Get yourself together. She was only there for flirting, she reminded herself. Flirting didn’t mean bedfellows, even though that’s all she could think about.
“I will in a minute, I just want to finish the next color block so it can dry overnight.”
“Then you’ll crawl into bed with me?” Julius wagged his eyebrows.
“Don’t get any ideas. If you try anything, I will fight you in my sleep.”
“Hmm, I love a fighter.”
“You are relentless.” She chuckled, handed him a throw blanket, and dashed to her easel before she could get caught up in the intoxication of being so close to him. “Alright, Casanova, get some sleep.”
He didn’t right away. From the corner of her eye, she could see Julius’s keen gaze studying her as she mixed her paints and began putting them on the canvas. Having Julius watch her didn’t make her feel uncomfortable, not the way it usually did when someone saw her work in the raw. His presence was almost like being enveloped in a warm hug.
He didn’t say anything, only watched. She wasn’t sure how long. As soon as she finished putting down the first layer that would be his face, she turned toward him to get the exact mischievous glint he seemed to wear so often.
However, he was laid out on her couch, his light snores filling the room. She stayed up for as long as her sleepy eyes would allow, then did as promised and crawled onto the couch beside him. Immediately, his arms were around her, hugging her close. She breathed in the comfort and let herself relax. If every day could be like this one, Erica could revel in it for the rest of her life. Karma, on the other hand, had other plans.
8
ERICA
ERICA WAS JARRED AWAKE. Bleary-eyed, she tried to figure out what to shut up first. Her alarm, her phone, and a ringtone she didn’t recognize all competed for her attention, but the most pressing was the pounding on her door. She tried to move, but a solid body resisted.
Oh.
Her head popped up for a fraction of a second. Julius, in his rumpled button-down shirt with the top few buttons undone, was still fast asleep. And laying very much between her legs.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Who the heck was at her door? Besides the man laying between her knees, she never invited anyone to her studio. Her only visitors had been…
Frick.
Mr. Hinkley, her ornery, nothing-is-right-in-the-world neighbor, or heaven forbid, her landlord. It was entirely too early in the morning for their crap, and her thoughts turned sour as she grabbed for the phone between her and the sofa to turn off the ringer.
“Open up.” The voice was muffled and indistinguishable.
Yeah, well, she would if she could figure a way out of her current entanglement without waking said entangler. As gently as she could, she extracted her leg from behind him and eased her way to her feet before heading to the door. Light snores escaped him as his head leaned in an awkward angle against the sofa, but he didn’t wake.
Another knock.
“Erica! Please.”
Closer to the door now, Erica realized one thing very clearly despite the haze of sleep: that was not Mr. Hinkley. That wasn’t even her landlord.
It was Max.
And Julius was still there. And she was… she looked down at her boy shorts and rumpled t-shirt. God, why did she have the habit of undressing herself while she slept? If Max saw them like this, he’d think the worst.
Crap.
No, double crap.
“Please, I need to talk to you.”
Instead of opening the door like the insistent knock demanded, she forged toward a pair of stretch jeans that had ended up in a ball, tucked underneath the very much still sleeping body of Julius.
“Wake up,” she pushed his solid body.
“Erica, I know you’re in there.” The voice was muffled, but now that she’d identified it, there was no mistaking it.
“Come on Mr. Craul, wake up please.”
As much as she tried to keep her voice down, the businessman currently sleeping on her couch didn’t move right away.
“Julius,” she begged, pushing against the hard planes of his body. It hadn’t escaped her that nothing but muscle greeted the palm of her hands. Completely solid. When that didn’t work, she tried for a nearby window. A spray of light cascaded across his face and into his eyes. Instantly, his hands flew up to shield them.
“You have to get up.”
A sleepy groan answered her, but he moved just enough so she could grab her jeans and put them on in a rush.
“You have to hide,” Erica buttoned her pants, trying to coax the large man from her sofa and into the bathroom.
“What’s wrong?” In an instant, Julius sat straight up and looked around her apartment.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Who’s that?” He asked, watching the door with curiosity, looking ready to answer it himself.
Not on her watch.
“That’s why you have to hide in the bathroom,” Erica found his suit jacket draped across the couch back and stuffed it into his hands. Julius stalled, then his curiosity turned to annoyance.
“The bathroom?”
She needed him to hurry it along.
“It’s either that or the closet, but you might pass out from the paint fumes in there.” When Julius’s feet didn’t move quickly enough, she explained, “That is my Mr. Complicated. And you can’t be here.”
Thankfully, he moved in the direction she led him.
“Don’t come out until I come back.”
Julius looked ready to protest, but nodded his consent instead and allowed her to close him inside the bathroom. Quickly, she rushed to the front door and opened it.
“You answered,” Max’s worn face brightened with relief as she cracked the door just a little.
