“Calm down,” Helena said from the top of the stairs leading to the foyer.
“I will not calm down,” Justin replied angrily.
“Calm the fuck down and apologize to your mother,” Caitlin snapped.
Justin smiled at Caitlin, and as always, Trish was amazed at the hold her friend had over this man. He looked like he wanted to do anything but calm down, but he worked hard to get his temper under control.
“Perhaps we should talk somewhere other than the entrance to the house,” Alek suggested.
“I agree,” Helena said, carefully keeping her gaze from Alek. She led them to a small sitting room. Alek walked behind Justin, and Trish didn’t blame him. Justin’s temper was hanging by a thread— a very frayed thread.
“Sorry,” Trish said quietly. “I keep forgetting all of you hear so well.”
Helena stopped to give Trish a sympathetic look. “This isn’t your fault. I can’t believe Alek even told you about what happened all those years ago.” Then she headed into the sitting room and sat, crossing her legs and adjusting her skirt like the perfect lady she was.
Alek pulled Trish onto the loveseat beside him before draping a possessive arm around her.
Isaiah sat on the arm of the overstuffed chair Helena was in.
Caitlin sat down on the sofa, but Justin remained standing, glaring at Alek.
“Sit down,” Caitlin snapped at Justin, and Trish watched as Justin’s eyes darkened with something other than anger. She was never sure if she was embarrassed or aroused watching Justin and Caitlin together, but it was probably a little of both. They could be more than a little intense.
After Justin was seated, Helena spoke. “It was before I was involved with your father, and it’s none of your business.”
Justin snorted. “That’s all we get? Just you telling us it’s none of our business when we find out you slept with our uncle.”
“Don’t you dare talk to your mother that way,” Alek growled. “I never slept with her. I wanted to marry her, but she chose your father over me.”
Justin stared at him for a long time before nodding. “Okay, I may have overreacted.”
“I’m sorry about bringing that up,” Trish said. “I always forget about the super hearing thing, but I also assumed you knew since Alek told me.”
Helena gave her a sweet smile. “You obviously matter a great deal to Alek or he wouldn’t have told you.”
“We’ve been through a lot lately,” Trish said with a blush. “I mean, Alek was there when I died, and he’s been there for some other stuff.” Trish wondered if she could sound like a bigger idiot, and decided she would do her best to keep her mouth shut for the next few minutes.
“I set up a room for you,” Caitlin said to Trish before giving Alek a sweet smile. “Your room is still ready.”
So much for her decision to keep her mouth closed. “I’ll stay with Alek,” Trish said.
Caitlin’s lips twitched, and Trish knew her friend suspected as much.
“No,” Justin said with his glare back in place.
Alek looked like he was going to get up and have a word with Justin, but Trish beat him to it. Standing with her hands on her hips, she glared at Justin. “No? Did you just tell me no?”
“I did,” Justin said with an annoying amount of arrogance. “When I talked to Nathaniel earlier, he was very clear about me making sure Alek keeps his distance from you in this house. Caitlin had a nice room prepared for you, far away from Alek’s room.”
“Listen to me very carefully,” she said and saw Caitlin’s lips curl into a slight smile. “I will not take orders from anyone in this family. What I do with Alek is none of your business. If I want to let him enjoy my lady parts, then that’s my choice.”
“You were doing great until you got to the lady parts thing,” Caitlin said with a snort.
“Alek calls them other things, and I like that, but I still can’t use the words he does,” Trish admitted, much to everyone’s astonishment. She’d never realized how much fun it could be to shock everyone in the room and suddenly understood why Lydia did it so often.
Helena’s cheeks were bright red. Isaiah’s lips were twitching. Caitlin had a look of pride in her eyes. Justin was the only one who still seemed pissed off by the whole situation, but that wasn’t uncommon for him.
“Come on, Alek,” Trish said, grabbing his hand to pull him off the loveseat. “Let’s go get settled into our room. Then you can do naughty things to my body in Nathaniel’s house.”
Caitlin’s laughter followed them down the hall.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Phoebe wasn’t thrilled with her accommodations. A dingy warehouse in the industrial part of Hayward was hardly her idea of a good place to live, but she did enjoy the amenities at the warehouse. Clearly, humans who were less than willing guests had been kept there before, and that served her purposes well, especially now that her servant girl was becoming a problem. It was a pity she’d have to find someone else, but probably for the best since this girl knew too much.
The problem Phoebe faced now was getting her son to cooperate. The incident at the shopping center was unacceptable. How could Drew choose that little tramp over his own mother? She was looking forward to slicing that slut up into little pieces while her son watched. That would teach him not to disobey her. Feeling a pang of disappointment, she realized Drew might care for the woman, and romantic entanglements were a weakness they couldn’t afford. She’d learned her lesson the hard way with Andrei, Drew’s father, and she’d hate to see her son suffer the same disappointment.
Phoebe loved Andrei far more than he could ever love her. Yes, she would kill him, had actually tried on a number of occasions. Even knowing Andrei had to die, she loved him far too much to let another steal his last breath. Andrei, on the other hand, was willing to let Alek kill her. After she got Drew back under control, she would end Andrei’s life, proving her love for the last time.
