“Don’t get too full of yourself,” Thomas chuckled. “Business is just taking longer than I anticipated.”
“What exactly is your business?” she asked curiously.
It wasn’t very typical for a man of his age to be some sort of traveling businessman, especially when he said he only wore jeans and boots. To top it all off, he knew of vampires—or at least seemed to quickly understand that she was one and was somehow not shocked by it. Maybe he had ran across one on his travels before. It was hard to say. Elora wanted to know so badly but didn’t want to bring it up when they agreed not to talk about it.
“It isn’t important,” Thomas told her, stepping away and quickly put the books into a backpack that sat in a chair.
She wanted to question him but didn’t want to push him either. “I prepared a bit for tonight,” he announced as he walked into the tiny kitchen area.
“Oh? Did you get me a dozen roses and champagne?”
Elora smirked, walking to the bed and sitting on the foot of the bed.
“Close-ish,” he called back to her.
He reached into the freezer and turned around with a bottle of cinnamon whiskey.
“Figured we would need some form of entertainment.”
As he grew close to her, Elora looked to him with a grin, “Oh so close to roses and champagne,” she chuckled.
Thomas sat next to her on the foot of the bed, grabbing the remote to the television and turning it to a channel that played old reruns.
“Whiskey and old sitcoms, roses and champagne, what’s really the difference?”
“At least these shows will never die,” she laughed.
Thomas smiled at her, putting an arm around her shoulder, “Exactly.”
They sat together, taking swigs from the bottle of whiskey since he didn’t have any shot glasses. Elora loved cinnamon whiskey. Although she couldn’t really taste the cinnamon, she could sense the heat it had. The show that was playing was actually a show that had been on air when she was a little girl, filling her with nostalgia. Thomas kept her arm around her, making jokes about how old and cheesy the show was.
“Golly gee, Mary. I sure do hope pa doesn’t catch us sneaking out to go to that party. That would just be terrible!” Thomas said in his best ‘all-American boy’ voice, making Elora roar with laughter.
She knew the man normally wasn’t so likely to relax like that, the whiskey definitely helping him relax.
He let out a snort as he went to take another swig, “Yeah as if their dad isn’t going to catch them and give them a long, moral-filled speech about listening to the rules and the dangers of teenage drinking.”
Elora laughed, “Yeah, they really were really predictable back then, weren’t they?”
The thought of teenage drinking made her realize that was exactly what she was doing, being frozen at the age of nineteen.
“And how do you feel, supplying a teenager with alcohol?” she asked, just wanting to pick on him.
He rose a brow at her, “You’re still a teenager?” he asked, sounding skeptical.
“I’m nineteen,” she confirmed.
“Oh yeah? What year were you born?” Thomas challenged.
Elora hedged for a split second, and Thomas chuckled.
“That’s what I thought,” he commented, handing her the bottle.
Well, at least he was accepting of the fact she was a vampire, it not seeming to bother him at all. Elora took a sip before giving it back, “And how old are you?”
“Thirty-one,” he answered her.
“I guess I’m a cougar,” she joked.
“Are you?” he questioned, a smirk coming to his face. “I guess that can be kind of hot.”
“Kind of hot?” Elora retorted, raising a brow at him.
Thomas looked her over as if he was rating her level of hotness.
A corner of his lip slowly pulled into a lopsided grin, “Okay, pretty damn hot.”
Elora smirked, “Thank you.”
Their attention was brought back to the television screen as the introduction music played, the showing resuming from commercial. The two of them ended up laying down on the bed, Elora’s head resting on his chest as they watched the shows. She couldn’t help but think their relationship, or whatever they wanted to call it, was so strange. From the outside looking in, she knew it would have seemed shallow and just about sex. Elora couldn’t explain the connection she felt with him, and how at ease she felt around the mysterious man. They had an understanding that their personal lives were complicated and shouldn’t get dragged into one another’s business but could enjoy time together. She just hated that it would be short lived.
