Legacy of Blood

chapter Sixteen



I found my phone in the bottom drawer of my nightstand and pulled it out. The battery was almost dead so I plugged it into the charger as I perused my missed calls list. Four missed calls from my mother, sixteen from Jameson, one from Dean, and two from Nikki. I sighed when I saw how many times Jameson had tried to call me. Jameson. I missed him and wished he was here so I could apologize to him for the way I acted the last time I saw him. His last memories of me as a human were of my trying to attack him after he flirted with Courtney, one of the club’s cage dancers. I desperately wanted to tell him what happened to me, what I had been through these last twenty-four hours, but Archer forbade it.

I stared at the small screen and debated calling my mother. I knew she would ask if I had quit my job yet and I didn’t want to get into a fight with her tonight, so I told myself I’d call her later. I would have to face her someday but today wasn’t it.

I pulled up my text messages and scrolled through them; nearly all were from Jameson.

Monday, July 9, 2012 --- 11:18am --- “Skye, we need to talk about what happened at the bar last night. Answer your phone.”

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 --- 6:47pm --- “Skye, I’m starting to get worried. Trey told me you’ve been in your room for two days. Please talk to me.”

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 --- 11:18pm --- “I’m sorry. I know I f*cked up. I was so angry at you but I shouldn’t have flirted with Courtney. I know that hurt you and I’m sorry, Skye. Please answer your phone.”

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 --- 2:23pm --- “Check your voicemail.”

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 --- 9:49pm --- “Everyone is really worried about you. Trey is freaking out. I made him bring you the phone a few minutes ago and he said you looked like complete crap and you threw him out. If you won’t talk to me, Skye, at least talk to someone. You’re really scaring everyone. I love you, Skye… no matter what happens between us. I’ll always love you.”

Thursday, July 12, 2012 --- 4:16pm --- “I can’t stop thinking about you. I think about you every minute of every day, wondering if you’re okay… if you’ll ever find it in your heart to forgive me for what I did to you. I know we were broken up, but I still shouldn’t have disrespected you that way at work. There aren’t enough ‘I’m Sorrys’, a luaidh. There aren’t enough words to tell you what you mean to me. I love you, Skye Morrison. I’ll love you until my dying breath. I miss you…”

Friday, July 13, 2012 --- 12:21pm --- “Well, at least I know you’re alive. Trey told me they pulled you out of bed and made you start living again. Did I do this? Did I hurt you so bad that you couldn’t face anyone? It’s killing me, Skye. I need to hear your voice, even if you don’t love me anymore. I need to know you’re truly okay. Please call me. Please, Skye.”

Friday, July 13, 2012 --- 11:58pm --- “I broke down on stage tonight when I sang your song. Syd had to step in and pick up lead vocals for me. It hurts too much… I can’t keep doing this… The band is mad at me because my head isn’t where it should be. I left it back in Austin along with my heart. I can’t keep chasing you, Skye… Your silence… it’s killing me.”

Saturday, July 14, 2012 --- 4:07am --- “You broke up with me, remember?! You made that choice! So what if I flirted with whatever her óinseach name was?!?! She’s nothing to me. She’s not you. Ciach ort! Why am I the only one miserable here? Why do I keep calling you and texting you? WHY?!? It’s obvious you don’t love me… Well, f*ck you. I deserve better. Is it Archer? Is that why you won’t call me back? It’s him isn’t it? It’s always him! I see how you two are together. Bet you’re talking to him… Ciach ort, Skye Morrison! How I ever let myself get twisted up with a human is beyond me…”

Saturday, July 14, 2012 --- 7:39pm --- “Please ignore my last text message. I know it was horrible. I wasn’t myself. I was really wasted last night… really, really wasted. I’m so sorry I talked to you that way. I’m just frustrated and hurting. No one will tell me anything when I ask about you. They just say you’re ‘fine’. Trey is avoiding my calls all of the sudden, Archer is upset about something and won’t talk to me. I feel like everything is falling apart. My band… we got into a huge fight last night over you. They keep telling me to forget you, to move on. How can I move on when my heart bleeds for you? I can’t keep doing this to them. I love you Skye, but this is my last message to you. If you refuse to talk to me, then so be it. I love you and I always will, but I have to focus on this tour. My band deserves my full attention. The guys have worked so hard to help make us what we are today. I’m not going to piss all over their dreams just because I’m heartbroken… It’s not right. I’m getting my head back in the game, as hard as that is to do. I’m here if you want to talk but I won’t hold my breath. Take care of yourself, Skye. I miss you.”

