“You know, this would be the part where we started making out if we were in a movie,” he observed, burying his nose in my hair. “This probably isn’t the sexy talk the viewers dreamed of, but man, your blood smells amazing. You’re heating up and I can smell you so clearly. Like peaches, nice and ripe.” There was too much longing in his tone, and I shivered in his lap. He shifted beneath me and cleared his throat, shaking his head to rid himself of the trance he was falling into. “Change the subject. Tell me all the ways Geon’s a rat bastard.”
“Only the usual ways. I don’t really want to talk about it. I’m alive. Lang deserves a raise. That’s the end of it. How about you? Danny said they bled you dry?”
Von turned his chin from side to side. “I don’t want to talk about it either. Suffice it to say, Geon wanted the stone quite badly. He wasn’t sure which one of us would crack, so he tried all three of us.”
“I can’t believe he did that to Mason. Took away his strength? I mean, I’ll be okay eventually. You’re looking much better. But to permanently clip Mason’s wings like that? It’s the worst kind of cruel.”
“Speaking of Mason,” Von began with too much hinting in his voice. “I missed out on being rescued, but I was starting to see again when that went down. He shouldn’t have kept kissing you like that. He knows it now, but hindsight’s not worth a whole lot in that kind of situation.”
“I don’t really have anything to say about it. Mason will come back because he has to. I’ll be civil. I’ve worked with all kinds of people who didn’t listen to me. But yeah, that’s long over.”
Von took the soap from me and surprised me by starting in on my arms, massaging with real pressure that did me lots of good and made my already limp body lean back into him, my spine on his chest. I sighed, enjoying the breadth of the snuggle that lapped at us. “I’m sorry he did that. I wanted to pull him off you, but I couldn’t get out. Even if I could’ve, I’m fairly certain I’d only have added to the problem.”
“It’s fine.” I hmm’d when Von leaned me forward and massaged my back with soapy hands, sliding my straps down my arms so he could grind his thumbs into the meat on my shoulders.
“It’s really not fine, but I appreciate you being the team player in it all. Word of advice? When Mason comes groveling back, don’t play the whole ‘it’s fine’ card. Tell him you forgive him or that you don’t, but nothing about what he did was fine. Kissing you to see another woman? Then not stopping when you screamed for him to get off you?” Von closed his eyes and then coiled his arms around my torso, pulling me to his chest and leaning back. His thumb found my navel through my thin white camisole and traced a circle around it. He rolled up the hem a few inches so he could palm my stomach, sending a naughty thrill through us both. “Of all the things I wish I could scrub from my brain, your screaming haunts me most.”
I reached my hand up behind me and stroked his shaved cheek. “I’m okay now.”
“What’s this scar on your arm from?” Von asked, thumbing the puckered jagged pink line on the upper crest of my bicep. I always hid it from Ollie by not wearing tank tops when he was around.
I squirmed uncomfortably. “It’s old. It’s nothing.”
Von sent infinite chills through me when his lips dragged up the slope of the side of my neck. My head leaned back on his shoulder involuntarily. “What’s it from?”
My brain was turning to mush while Von played my body as easily as strumming a guitar. Pain and starvation didn’t work on getting information out of me, but kissing my neck? I sang for Von without hesitation after that. “An old work injury.”
“What’d you cut yourself with?”
“I didn’t cut myself. It’s from one of the inmates. Pistola stuck me with a shiv I didn’t see on him. I was treating him for bang-ups during a yard fight. He doesn’t like women.”
Von’s lips removed themselves from my neck. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, but Ollie doesn’t know, so keep that to yourself. He’d freak.”
“He’d freak over his sister getting shivved by a terrifying inmate? What an overprotective wanker.”
I chuckled, still relaxed against him. “It’s all fine. I lived. Pistola got solitary.”
Von tangled his fingers through mine under the water, studying how our hands looked when they were so very intertwined. “You’re more than just the job to me. You’re like my best girlfriend. Like a sister or something.”
I chuckled, my stomach moving his hand up and down with the motion. “I’ve got news for you, champ. Ollie and I never did this. I’ll take the best girlfriend label, if it’s all the same to you.”
