by Sotia Lazu
Not the right time. So not the right time.
“Constantine...” What could I say to make it all better between us?
He stood. “I’ve called for an ambulance. They should be here shortly. Sheena will be stable by then.”
“Thank you,” I said, as he turned away.
“I liked the red hair more,” he said without looking back. When he reached the corner, he took off.
The ambulance showed up minutes later. Sheena had stopped bleeding. The EMTs cleaned and bandaged her cut, which was now only a flesh wound, and let me ride in the back with her.
Sheena seemed alert, but the painkillers she was administered en route apparently killed her brain-to-mouth filter, because she told the handsome Latino paramedic by her side that he had an amazing ass and could make hard cash as a stripper.
The paramedic laughed. “It’s my second job, chica.”
“Sheena.” I scowled at her, but all I felt was relief. She’d be okay. Thanks to Constantine.
As if she picked his name from my thoughts, she said, “Your ex is too hot for words. Bet I could make him famous, if he didn’t have that immortality problem.”
“She’s a little loopy,” I told the paramedic.
“It’s the drugs. Don’t worry about it.”
Sheena snorted. “If I wasn’t bleeding like a stuck pig when he raised my shirt, I’d show him a trick or two.”
The man glanced at her stomach.
I beamed a smile at him. “Must be awesome drugs, huh?”
He gave a slow nod. “Better than I thought.” A heartbeat later, he asked, “Where is the guy who called in the incident?”
“He came, he fed, he left her pining,” Sheena muttered. Then she giggled. It was odd seeing her like this.
“He was a bystander. I think he chased our attacker,” I said.
We didn’t talk much till we reached the hospital. I expected the police to be waiting there for us to report the mugging, but the ambulance doors opened to reveal Liza’s familiar face.
“Sheena said you're human now. Bummer,” she told me with a wink, and then told our paramedic and the EMT driving that the women they’d picked up had nothing more serious than a case of food poisoning.
She also intervened when the hospital staff wouldn’t let me know how Sheena was doing, and then thralled them to remember treating her for dehydration, not blood loss.
Sheena got a suite with round-the-clock care. Liza arranged everything, while I watched from the sidelines.
I cleaned up as well as I could and sat by Sheena’s bed to hold her hand, while she drifted off for the tenth time after more lewd remarks about Constantine and his tongue.
Liza came to the room and pulled up a chair next to mine. “All done. No record of the attack. Constantine asked me and the girls to find the guy for him, but I said I’d ask what you want to do.”
“I think it’s Alex’s case. He’ll want to be involved.”
She nodded. “Is he at the scene now?”
Shit-crap-fuck. “I haven’t called him yet.” Because I forgot all about him.
Though really, my best friend lay bleeding on the street. A vampire had a better chance of helping than a cop did. I was right to call Constantine first.
But I didn’t call Alex second. Or at all.
I fished for my phone in my bag. The screen was still smudged. I used a wipe with disinfectant to clean it, but I couldn’t call him. The phone was out of juice. It was as good an excuse as any to put off a discussion I didn’t want to have.
A male nurse came in to shoo me off near sundown. Visiting hours were over.
I looked at Liza, expecting her to work her vampire mojo, but she shook her head. “I’ll stay the night. You need to go home. Get some rest. Come back in the morning.”
“Yeah, you look like shit,” Sheena croaked.
I flipped her the bird, but it was with love. She and Liza were right. I needed rest and a hot shower. And to stop thinking of how Constantine rushed to Sheena’s rescue but didn’t spare me a glance. And of how his dismissal cut deeper than our mugger’s blade.
Why couldn’t I forget about Constantine? He was my past, and a rocky one at that.
Alex was my future.
And he was naked when he opened the door and pulled me inside the house. Our house. “Ta dah,” he said with flourish. Then he got a better look at me. “What the fuck? What happened? Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.” I motioned at the blood soaking my T-shirt. “Not mine. Sheena and I went for lunch. As we were leaving, a guy went for my purse. I tried to stop him, and he stabbed her.” My voice broke. “It was all my fault.”
