“Come stay with us,” Phoenix urged.
“I’m going to ask them to pack up the food,” Isaiah told her before heading to the register near the front of the restaurant.
When he was away from the table, Shayla finally lifted her head and wiped her eyes. “I don’t want to be forced back into the role of helpless pawn. I’m a breeder who can’t stand the idea of being a mother. What am I supposed to do other than run? Don’t tell me your vampires would welcome me with open arms after I abandoned my own baby.”
“Trish might be a problem,” Phoenix admitted. “The rest of them don’t have much room to judge others.”
“What kind of danger am I in?” Shayla asked, struggling to pull her tough exterior back around her.
“I’ll explain everything in a more private place,” Phoenix told her. “It’s a case of mistaken identity, but until it’s cleared up, you’ll be safer with us.”
Shayla clutched her purse tightly and looked toward the door. Phoenix knew every instinct her cousin had was telling her to run. If she did, Phoenix wasn’t sure what their next move would be. They needed Shayla to come with them if they were going to keep her safe, but she had no idea what lengths they’d go to. After a long pause, Shayla nodded.
“Let’s go,” Shayla told her. “I’ll follow you back there in my car.”
Phoenix didn’t know if Shayla was really planning to follow her, or if she intended to take off as soon as they left, but it seemed her cousin might finally be done running.
Chapter Nineteen
When Mason took her to the mat the second time, Talia was forced to admit her lack of concentration was impacting her fighting skills. She couldn’t completely blame the vampire watching them for her inattentiveness, but he was definitely distracting her. She was the one incapable of dealing with her attraction to him. The expression on Drew’s face as he watched her spar with Mason held far too much heat. He was turned on, and Talia suspected he wouldn’t do anything about it. It was definitely a strange intimacy they shared. Both desired the other, but neither would act on what they felt.
Forcing her thoughts away from Drew, Talia focused on one thing—knocking Mason on his smug ass. She lashed out at Mason with a roundhouse kick, knocking him back two steps. Drew made a soft sound, something like a groan, and her eyes drifted to him. Drew’s lips were parted ever so slightly, and he’d raised his knee to rest his forearm on it. Talia’s nipples hardened. Her inattentiveness gave Mason time to sweep her legs, bringing her to the mat.
Quickly getting to her feet, Talia cursed. Mason’s high side-kick nearly caught her cheek before she danced out of the way. Blocking his roundhouse kick, she moved in to slam her fist into his belly. Jumping back, she managed to avoid his arms when he tried to grab her. Mason was bigger and stronger. Those times when he got his arms around her, it was hard to break free. Mason’s renewed attempts to take her down kept her too distracted to watch Drew. Mason didn’t get another hit in. It took her another ten minutes to drop Mason to the mat with a fist to his jaw—a move that was met with laughter from Drew.
Mason got to his feet and walked toward Drew with an obvious swagger. “You want a turn sparing with Talia, vampire?”
“Nah. I’m having too much fun watching her kick your ass,” Drew drawled, and even though he was responding to Mason, his eyes remained focused on Talia.
“What’s the matter, vampire?” Mason taunted. “Are you afraid of getting your ass kicked by a woman?”
“Hell yeah, I am,” Drew shot back. “Talia’s a total badass. I’d rather fight you than her any day.”
“You sure you don’t just have a problem fighting a girl?” Talia taunted. “Are you afraid to hit a girl?”
Drew chuckled. “Nixie can tell you that’s not the case. I taught her how to fight, and I don’t mean I sparred with her.”
Talia’s eyes locked with Drew’s. She needed to say something, keep the mood light. She knew most women wouldn’t be turned on at the thought of fighting a guy they found attractive, but Talia had never been like most women. Taunting Drew to spar with her was a bad idea—one that would only make her arousal worse. Still, it was so very tempting.
“This is the shit I’m talking about!” Mason snapped, drawing her gaze to him.
Her eyes narrowed when she regarded Mason. “What are you talking about?”
“The two of you keep arguing that there’s nothing between you, but then you stand there and eye-fuck each other,” he spat out. His sea green eyes narrowed. “From him, I expect this, but you know this can’t happen.”
“Eye-fucking?” she demanded. “We’re not eye-fucking each other.”
Drew stood and stalked toward Mason. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“I don’t want Talia to get hurt,” Mason ground out.
“Neither do I,” Drew shot back before looking thoughtful. “I really don’t. This is fucking insane. I’m pissed at you for insulting her and saying something that might hurt her.”
Talia snorted. “Save me from idiot men.”
The idiot men in question ignored her and continued discussing her like she wasn’t there.
“You can’t be with Talia like that,” Mason told him.
“Like what?” Drew asked. “We’ve already covered that she’s my friend and nothing more is going on between us. There’s no denying she’s hot. I’m attracted to her, and while I was watching you spar, my mind drifted to thoughts of her stripping naked and touching herself. I’ll probably jerk off to that thought in the shower later.”
“Do you ever think before you speak?” Talia shouted, so they’d stop ignoring her. “The question is for both of you.”
Drew’s smirk proved he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed by what he’d just said. “I’m sure you’ve already noticed I have no internal filter.”
