Aubrey repressed a smirk.
I blew out a breath at my friend. “Well, don’t hurt yourself. Let it out. It was funny.”
She leaned over and kissed her husband on the cheek. “Well, in all fairness, I think any woman would lose their head, my man’s pretty hot.”
“Anyhow, it won’t happen again,” the Australian said firmly.
I covered my face. “Well, hopefully, you’ll get your house back soon.”
Aubrey reached out to grasp my hand. “No, it’s fine. You can stay here for as long as you need to.”
I noticed Chance’s jaw twitch at her offer.
Pursing my lips, I shook my head. “Thanks, sweetie, but the longer I stay, the longer I’m going to have to wait for you to have a baby I can play with. When am I going to be Aunty Caroline?”
Aubrey made a strange face, and I wondered what was up with her.
Was having children a taboo subject between the two? I frowned.
5
Lucy had started with the couch, then moved on to the other furniture. I couldn’t leave her at Aubrey’s house, or else she’d continue to destroy the place. I had no choice but to bring her with me to work. I planned to leave her in my car—in the shade—with the windows down. Hopefully, I could avoid more damage to Aubrey’s house this way.
Blowing out a vape filled breath, I tapped my fingers nervously on the roof of my car. At the house, the idea seemed sound, but now on the verge of leaving Lucy, doubts flooded my mind. My old Volvo was baby blue and kept cool in the shade. However, this new BMW was black, and the car might get too hot.
Pursing my lips, I got back in and lowered each of the windows several more inches.
“You’ll be fine, won’t you baby?” I made kissing noises as Lucy scurried into the back seat. “Fine. Be like that. You’re only here because of what you’ve done. I’ll come back and check on you—every hour, I promise,” I told her, reluctantly leaving the car.
Inside Mel stopped me, “Ethan’s in his office with Freddie from Chronos. Don’t interrupt them. He’ll let you know if he needs anything. Besides, I need your help this morning.”
Forcing a smile, I nodded. “Okay, what do you need?”
“These letters need stamps, and I need you to type up and print the address labels for them. Seal them and bring the box back to me.” Mel tilted her head to the side, watching me.
“Uh, sure…” I trailed off, taking the box and slip of paper from her fingertips.
Walking through the workroom, I muttered to myself, “I swear to god…”
Aster hip bumped me, knocking me out of my own head. “What? You swear to god what?”
“I feel like Mel is using me. She’s having me do busywork. If I find her watching a movie, I’m never going to help her ever again.”
The barbie laughed, “Nah. She’s not like that. If she’s having you do something, it’ll be for a reason.” She shrugged. “She may be a stick in the mud, but whatever. She has a long history with Ethan.”
I frowned. “They have history? Like what? Did they date or something?”
She shook her head. “Oh no, nothing like that. They’re just friends. Like ooooooo-old friends.”
“Hmmm,” I leaned against Aster’s desk.
“Yeah, Mel is brilliant. I’d think she’d find a more prestigious job if it weren’t for Ethan.” Aster took her seat and touched her ID scanner, which lit up her screen.
“She looks at me as if I were gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe,” I complained.
“Mel is literally a robot. I have never seen her eat, and she rarely goes to the bathroom. She’s here before everyone and stays until after I leave. At least I have a life. It’s sad, really.” Aster said and then began typing. I took that as my cue to go start my own work.
At my desk, I set to work on the task Mel had given me. I considered pawning it off to one of the interns but then decided against it.
The day progressed, and after checking on Lucy several times that morning, and after lunch, I figured she’d be fine until I got off work.
A little after five, the workroom was empty, and I’d still not seen my boss all day.
Peeking through the frosted glass panel in Ethan’s door, I decided to check on Lucy before telling Mel I was leaving for the day.
Stretching, I stood and wandered through the workroom and out past the office manager’s desk.
Strangely, I found the woman gone.
Robot my ass. Everyone has to pee.
Taking a moment, I dipped outside.
As I neared the car, Lucy was nowhere to be seen.
My heart began to race as I opened the door.
“Lucy?” I called, as an uneasy feeling settled in my gut.
I turned onto my hands and knees to look in the backseat—nothing. Lifting up a blanket off the floor, I scanned the car, but it was empty.
I’d left Lucy too long.
The windows had been down too far.
The bowl of food and water had been barely touched.
Panic filled me, and I stood, hitting my head hard on the frame of the car. “Shit!”
Closing my eyes, I stood and rubbed my injury.
I had to go after her.
There were wild animals in this part of California. Bears, bobcats, and God knew what else lurked in the wilderness areas between vineyards and orchards.
I didn’t have my phone, but there was no time to waste.
I bit my lip and scanned the area.
“Lucy?” I called, shaking her food dish.
Where would she go? A flash of black caught my eye from the forested area to the right of the parking lot, so I set off in that direction.
I hesitated when my high heel wedges sank into the sandy soil. At least the ground wasn’t wet.
My Lucy was out there somewhere, and I needed to find her before she got hurt or worse—got eaten.
Trudging through the sparse underbrush and trees, I called out for my cat and shook her food bowl. “Lucy!”