“Please let me go,” came the hoarse plea from the woman sitting on the floor.
Looking down, Phoebe felt nothing but annoyance. “I will release you soon enough,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Was it too much to ask that an employee behave with some level of professionalism?
Looking over at the other occupant of the soundproof room, Phoebe smiled. He wasn’t crying or begging. No, he merely sat calmly. “It will all be over soon,” she assured him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered without looking at her. His manners were impressive, considering she’d had so little to do with his upbringing. Sadly, that had been unavoidable.
So many parents feared disciplining their children these days. Most people believed that she’d spoiled Drew, and in many ways, she had because it was hard saying no to her beloved son. What people said about a parent’s love for a child being unconditional was true. No matter what her son did, she would always love him. At age four, he’d wanted a puppy so badly she’d had no choice but to give in and buy it for him. The memory of his adorable little face lighting up with delight still made her smile.
It was that same love for her son that resulted in her decapitating the puppy and leaving its head in Drew’s bed as punishment for misbehaving. Some might say she’d been unnecessarily harsh with Drew, but it had been the last time he’d told a member of the family about any of her killings, so the punishment had been effective.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” Phoebe said as she walked out of the room, locking the door behind her. The soundproof walls did the trick, and she could no longer hear the begging of that ridiculous woman.
Pulling out her phone, she started to dial her son’s number but changed her mind at the last minute. It might be best to have Drew’s girlfriend in her possession before she called Drew. Decision made, she called the man responsible for bringing the woman to her.
“Hello,” he said, sounding annoyed.
“When can I expect delivery?” she asked. No reason for pleasantries when her patience w
as wearing thin.
“We’ve run into a problem,” he told her hesitantly. The fear in his voice proved he wasn’t as stupid as most men she dealt with.
“I fail to see how you could have a problem,” she bit out. “I provided you with more than enough information to track this woman down. Even if the address was no longer current, you could have easily found her new address.”
“We had no problem finding out where she lives,” he said angrily, obviously not used to being spoken to this way.
“Then what is your problem?” she asked, her anger reaching a near boiling point. She was going to have to kill someone soon to relieve this tension.
“When we got to the house, the woman was being rushed out the door with her bags all packed,” he explained.
“Who was with her?” Phoebe asked.
“Some guy,” he said.
“Describe him,” Phoebe ground out.
“Six feet tall, maybe a little taller. His hair was brown, but had blond in it. He was in good shape,” he answered. “That’s all the description I got from my men. They followed them to some place in the canyon that looked like a fortress. Seriously, they have it all gated off, and the security is high-tech. For now, we’re waiting for her to head out on her own. I’m not sure why she took off with the guy, but he might have figured out you were after her.”
Phoebe had been certain the woman would call the stores at the mall to see if her wallet had been left there. She’d dropped it off at Victoria’s Secret and made sure the salesgirl believed Trish had left it on the counter, so there shouldn’t have been any reason to suspect Phoebe had it.
“Keep trying to get your hands on her,” Phoebe said before hanging up.
She didn’t know how Alek had gotten involved in any of this. Drew wouldn’t allow Alek to take care of his lady friend, even if she was just a toy. Her son also wouldn’t betray her like that. Part of that was loyalty, and part was fear of the consequences.
Then she realized that perhaps she’d been mistaken about Drew’s relationship with this Trish woman. Maybe he was just doing a favor for Alek, but Drew would never do a favor for Alek.
That’s when it came to her. This must be a trap Alek had come up with. She wasn’t quite sure how he’d tricked her son into being involved, but he would pay.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I have got to tell you, your friendship with Caitlin makes absolutely no sense,” Alek said as he carried their bags to his room.
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” she admitted. “We met when I was looking for a new roommate. There was this guy from one of my classes who heard me talking about it, and he was trying to convince me to let him move in. He was being really pushy.”
“Asshole,” Alek muttered.
“That’s a good word for him,” Trish agreed. “Anyway, as you’ve seen, I’m not good with confrontations. I kept telling him I only wanted a female roommate, but he kept acting like he was moving in. In fact, he was pushing me about getting a key when I met Caitlin.”
“He just wanted to get in your pants,” Alek said.
Trish laughed. “Actually, that wasn’t the case with him. He wanted to rent a room with his girlfriend, and I had no interest in sharing my apartment with a couple. Caitlin just walked into the conversation and stared him down like tissue stuck to the bottom of her new shoes. Then she told him I’d already agreed to rent the room to her. I’ll be honest, I thought she was just saying that to get the guy to leave, but she was serious about wanting to be my roommate. She told me I needed someone to teach me how to be mean when the situation called for it.”
“So, you just rented it to her because she said you were?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “I figured she’d be a terrible roommate for me. She lectured me on growing a backbone, and I called her bitch, so we ended up having coffee. One thing led to another, and Caitlin moved in a week later. It may sound crazy, but she’s a good friend. We used to do everything together.”
“What changed?”