More tears? I should be dehydrated by now.
Alex gathered me in his arms and kissed the top of my head. “Shhh, baby. It’s all right. You’re okay. Is Sheena...?”
I may have wiped snot on his bare chest. Disgusting, I know, but it’s the human condition. Suck it up. “She’s in the hospital. Constantine managed to save her life, but she needed stitches and they’re keeping her for a couple days, to monitor her.”
“Constantine was there? I thought he didn’t want to see you again.” He didn’t sound upset, but he had mad interrogating skills and a crazy-good poker face.
I didn’t try to hide the truth. “She was losing too much blood to make it to the hospital. I called him because he could make that stop.” I looked into Alex’s eyes, so he’d read the truth in mine. I didn’t choose Constantine over him; I simply thought of Constantine first because he was the best man for the specific job.
“Did you call the police?” Alex asked.
“No. We didn’t know how to explain that Sheena was already healing. I think the guy who did it might be the one you’re looking for. He had nothing to gain by stabbing her, but he did anyway. It made no sense, Alex. Does human life matter so little?”
He hesitated, then said, “You drank human blood till a couple days ago.”
“But I didn’t kill them. I don’t get how someone would do this for a few bucks.”
He pulled me close again and tucked my head under his chin. His hard body supported and anchored me. “It’s one of the things I love about you. Despite your choices, despite the porn, despite everything, you’re a good, decent person inside.”
His words were meant as praise, but they were a misogynist load of crap. I was too tired to point out that there was no despite here. My choices made me.
Alex was a good man. He didn’t realize he insulted me. I’d talk to him about it in the morning.
“Go wash off the grime,” he said. “I’ve made pasta. We’ll eat, and you’ll tell me about your attacker.”
“Okay.”
His priorities were right. This was what he needed to know. But when I plugged my phone to the charger and saw no missed calls from him, it pissed me off that he hadn’t cared to ask about my job interview.
I was being irrational. Irritable. But last time I brushed off my worries and made excuses for him, he went psycho on me.
As the too-hot—no, too-cold... wait, too hot again—water soaked my head and ran down my body to form pale red rivulets beneath my feet, I went over Alex’s behavior the past couple days. No red flags. No irrational jealousy. No outbursts. Maybe he saw certain things a different way than I did. That was to be expected. With time, our ragged edges would grind against one another and smoothen out until we fit together comfortably.
’Cause that was what solid human relationships became, once bodies aged and passion faded. Comfortable.
Thirty was too young for me to be thinking like this. I was okay. Sheena was okay. I had a job. I had Alex.
Mentally repeating the reminder as a mantra was soothing.
The void inside mocked me. I had to woman up and face it, instead of sidestepping along its ledge. I missed Constantine. I hadn’t been ready to lose him. Having him inside me again after all this time had brought to the surface feelings I’d done a great job of ignoring for a long while.
I knew I loved him when I agreed to give him up, but I didn’t expect it to hurt this much, like part of me was stolen. Like a weight pressed on my heart with every breath.
It didn’t change the facts. I was human, and I was with Alex. Constantine wanted nothing to do with me. Besides, even if I hadn’t chosen humanity, there was no happily-ever-after that involved all three of us.
The pasta was creamy and cheesy and filling, but it didn’t help me feel better. My sense of taste remained suppressed, and hearing Alex’s delighted moan at the first bite of bacon, chicken, and parm linguini only made me gloomier.
I described our attacker, surprised at the effort it took to recall details I knew I’d noticed.
Alex asked questions from time to time. He told me how brave I was for fighting back. That I thought clearly under pressure and my actions saved my friend’s life. That he loved me.
He cupped my cheek, and I leaned into his touch. “I love you too,” I said.
It would have to be enough.