The path started out relatively level until the terrain dropped down into a shallow ravine.
As I made my way down the slope, I slipped, but I caught myself after spilling most of the food from the dish.
Half sliding, half shimmying down toward a dirt road, worry crinkled my brow.
The rocky soil had slid into my sandals and jabbed the bottom of my feet.
Standing on the road, I unclasped one shoe to sweep it out and then the other.
I bent over to buckle each strap at the ankle before continuing.
Straightening, I shook the bowl. “Lucy? Come here now!”
What had I done?
Sighing, I was sweaty and dirty and wondered if I should just wait at the car.
She should come back to the car.
When I was about to walk back up to Dumont, I spotted a shadow down the road. It darted into the underbrush.
“Lucy?”
Trying to hike in the smoothest section of the rutted-out road, I shook the food bowl and called out again.
Beside me was a rocky creek bed with about a foot or two of water flowing through it. Across the river, plodding along the stream, was my carefree feline. Unfortunately, my side of the creek ended in an abrupt, unstable, sandy cliff.
“Lucy!”
She took one look at me and scurried away into the trees. I examined the cliff before me. There was no way across where I stood. So, I followed the river’s bank for a while, trying to find a good place to cross.
Shoes full of dirt—again—and face hot and probably sunburned, I stopped.
The sounds of the forest quieted.
Goosebumps raised on my arms, and a chill ran down my neck.
Something was nearby.
My eyes began searching the surrounding forest as my steps took my body in a circle.
When I saw the mountain lion, my breath caught in my throat.
It was giant, its paws the size of my head.
It stood above me on the
hill I’d just hiked down.
With slow and methodical paces, it began stalking me.
Shock overtook my senses, and I froze. I had no idea mountain lions roamed this area. There were so many orchards, so many people nearby.
How did cats this large live here?
I gulped, unsure what to do.
Then my decision was taken away.
The cat pounced, and we both went tumbling off the bank and into the creek.
As we landed, my arm made a horrible cracking sound like a branch being snapped in two. I blacked out for a split second before waves of pain and nausea swept through me.
The cat batted at me. It’s sharp claws raked spikes of agony through my other shoulder.
Then the beast bit down on my head, piercing the skin on my scalp and forehead. My blood ran thickly down from the wound into my eyes and over my face.
I screamed and tried to fight before it pushed me into the shallow water of the river.
Unable to catch a breath, I kicked and struggled, but the cat held me with its massive paw on my chest.
My life flashed before my eyes.
I’d done nothing.
My life was filled with vanilla memories and choices made out of fear.
Regrets filled me with what my life should’ve been.
I should’ve finished law school, gone on more dates, and taken more chances.
I’d wasted so much.
Then just as black spots began to bloom in front of my vision, the cat was gone.
Bobbing up, I tried to use my left arm, but agony ripped through me as it hung limply in the water.
With my other hand, I clawed at the shallow river bottom to pull myself up through the gentle current toward the rocky sloped shore.
Then I saw him.
Ethan.
He stood in the water above the lion, plunging a large dagger into the body of the beast. The long knife pierced the lion over and over again, leaving my boss heaving with the effort. His white shirt was torn, revealing a muscular chest.
When Ethan held the dagger above his head for a final blow, his pale eyes sparkled in the light of the filtered sun. Before me wasn’t a man but an avenging angel.
I wanted to watch, but my body gave out, and I fell onto my back. My vision tunneled down to the leaves rustling above and the sun on my skin.
I blinked at the blood that dripped into my eyes.
Then my avenging angel was above me.
My own personal protector.
Ethan took in my injuries with a calm expression.
When his lips parted, fangs peeked from his mouth.
Then he leaned down and bit my arm—hard.
“You…you bit me?” I struggled to get the words out.
He nodded. “It takes away pain.”
“You saved me,” I murmured.
The world took on a dream-like quality as Ethan took my broken arm and carefully placed it across my chest. Then thoughts became cloudy, and my pain began to lose its grip on my body before disappearing altogether.
The water seemed to drop away as I was lifted into his arms.
I should’ve wondered where my pain went or why I felt like this, but in the moment, I never questioned it.
Ethan glanced down at me and whispered in his strange accent, “You’ll be all right. I promise.”
Closing my eyes, my face against his shoulder, I breathed him in—wind and ocean.
I fell in and out of consciousness in a dazed state as Ethan carried me out of the trees. My entire body throbbed in the background of my mind, but I paid it no attention. I was floating and watching the branches above me bend in the evening breeze.
After an unknown length of time, he took me inside, and I wondered if he’d taken me back to work to wait for an ambulance.
But this wasn’t work, this was a house with warm, vibrant old paintings. I closed my eyes as Ethan lay me down onto a thick rug in a tiled room.
My fingers sank into a furry bath mat, and I listened to the sound of water running.
“Wha..?” I couldn’t continue my thought, let alone my question. Either the bite or my injuries were slowly getting the better of me.
Warm hands began at my ankle, quickly removing my wedge high heels, carefully threading the leather through the clasp.
