated over time.”
“And Cassidy came out the victor,” Julian said.
“She’s devious and mean,” Kyle said.
“I had to be if I was going to survive with you guys,” she protested.
“You didn’t have to dump rats on me!” Kyle exclaimed.
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “They were fake rats.”
“They squeaked, and they had real fur. Real, bristly fur, and scaly tails.” Kyle shuddered.
“You’re such a baby.”
Kyle gave her the finger, and Cassidy returned it.
“As you can see, we’re a pretty close-knit family,” Julian said to Dante. “So we like to learn as much as possible about anyone our sisters and brothers date.”
“I bet you can’t tell me the name of one of the countless women Kyle has been with,” Cassidy retorted.
“It’s not countless,” Kyle said.
Cassidy gave him a disbelieving look, and Julian appeared dubious.
“Besides, we’re not talking about me right now,” Kyle said. “We’re discussing you and Dante. So, what are your intentions, Dante?”
Oh yes, she was going to make him pay.
“I intend to make her happy,” Dante said.
The words were so unexpected they broke through her irritation with Kyle and stole her breath. She had no idea how to respond, so she stood with her jaw hanging open.
They hadn’t exchanged blood, so the mate bond wasn’t complete, but at that moment, she had no doubt what he was to her. And then, unable to resist, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
Dante pulled her close and closed his eyes as he rested his chin on top of her head. She felt so unbelievably right in his arms. He didn’t know where his answer came from, but the truth of it struck a chord deep in his soul.
“We should go,” he said.
“Yes, of course,” Cassidy said and reluctantly released him.
Heat didn’t burn her face when she looked to her brothers and Aida again. Kyle no longer looked amused, and Julian hugged Aida closer as he smiled at Cassidy. However, there was a sadness in his eyes too, and she understood it. They were all growing up.
“Do you need help?” Kyle asked.
“No, we’re just going to talk with someone,” Dante said.
“If you do end up needing help, or have to go back into another vamp bar, call us,” Julian said. “We’ll come.”
“Thank you,” Dante said.
Then he realized her brothers had accepted him. They weren’t going to interfere with their relationship and were welcoming him into the family. He suspected they would still dump a heap of crap on him whenever they got the chance. However, now they would do it because they considered him family, and not because they were questioning if he was good enough for their sister.
He couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
Chapter Thirty
The taxi pulled up in front of a brick apartment building in Roxbury. The neighborhood wasn’t exactly the best, but the streets were tranquil at this time of the day. Dante paid the driver and told Cassidy to stay in the cab as he exited and walked around to her side. He studied the run-down buildings before opening her door and helping her exit the vehicle.
When Dante closed the door, the driver sped away. An elderly woman with stooped shoulders stared at them as she closed her mailbox. Further down the street, a group of teenagers hung out on one of the stoops of a boarded-up, graffitied house. They should have been in school, but he doubted their attendance was the best.
“This way,” Dante said as he clasped Cassidy’s elbow and led her toward the apartment.
Outside the thick metal door of the building was an assortment of cigarette butts. He glanced at the building before studying the street again. The elderly woman and the kids were gone. He didn’t see anyone else, and if someone tried to attack them here, it would be a human adversary and one he could handle with ease, but he didn’t like the idea of taking Cassidy inside.
“We’re not leaving,” she said.
“Did you read my mind?”
“Your face says it all. We knew we weren’t heading for Beacon
Hill before coming here, and we can handle any idiot who tries anything with us.”
“We should have brought Kyle.”
Cassidy snorted. “I might have killed him if we did.”
Dante chuckled as he gripped the handle on the metal door. The stench of cigarettes and the underlying aroma of urine hit him as soon as the door cracked open. He gripped Cassidy’s wrist to halt her from stepping inside, but she tugged her arm away and gave him a disgruntled look.
Dante stood in the open doorway as she stared back at him with a stubborn lift to her delicate chin.
“It will be fine,” Cassidy said. She tugged at the inner glass door, but it didn’t open.