Chapter Sixteen
I WAS BACK BY SHEENA’S bedside bright and early the next morning. Liza spent the night here, as she promised. I secretly envied the spryness in her step when she stood to greet me. If I spent last night in a chair, I’d need a spa day to loosen my muscles this morning.
“She’s still asleep,” Liza said. “I think it’s more her lifestyle catching up to her than the knife wound. She hasn’t been sleeping much these days, with... work.” Before I could ask what it was about work that kept Sheena up at night, Liza added, “I fed her more blood, and she’s mostly healed. She should be able to go home when she wakes up.”
I hugged her and held on despite her stiff posture. “Thank you. I don’t know what we’d do if it weren’t for Constantine and you.”
“No problem. Constantine found her purse nearby. Seemed like only cash and credit cards were missing.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Liza said, “He already arranged for her cards to be cancelled. Sally will get Sheena’s car and come by in a few hours. She’ll help you check Sheena out without questions.”
God, I was a horrible friend. I didn’t think of any of the practical stuff. I thanked her again, took her place in the uncomfortable chair, and waited.
Sheena’s eyes moved under her closed lids. Her chest rose and fell with unhindered, long breaths. Nurses checked her pulse and temperature, then mmmed approvingly. She was okay, no thanks to me.
It was around noon, and I was dozing off, when Sheena whispered, “Hope you brought me a donut.” She had one eye open.
I laughed and squeezed her hand. “I’ll buy you a dozen when we’re out of here.”
She opened her second eye, sat up, and patted her hair, which was a fluffy dark cloud around her head. “Who messed with the hair?”
“They checked you for a concussion last night. The bun got in the way. You’re lucky Liza didn’t let them shave you.”
She grumbled. I handed her a hairband and watched her tame her frizzy mane into submission.
“When can we leave?” she asked.
“As soon as Sally gets here.”
As if I conjured her, Sally stepped in the room. With her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she looked like a teenager.
“Were you waiting outside till someone called your name?” Sheena sounded cheerful. As if she hadn’t had a near-death experience. Maybe Liza helped with that.
“Huh?” Sally said.
I had the feeling it didn’t take much to confuse her, but she was a sweetheart. “Will you get a doctor to sign off on Sheena’s release?” I asked.
“I did you one better.” Sally bounced on her toes, a grin threatening to slice her face in half. “No staff members remember you being here. Let’s go.” For someone who weeks ago would rather kill herself than remain a vampire, she certainly enjoyed her mind-control abilities.
We helped Sheena get dressed in a clean change of clothes Sally brought—why didn’t I think of that?—and the three of us exited the hospital with no trouble whatsoever.
“I parked over there.” Sally pointed to Sheena’s car right outside the sliding doors. “And don’t yell, but I cancelled your appointments for Monday and Tuesday. You need to take it easy. You could have died.”
Sheena gave her a death glare, but all she said was, “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You didn’t even threaten to mop the floor with her ass.”
“I’m too hungry to be throwing around threats, but I’m pain free and well rested. I don’t think I’ve slept this well in ages.”
Lucky her.
Sally drove, despite Sheena’s protests. We got donuts on the way, and I called Alex and let him know Sally and I would be taking Sheena home and spending the day with her.
At Sheena’s, I made us a salad, which we proceeded to ignore in favor of the donuts.
Sally offered to do our nails “—since I can’t do my own.” She looked so crestfallen as she looked at her perma-nude fingernails, I let her do mine, though I paid for a manicure three days ago.
“You know, Cherry will be working with me now on,” Sheena said, washing down her bite with a glass of Chianti.
I glared. “Should you be drinking that?”
“Liza said my liver’s as good a new. I have to break it in.”
Sally giggled, then sobered up. “So Barbie isn’t coming back?”