Eventually, he would leave town and so would the nest. That thought was immediately pushed from her mind, not wanting to dwell on it. She wanted to embrace the flame between them before it was gone.
Thomas started to rub her back as they watched the show. His large, warm hands soothed the muscles of her back as he watched the show. As he made his way to her lower back, she looked up to him and admired him as he watched the show, still rubbing her back with both hands as she laid on him. Elora leaned up and gave him a kiss. He kissed her back tenderly, hands still rubbing her back slowly. The kiss of appreciation easily grew heated as she pressed her tongue past his lips. The heat of the cinnamon still lingered on his tongue. Thomas pulled her on top of him, his hands gliding to her bottom. The blare of the television seemed to fade into the background, their attention solely on one another.
Elora sat up on him, sitting on his hips as he pulled at the hem of his shirt. Thomas sat up a bit to help her remove it. As the shirt came over his head, he ducked a bit to let her remove it. Her eyes caught a glimpse of his shoulder blades, noticing two puncture wounds on them.
Her brow furrowed, “What is that?” she asked.
He looked at her with confusion, “What is what?”
“That,” she said, reaching and touching the wounds.
Thomas’s eyes widened a bit, just looking up at her. Elora got off of him, and he sat up, she immediately jerked him to turn around so she could see it. The puncture wounds were clearly from fangs and were fresh—very fresh. And she hadn’t been the one to leave them there. Her stomach twisted in a knot. He was sleeping with another vampire?
Elora was on her feet in a moment, “I can’t believe you! Are all guys the same? Sleeping around with whoever they want, whenever they want?” she hissed.
Thomas stood as well, not bothering to put his shirt on. He gave a dry, sarcastic laugh.
“Aren’t you acting high and mighty for a girl who slept with a guy she met at a bar? What do you think is going on here? It’s just sex, Ella.”
Her jaw was agape. He really felt like that? He didn’t feel anything at all for her? No connection, no affection?
“So I’m just another notch on the bedpost, huh?” she questioned.
“What do you think?” Thomas snapped at her, glaring hard at her.
“All we’ve done is flirt and have sex. It isn’t like we are in a relationship. What did you expect to happen?”
Elora was in shock, anger and hurt twisting her stomach and chest into knots. Had she really been that delusional? Had she really imagined all of it? The connection she felt, the genuine bond Elora thought they had? She was just another piece of ass to him, and all she was doing was making a fool of herself. It added insult to injury that he had slept with someone from her nest. Elora prayed she never found out who did it, knowing her temper would get the best of her.
“Fuck you,” was all she could manage to get out before turning on a heel and hurrying out the door.
Elora climbed onto her motorcycle, not bothering to put on her helmet. Her tires squealed as she peeled out of the parking lot, racing to get far, far away from him.
She was a goddamn idiot.
CHAPTER FIVE
A week went by since the last time Elora saw Thomas. She had stayed to herself, completely riddled with self-pity and depressio
n. It was hard for her to wrap her head around the fact that she had let that man play her—if he even had. Really he hadn’t done much of anything to make her think he was genuinely interested in her. Yeah, they flirted and he goofed around with her, but never really anything to make her believe he thought of her as anything more than a fling. It wasn’t like they would be around long anyways. She had been a fool to let herself think there could be more. Sometimes she caught herself wondering if Lance was all she deserved, that stupid, possessive meathead.
The whole ordeal had left her not wanting to be around anyone, not even Abigail. Elora spent her nights in a bar just outside of town, terrified of seeing Thomas around—or worse, with another woman. Just the thought made her blood boil, stomach hurt, and want to sob all at the same time. How in the hell had she let herself get so emotionally invested in someone she had just met?
She sat at the bar alone, not in the mood to even hunt that night. She wore a plaid skirt and an off-the-shoulder sweater, her face clear of makeup. A gin and soda was getting warm in her hand as she fidgeted with the thin black straw, her eyes fixated on the bar. Elora had to pull herself from the funk she was in, and she knew it. Each night she told herself that would be the last night she would let herself stew, and each night she knew it was a lie.
