“No. I’m okay. Really,” she said stubbornly.
I sighed. “You’re going to need clothes and suitable outerwear. Why don’t you check out that place over there?” I asked, pointing up the street to another popular clothing shop. “See if they have anything you like, while I go back into the other store and pay for Melody’s stuff.”
“No. That’s okay. I’ll just wait until she’s done,” she said, trying to avoid my eyes.
“It might be awhile. By then, you could have all of your shopping finished and we can head on back to the castle.”
“Why? Are you in a hurry to get rid of us?”
Hell yes, I thought.
I was in a hurry to get as far away from her as possible, before I pulled her into my arms and apologized for being such an asshole. I hated knowing that she was angry at me and jealous about something that wasn’t even real and I hated playing these games. I just didn’t know what else to do. I’d made a mistake, the night before, and now we were both paying for it.
“No. I have some things that I need to do and would like to get you girls back to the castle.”
Our eyes met and Chelsey sneered. “Yeah, I’m sure you do,” she said, glancing back toward Maureen’s store.
I didn’t reply and had to bite my tongue to keep from telling her the truth. I sat down next to her on the bench, putting some distance between us. Then, I took out my phone and pretended to ignore her, although in all reality, she had my full attention.
After a few seconds, Chelsey stood up. “Fine. I’ll go shopping,” she mumbled, walking away.
“We’ll be along in a few minutes,” I called after her.
She waved her hand.
Sighing, I got up and walked back into the store. Fortunately, Melody was at the counter and they were ringing up her items.
“Perfect timing,” said Maureen, grinning at me as I approached the register.
I pulled out my wallet. “How much is the damage?”
Melody laughed nervously. “Do you really want to know?”
“It’s fine. Lay it on me,” I replied, smiling.
“Your total is four-thousand-two-hundred and twelve euros,” said Maureen.
I handed her my credit card.
Melody’s jaw dropped. “That’s euros, though, so it’s not that much, right?”
“It’s about forty-seven hundred U.S. dollars,” answered Maureen.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” said Melody, looking horrified.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to reassure her that money wasn’t an issue. “I’ve seen Liam spend that much on one article of clothing.”
Maureen laughed. “That’s your drummer, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Yeah, the burly guy with the blonde hair.”
“Oh, he’s a cutie, too. Bring him in here,” she teased. “We’re getting a new line-up of designer men’s clothing next week.”
“If I bring him in here you’ll probably have a record day for sales,” I replied.
“That’s what I’m hoping for,” she answered, laughing again. “Do you want your receipt in one of the bags or with you?”
“With me,” I told her.
Maureen handed it to me.
“It was nice meeting you,” I said, stuffing the receipt into my wallet.
“You as well, and what a great friend you are to these girls.” She looked at Melody. “What does it feel like to go shopping without a credit limit to worry about?”
“I have mixed feelings. It’s great but I feel a little guilty for spending so much of someone else’s money.”
“With everything that’s been going on, you deserve it,” I told her. “In fact, if you see anything else you like, let me know. I want to make sure you have everything you need.
“Thanks, Slade,” she replied.
“What happened?” asked Maureen.
“Fire,” I said quickly.
“Burglary,” said Melody at the same time.
“A burglar started her flat on fire and now she needs almost everything replaced.”
“You didn’t have insurance?” asked Maureen.
“No,” I answered for her.
“Oh, and you’re paying for her to replace everything. That’s so sweet, Slade,” she said.
“He’s awesome,” agreed Melody.
“Yeah, well, it’s hard to be humble,” I joked. “But, apparently, it’s not hard to spend my money.”
Melody pretended to punch me.
“Come on now, I’m just kidding,” I said, grinning.
“By the way,” said Maureen, pointing toward the sunglasses that I was wearing. “Those are looking a little scratched up. Here.” She handed me a brown pair of sunglasses.
“Maui Jim’s, huh?” I said, taking off my black ones. I slid the brown ones on and grinned. “How do they look?”
“Great,” said Melody.
“They’re yours,” said Maureen. “A gift for stopping in today.”
“Really? Thank you,” I said, shoving my black sunglasses into my jacket pocket.
“You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do. Anyway, she’s right. They do look good on you. Of course, everything looks good on you.”
I grinned. “You’re too kind.”
“It’s the least that I could do.”
“Thanks again. Anyway, we’d better get going,” I said, grabbing some of Melody’s shopping bags from the counter. “I’ll call you, Maureen.”
“It’s okay if you don’t,” said Maureen quickly. “I mean, I know how busy you are.”
“Tell you the truth, I’ll be on the road soon and then there’s practice.”
“Busy man,” she said.
“You have no idea. Take care.”
Her shoulders relaxed and I almost had to laugh. Most used vampire charm to lure in chicks. I used it to drive them away. “You, too.”
After we left the store, Melody began asking me about Maureen.
“Why were you going to call her? It wasn’t for a date, was it?” she asked, walking behind me.
I shrugged. “What if it was? What’s it to you?”
“Hello? Didn’t you just have sex with my cousin?” she snapped, a little too loudly.