She gasped at the sight of him. Dressed in old, stained sweatpants and the oldest T-shirt he owned, Max looked awful. He looked like he hadn’t slept well in days. The fierce attention to detail he usually showed had turned lackluster and limp. His clothes, usually pressed to perfection, were crinkled and creased. His cheeks looked more angular than normal. Hollow, like he hadn’t eaten. Despite it, the boyish handsome face she’d fallen in love with was still there. Her heart ached for him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t mean what I said yesterday,” he said in a rush. “You’re everything to me.”
A lump formed at the base of her throat. Guilt squelched at her gut.
“Eri, I’m sorry. I don’t want to take a break from you. I’m just stressed and not thinking clearly…”
No words came to her as she watched in stunned silence as her ex-fiancé unraveled in front of her. Ordinarily, she’d invite him inside. With Julius hiding in her bathroom, it was completely out of the question.
“Are you going to say something?”
A loud clattering came from inside her studio.
“What was that?” Max asked.
“Nothing,” she quickly replied, pushing herself forward into the doorframe. “I’m just getting ready for my show, probably some paints or something fell over.”
Max’s brown eyes flickered to her face then behind her, trying to get a view of the apartment.
“Are you with someone?”
This time an accusatory stare swept her frame.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Where have you been?”
“You were upset after our anniversary. I wanted to give you space.”
“And those girls going up to your office, who were they?” Erica’s eyebrow raised in suspicion, despite the dread overcoming her. Tears started to well in her eyes at the thought of Max actually cheating on her.
“You came to my office?” He sputtered, before turning serious. “That was Cav’s doing…”
“She called you by name.”
“A lot of people know who I am Erica, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Erica’s face scrunched in disbelief and Max rushed a hand out
to stop her from going back inside.
“Wait. We were having a business meeting, and Cav invited them as the entertainment for our investors. He didn’t let me in on his plan until they arrived. My investors were there, what was I supposed to do?”
“Make them leave.”
“I couldn’t do that, so I left instead. You were mad at me, so I figured you wouldn’t want me around. So, I stayed at Aiden’s for the night. But I swear to you, nothing happened between me and those girls.”
The earnestness in his voice made her falter.
More clattering came from her bathroom.
“Come on, let’s go for a coffee.” Erica cleared her throat loudly to mask the sound.
“You don’t drink coffee.” Max’s head bobbled over hers as he tried to see what was in the background.
“But you do, and you look like you need one.” She pushed against Max, forcing him out of the doorway. “It’s just Mr. Hinkley.”
“In your apartment?” He gave one last glance behind her.
“He’s banging on the ceiling because we’re talking in the doorway.” It was plausible. He’d done it before.
Max didn’t look convinced.
“Coffee?” She distracted him as disbelief set into his face.
“Yeah, if that means you’ll talk to me again. I mean, after calling your mom …”
“You called my mother?” Erica screeched as she closed the door, pulling out her phone to the barrage of text messages she’d received overnight. Each one from her mother, telling her not to screw things up with Max. After the first three, Erica exited the conversation before the urge to throw her phone down the hallway overwhelmed her.
“You weren’t answering your phone.”
“I spoke to you yesterday, Max, and you said you wanted to take a break.”
“I called you back, trying to apologize, and you didn’t answer.”
“So, you called my mother?” Erica asked again, furious. “You know how it is between me and her. We don’t get along.”
“Well, I tried your friend first, but she’s angry… that one.”
Like he didn’t know why.
“So, you thought a phone call to my mother would do the trick?”
“I was desperate! You weren’t answering, so I asked her to reach out to you for me.”
This time, it really was Mr. Hinkley who banged on the floor below them.
“Come on, before I get reported. I don’t want my landlord to cancel my lease.”
Silence followed them the half a block it took to get them to a little coffee shop on the corner of her street. Coffee Cozy had what many hailed as the best coffee on this side of town. She didn’t drink the stuff, but their fruit teas weren’t half bad. They hopped into line behind a half dozen other people.
“So, your mom said you’d be at your father’s dinner.”
Erica tossed him a scathing look.
“I won’t call her again. I promise.”
The line shifted forward.
“Are you going? If you need someone to go with…”
Erica hesitated. She couldn’t tell him she was going with someone else. Erica choked out a lie instead, “I’m not going.”
“Oh. It would be a good opportunity though.”
The line moved and Erica encouraged Max forward.
“Not for me,” Erica needed to quell the budding hopefulness in his voice. Of course he’d want to go to the power grab. With Julius going, Erica had to do everything in her power to keep him away.
“You know how it is. My parents are social climbing, and the others can smell it like blood in the water. I’d be surprised if anyone showed up.”
“I guess you’re right.”
A breath of silence passed between them.
“So, you were telling me where you’ve been for the last week.”
“I had a lot on my mind.”
The line shifted again.
“That’s what fiancées are for, Max. They’re there to talk to you about the lot that’s on your mind. And, conveniently for you, you had one until yesterday when you broke it off with me.”
“Don’t say that,” he muttered. “I don’t want to think of us not together.”