She sat there for an hour, not looking around at anyone, not uttering a word. It was a tiny bar, and the crowd in there was made up of sad looking middle-aged men in trucker hats. After a while longer, Elora debated just leaving and going back to the warehouse and calling it a night. It wasn’t like she was going to get drunk, and she didn’t feel up to hunting. She raised the drink to her lips, planning on polishing it off and leaving.
As she took deep gulps of the bitter liquid, a familiar voice sounded next to her, “So how long you plan to avoid me?”
Elora’s eyes reluctantly slid to the stool next to her, Thomas sitting there and staring at her with his intense emerald eyes.
“I was hoping until you died one day,” she mumbled bitterly before raising the drink back to her lips.
She could feel as his eyes scanned over her before he turned to the bartender, “One beer and whatever she’s having.”
Elora’s eyes darted to him, glaring at him.
“What? Looked like yours was getting warm,” he grinned to her, using the same strategy she had used on him when they first met.
“Can you not just fuck off?” she asked him, venom still in her voice.
“I just want to apologize,” Thomas told her.
“Apologize for what?”
“You know what,” Thomas sighed to her.
She wasn’t budging, though.
“I’m sorry the way I talked to you. I got defensive. I know I fucked up by sleeping with that other girl. It hadn’t even started out like that… And that doesn’t make up for it but—”
“Why are you even apologizing?” Elora snapped. “We aren’t in a relationship, remember? It’s no concern of mine who or what you stick your dick in.”
Thomas let out a heavy sigh, placing a hand over hers.
“I know we aren’t in a relationship, but I shouldn’t have said that or thrown it in your face. I care about you, and I do have some sort of feelings for you. And I fucked up what we had going.”
Elora could tell her was uncomfortable talking about his emotions, and even if she didn’t want to admit it in the moment, it was cute. But above all, she was surprised to hear him say he did have feelings for her. So there was a connection between them? Elora wasn’t ready to drop her guard, though.
“Please, just let me make it up to you.”
“And what makes you think I’m going to believe any of this and you’re not just lonely and looking for some ass?” Elora questioned, her eyes still narrowed in a glare.
“Because I know you feel the same way I do about you,” he breathed to her.
“Hm… No, that can’t be right because I didn’t go and sleep with someone else,” she remarked bitterly.
“Elora, please…” Thomas practically begged.
“Just let me have one night to make it up to you.”
Her eyes scanned him all over, debating whether or not she was willing to suck up her pride.
“You can hang around if you want. But you’re paying for the drinks,” she mumbled.
Thomas smiled softly, “Fair enough.”
When the drinks came, they sat in silence for a few minutes, downing their drinks and ordering another round. After that, Thomas pursued small talk. He asked what she had been up to in the week they hadn’t seen one another, asking her little icebreaker questions like what her favorite this or that was or if she had ever done one thing or another. It was proving to be a challenge to get her to warm back up to him. She was silent through a lot of it, though gave minimal answers.
Elora was just struggling to forgive him so easily. Her head was still under attack from the thoughts that had buzzed in her head for a week. She wished she could shake them so that she could make a sound decision, but it wasn’t that easy. And it also didn’t help she was growing envious of him as he started to get intoxicated, eyes growing glossy and a bit of red coming to his cheeks.
Almost as if he could read her thoughts, he leaned into her and whispered in her ear, “I know those drinks won’t do much at all for you. I have something that will get you drunk.”
Elora’s eyes fixated on him, searching his face for what he meant. Was he talking about hard drugs? Thomas definitely didn’t seem like a user with his blemish-free skin, healthy weight, and relatively normal behavior. So what could it have been? He had succeeded in sparking her interest. Elora hadn’t been drunk in so long, and after the last couple of weeks, she was desperate for it; she was in need of freeing herself from the prison of her mind.
“Follow me,” he said before paying their bill before promptly standing and heading for the door.