“Works for me. But that means I’ll be expecting more of this. If I can outsource bathing myself to you, that’d really free up a lot of time and effort on my part.”
“Von?” My finger traced one of the deeper cuts on his arm that looked on its way to healing.
“November?”
I reached up behind me and clumsily pressed my hand to his cheek, closing my eyes when he leaned into my palm to press a kiss there for me to hold. “I don’t like that they hurt you. Just the thought of how you got all these cuts is grating at my conscience. If not for me, they wouldn’t have taken you. I’m so sorry.”
“Hani,” he whispered, his breath tickling the shell of my ear. “I’m alright. I’m just glad I didn’t scare you too bad with the aftereffects.”
“Von?”
“November?”
I waited until the water stopped moving, needing absolute quiet to eke out the words I’d known for a while to be true. “You’re my best friend, too.”
Von smirked before placing a kiss on my naked shoulder. He tightened his grip around me, bringing my hand back up to his cheek just to savor the feel of it. It was intimate in a way I hadn’t let myself be with a man before Von came into my world. My whole body hummed at the luxury. Von’s gentle caresses made my body feel beautiful instead of just useful. In his arms, I was a woman.
For all the sanity the doctor prescribed me, that night Von was my good medicine, and he held me in the bath until the water went cold. Then finally, I was warm.
9
Leprechaun Flu
Von and I got out of the tub, drying each other off with careful fingers. I feathered the towel through his hair, messing it to perfection. I could feel him watching me as I styled which parts of his hair I preferred spiked and which should stay tamed. We turned around to give the other one a little privacy as we stepped into our clean and dry clothes. We went out into the living room a thousand times more relaxed than when we’d entered the bathroom. Danny had picked me out some fleece leggings I only wore around the house, a fresh tank top and my black hoodie with a pair of my lacy black panties I wish dude hadn’t seen.
I probably shouldn’t have been surprised to find Danny pacing in the living room, but his surly mug found us with something to say about our contented expressions. “Well, it’s about time. Are you warm yet?”
I nodded. “Good to see you, too, chief. I guess it was some weird leprechaun flu or something.”
“You can’t go reaping without one of us there. I mean it. What you did was dangerous, and could’ve had lasting consequences. Mariang’s skin? That’s what happened before I was hired in. You don’t want that.”
“Yes, sir.” I flopped onto the couch, gearing up for whatever lecture was coming next. “But I didn’t reap anyone. I mean, I would know if I had, right? I was locked in a cell, Danny. No humans down there at all but for little old me. I was taken straight from the dungeon to Ezra’s. No time for extracurricular reaping.”
Danny grimaced, looking a little like the Frankenstein monster sucking on a sour Jolly Rancher. “That’s not possible. You had a rotting soul in you. Von pulled it out.” He looked to Von, who confirmed it all with a nod as he slid onto the couch next to me.
Von motioned for me to hand him my foot, but I couldn’t imagine for what. I lifted my leg a few inches in his direction, and he caught it up and pulled it
onto his lap, rubbing my toes with his warm fingers. My eyelids shut without needing me to command them to rest. Von slid the wool blanket over me, sealing in the heat I feared would escape in the open air.
“Von!” Danny barked. “Knock it off. I’m trying to get to the bottom of this, and you’re distracting her.”
Von tickled the arch of my foot, earning himself a light kick to the elbow. I sat up so I could focus more clearly, but left my feet in Von’s lap so he could play with my toes. “I don’t know what you expect me to say, Danny. I mean, the only dead person I was near was Andy in the cell after I…” I swallowed. “You know, after I killed him. But Andy’s not human. Doesn’t reaping only work on humans?”
“Yeah. It can’t be Andy. But who else?” His eyebrows pushed together as he studied me, as if my face might tell him answers my mouth couldn’t. “I don’t like this. Von, not out of your sight. I mean it, if she’s reaping people we can’t keep track of, that’s dangerous.”
Von saluted Danny. “Yes, sir. Not out of my sight.”