My hands were shaking hard by the time I finished reading. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I had utterly crushed Jameson and I felt so guilty that he had been having a hard time on the road because of me. He didn’t deserve that; he deserved to be happy and carefree. He deserved to enjoy his first tour experience, not to be caught up in a bad episode of ‘My So Called Shitty Life’. Jameson deserved someone who would love him fully and who would cherish all the wonderful things he had to give. I felt too damaged, too broken now. I wasn’t the same person now as I was last week or even last month. A lot of things had changed for me and Jameson deserved better than what little I could offer him.

My voicemail reminder chimed again so I pressed ‘1’ and waited for the voicemails to play.

“You have six new messages.”

“Message one. Wednesday at 2:14am: My hand to God, I didn’t mean to/After all of what we’ve been through/Men come in different shades/It’s how we’re made.”

The slow, soulful song washed over me. I immediately recognized it; it was the song ‘These Days’ by The Black Keys. Their album ‘Brothers’ had been one that Jameson and I had spent a lot of time listening to when we laid in bed and talked at night. The emotions behind the words tore at my heart. It was a song of apology, pain, longing, of remembering the good times and wishing you could go back and of being tired.

My eyes quickly filled with tears and I tried to blink them away, but it was no use. The second message started playing before I had a chance to pull myself together.

“Message two. Wednesday at 1:52pm: Girl you treat me bad and I know why/I’ve seen you running around with another guy/And you think if you hurt me then I’d go away/But I’ve made up my mind/You know I’m… I’m here to stay.”

This time it was Jameson himself singing “Never Gonna Give You Up” by the same band and playing acoustic guitar. My tears had suddenly turned into a flood and I threw my phone across the room, just wanting to shut him out, to make the gut-wrenching pain stop. What have I done to him? My sweet, soulful Jameson… I had ripped his heart out and stomped on it. I felt like the worst person in the entire world. I had blamed him and broken up with him because of what Archer, Hunter, and Trey did to me. He was innocent; he didn’t deserve what I did to him. After all, he saved my life when Hunter’s Divine Power caused me to have a heart attack. Without his healing power, I probably would have died.

I wanted to talk to him, to call him and tell him how sorry I was for hurting him, but I knew I couldn’t. Archer asked me not to talk to Jameson while he was on the road. He thought my condition would be a distraction for him. Now I understood there was more to it; I had been distracting him the whole time he had been gone. He didn’t need me reappearing in his life after he had started to get over me. I may be a bitch, but I wasn’t a heartless bitch. I’d keep my promise to Archer and not call him.

Besides, what could I say to him? I’m sorry? Sorry I broke your heart into a million little pieces? Sorry I fell in love with your brother; your father? I’m sorry I fell in love with two men at the same time?

I heard my phone beep again and glanced over at what was left of it. It had been completely smashed, but somehow it was still playing my messages.

“Message three. Saturday at 6:51pm: Darling, it’s your mother. I think Professor Fitzhugh found a position for you at the history museum in downtown Houston. Isn’t that exciting? You need to call me back, please. Why aren’t you answering your phone? Hope you are well. Love you.”

I groaned as I flashed over to the pieces of my BlackBerry and stomped on them, silencing the voices for good. Not only did I have to worry about how much I hurt Jameson, I had to worry about my meddling mother trying to find me a job away from the city I adored! F*ck my life. I need a drink. I honestly couldn’t take one more thing happening to me today.

I grabbed my messenger bag and stomped off to the living room to find Trey.

“What’s got you in a huff?” he asked with wide eyes as I entered. He was sitting on the couch with Pádraig enjoying a bag of blood and some light conversation with his boyfriend.

“My mother!” I frowned as I threw my bag down and took a seat next to him. “What’s with us and having the most meddlesome mothers; always sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong? Your mother would have had you married off to the neighbor girl if you hadn’t left home. What happened to us cutting out our own path in life; letting us grow and experience and choose for ourselves? I’m an adult gosh dang it!!!”