She had noticed. “At least, try not to make Mason more pissy about this.”
“I think lying to him will just make it worse,” Drew insisted.
“So, you admit to wanting her?” Mason asked.
“I’m pretty sure we already covered that,” Drew told him. “I also like her enough that I don’t want to screw things up.”
“Christ, Mason,” Talia hissed. “Would you just let it go? We’re both capable of controlling ourselves. We slept in the same bed and nothing happened.”
“You did what?” Mason roared. “What happened to the couch?”
“It wasn’t big enough for either of us,” Drew explained. “I was a perfect gentleman and asked her if she wanted top or bottom.”
“Do you really have to taunt him?” Talia asked.
Drew shrugged. “Apparently, I do.”
“So, you just said that to piss me off,” Mason deduced.
“No, I said it to see what Talia would do,” Drew replied.
“Enough!” Talia interrupted. “Mason, you need to back off.”
“Aren’t you going to tell the vampire to stop taunting me?” Mason asked.
“No,” Talia told him. “You started it.” She also enjoyed Drew taunting Mason.
Mason looked like he was getting ready for another tirade when Drew’s phone buzzed. Drew checked his messages before looking up at them. “Phoenix and Isaiah are on their way back with Shayla. You’d better shower and get ready to talk to her about why her life is in danger.”
Drew glared at Mason, obviously still angry. Finally, he turned and headed toward the door. “I’ll meet you in the main sitting room.”
When Talia went to leave, Mason spoke again. “This is another reason to stay away from that vampire. He might want to screw you, but he’s obsessed with that breeder.”
“You’re a real asshole,” she spat out before heading toward her room to shower.
She didn’t get far before her phone buzzed. Stopping with a curse, she looked at it, expecting to see a message from Mason. Instead, she found one from Drew.
DREW: Sorry.
Just one word. Talia hesitated before responding.
&nb
sp; TALIA: About what you said to Mason? It’s no big deal. Mason will get over it.
DREW: I shouldn’t have said I was thinking about you stripping naked and touching yourself.
Talia just stared at his words, not sure how to respond.
DREW: It’s true. I was thinking about that.
TALIA: Then why are you sorry for saying that?
DREW: I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.
Her finger hovered over the phone. She was ready to tell him she wasn’t uncomfortable, but that would be a lie. Heat pooled between her legs as she stared at his words and imagined him watching her touch herself. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that if she did touch herself in the shower, she’d definitely be imagining Drew. There was no way she’d be able to make it to the meeting if she didn’t relieve some of her sexual tension first. The temptation to tell him what she was about to do was strong, but she knew it would be a mistake.
TALIA: You didn’t make me uncomfortable. I’m about to jump in the shower. I’ll talk to you later.
Hurrying down the hall toward her room, Talia ignored the buzzing of her phone. Whether it was Mason or Drew didn’t matter. She needed a break from them both to clear her head.
Chapter Twenty
Drew had expected to feel a wide range of emotions the next time he saw Shayla. At the very least, he’d expected the same attraction he’d experienced the first time he’d seen her. Shayla didn’t look quite so innocent and in need of saving this time. He felt no attraction and no urgent need to protect her. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to keep her safe so much as that desire was no longer bordering on obsession.
“Hunters?” Shayla screeched, jumping up from the armchair in the sitting room. “Why would you bring hunters here, Phoenix? This is a trap. I never should have trusted you. How could you do this to me after all I’ve done for you? I won’t let them lock me up and force me to marry some weak breeder. Not gonna happen. You wasted your time if you planned to trap me.” She finally paused her tirade long enough for someone to speak. Her eyes were darting around the room, looking for an escape. There wasn’t one with Mason and Talia blocking the door.
“You need to calm down,” Talia snapped at Shayla. “I know you think we’re going to drag you out of here and find you a man to settle down with so you can start making babies, but there’s nothing to worry about. After what happened with your brother, we already considered it a mistake to let you procreate. Your own special brand of crazy cemented that idea for us.”
Drew gave her a sharp look. Shayla wasn’t as strong as Talia, and they needed to play it smart so they didn’t drive her away.
Then the strangest thing happened—Shayla smiled and sat back down on the loveseat. Drew wouldn’t say she looked relaxed, but she certainly looked much more at ease than she had when he’d walked in with Mason and Talia.
“Why do you think I’m in danger?” Shayla asked.
Mason gave the explanation without interruption.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Shayla replied. The only indication she was upset was the way she hugged herself. “It’s not me. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, we know who it is,” Mason replied.
“Are you protecting her?” Shayla demanded. “It really sucks to be out there on your own, especially when you’re a breeder. We don’t get any training to protect ourselves.”
“You did a pretty good job,” Drew praised.
Shayla snorted. “You didn’t trust me to protect Phoenix. That’s why you came in to play hero. If you thought I was doing such a great job, you would have let me finish what I’d started.”
“I had to kill my own mother,” Drew ground out. “She was a sociopath who needed to die. I saved lives by killing her.”
“And now you want a fucking medal?” Shayla sneered.
“Ungrateful bitch,” Talia muttered softly.