Danny ran his hands over his face. “I picked up some takeout while you were in the bathroom. I figure you’ll be pulling from her for a while, and there’s not much pizza left. There’s a blood bag in the fridge in case you need it. I’ll be back tomorrow with Mason, so you know, be ready to start working in the morning.” His eyes narrowed on Von’s. “Morning means be ready by seven, not noon.”
“Yes, supreme leader.” Von bowed his head in Danny’s direction, earning him a glower. “Isn’t he adorable when he orders me around?”
“Simply precious,” I agreed.
Danny gathered up his coat and keys and then turned to me, jabbing his finger in my face. “You,” he said in an accusing tone. “You know, I’m, well, I’m glad you’re okay. Call me next time something’s wrong like this.”
I touched my knuckle to the tip of his finger. “Thanks for stealing my keys and barging in.” I looked up and blinked at him. “Truly.”
“Yes, well. Whatever.” He cracked his neck twice. “Call me if Von’s being a problem. Otherwise, I’ve got to go home and pull from Mariang so she can work tomorrow.”
“I hope you have a good night, Danny.”
I don’t know why he seemed confused at my normal parting greeting, but he paused as if considering my words for hidden meaning before nodding. “Alright, kid. You, too.”
Von squeezed my toes when Danny finally left. “Do you get the feeling that he’s warming up to you? I mean, that was almost civil just then.”
“Yes, Danny’s learning manners. It’s an uphill battle.” I squirmed when Von pulled up my foot to kiss my big toe before setting it down on the couch when he stood. He went to the kitchen and brought back two takeout boxes with Chinese food inside that made both of us groan when he opened them.
“Tuck on in here, Peach. Dibs on the steak. Or the chicken. I can’t decide.”
I snatched the Kung-Pow chicken from him and slid my chopsticks out of the red paper sleeve. I clicked on the TV and let Von scoop me to his side. We settled on a B-Horror movie, which were my absolute favorite. Especially the chainsaw-wielding variety. You could do so much with a simple chainsaw.
So content was I under the blanket on the couch eating Chinese food next to Von that I didn’t even care when he picked a piece of chicken from my box. “Lean your head back,” he said as the opening credits concluded. The movie started in on a busty girl tiptoeing through the woods in the dead of night in her skimpy prom dress. What could possibly go wrong? I cozied into Von’s nook, leaning my head back on his shoulder. I tore my eyes from the screen when he chuckled. “Well, that’s just adorable. But I meant tilt your head back. Open your mouth. You’ve got to try this.” I did as he instructed, and he reached high above me, dangling a too-long noodle overhead and draping it into my mouth. “Now lean back on me like that again. I’ve got to say, I like his whole platonic girlfriend thing.”
“Whatever. You just like double the Chinese food.”
We ate while laughing at the cheesy script and took turns trading little cheek kisses until the movie ended. It was barely eight o’clock, but when Von suggested I carry him to bed, I decided the day had been filled with enough adventure. The constant shivering had taken a lot out of me, and my body was tapped out.
Von and I got ready for bed and climbed into the queen-sized cloud haven of feather comforters and soft sheets. Our toes tangled with each other’s as we tried to give the other person space, but realized we preferred the closeness after the week of torture and isolation. Von slept clad only in his blue cotton boxer briefs, tucking me into his nook. Our legs wound around each other, somehow unable to get close enough. He moved to turn off the lamp, but my childish fear stopped him. “Wait! I was kind of hoping we could sleep with the lamp on.” I caught myself too late, and shook my head. “Never mind. That’s stupid. Go ahead and turn it off.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “Afraid of the dark, are we?”
I didn’t want to admit that he’d hit the nail on the head. I gulped, strangling the chicken inside of me. “Geon kept me alone in the cell in pitch black for days.”
Von’s expression turned tender. “Darling. Do you want to talk about it yet?”
I shook my head. “You can turn off the lamp. I was being a dork about it. I’ll be fine.”
Von got out of bed, turned on the light in the living room, and shut our door, letting a little illumination filter in through the bottom. Then he turned off the lamp that shone too brightly for either of us to get any sleep if it was kept on. “Is that better?”