His jaw clenched as he stopped in front of a metal panel with buttons next to each apartment number. He doubted it worked, but he hit the button for apartment twelve. In the silence that followed, the stench of urine, cigarettes, and stale booze grew thicker. Beneath it, he detected the acrid scent of more potent drugs.
Stepping back, he pushed the outer door open again, and Cassidy edged closer to inhale the fresh air. He was about to hit the button again when static crackled through the speaker next to the apartment listings.
“Yes?” a gruff voice demanded.
Dante hit the button again before speaking. “Mrs. Parks, my name is Dan Vares; we spoke on the phone yesterday.”
He released the button and waited a couple of seconds for a response; instead, a buzzer sounded. Cassidy grasped the handle for the glass door again and pulled it open. He followed her into the shadowed hallway, where he discovered the alcove was like a fresh spring day compared to the inner hall.
It took everything Cassidy had not to cover her nose as she tried to breathe through her mouth. The only problem with breathing through her mouth was she could now taste the stench too.
The threadbare carpets showed hints of once being gray, but they were so stained with dirt and other things she didn’t care to examine, they were mostly brown and red now. At the end of the hall, they climbed a set of stairs to the second floor. Urine and other multicolored things marked the walls; when her boot squelched in a puddle, she vowed to throw them out when they left this place.
At the top of the stairs, Dante led her past some trash bags and to the apartment at the end. He was lifting his hand to knock when the door opened and a cloud of smoke wafted out. A woman who was probably only in her late forties opened the door. However, the deep lines carved around her pinched mouth and etching her face made her look sixty—a very rough sixty.
Chunks of gray streaked her lank, brown hair. Her watery blue eyes widened on him before running over his body in a ravenous way that made his dick turtle up inside him. The scent of booze and the happy tones of some game show came from the apartment.
“You’re Dan Vares?” Lindsay Parks asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “And this is my friend Cassidy.”
When the woman glanced at Cassidy, her upper lip curled in disgust and hatred shimmered to life in her eyes. Dante sneered at her as he stepped between them and rested his hand on the doorframe.
He didn’t care if they needed this woman’s help; he would not tolerate anyone looking at her in such a way. He suspected Lindsay Parks was once a beautiful woman, but cigarettes, booze, and probably drugs had ravaged that beauty. However, she didn’t like being
reminded that, while she let herself go to shit, there were still beautiful women in the world.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” Lindsay said.
“Like we discussed yesterday, I have some questions about your son,” he said.
When her eyebrows knit together over her nose, he suspected she didn’t remember much of their conversation. She’d probably buzzed him in so she could have someone to talk to and because he was a guy.
Lindsay walked back into her apartment. Dante remained in the doorway. “Mrs. Parks, can we come in?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on in.”
She stopped beside a battered old couch and lifted a pack of cigarettes from the table next to it. She used the cigarette still burning in the ashtray to light the one in her mouth.
Feeling like he’d rather walk into a wall of flames, Dante crept into the apartment. He almost took Cassidy’s hand, but he suspected it would only irritate this woman, and she wouldn’t talk if annoyed. He could use his powers on her, but he preferred to get his answers without bending her mind to his.
After Cassidy entered the apartment, Dante closed the door, and as Lindsay settled onto the couch, her slight weight caused chunks of yellow stuffing to poke through the holes in the cushion. She lifted a drink from beside the ashtray. Ice clinked against the glass as she swirled the amber liquid, puffed her cigarette, and took a sip.
On TV, a rerun of Wheel of Fortune played, and the wheel clicked as one of the contestants spun it. In the kitchen, trash spilled out of the garbage can and onto the floor. Containers of takeout food littered the countertops. He didn’t have to open the cabinet to know mouse droppings littered the shelves; he could smell the rodents and hear their claws scratching the wood.
He once worked the case of a man accused of killing his mother and chopping her into pieces. He spent a week searching a landfill for her body parts; he felt almost as dirty now as then.
He glanced over at Cassidy, and though she was a little more tense than usual, she kept her face impassive as she stared at the woman on the couch. “Stay here,” he mouthed to her.
