“Messy? It’s messy?” The queen looked around, but Jessica and Tina were hurriedly clearing all the empty glasses off the small table. Nothing was within throwing reach. “How about, ‘He’s a shit and we’re gonna stake his ass.’ How about, ‘Those poor girls, let’s avenge them.’ How about anything besides messy?”
“He did say anything besides messy,” Liam pointed out. “He said it wasn’t acceptable behavior. Which I guess it’s not.”
“Dude: so not talking to you.” The queen gave him a good glare, so he hung tight to his glass. “I don’t—”
“So, you’re the queen of all the vampires, huh?”
That took the wind out of her sails. “Yeah, I guess,” she replied, and her shoulders slumped.
“So all the vampires have to do what you say?”
“No,” Eric Sinclair said.
“And I’m not a vampire,” Jessica said. “I’m just a hanger-on.”
“Me, too, I guess,” he joked.
“You shut up, too. Everybody shut up. And to answer your question…uh, I’m sorry, your friend told me your name but I—”
“Liam.”
“Right. Anyway, they’re supposed to, but I don’t want ’em to, and a lot of them don’t listen anyway.”
“But that’s not because you’re resisting your destiny or anything,” Jessica said, smirking at him.
“Jess! Repeat after me: not helpful.”
“With all due respect, Your Majesties, shouldn’t we be driving north? He could be seducing another girl this minute.” Sophie’s expression darkened. “He could be breaking up with another girl this minute.”
“He could feel the tip of my shoe up his ass in another minute,” the queen vowed, slipping off of her stool. “Jess, you stay here.”
“Oh, come on,” she protested. “I always miss out on the good stuff.”
“If by good you mean hideously dangerous, then yeah, you do. Look, it’s vampire business, anyway. And last I looked, you were alive.”
“Then he shouldn’t go, either,” Jessica said, pointing at Liam.
“It’s my truck,” he said mildly.
“Shit, it’s my house,” she said, starting to pout. Some women couldn’t pull it off, and some looked charming as hell when they tried. Jessica was one of the latter. “That doesn’t stop them from leaving me out all the time.”
“What is the sound of one woman bitching?” Betsy asked the air. “If nobody’s around to hear the sound of Jessica bitching, does she actually bitch?”
“Oh, you’re so evicted.”
“She’s right, though,” Sinclair said mildly. “It’s inappropriate for Liam to come with us if we leave Jessica behind.”
“Tough shit,” he said. “I’m going.”
Betsy’s eyebrows arched but, shockingly, she said nothing.
“Sophie’s not facing down some bad killer vampire without me, and that’s how it is.”
“So there, Sinclair.” To Liam, Betsy said, “Good for you. It’s kind of romantic. Totally annoying, but romantic.”
“You’re right, yes, you certainly are,” Sinclair said smoothly. Liam was having trouble looking away from the man’s deep, dark gaze. “However, I—”
Suddenly, he couldn’t see Sinclair anymore. After a second, he realized Sophie’s hands had shot out, covering his eyes.
“Sir,” she was saying, “please don’t. He’s been so good to me. So helpful. And it is his truck. And he wasn’t afraid to come. He’s known about me and he…he deserves to come.”
“If he’s going, I’m going,” Jessica said crossly. “I’ve earned the right to come, too.”
Gently, Liam pushed Sophie’s hands down. He guessed the guy was going to hypnotize him or whatever, and he was grateful for her intervention. “Come or stay, but let’s get going. Sophie’s right. Time’s wasting.”
“You guys!” Jessica wailed.
Betsy shook her head. “Too dangerous.”
Tina nodded hers. “She’s right, Jessica.”
“But inconsistent and annoying if we take him and not her,” Sinclair added.
“Look, Jess, let’s settle this fair and fast, okay? Rock, paper, scissors?” Betsy asked.
Jessica brightened. “Sure.”
Both women’s left hands fisted. “Rock, paper, scissors,” they chanted in unison.
Then, “Shit!”
10
“POOR Jessica.” Betsy was gloating. “She always goes for scissors.”
“I’m sorry about your shoe,” Sophie said. They were on cell phones. Sophie and Liam were in his truck. The vampire king and queen were following in an electric blue GT Mustang convertible. Odd that such a cool and controlled man had such a flashy car, but it was none of Sophie’s business. “I do think she shouldn’t have thrown the left one in the blender.”
“She’s got a temper,” Betsy agreed, “and she knew just where to stick it to me. That’s okay. I’ll steal her credit card and get it fixed at the leather shop. Worry about your shoes. Seriously.” Sophie heard the queen laugh, then the click of a disconnect.
“Well, I guess they’ll follow us up there and we’ll…you know.” Sophie paused, then sighed. “Are you not speaking to me?”
“That was the plan. I guess with all the lecturing, you didn’t notice. Then we were talking to the other vampires and I forgot I wasn’t talking to you.”
“It’s the sheep thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s the sheep thing,” he said, sounding annoyed. “Shit, what else would it be?”
“I promise, I won’t refer to you like that again, and I won’t allow anyone to—”
“It’s not that, Sophie. Sheep is just a word. It’s you. I’m sure you’re older than I am…I just don’t know how much older. And I don’t care. But you do. Right?”
“It’s not that I…care, exactly,” she said slowly. “I’m just used to things being a certain way.”
“Yeah, well, I love you.”
“What?”
“I figured, best to get that out of the way,” he explained, as if he hadn’t just said a shocking thing, as if he hadn’t changed everything. “You know, being in love with you. The thing is, I’ve always loved you. And I’ve always wanted you. And I knew you were a vampire and I knew you were pretty old—”
“Not that old,” she said, her vanity pricking her. “Not for a vampire. I’m not even a hundred yet.”
“Yeah, well, I’m just saying, I don’t care about any of that, I care about you. But this won’t work unless you don’t care, either.”
“Liam, you drop this bombshell on me—”
“Yep,” he said cheerfully.
“—all in the last forty-eight hours…do you realize that before Tuesday, we’d never spent any time together that wasn’t pet-related? You have to admit, this is all very fast.”
“Yep. I have to admit that.”
“Well, you have to give me some time.” She folded her arms across her chest, feeling stupid and happy and annoyed and afraid.
“How much time?”
“More than two days,” she snapped. “It shouldn’t be a problem, since you’ve been waiting your entire life to be with me, right? So you can give me another forty-eight hours?”
“I’m glad you hit me over the head with that right away,” he retorted. “I wouldn’t want you to wait.”
“I’m just saying.” If she could have blushed, she would have. That had sounded much worse out loud than she had meant. She was just…surprised. She hadn’t a clue he had such deep feelings for her. All this time, and he never told her.
“You never told me.”
“Well, I was waiting for exactly the right time.”
“A vampire serial killer throwing us together? That was the right time?”
“Well, yeah.”
“And there’s a lot more to it than love, you know.” She said this with triumph, as if she were thinking of reasons to make him be wrong about loving her.