Trish shrugged. “She started dating a vampire and hanging out with other psychics. We suddenly had even less in common. That happens with friends. Maybe we don’t hang out as much, but we still love each other, and I know Caitlin will be there for me any time I need her.”
“Caitlin wasn’t serious about putting us in separate rooms, was she?” he asked. “I get the impression she’s not exactly upset about us sharing a bed.”
Trish giggled. “She’s not upset about it, but Justin is.”
Alek laughed. “Yes, my nephew does not seem the least bit amused by this situation.”
“I’ve noticed that Justin prefers to avoid too much drama in his life. I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear Nathaniel complain about me sleeping with you. He’s probably also afraid you’ll break my heart, and then he’ll be forced to listen to Caitlin complain about it.”
Alek set the bags on the ground and stopped her with one hand on her shoulder. Gently turning her toward him, he gave in to the temptation to lean closer. “Are you afraid I’ll break your heart?”
Trish’s sexy lips parted, and he guessed she was thinking about how nice his mouth would feel on hers. All he had to do was lean forward just slightly.
“No,” Trish said.
Alek blinked twice as he tried to process what she’d just said. She was refusing to let him kiss her? What had he said wrong?
Trish giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. “You look confused, Alek. Did you forget your question?”
He stepped back, giving her a sheepish smile. “I suppose I did. Whenever I’m around you, all I think about is touching you, and I seem to forget myself.”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing,” she said. “You asked if I was afraid you’d break my heart, and I told you I’m not. What we have is temporary.” When he started to argue, she put a hand up to stop him. “I know what you said about it being more than that, and in some ways, it is. We both care about each other, but that doesn’t mean I’m expecting something long-term with you.”
“You might end up pregnant,” he reminded her.
There was a long pause. “I could always get one of those Plan B pills.”
“Please don’t do that,” Alek said quickly.
She let out a sigh. “Based on the timing, it’s really unlikely I’ll end up pregnant anyway,” she mused. “Unless I’m going to take the Plan B pill, there’s no reason to even discuss the remote possibility of me being pregnant. There is enough to worry about at the moment without throwing that in there.”
Alek wanted to argue because there was this big part of him that wanted to know what would happen if she was pregnant. That part of him also wanted her pregnant for some insane reason. There was no denying Trish made him more than a little crazy. “Fine, we won’t talk about that now, and we’ll try to be more careful in the future.”
“Would you stop worrying so much about everything?” she asked with a shake of her head. “Let’s just focus on the crazy woman who might have my address. If that’s not enough to keep your mind occupied, we can think about how I’m going to tell my mom what I learned about my dad’s death.”
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to tell her?” he asked. “Won’t she feel the same disappointment you do that there’s no way to bring the men involved to justice?”
“I never considered myself a vindictive person, but it sucks that the people who killed my dad just got away with it,” she admitted.
“Wanting justice isn’t vindictive,” he reasoned.
“I suppose not,” she said, but didn’t sound convinced. “Let’s drop off our stuff. I’ll have to talk to Caitlin about everything that’s happened before she loses patience.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
As it turned out, Caitlin had a paper to write, so she hadn’t had time to interrogate Trish the night before. Caitlin had dropped her classes last semester, so she was taking a summer class to catch up on some credits. This was her last week, and s
he was busy. That was probably a good thing, since Trish would have fallen asleep mid-interrogation anyway. By the time she and Alek had gotten settled in and raided the kitchen, it was well past ten.
That morning, Caitlin was still busy finishing up her paper, and Alek had come up with a plan to track Phoebe using Isaiah’s computer skills. That left Trish with some time to herself. Tablet in hand, she’d decided to be a little more daring in her reading, and ended up perusing the erotica shelves. Fully immersed in a book that made her blush from arousal, she had a hard time pulling herself back to reality when Justin called her name.
“What is it?” she nearly snapped.
“Willow’s at the front gate asking to see you,” he said. “Not sure how she knew where to find you.”
“I told Ivy I’d be staying here,” she explained. “Ivy must have told Willow.”
“I buzzed her through the front gate,” Justin said. “Should I let her in?”
“I’ll let her in,” Trish said before turning her tablet off so no one would see what she’d been reading. Even the new daring Trish didn’t want people knowing any of that stuff excited her. Although, she’d be fine with Alek knowing about her newly acquired naughty reading habits.
Trish was more than a little surprised that Willow wanted to see her enough to come out to Nathaniel’s house. Willow didn’t seem to like any of the Draksel men, and the men weren’t mature enough to resist pointing out that they were related. Even Justin was likely to be a problem.
“Hey!” Trish said as she opened the door. Today, Willow wore a navy blue suit that looked like something an elderly librarian would wear.
“Hi!” Willow said with a bright smile. “I just wanted to see how you were doing with all the, you know, weird stuff that’s been going on. I totally was going to call, but Ivy said you’d moved to the vampire house, so I figured you’d like a visit from a friend.”
Trish tried to mask her surprise at Willow’s reference to their friendship, but she knew she’d failed when Willow covered her mouth and giggled.
Wanton With a Vampire Page 13