Cassidy wasn’t getting any closer to the repulsive woman, and she didn’t want to touch anything here. Once she was free of this place, not only was she throwing out her boots, but also everything else she was wearing.
Unwilling to look at the woman anymore, Cassidy studied the pictures on the walls. Through the haze of smoky grime covering the glass were photos of a pretty woman with a cute young boy. In many of the pictures, a handsome man also stood with them.
In the earlier photos, they were smiling and happy together. As their ages progressed, the man disappeared, the boy became a teen who stopped smiling, and the woman deteriorated from happy to slouched and broken.
She didn’t know what happened to turn that vibrant woman into the one sitting on the couch, but she felt sorry for the family in those photos.
When Dante stepped in front of the TV, Lindsay scowled at him. “Is it okay if I ask you some questions?” Dante asked.
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Lindsay retorted.
Dante perched on the edge of the threadbare, yellow chair next to the metal TV stand, and pulled out his pad and pen. “When was the last time you saw your son?”
Lindsay took a drag on her cigarette before answering. “It’s been a couple of months.”
“When was the last time you talked to him?”
“It’s been a couple of months.”
“Do you often go so long without speaking?”
She lifted her glass from the table and downed the rest of its contents before looking to Cassidy. She waved the glass at her as she spoke. “Hey, sugar, pour me another drink.”
Dante stiffened at the woman’s cold tone and the cruel smile curving her lips. “I’ll get it,” he said.
He needed Lindsay in a cooperative mood, but he wasn’t going to let her treat Cassidy that way.
“No, I’ll get it,” Cassidy said. She took the glass from Lindsay’s hand before Dante could. “Where do you keep your alcohol?”
Dante gave Lindsay a look that would have made many cower, but the woman was too far gone in her spite and alcohol to realize she was poking a hornet’s nest. Instead of recognizing the peril she was in, she smiled smugly as she stubbed out her cigarette.
“In the fridge,” she answered.
As she walked by, Cassidy rested her hand on Dante’s arm in the hope of calming him, but he remained tensed beneath her touch. She didn’t like this woman either, and the sooner they were out of here, the happier she would be, but fighting with her was pointless. Lindsay was too far gone
in her misery to care about anyone else.
Dante finally relaxed enough to perch on the edge of the chair again while Cassidy made her way into the kitchen. As she crossed to the fridge, she ignored the crackling noise her boots created when they stuck to the yellow and brown linoleum. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for what she would find inside the fridge before opening it.
She was relieved to discover it could use a cleaning, but it wasn’t full of rotten food. Instead, bottles of whiskey lined the shelves. Pity for the woman tugged at her heart as she poured the drink and returned to the living room.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Do you often go so long without speaking to your son?” Dante asked again as Lindsay lit another cigarette.
The woman ignored the smoke floating around her face as she spoke. “He does what he does; I do what I do.”
“I see,” Dante said, but he didn’t. “Was Dr. Abbott your son’s father?”
Her bitter laugh turned into an uncontrollable coughing fit. Dante set down his pen and was about to lean over to clap her on the back when she regained control of herself. It took her another minute and a swallow of her drink to compose herself again.
“That bastard tried to deny it,” Lindsay spat. “But a paternity test proved me right and him wrong.”
“So, there was a test?” Dante asked.
“Of course, there was. That fucker refused to give me a dime until I shoved the confirmation in his arrogant face. And then he was all about not going through the courts and giving me whatever I wanted. He couldn’t have people knowing the good, perfect Dr. Abbott knocked up his receptionist. And as long as he was forking over the cash, I was happy to keep my mouth shut. I’m glad he’s dead, but I miss that cash.”
Cassidy recoiled at the harsh words.
“How old is Preston?” Dante asked.
“Twenty-two.”
“And Dr. Abbott was still giving you money for him?”
“Well, he certainly wasn’t going to let the truth come out now.”
“And the money has stopped?”
Relentless (Vampire Awakenings Book 11) Page 17