“Well, it’s true isn’t it?” Erica turned to the barista and told him her drink order. Blueberry Acai hot tea. Plain. She wasn’t in the mood for anything fancier than that.
“I’ll pay for it,” he said to the barista before ordering his own drink.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Erica could not handle another text from her mother.
Julius: I’ve been stuck in the bathroom forever. Can I come out now?
Frick. Her sheepish laugh blew the steam from her hot tea as the barista handed her a mug of hot water with a tea bag in it. Quickly she looked over to Max, who was still ordering the most elaborate coffee she’d ever heard of. A splash of double foam in the coffee, the rest in a cup. Only Max would do something like that. At least he was distracted. She turned back to Julius’s text message.
Erica: OMG. I hadn’t realized you were still there. You can go now. I’m going to be a while.
Julius: Where? I want to show Mr. Complicated what a real man looks like.
Erica: Alright keyboard gangster, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Julius: Tell him you found someone else.
Erica: You are relentless.
Julius: Seriously, I really hope he screws up. Again.
When Erica didn’t answer right away, another message came after it.
Julius: Too much?
Erica: A tad.
Julius: We’re still going on that date. I don’t care if he does try to weasel his way back in.
Date? Erica smiled, teasing him. I thought this was a business venture.
Julius: Creamy thighs remember? In good faith, it’s a date. Paid, it’s business.
Erica: You’re still a dirtbag.
Julius: Remember, I’m an honest dirtbag.
Erica: Haha.
“Who are you talking to?”
Max finally made his way over, double fisting his coffee and double foam cup.
“My mother,” Erica quickly switched messaging screens to the heavily one-sided text message string from her mom.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” He nodded, guiding her to a secluded table near the back.
She sent one single message to her: Calm down, I’m with him now.
At least now she wasn’t a liar. She was talking to her mother. Sort of.
“How’s your tea?” he asked.
“Can we skip this? My tea is great. Your coffee is good. Now, let’s get back to why you’ve been MIA this week.”
“Yeah,” he breathed into his coffee. Erica waited expectantly. His tone hushed, he looked around. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Just out with it.”
“Things aren’t good with the family. My father’s in deep with the wrong people.”
Erica was stunned into silence. “What kind of trouble?”
“He owes a lot of money to someone who’s willing to hurt as many people as it takes to get it back. So, over the past week we’ve been trying to scrounge up as much cash as we could. I haven’t been around because if I don’t come up with the money, they’ll hurt my father. Maybe even kill him.”
“Kill him? What do you mean, kill him? Have you called the police?”
“Keep your voice down. Splinters is not the kind of person you call the police on. That’ll only make things worse.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“I tried to, but how do you tell someone something like that? Besides, it’s going to be over soon. Cav and I are going to secure this deal, pay our father’s debt, and it’ll be out of our lives for good.”
The phone between them buzzed. He sighed. “That’s Cav now. We have to get to our meeting, and I’m already late. I need to get changed.”
“You can’t drop that bombshell on me then leave.”
&nb
sp; “I’m sorry. This deal is so close. Once the contract is signed, I promise, I’ll tell you everything,” he pleaded, but stood up from the table. “Please tell me you’ll reconsider us. You don’t have to answer right now. Maybe at your art show. I can still come right?”
In shock over Max’s words, Erica didn’t know what to say.
“Can you promise me you’ll think about it? For us?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Thank you! I don’t deserve you,” Max landed a kiss on her cheek and rushed from the coffee shop.
Erica sat, blowing into her tea, wondering what the heck she was going to do next. And, as if the universe was giving her a colossal middle finger, her phone buzzed again. It was Julius.
I locked up on my way out. See you at six on Saturday.
One thing at a time. She took a sip of her tea. First, she’d get through her father’s birthday dinner with Julius. Then, figure out what to do about Max. And hopefully, make it out in one piece.
____
ERICA’S PULSE THUMPED IN HER EAR as they rolled to a stop in front of her parent’s oversized home—what her mother affectionately called their new passion project. To look at the monstrosity in front of her, passion was the last thing that came to Erica’s mind.
A car attendant who looked barely old enough to drive walked up to their car with a giddy look. He opened the doors of the two-door rental Julius drove them in. She opened her mouth to apologize about the car again, but stopped. He made her promise not to bring it up anymore, since she was paying her debt to him.
“Take a deep breath,” Julius murmured once he’d walked around the car to join her. He placed a reassuring hand at the small of her back and handed the attendant the key. “You’ll do fine.”
Yeah, if only it didn’t feel like walking into a room full of vultures, she thought wearily as they moved up the stone walkway and into her parent’s new home.
It had certainly changed since the last time she’d been. Erica was sure they’d bleed themselves broke before finishing. Apparently, she was wrong. They walked into a grand entrance and were escorted into an even nicer dining hall. A woodworker must have spent months getting every curved detail that adorned the ceiling perfectly right.
Love Bitten (Vampire Blood Royals Book 1) Page 7
