Which means I’m going to be late for work. With everything going on last night, I forgot to bring my purse upstairs, which has my phone in it. The house is too big to hear my alarm going off and I overslept.
I get up, body sore both from being attacked by vampires…and it’s not like I got much rest last night. A smile springs to my face when I think about the twins, and my head turns to the window of its own accord. I can see the top of Thomas’s and Gilbert’s wings from up here.
Before I get dressed, I hurry down the stairs to get my phone and check the time. I pull it from my purse and tap the screen, cursing again when I see it’s seven thirty-three. I’m supposed to be at work at eight. If I leave right now, I might be able to make it as long as traffic isn’t too bad. I stand too fast and get hit with dizziness. I throw my hand out to keep my balance, blinking away the spots that are clouding my vision.
Thank God I have this weekend off.
I scramble back up the stairs, take a shower, brush my teeth, and get dressed in only five minutes. I rake my fingers through my hair as I rush to my car. I never brushed the curls out, and went to bed with it wet. My hair is a horrid mess. Twisting it into a messy bun at the nape of my neck, I deem it good enough and speed off to work.
Since I’m the lead detective on the murders ironically dubbed the “vampire murders,” I don’t have a chance to grab coffee or a stale donut from the break room until after I meet with the other investigators and officers working on the case. I fumble through everything I want to say, finding it hard to give a halfway decent report when I can’t tell them the truth.
I’m tired enough to be sloppy, and I know it’s a matter of time before I slip up and say something that’ll give everything away. Only, they won’t assume vamps are real. They’ll know I’ve been investigating on my own—alone—and withholding information. I could get fired for that.
Or worse.
“Hey, Ace,” Tiffany says, coming up to the coffee pot. I fill my mug almost to the top and put the pot back.
“Hey, Tiff.” I add cream and sugar, then take a big gulp.
“Are you all right?” She looks away from her coffee for a second to inspect me.
“Yeah.” No one is going to believe that lie. I sigh and shake my head. “I’m tired. I haven’t gotten much sleep the last few nights.”
“This case is really bothering you, huh?”
“Yes, it really is.” At least that’s not a lie.
She takes a sip of her coffee and leans against the counter. “It’s been over forty-eight hours since we found the first victim, and we’ve got nothing. Honestly, it’s a little scary.”
My jaw tenses. “It is scary.”
“I don’t mean that in offense to you, you know. Saying we’ve got nothing…I’m not implying anything against you.”
“I know.” I offer a smile. If only she knew… “Whoever is behind the murders is taking extra care not to be found.” Some of them won’t be found. They died. Twice.
Tiffany sighs. “We haven’t had a good old-fashioned serial killer in a while. That didn’t come out right.” She rolls her eyes at herself. “You know what I mean. I think. I hope.”
“I do.” I chug more coffee, needing the caffeine high to kick in, and look at Tiffany. I want to tell her to stay inside at night, to keep her doors locked and to carry a wooden stake soaked in holy water just in case.
But I can’t, and not telling the few people I care about how to protect themselves leaves me with a nasty taste of guilt in my mouth. If something happens to the members of my team, I’ll never forgive myself.
18
I grab a bottle of red wine and add it to my shopping cart. It’s the last thing I have on my list, and I think I got enough food to last the guys a few days. Well, nights, technically. Having been single my entire adult life, I’ve never bought this much food at once. It’s weird.
After taking two steps forward, I come to a sudden halt and backtrack. Two more bottles of wine go into the cart. I look at my phone—I’m making good time—and head to the checkout lane. I get in line and a familiar voice calls out my name.
“Hey, Ace!” Tiffany pushes her cart up behind me.
“Tiffany, hey.” I turn around, eyes going to the car seat snapped into the front of the cart. “And Mavis. I can’t believe how much bigger she is since the last time I saw her.” I smile at the sleeping baby.
“I know. She’s growing so fast. Everyone told me how fast it would go by, and it turns out they were right.” She laughs.
“Go ahead of me,” I tell her before I move up in line . “I have twice as much.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I have a lot and you don’t.”
She peeks into my cart. “You do have a lot. Stocking up?”
“Uh,” I start, glancing down into my cart. Is it even possible to keep all this stuff for that long? I don’t know. My cooking skills are close to nothing. And I hate lying to Tiffany. I’ve lied so much the last few days, and I know the more I lie, the more likely I am to get caught. And what happens if she sees me here again next week? “Actually, no. My cousins are in town.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widen and she leans back. “I didn’t know you had any cousins in the area.”
“I didn’t either.” I pull my cart back to let her through. “I just found out about them, and they’re not from around here.”
She starts putting her groceries on the conveyer belt. “Oh my God, was it because of the house?”
“The house?” The blood might have drained from my face just a little.
“Are they trying to take it from you?”
“Oh, right. And, uh, no. They heard about my aunt—our aunt—passing and we got in touch. Now we’re just catching up.”
Mavy lets out a cry, taking Tiffany’s attention off me. She puts the rest of her groceries up and moves down toward the register. “That’s great. Are they staying long?”
“A while.”
“I love my cousins. More than my sisters at times, but don’t tell my sisters that.” She pulls her wallet from her purse. “Hopefully you guys get along and stay in touch.”
“I have a feeling we will.” I unload my groceries.
Tiffany takes her bag and pushes her cart forward. “Thanks again for letting me go ahead. Mavy’s at her limit. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Tiff.”
I pay the biggest grocery bill I’ve ever had in my life and make it to the estate with an hour to spare. The closer we get to summer, the later the sun sets. It’s usually something I enjoy, but right now I find myself missing the short days and longer nights, for obvious reasons.
I put the groceries away and go upstairs, unpacking the rest of my stuff that I brought over, which is basically everything I could fit inside my bags. I take a few minutes to straighten up, then head back to the kitchen to start dinner. My alarm goes off on my phone at sunset. I left the front door slightly ajar so the guys will know to just come in.
And they do.
“Ace?” Jacques calls.
“In the kitchen,” I call back over my shoulder. I turn down the burner on the stove. Jacques comes in, and the moment our eyes meet, my heart flutters. That weird connection is back, and it takes everything inside me to resist running to him and flinging myself into his arms.
His shoulders tense and his eyes narrow. He’s fighting the same battle.
“What are you doing?”
“Making dinner. Or breakfast for you guys.”
“It smells good.” A beat passes between us before he moves closer. “How are you today? Does your head still hurt?”
“A little.” I subconsciously reach up to the scab. “I’m mostly tired.”
“You should stay in tonight,” he says, instantly annoying me. Only because he’s right.
“I can make my own decisions, thank you very much.” I don’t mean to snap, but there’s something about him that gets under my skin. My insane attraction to him? I know he feels it, too. Why is it so easy for him to brush off?
“I don’t doubt you’re able to.” His face softens. “I heard you last night.”