I froze. “She told you about that?” I asked, turning back to look at her.
“Not in so many words but I kind of figured it out. No wonder why Chelsey is so pissed off at you.”
“She’s not pissed off.”
“Oh, the hell she isn’t. I thought it was just her being overly dramatic and childish, but she obviously had a good reason to be angry with you.”
“We really don’t have time for this,” I mumbled, turning to walk toward the shop that Chelsey was supposed to be at.
“Hold up,” said Melody firmly. “I’m not done talking to you yet.”
Groaning inwardly, I turned around.
Melody stepped closer and waved her index finger in my face. “You know, I warned her to stay away from you last night, especially after hearing about you and Talia screwing around. But, she didn’t listen and gave me some lame excuse about how you were manipulated and didn’t know what the hell was going on. But now, I’m beginning to see who exactly is the one being manipulated,” she snapped.
“I’m not manipulating anyone,” I lied. “And that thing with Talia? I thought she was Vanessa at the time.”
“Right.”
“It is right,” I snapped, grateful to be able to tell the truth about something. “And we’re talking about something that happened over a century ago! It has nothing to do with anything happening here and now.”
“Fine. Whatever. I’m just saying that if you hurt Chelsey, I swear to God, you’re going to have to deal with me. I don’t care how much you’ve done to save us, she’s the only family that I have left and I’m not going to let you use her for,” she lowered her voice to an angry whisper, “a booty call!”
“I’m not using her for a booty call,” I whispered back, just as angrily. “She do
esn’t even have a cell phone.”
“Not funny.”
“Look, I’m not using her or anyone else for sex.”
“Then what was that all about with Maureen?”
“Nothing that Chelsey needs to be worried about,” I answered, just wanting to get her off of my back.
Melody stared at me hard and then let out a ragged sigh. “You hurt her and I’ll drive a stake through your heart, Slade. I swear to God,” she said, walking around me.
Knowing that she was already in pain, I wanted to do the same.
I WAS SO angry at the way that Slade had been acting, that I decided to take out my frustration by spending his money. By the time he and Melody walked into the shop, I had a pile of clothes sitting on the counter which I figured cost more than the car I’d driven back in the U.S.
Melody’s eyes widened when she saw the stack of items. “Have you tried everything on?”
I looked at Slade and smiled coolly. “No. I’ve decided that I’m just going to get all of them, since he’s in such a hurry. If they don’t fit, Slade can just return them later.”
His lip twitched. “Fine. Whatever. Get what you want.”
I glanced down at all of the shopping bags that they were holding. “Are you sure you picked up enough stuff? They have some great things here, too, you know. Maybe you should look around?”
“I think I’m good,” she said.
I picked up a sexy, little black dress from a nearby rack and held it against my body. “What do you think, Melody? I was hoping that we could go and visit The Blue Room ourselves, one of these nights. I could wear this,” I said, enjoying way Slade’s lip tightened.
“What is The Blue Room?” she asked.
I told her what I’d heard from Slade’s two fans, Nicole and Gary, since she’d been out of earshot when they’d been discussing it.
“Anything goes? Heck, you know I’m in, just to observe, of course. Let me find something to wear, too. Something sexy.”
“You’re not going there,” said Slade, firmly. “Neither of you.”
“Is that right? We’re eighteen,” I said defiantly. “There really isn’t anything holding us back.” Except money. And a car. And the fact that I really didn’t want to go. I was just messing with him.
“I’m not taking you,” he said.
“That’s fine,” I answered. “I didn’t expect you to hang out with us anyway. We’d only cramp your style.”
He frowned.
“Maybe we can get Liam to take us?” said Melody, a gleam in her eyes. “Or even Aiden.”
“What about Lucian?” I asked. “He’s such a sweetheart. I bet he’d be more than happy to accompany us to The Blue Room.”
Slade’s eyes hardened. “Lucian?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Have you met him?”
He closed the distance between us. “Damn right I have. How do you know him?” he growled angrily.
“From the castle,” I said, surprised at his reaction. “He’s one of Aiden’s guests.”
“Yeah, we met him right before we left,” said Melody, laughing nervously. “I take it you don’t like him?”
“Not particularly,” he replied tightly.
“Well, he’s kind of cute, if you ask me,” said Melody, looking back over to me.
“I think so, too,” I agreed.
She grinned. “He kind of reminds me of the Elf guy, from those Lord of The Rings movies.”
“Legolas?” I asked, surprised that she’d watched them.
“Yeah. Orlando Bloom played him. He’s so hot.”
I laughed.
“Stay away from him, Chelsey,” said Slade, who looked like he was about to combust from being so angry. “I mean it.”
My eyes widened. “Why?”
Slade glanced around the shop and then lowered his voice. “He’s a vampire, for one. For two, he can’t be trusted.”
“Yeah, we know. You’re a vampire,” I countered. “And as for trusting you, that’s still up in the air, as well.”
Melody snorted.
He scowled. “This is serious stuff. He’s dangerous and you need to keep your distance. Both of you.”