Sheena looked at the glass she held, then the rest of the donut in her other hand. Then she dunked the donut in the wine and bit into it. “Doubtful.” To me, she said, “All three of them vamped out when she accidentally stapled her finger. You should’ve seen them. They were offering first aid, fangs out. Barbie flew out the door and emailed me her resignation the same evening. Poor thing.”
“Poor thing,” Sally echoed, but she was giggling again.
I loved the time with the two of them, and things only got better when Liza and Carrie came home with tacos. I was shocked when the first bite tasted like heaven, and wolfed down three of them before pacing myself with the fourth. It seemed my sense of taste was returning. Good day, all around.
The girls and I were discussing work—jobs the vampettes wanted to book, new clients Sheena hoped to woo, time schedules and days off for me—when Alex called. He wanted to drop by and see the girls, since he hadn’t spoken to them in a while. I saw the young vampires exchange uncertain looks, so I told him Sheena was tired and I was about to go home anyway.
“What was that about?” I asked when I hung up.
“What?” Carrie slathered sour cream on her taco, looking all too innocent.
“The looks. Do you have a problem with Alex?”
Liza shook her head. “No. No problem.”
“Good, because he died saving your undead asses.”
Sally turned her gaze to the floor. “Alex is great, but we don’t like what he did to you.”
“And we’re worried he might do it again,” Liza added.
“And Const—” Whatever Sally was about to say was hushed by the three others.
“What about him?” My voice sounded louder than I was going for.
“Nothing,” Sheena said. “He’s fine. We’re all fine. You and Alex should drop by for dinner sometime this week.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing.”
I looked at the vampires. “Nothing?”
They shook their heads. Sally avoided my gaze. I’d get to the bottom of this, but not now.
“I should be going,” I said.
Sheena offered to give me a ride to work on Monday. Carrie said she’d drop by. See how things were. She and Sheena exchanged another of those weird looks. Hmm...
I called a cab. I should buy a car. Or maybe Alex could drive me to work every morning. Nah. I’d get a car. Maybe a driver too.
The evening got chilly while I waited outside. I regretted not taking a jacket with this morning—not that I planned to be out all day. I hugged myself. Day
s ago, this would be the perfect temperature.
Days ago, everything was different.
Tonight, Alex was waiting for me at home.
The cab driver wasn’t chatty, which left me alone with my thoughts. I had way too much time to myself lately. Work would fix that. Work and focusing on Alex. On being his girlfriend. His return to his human life was seamless. If I took my cues from him and tried to be normal, maybe it’d come back to me, like my taste did.
The door was unlocked, so I let myself in. Alex was cooking. He had on his mother’s apron, and I smiled at the memory of the first time I saw him wear it. He’d been naked underneath. Now he wore his jeans and a T-shirt that hugged his broad shoulders as he chopped lettuce.
“Hey you,” he said, without raising his gaze. “Hungry? I was going for a Caesar’s, but there’s no bacon.”
I leaned my hip on the table behind him. “I’ve eaten, and it’s always a no to no bacon.”
He washed his hands, patted them dry on a dishtowel hanging from the glass cupboard, and gave me a light kiss on the corner of my lips. “How’s Sheena?”
“She ate her weight in donuts and didn’t keel over, so I guess she’s fine.” I laughed, but I felt so very tired, all of a sudden.
He got a roasted chicken fillet from the fridge and began slicing it. “We have a suspect for the muggings. We put out an APB, but nothing yet. Roebuck wouldn’t let me sign out his file, but if you drop by the precinct tomorrow or Monday, you can go over some mug shots.”
“Monday, I guess. Maybe after work.”
He abandoned the chicken and faced me again. “Work? The meeting yesterday went well? I meant to ask, but with everything that happened...”
He didn’t know anything happened till I got home last night. He could have asked. And I was being selfish. Yesterday was his first day back to work. I didn’t ask how that went, either.
“The meeting was horrible, but Sheena offered me half of her agency. We’ll be partners.” I grinned, and so did he. This was normal.