“Goodness gracious, child,” he whistled as he pulled me into a side hug. “Your britches are in a bunch! Talk to Trey, sugar. What happened?”

“Before I turned, when Mama came for a visit, I told her I was quitting The Mausoleum. She took it upon herself to find me a ‘proper’ job. Now I have to listen to voicemails from her telling me some Professor FitzPrissyPants has found me a job at some museum in Houston. I’m not going to lie, it would have been great two months ago when I graduated, but I can’t even think about any of that now. I’m a vampire. My place will always be here with you guys, my family.”

“Your mama loves you, Skye,” Trey squeezed my shoulder, “and she wants the best for you. She wouldn’t be meddling if she didn’t.”

“Maybe,” I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. “But, on top of everything else I have to deal with right now, I’ve got messages out the ass from a brokenhearted Jameson.” I sighed and closed my eyes, remembering the pain of his words. “God, I feel like such a bitch, Trey. I really hurt him. I ran him over with a Mac truck, reversed it, raked his body over hot coals, drowned him and then hung him out to dry. What the hell does anyone see in me? I’m selfish, inconsiderate…”

“You just stop right there, young lady,” Trey huffed. “That’s my best friend you’re talking about. I won’t sit here and let you badmouth yourself, Skye Morrison. I won’t do it.”

Tears filled my eyes; the pain in my heart becoming too much. “I really hurt him, Trey. I never wanted to hurt him.”

“I know, honey,” he whispered, his brow furrowed with sorrow. “I know. He seems to be doing a little better today, though, if that helps.”

“You talked to him?” I asked in surprise.

“Just got off the phone,” Trey nodded. “I told him you were doing a lot better and that you two would talk when he got home in a couple of weeks.”

“Does he hate me?”

“Sugar, he loves you,” he sighed, slinging one arm around my neck and pulling me to him for a hug. “He’s just hurting. Jameson tends to fall hard and fast when he’s in a relationship. As we all know, it takes a little time to get over love.”

“Let’s go,” Aoife called from the foyer. “Train’s leaving boys!”

“Do you want to ride with Trey to work today so you can finish your talk?” Pádraig asked with an understanding smile.

“No, it’s okay. You two love birds go ahead. I’ll catch a ride with someone else.”

Trey kissed my cheek, hooked his arm through mine and walked me to the door.

Archer was standing there and when his eyes met mine, he smiled sexily. “I still can’t get over how incredible you look.”

I bit my bottom lip at his complement and allowed him to pull me to his side. Vampire pheromones may not work on me now that I was one, but damn if Archer didn’t smell amazing. His cologne mixed with all things Archer, and the fact he was all mine, sent my lower abdomen tightening with desire. He was in top form tonight too in his designer business suit and Prada dress shoes.

“You look pretty good yourself,” I leaned into him as I slipped my hand under his jacket and wrapped my arm around his trim waist. “I love this suit.”

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, lifting my chin to meet his eyes. “You look like you’ve been crying.”

I nodded my head and sighed. I couldn’t hide anything from Archer but more importantly, I didn’t want to. Something in me had changed when I turned; maybe it was the blood bond or the fact we were dating now, but I suddenly wanted to tell Archer everything that was bothering me.

“After you left my room, I checked my phone for the first time in over a week. I had a bunch of text messages and voicemails from Jameson.”

Archer sighed and pulled me tighter to him. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head and rested my cheek against his chest. “I hurt him really bad, Archer. I made a lot of mistakes last week and I wish I could take most of them back.”

“Only most of them?” his chest rumbled.

“Yeah, only most of them,” I replied cryptically as I pulled away. I loved Jameson but I didn’t regret breaking up with him. He deserved so much more than I could give him. Holding on to him would have been selfish and only done more damage to him in the end. I was in love with Archer and I had been for a while. Jameson deserved to have the sole attention of some lucky woman who would cherish him for the bright, brilliant, and amazing person that he was. I couldn’t give that to him if I was in love with someone else too.

Archer took out the Lamborghini keys from his pocket and dangled them in between us. “I can’t stand to see you upset, so I’ll let you drive the Aventador if you smile for me, gorgeous.”

I laughed and gave him a genuine smile as I snatched the keys from his hand and stood on tip-toes to kiss him. “You know just how to make a girl feel better,” I smiled against his lips before pulling away. “Race you to the car.”