“Even though she needed to die, I still have nightmares about it,” Drew admitted. “What I had to do haunts me, and I didn’t want you to live with the nightmares.”
“Whatever,” Shayla scoffed. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
“He’s not saying you asked for his help,” Phoenix interrupted. “Even if you didn’t ask, he gave it. It wouldn’t kill you to try being nice.”
“Nice?” Shayla asked. “I’m being nice by calling you.”
“It would be nicer if you gave her a way to contact you so she can make sure you’re okay,” Drew snapped. “Instead, she has to worry about you while you play some cruel game to prove you’re in control of your life.”
“This doesn’t concern you,” Shayla said with a pout.
“You’re half-right,” Drew bit out. “Get yourself killed by acting like a child. I’m not going to make the mistake of trying to help you. Nixie is my friend, and I’m not going to pretend it’s okay for you to act like a spoiled child who cares nothing for her feelings. Grow the fuck up and start thinking about someone other than yourself.”
“I killed to protect Phoenix,” Shayla argued.
“Doing one nice thing doesn’t give you an excuse to act like a bitch for the rest of your life,” he told her before deciding he was wasting his breath. “I’m out of here.”
Unable to take anymore of Shayla’s snotty attitude, Drew pushed off the wall and stomped out of the room. There was nothing he could do to convince her to let them protect her, so he figured it was best to leave.
Chapter Twenty-One
Hunting Drew down was proving to be an impossible task in the giant house. Phoenix told her how to get to Drew’s room, but he hadn’t been there. After that, she’d eventually made her way back to the gym, only to find no trace of Drew. Mason had surprised Talia by exercising great restraint when she’d said she wanted to check on Drew. What surprised her more was Phoenix’s reaction since she seemed overprotective of Drew. Talia had expected Phoenix to either insist she’d find him herself or offer to help Talia find him. Instead, she’d asked Talia to take care of Drew—a strange request.
“I’m going to feel like an idiot for doing this later,” she muttered to herself as she pulled out her phone and called Drew.
“Yeah,” he answered on the second ring.
“Is that really how you answer the phone?” she asked.
“Trish says I need to stop saying what the fuck do you want when I answer the phone,” he told her, sounding completely serious.
“It is kind of rude,” she mused. “Personally, I like it better than yeah. Then I at least have a question to answer.”
“Good point,” he agreed, sounding slightly amused.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“In one of the sitting rooms,” he replied.
“How many sitting rooms does this damn place have?” she grumbled. “I’ve passed four and seen no sign of you.”
“You’re looking for me?” There was no missing the surprise in his voice.
“We just covered that,” she said impatiently. “Do you want to tell me where to find you? If I keep looking, they might need to send out a search and rescue team.”
“It might be easier if I find you,” he told her.
The stubborn part of her wanted to argue that she could find him if he just answered her question, but she was tired of trying to navigate through this maze of a house.
“You’re probably right,” she admitted. “If I didn’t know the front of the house was to the east, I’d be worried I was lost.”
Drew chuckled. “When I first moved here, I used to get lost all the time. That’s how I discovered I liked hiking.”
“From hiking in the house?” she asked.
“No,” he replied. “I used to climb out a window when I got lost and wander around the grounds. Back then, there weren’t any gates near the back, so I could hike even farther. Can you tell me where you’re at?”
“I just passed a room with a bunch of video game systems lying around,” she told him.
“Then I know where you are,”
he replied. “I’ll be right there.”
The call ended without him saying goodbye—not surprising considering the way he’d answered the phone.
It took him very little time to get there, so he’d been close. Each step he took seemed to send a pulse of desire straight to her core. She was extremely grateful that Drew was incapable of picking up on her lust. Mason was definitely right about how bad it would be for her to act on her attraction to Drew. He might realize she wasn’t what she appeared.
Drew seemed just as determined to avoid letting things go further between them. If he decided to pursue her, she wasn’t convinced she’d be able to resist him—she didn’t want to resist him. There was something about him that called to her. It was more than just sex, and that made it even harder to stay away. Fucked up or not, she liked Drew.
He stopped directly in front of her. Neither had spoken, and based on his clenched fists, he was dealing with the same arousal she was. “Why were you looking for me?” he finally asked.
“I was worried about you when you stormed out,” she admitted. “I needed to be there to deal with Shayla or I would have followed you.”
“You were worried about me?” he asked, moving even closer until their bodies were nearly touching. “Why were you worried about me?”
“You seemed upset with Shayla’s reaction to everything,” she explained.
“I wouldn’t say I was upset,” he argued. “Pissed. I was definitely pissed at her reaction.”
“You built up this meeting in your mind, and you were expecting more,” she told him.
One corner of his mouth kicked up in a lopsided grin. “What do you think I expected? Did you expect to find me heartbroken because she didn’t fall into my arms?”
Talia put her hands on her hips as she regarded him. “Don’t tell me you never imagined yourself ending up with Shayla. You probably even pictured yourself as the sane one in the relationship.”
Drew laughed at her guess. “I never imagined myself being the sane one. I thought I’d look less crazy in comparison, but that’s a far cry from sane.”
Wicked Crazy Vampire Love (Psy-Vamp Book 7) Page 10