“Much,” I said with a sigh of relief. “Thank you. And thanks for not… I know I’m being high maintenance.”
Von climbed back under the blankets, rolling atop me to cover my body with his. “You were starved and locked in a dungeon. It’s quite alright to feel a bit turned around. You should always tell me what you want.” He nipped at my lips, my cheeks, and finally planted a kiss on my nose. Our eyes met with heat that felt laced with too many layers of things neither of us were ready to put words to just yet.
When he rolled off me to lay on his side, our separation lasted a handful of agonized seconds before we were holding hands and twining our legs together under the sheets again. “Von?”
“November?”
“What happened in Dagat?”
Von cleared his throat, and I could tell he was fishing for a PG version of the truth. “That’s where I started up as a male escort. Not exactly my high point. Tried to raise funds to pay off some gambling debt. Didn’t go as planned. Turns out stripper with a heart of gold is slightly less glamorous in real life.”
My mouth dropped open. Danny had called him out on being a male prostitute before, and though Von hadn’t argued with the accusation, part of me sort of assumed Danny was just being a jag.
I was cutesy cuddling a male prostitute, my legs looped through his while we held hands. I didn’t have the words, which ranged from “Ack! STDs!” to “What a poor puppy.” After a moment of confusion, I realized that this was Von, and there was precious little he could say that would make me turn away from him.
I kept my words censored as I opened my arms and waved him to come even closer. I wrapped my arms around him, crushing my front to his as we lay on our sides to let him know that no matter what, we were in this whole thing together. “I’m so sorry being tortured in a prison wasn’t the worst part of your life. Is all that behind you now? You don’t still sleep with women for money, do you?” Von was gorgeous; I couldn’t imagine him not making a killing selling his body and his sexy smirk to the highest bidder.
“I haven’t done that since I left Dagat.” He relaxed in my embrace, snaking his arm around my waist under the sheets. “You didn’t send me to go sleep on the couch.”
“Of course not. You belong right here with me.”
Von rubbed my back, and when he spoke, his voice came out choked. “I haven’t belonged anywhere in a long time.” He delivered a closed
-mouth kiss to my lips.
My lashes fluttered shut on instinct, and I scolded myself for indulging in the sweetness that made my cheeks turn pink. “You kiss my mouth, even though it’s against your rules.”
He shrank sheepishly. “Yeah, I know. I can’t help myself. Scares the pants off me with anyone else. I don’t know why, but it feels safe with you.” He watched my face for signs of flight. “Was that okay?”
I nodded slowly. “I like how we are. I’m just never expecting it.” My toes brushed up the back of his bare leg. “And you don’t have any pants on to scare off tonight, so I think we’re safe.”
His lazy smile returned, relaxing us both. “Darling, don’t you know never to get used to me? I’m full of surprises.” He pecked my lips again, his long, dark lashes sweeping shut mere seconds before mine. The kisses were light, and not deep enough to invoke the psychedelic sensory overload, which made them absolutely perfect.
We talked and played for another half an hour before I drifted off, contemplating my sea of unfortunate events, and wondering how I got to be so lucky.
10
Magic Pill
I awoke to the sounds of voices in my house and groaned. I snuggled into Von’s side and scratched a light line across his toned belly, rousing him just enough. “I think Danny’s here.”
“Tell him to go away. My alarm’s set for six forty-five. I was having a really filthy dream.”
I kissed his cheek and sat up, stretching before I placed my feet on the lush white carpet I loved. “I’ll go see why they’re here so early. It’s barely six.”
Von threw his hands into the air, frustrated. “See? Now the dream’s gone because you left my side. Danny ruins everything.”
I stood and stretched, taking the opportunity while Von was yawning and facing the other way to slide off my leggings and put on jeans. “What was the dream about?”
“All sorts of ungentlemanly things.” He pulled on his jeans and shoved his arms through a navy blue t-shirt that hugged his muscles and showed off the fact that he was a physically fit vampire well suited for seduction.
Torture (Terraway Book 3) Page 5
