by Anna Rainn
Caleb’s hands took the two other shots I pulled in my outrage. A creamy plastic cup of iced milk with fat droplets of water condensation received a double serving of espresso goodness. I watched the coffee swirl into the cold milk in lustful ribbons, and tried to retrieve a degree of the calm and happiness I had felt walking into Black and Foam minutes ago.
The iced macchiato was taken away. I wiped the surface more aggressively than needed.
“Are you good in here?” I asked Caleb.
“I can manage,” he replied without asking for an explanation.
I pushed the heavy door and walked out into the parking lot in the back, still in my Black and Foam apron, with my phone on my ear. My call didn’t go to voice mail as I had expected. Instead, a sleepy husky voice answered.
“Hello.”
I didn’t greet him back.
“Why is my picture in the paper, Nicholas?”
“Oh, crap,” he sighed. “We’re back to Nicholas again?” He sounded tired. I pulled the brakes on the concerned questions about his wellbeing, and focused on the issue at hand.
“Why is my picture and my place of business in the paper? I know it was you!”
“I never said it wasn’t.”
His careless tone was making me even more furious. “Care to explain?”
“Why don’t you ask about more important things first, Marissa? Owen is fine.”
A pang of shame hit me at Nick’s words. I haven’t forgotten about Owen; I was choosing to ignore the fact that he was in a hospital bed because of me. I was too scared to hear the answer, so I never asked the question.
“He’s okay? Have you been to see him?” I asked.
“No, his sister is with him. She saw him during the morning visiting hours, and she updated me. She’ll be there at seven.”
“So you didn’t have time to go see Owen, but you had time to share details about me and my place of business with a random stranger?”
Nick audibly exhaled. “Think of it as free publicity. How about that?” He suggested.
“I’m not sure who told you that being involved in a murder investigation is good publicity, Nicholas,” I said, then thinking I’m coming off too harsh, I added, “Maybe you should’ve asked me if I wanted that much information about me and my café in the paper.”
I heard some shuffling as Nick adjusted himself in bed. I wondered if he slept naked. Somehow I knew he did. How glorious he must look in the morning with his razor-sharp abs shining with a bit of sweat and his morning wood rising below.
“Listen, Marissa. Personal life is personal life, and business is business. I decide what to tell the journalists. In this situation, you are a citizen and a witness. What’s between us is irrelevant.”
Thoughts of his naked body evaporated and were replaced with a blank red screen of fury.
“A citizen?” I repeated his word. “And do you divulge citizen information in the media without permission? Do I have no rights - as a citizen - to my privacy?”
“We didn’t share anything personal about you. We only shared information about the crime, including the location and the witness. All a matter of public record.”
My mouth opened to say something, closed, then opened again. No words came. I wish he were here so I could punch him. That would communicate my feelings better than any words can.
“All right, then. Thank you, special consultant,” I said formally, then before he could respond, I hung up.
Some things don’t change.
Dick.
Chapter 25
The sky changed from blue to a mixture of purple and pink. I wished I could see the sunset from where I was standing, but Black and Foam’s glass walls only offered views of higher skies. The crowds haven’t let up even with the evening rushing on. The clientele simply changed from professionals in business attire to twenty-somethings and teenagers dressed to have a good time.
A beautiful girl with dark curls and elaborate nail art carefully positioned her blended iced drink on one of the corner tables, then started snapping shots of the cold drink against the colorful sky.
From behind the register, Tony, my newest recruit, smiled at me as he took yet another order, with Luna, my old-time employee, making sure he got everything right. I waved at them before taking my apron off.
“You can’t go,” Caleb said. He was pouring a latte while handling the blender with the other hand. “We’re drowning.”
“I have to. It’s visiting hours at the hospital, and I must go see detective Chase.”
“How is he doing?” Caleb asked, the rosetta he was pouring not quite sharp enough.