She hesitantly followed, too curious to see what he could have possibly been talking about. They walked outside and headed towards his car. Thomas opened the passenger for her before going to the driver side and climbing in. Elora was silent as she watched him pull a small black case from under his seat. Opening it, he had several large syringes filled with a dark liquid, Elora unable to tell what color it was with it being fairly dark.
“Don’t be scared, it isn’t a drug or anything. It just acts like one,” he breathed to her, getting one out and taking the cap off the needle.
Thomas’s eyes lifted to hers, “You trust me?” he asked.
Reluctantly, Elora nodded. Gently taking one of her arms, Thomas rolled up the sleeve past her elbow. Lowering the needle to her arm, he pushed the metal into her pale skin. When he pushed down on the plunger, he only did it very briefly, letting just the smallest amount of the fluid enter her blood stream.
As he took the needle out and tucked it back in the bag, Elora already started to feel the effects. Things around her seemed to move a bit, her head feeling heavy. The nostalgic feeling of being drunk washed over her. She had no idea what that had been, but she was thankful she had let him. Even though the life of a vampire seemed to be a never-ending party, it was a rather depressing life and sometimes it would be nice just to escape it all. When he turned back to her, Elora let out a small, drunken giggle. A big smile spread over Thomas’s face, “Already feeling it?”
“I… I think sooo,” Elora told him, slurring just a bit and snickering to herself.
Thomas chuckled at her, pulling her close to him by the waist, “You are so damn cute,” he told her.
His glossy eyes stared into hers, studying the brown and green hues of her eyes for what felt like forever.
“I’m sorry I fucked up. I really hadn’t meant for it to happen… I never wanted to hurt you like that,” he purred to her, a hand caressing her cheek.
“There’s something special about you, Elora, and I can’t shake it. I’m not one to get attached to others, so I guess it was all my brain’s way of trying to distant
me from you. But I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to figure out what there is between us, and I’ll follow you to the ends of the Earth to do so.”
She was taken back from the boldness of his words. He was being very sincere. And while Elora knew the alcohol probably attributed to his ability to say it to her, it didn’t take away from the true meaning behind it. Before she could say or do anything, his lips brushed against hers in a ghostly, soft kiss. And just like that, she was caught back in his confusing, complex web. His lips moved slowly against hers until she deepened the kiss and sped the kiss up. Their drunkness made the kisses wetter than usual, but she didn’t mind. It didn’t take long for lust to fill her body, aching for his touch after a week without it. There was something about Thomas that her entire being just seemed addicted to.
Their hands explored one another’s body. There was silence in her head, no more overbearing thoughts, no worrying that he was just using her for sex. They had feelings for one another, and she craved his body so she wasn’t about to deny herself that. One of his hands slipped up her skirt and moved her panties to one side, his fingers immediately tracing the lips of her wet sex. Just the feel of her caused him to let out a throaty groan. He pressed a finger inside her, her legs parting more to give him better access. His finger moved in and out of her slowly before adding another finger.
When his thumb began to rub circles into her clit, Elora was completely engulfed in pleasure. Ripping away from his kiss, her lips immediately went to his neck. She kissed, sucked, and nipped at his neck. She loved hearing his breathing shallow as she wound him up, finding it oddly arousing. When he began hooking his fingers upward to press against the sensitive spot within her, Elora lost her patience and extended her fangs. The pointed canines sunk into his flesh, gaining access to his rich blood. The effects of it quickly took place, Elora being able to hear his heart race and breathing become ragged. The sensation caused his hand to move faster, the man trying desperately to make her come.
Elora had other plans, though. When she removed her fangs, she pushed his hand away and climbed over into his lap. Thomas watched with surprised and lusty eyes as she quickly unbuckled his belt and shrugged his pants down, along with his boxers. They both only gave a single glance out the windows to see that there was no one right around the car before Elora positioned herself over his erect member. In an attempt to make them a little less suspicious, Thomas leaned his seat back. She wasted no time to push down onto his member. In his intoxication, a rather loud moan escaped him.
The Hunter: A Vampire's Obsession: Book 4 Page 4