“Really? Dangerous?” I rolled my eyes. As far as I was concerned, Slade was far more dangerous than Lucian. “I think you’re over-reacting. He seems like a really nice guy.”
“He might appear that way, but you don’t know Lucian,” said Slade. “Why in the hell are you defending him anyway?”
“Sometimes you just know when someone is good or trustworthy,” I said, unable to explain exactly why I felt the way that I did about Lucian. “But, then again, my assumptions aren’t always right.”
Slade opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then changed his mind.
“How about this, Chelsey?” asked Melody, holding up a blue, satin dress that was even shorter than the one I’d selected. “Should I get it?”
I grinned. “I love it. You should definitely get it.”
“Hmm… I need to try it on,” she said, looking at the tag.
I waved my hand. “No you don’t. Get yourself a few different sizes and try them all on later. Slade doesn’t have a lot of time, so we need to hustle.” I turned to him. “You can take what we don’t want back, later, right, Slade?”
“Yeah. Fine,” he answered, not looking happy.
I turned away and smiled.
WHEN IT WAS all said and done, my shopping bill was pretty staggering - just under eleven thousand euros. Even Slade was a little taken aback.
Mission accomplished.
“Is that okay?” I asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“Yeah. It’s… fine,” he said, taking out his wallet.
“You look familiar,” said the clerk, who was ringing up the items. “Have you been in here before?”
“No,” he replied, looking distracted.
“Huh,” answered the woman, who was in her fifties. “You just look like someone I know. Or should know.”
Noticing the lilt in her voice, he winked. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were flirting with me. Is that true?” he teased, staring at her nametag. “Joan?”
The woman laughed. “Goodness, if I was twenty years younger and fifty pounds thinner, you’d know for sure.”
“There’d be nothing left of you,” he said. “Besides, I like a woman with some meat on her bones.”
She blushed. “Oh, you’re just saying that.”
“No, he really does,” said Melody. “The heartier the better.”
“She’s right, but I especially like the ones with a hearty appetite. Which reminds me, do you know of a good place to get a quick bite to eat?”
“The pub on the corner has some of the best sandwiches in the city. I’d try there.”
“I think that we might just do that. Thanks, Joan,” he replied, winking.
“My pleasure,” she answered, still smiling.
When we left the store, we had so many shopping bags that it was almost laughable.
“You’re sure there isn’t anything else you need?” asked Slade. “Like shoes, purses, or, you know - girl’s stuff?”
“As in makeup, razors, and tampons?” asked Melody, smirking.
“Well, yeah.”
“Actually, we could use some items from that store,” said Melody, pointing toward another boutique that specialized in toiletries and perfume. “You know, like shower gel and bubble bath.”
Slade set down the bags he was holding and pulled out his wallet. “Here,” he said, taking out some money. “Hopefully this will be enough. I’m going to take these other bags to the car and lock them in the trunk.”
“Thanks,” I replied, as he handed me three-hundred euros. “I’m sure it will cover what we need there.”
“I would hope so. I’ll meet you right there,” he said, pointing to the bench again.
“You don’t want to meet us inside?” asked Melody.
He looked back at the boutique and frowned.
“No. It’d would be too overwhelming for me in there. Too many different scents, floating in the air.”
“Gotcha. We’ll meet you back at the bench, then,” I said, handing him all of my bags.
“Here, can you take these, too?” asked Melody.
“Yeah. I think so,” he said, shoving some of the bags into larger ones.
When he was finally clutching all of them, we turned and headed for the boutique. As we reached the doorway, I looked at him over my shoulder and smiled as he struggled to carry all of our items.
“Do you think he’s angry that we purchased so much?” asked Melody, also glancing back.
“Did he look like he was?” I asked, not caring one way or another anymore. I was still angry with him for being such a jackass.
“I guess not,” she said, opening the door.
“Then don’t worry about it,” I replied, following her into the store. “Besides, if you think about it, if it wasn’t for Slade and his band, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. He owes us.”
She smiled grimly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. He kind of does.”
I thought about my mother as we began looking around and knew she would have loved the little shop. Our bathroom shower used to be over- crowded with bottles of different gels and hair-care products, driving my father crazy, who’d been left with a small shelf for his little bar of soap and shampoo.
“If we had a bigger house, you could have your own separate bathroom and not have to worry about it,” she used to tell him.
“I’m not buying a bigger house just for that.”
“What about a bigger house just because you love me?”
“There would just be more space between us and I couldn’t have that,” he’d tease, pulling her into his arms. “Because of the fact that I love you.”
My heart felt suddenly heavy and I forced myself to think of other things as I began to shop. When I was finished, I had an array of different bubble baths, shower gels, and body sprays, selecting mostly light and fruity scents. After the clerk rang both of us up, we’d spent most of the three-hundred euros.
“I’m hungry. Do you think Slade is really taking us to lunch?” asked Melody, as we stepped outside.
“That’s what he told Joan, although he mentioned to me that he wanted to get back to the castle.”
Toxic (Venom Series) Book Three Page 6