“He left surgery early this morning. I don’t know how he is, Caleb.” I tried to keep the worry out of my voice. With what had been done to him last night, I didn’t know how Owen would fare. I didn’t know if he would survive. And I didn’t know what condition he’d be in if he did. What does a vampire bite like the one Owen suffered do to a human? Do the wounds heal normally? At least it was a vampire alternate reality I had been thrust into, not werewolves. Owen would be in great trouble had he been bitten by a werewolf.
“I hope he pulls through,” Caleb said, his voice snatching me back from paranormal worlds and into Black and Foam. He took a second off frothing the milk to hold my eyes. “Were you there last night, at the shooting they wrote about in the paper?”
Of course he would know I was there last night. Why else would I call so late at night? Why else would I show up to my own coffee shop on its first day back in business hours late?
“What happened, Marissa?” Caleb asked when I didn’t answer.
“Nothing. I was in the detective’s car throughout the whole thing,” I lied, looking away
“All right. Just take care,” he said with a forced smile. I gave him a fake smile of my own and left.
∞∞∞
The warm steering wheel was solid in my hand, almost phallic in its hardness and power. I savored the feeling and focused on the texture in an attempt to drive my other feelings away.
I hated lying to Caleb. But the alternative was me dragging him into tales of vampire murderers, supernatural detectives, and secret clubs. If this didn’t make him think I was crazy, I’d still be putting him in unnecessary danger. My safe Caleb, my reliable Caleb with his sweet smile and soothing cups of latte and hot chocolate. No, I was better off keeping this one to myself.
The stream of cars ahead of me slowed down, not quite coming to a complete stop. I exhaled, trying to breathe my worries out, and savor the cool breeze from the air conditioning, and the oncoming night. It’s only been a few days since I walked through the looking glass where I wasn’t allowed out at night, but it already felt like I hadn’t been out alone after dark for ages. The taillights and streetlights in front of me looked almost magical as the sky darkened from navy blue to black, and the streets filled up with life.
I looked at the drivers and pedestrians, all starting their night with blissful ignorance, and I felt a pang of jealousy. My life will never be the same. I may have gone back to Black and Foam, to Caleb and Luna and my customers, but I now know something I hadn’t known before; I know monsters exist. This knowledge was sufficient to make every step I took in the dark from this point forward a calculated risk. I was frailer than I had thought. And I was alone. I swiped two tears away and put some pressure on the gas pedal. Jimi Hendrix was kissing the sky on the radio. I turned the volume up and allowed more tears to come down.
It was the loneliness I dreaded the most. Why do I allow myself to be played? Why do I let it happen to me over and over again? I had embraced my life. Three days ago, I was happy. Nick was in my past, and supernatural creatures were in the dark. Yes, I still carried guilt for having Bianca fired two years before, but I was making amends, treating my employees right, and creating an ethical business. My life was going in the right direction. Then everything had to go wrong.
Bianca’s death wasn’t on me, and neither was the pulling of the curtain
to let the creatures of the night in. But I could at least have controlled who else I let in. It was me who invited Nick in again the first night I saw him, me who let his hands flutter on my skin the first time he came into my house, me who let him make love to me out in the open with no regard to danger or consequences. I let him in. And now, just like before, he had taken my trust in him and thrown it out of the window. He had plastered my information across the media without a shred of remorse. Was it self publicity he wanted? Was he bragging to the journalist? I did imagine the pen behind the article to belong to a beautiful young woman, a career-oriented twenty-something such as myself. Maybe he had a type. I pushed the tears away in anger. I knew I was being unreasonable, making up stories in my mind, and reacting to them. But this was probably my way of putting a cause, even an imaginary one, behind the feeling of betrayal plaguing me.