My eyes fluttered open to see Ethan kneeling beside me. He began checking me for broken bones. First one foot, then the other. Then my legs up to the knee.
Bobbing his head down, I heard a snap and realized he’d bit the hem of my skirt before slowly tearing the garment from my body.
I watched his reaction as he revealed my pale skin beneath my ruined skirt.
His lips parted, and he sucked in a breath, his chest heaving with the effort before continuing. Then gentle hands again felt my thighs and hips before running, reaching beneath me to check my spine.
This made me wonder, was Ethan a doctor?
The way he manipulated my body made me think he was.
Then he came to the beautiful low-cut blouse Aubrey had just given me.
Ethan’s dark hair feathered against the delicate skin of my chest. I could hear the tearing of fabric as he ripped the sleeve to expose my injured arm before easing the material away.
His touch was so careful.
Again, his hands prodded my body: first, the collarbone, and then my arms.
I groaned as he moved my severely injured arm.
Then, his fingers lightly grazed my cheek, and our eyes met.
“I’m sorry,” He whispered.
But before I could ask or even think of what his cryptic apology meant, my arm burst into red hot pain. I let out a scream, but in my drugged state, it came out as a moan. Tears ran down the sides of my face, pooling in my ears.
When the pain had dulled enough, I looked through narrowed slits to see him wrapping my arm in a splint.
“I had to set your arm. You had a compound fracture, but it will heal now,” he said, reaching over to turn off the bathwater.
Then Ethan bit deeply into his wrist before bringing it to my mouth.
I turned my head away using the remaining strength I had but to no avail.
“I’m trying to help you. Drink my blood. It will heal you.” Ethan said, sliding a finger into the corner of my mouth to get me to swallow his blood.
Reluctantly, I consumed gulp upon gulp of the metallic liquid. My good hand came up to clench his arm to my mouth. But Ethan quickly pulled away, his eyes still on me.
Lifting me up, he set me into the massive stone bathtub.
White bubbles caressed my skin and soaked into my bra and underwear.
The warmth of the water soaked into me, healing me.
With one arm, Ethan held me above the water, and with the other he carefully dabbed at my face with a washcloth.
“Will I need stitches?” I asked, my voice sounding far away.
“No,” his breath came across my neck as he dabbed at my scalp before using the shower spray on my hair.
My eyes roamed over the large bathroom. Even though it was glass, concrete, and wood, there was a natural feel to it, soft but rugged like being in nature.
When I spoke again, my voice came out gravelly. “Thank you for saving me. If you’d been even a moment later, I would be dead right now.”
He bit his lower lip as he massaged shampoo into my hair. “I knew something was wrong when you didn’t return straight away. You left your mug on your desk; you usually put it away.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on him instead of the thudding, throbbing pain of my arm and aching burn of my skin. “You were in your office; how did you know I’d not left for the day?”
I could hear that saucy grin on his face when he said, “I keep track of people.”
“People? Or just me?” I asked, bold from my drugged state.
“Just you.” His pale eyes darted between my own before he closed the distance between us. When he leaned down, his mouth brushed mine lightly, teasingly, unt
il my own lips parted and I kissed him back. His hand cupped my face, his fingers laced into my freshly washed hair.
When his teeth grazed my bottom lip, I felt a sharp sting before darkness closed in around me.
The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was the water draining from my body as warm arms pulled me from the tub.
I awoke in comfortable bliss until it hit me that I wasn’t in my own bed. As memories of recent events began to filter into my head, adrenaline coursed through my body, and I shot up faster than if espresso had been poured into my veins.
Searching around for my glasses, I blinked and regarded the room. I didn’t need my glasses, my vision was crystal clear.
“What on earth?”
Thirst pulled at me with desperation, and I looked around for water.
Beside me on the nightstand sat a Dumont glass bottle. I picked it up, unscrewed the top, and began to gulp it down. Everyone at work had one of these containers in either stainless steel or blue glass with the company logo on it.
As I drank, my eyes were wide, taking in my surroundings.
The walls had that same natural beige appearance as the office.
Closest to me sat two overstuffed chairs, while a table made from bent laminated wood rested against the wall with a mirror above it on my other side.
I stumbled out of bed and gazed at my reflection.
No glasses, yet I could see perfectly.
I leaned in closer to inspect my injuries and traced a pink scar with my finger. It ran from above my right eye up into my hairline. My skin was pale, well more pale than usual, leaving the spattering of freckles that ran across my nose and cheeks to stand out.
I wore an unfamiliar navy-blue t-shirt that smelled like the ocean—like Ethan, along with light cotton pants like those my grandpa used to wear. I no longer wore my bra or underwear.
I stretched my arms out in front of me.
Had I imagined breaking my left arm?
Ethan said I had a compound fracture, but when I checked the limb, there was nothing but a red puckered wound.
Bending my arm and twisting it, I laughed. It was fine. My arm felt good.
Lifting up the t-shirt to check where the lion had scratched me, I ran my fingers across three long red lines that ran from my sternum to my shoulder.
Bloodthirsty Bastard: A Hero Club Novel Page 5