The truth is after last night, after he’d walked into a dark street and fought two vampires for me, I imagined that what Nick and I had was something real; a relationship, not a series of booty calls. Why else would he risk his life and let his partner shed blood for me? But come to think of it, what other alternative did he have? He could either let me and Owen be trapped in that building and allow two rebel vampires to rain havoc on the city, or he could do his job and put an end to them. It was his job. I was irrelevant. It could’ve been anyone, and the result would’ve been the same. Except maybe if he didn’t fancy the victim being chased, there would be less fucking involved. My fingernails dug into the leather steering wheel as I fought to steady my nerves.
If he really cared for me at all, wouldn’t he have kept my identity and business out of the papers? Wouldn’t he have at least called me, consulted me? Wouldn’t he have responded with something less cold than how it was “all a matter of public record”?
And he never called me back.
I communicated how I felt about what he did, and he let me hang up and go about the rest of what is a very important day in my life without calling to set things right, to apologize, to explain. You don’t do that to a girlfriend; you do that to a booty call.
I eased my car carefully into one of the vacant parking spaces across the hospital. I made a quick scan of the surrounding area for Nick’s car, but I couldn’t see it. Good, maybe I’ll be in and out before he gets there.
“Hey,” a familiar voice came from behind me two steps away from the hospital’s main door. I jumped back, a scream slipping halfway through my lips before I could stop it.
“What the fuck, why are you sneaking up on me?” I spat at the tall, elegant figure in front of me. Nick looked even hotter today in a simple white T-shirt, black jeans, and combat boots. His usual casual stubble was thicker. It wasn’t a dirty shave; he hadn’t shaved today. A bruise was in its late yellow stages across his chin, which didn’t make sense since it should’ve been red or purple had it been inflicted on him during last night’s fight. I kept myself from asking about the bruise and looked away from his annoyingly gorgeous olive face instead. For a moment, I contemplated ignoring Nick and just going into the hospital, but we were both going to see Owen, and there was no need to make things even more awkward. Let’s just get this over with as painlessly as possible.
A large hand fell on my back gently, gliding down my tank top and resting on the small of my back. I glared at Nick. He offered me an innocent smile with far from innocent eyes in return.
“I’m sorry if we haven’t been clear, but could you please get your hands off me, special consultant?”
Nick didn’t stir, nor did he miss a step, as we took the last few steps down a long LED-lit corridor and caught the elevator. Inside, he innocently stood next to me as his hand squeezed my back gently then glided further down. I shuffled, trying to sidestep and put some distance between us, but his palm closed around one butt cheek with a gentle squeeze, before gliding down and cupping the soft globe. Damn yoga leggings, I could feel his fingers on me, slipping through the crease at the bottom, making their way up and pushing the stretchy fabric in to get a better handle on me. His thumb remained in position, moving in small circles.
The elevator stopped, and two of the three passengers slipped out. I squeezed my legs together, trying to deny Nick access to the heat between my legs. He turned his head towards me, and looking straight into my eyes, he slipped one finger to the front, feeling my sex through my leggings. I stifled a gasp. My momentary distraction gave him the opportunity to slide another finger.
The elevator stopped again. The single remaining passenger walked out. I could feel the anticipation surge through Nick’s hand and into my body. I was preparing to react when he made his move, to push him or slap him, but my body responded with a mind of its own. A single pulse between my not-so-tightly squeezed thighs said I too was waiting.
The moment the door closed, reason won.
“You filthy animal!” I pushed Nick away. He didn’t move an inch, merely pulled his hands and his upper body back in feigned surprise.
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you going to act surprised, Nicholas Hayes?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I told you to get your hands off my back, and you thought it was an invitation to put them on… on my body parts?” My stutter at the last part probably undermined the effect I was going for, but still.
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself.” He shrugged.
“Well, I wasn’t!”
The elevator beeped, the door opened. It was on our floor.
“Let’s do this later, okay?” Nick said.
I wanted to scream at him. He was acting as if I was unreasonable because I wasn’t up for being felt up in an elevator after he’d coldly ignored my feelings on the phone less than an hour ago! But we had already walked into the ICU floor, and there were other visitors around waiting to see their loved ones.
“Don’t. Touch. Me,” I hissed at Nick, then I took two long steps separating myself from him, and let a nurse help me into the ICU. Nick was only a few steps behind me.
A beautiful doe-eyed brunette was seated by Owen’s bed. She had the same shade of hazel eyes behind thick curtains of dark lashes as her brother, but her eyes were larger and more mesmerizing. She tried to stand up when she saw us, but Nick just leaned in and hugged her.
“I’m sorry, Sara,” he whispered.
“It’s okay. I know you did what you could.” She patted his back, then she shone her eyes on me.
“You must be Marissa. I’m Sara, Owen’s sister. I’m glad you’re fine.” I hesitated for a second, and then I too leaned in and hugged her. She smelled like jasmine with a tinge of spice.
“Nick tells me Owen is doing better,” I started, unsure of what to say. Owen’s sister didn’t look like she blamed me, but I blamed myself.
“He is,” her naturally pink lips broke into a small smile. “He woke up in the morning, and he told me to tell you two not to worry.”
I looked at Owen’s intubated sleeping body on the hospital bed, then back at Sara. There was a glint of humor in her eyes.
“Owen said that?” I asked.
Sara almost laughed, then put her hand on her mouth, stifling the laugh, her eyes doing a quick sweep of the patients around us.
“Believe me, we have our way of communicating,” she said, then she signaled at Nick and Owen, saying, “This isn’t the first time these two have given me a scare, too.”
Nick was sitting silently on a chair on the other side of Owen’s bed. His legs were vibrating, and his head was buried in his hands to keep his face out of sight. He was clenching and unclenching his fist.
“It’s okay, Nick,” Sara said gently.
“How long before he wakes up?” I asked her when Nick didn’t answer.
“Soon, hopefully. And there will be a couple of days here after that,” Sara answered, “Then some more time to recover. He has two broken ribs and a punctured lung. And he lost a lot of blood.”
I remembered Owen’s blood sputtering out of the bite wound Tyler had left in his
neck. The vampire had known precisely where to bite to get the blood flowing, thick, and plenty. I blinked the tears and the memory away silently, squeezing Sara’s hand.
Nick’s face was still turned to the floor. I don’t think I put any thought into my actions before turning around the bed and hugging him from behind. His hard frame was shaking gently, and I realized he had been crying. I moved and leaned in front of him, then I took his head into my arms. He stayed there for a while.
Chapter 26
It was Friday! My dress stared at me promisingly from the staff room, the red fabric too bright even under the plastic cover. The café door closed with a muted thud as Caleb emerged from his thirty-minute break. Luna was behind one register, and Aidan was operating the other, while I prepared the drinks. The two new recruits Evie and Tony were shadowing me, but now Tony broke off and moved to the other side of the counter with Caleb, who had already started preparing a french press.
I saw the way Evie was looking at Caleb, and I secretly smiled. With chin-length hair, small features, and a barely over five feet frame, Evie was too cute. And I had some secret knowledge that she was a badass gamer too. I bet she’d enjoy browsing through that game collection at Caleb’s place. But I was the boss, so I kept my mouth shut and watched silently, giving nature time to run its course.
The crowds had eased up a bit, but we were still getting much more business than before Black and Foam’s little newspaper feature. Tomorrow, the two new kids will have to operate the machines alone with only Luna for help, but today, they were lucky enough to have Caleb. For the first time since Black and Foam reopened a bit over a week ago, I was leaving early. Well, the second time, if you count the day I visited detective Chase at the hospital. But today was different; today, I was leaving early to go on a Friday night date.
My phone buzzed in my apron pocket, and I had to ignore it for a minute. I lifted the pitcher up, finishing up the small rosetta, then I went on to pour a thin neck and a little heart — a beautiful swan. Evie picked up the cup, and I rushed through the side door and towards the staff room, answering Nick’s call.
