It was the most I’d said to him since arriving. Lincoln took a step towards me, his eyebrows drawn together. ‘You’re telling me you’re not with Gray?’
I half laughed, not that anything right then was funny. Far from it. If only he knew how impossible the concept of being with anyone in that way was to me.
His frustration didn’t ease. ‘What about that kiss today?’
I dropped my shoulders and stared at him, my neutral expression saying it all.
He shook his head slightly and looked up. ‘A distraction.’
‘One that would’ve normally cost him a limb,’ I said.
Suddenly exhausted by the long day and night on top of my previous sleepless night, I sighed. I gestured half-heartedly to where Gray was dancing with Mia. She was lifting his hands from where they had been moving dangerously low on her back. He was damn lucky he never tried that with me. I pointed to them.
‘You might want to go cut in,’ I said, even though the idea of him dancing with Mia like he’d just danced with me made me want to break in two. After breaking every bone in her body first.
I walked back to my table without another word.
Morgan was fanning herself dramatically as I approached. ‘I have never seen anything so hot in my entire life!’
I grabbed my bag. ‘I’m outta here.’
‘I’ll go with you,’ Steph said, quickly standing and joining me.
As I walked behind the bar and through the door marked ‘private’ I could feel Lincoln’s eyes on me, but I didn’t allow myself to look his way again.
Once we made it into the back of house Steph walked me to my room.
‘Thanks, Steph,’ I said, wishing I could put into words how sorry I was that I’d taken off and left her behind, and how grateful I was that she didn’t hold it against me even though she had every right to write me off as a friend.
‘Want to talk about it?’
I shook my head. ‘No. Thanks, but I just need to be alone for a bit. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?’
Before disappearing back into the hall she paused at the door to ask, ‘Roses or daisies?’ When I stared back blankly, she added, ‘For the wedding.’
‘Oh,’ I said, catching on. ‘Daisies,’ I answered, surprising myself. Steph had always been a roses girl, but I wasn’t the only person who had changed over the past three years.
She smiled. ‘Band or DJ?’
‘Definitely a band. Something loungey and sweet.’
She nodded. ‘Night, Vi.’
‘Are you scared?’ I asked quietly. ‘The age thing?’ Salvatore could live for many hundreds of years and continue to look young while Steph would live a normal human life.
‘It’s weird to think of all the unknowns, but I love him, Vi.’ She gave me a knowing look. ‘I have to believe that the rest will work itself out.’
CHaPteR fIfteeN
‘All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle.’
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I woke with a start, surprised to realise I’d actually drifted off to sleep. It was one o’clock in the morning, which meant I must have had at least a few hours’ shut-eye. Glancing around the unfamiliar surroundings I groaned, leaning back onto my pillow as the events of the past twenty-four hours came rushing back.
In such a short amount of time everything had come tumbling down around me, and now that I was alone with no one’s thoughts but my own, they screamed at me that I was utterly screwed.
Unable to stay in my room any longer I headed to the kitchen, hoping I might find enough supplies to rustle up a late-night snack.
‘I was wondering if I’d see you again tonight,’ Dapper said from the doorway as I was half buried in the refrigerator. Then he checked his watch. ‘Or should I say morning?’
He still had a dishcloth over his shoulder and looked like he’d just come upstairs after closing up.
‘I couldn’t sleep,’ I said, dumping some bread and cheese onto the bench. ‘Toasted cheese sandwich?’
He shook his head. ‘That was quite a show the two of you put on earlier.’
I busied myself with making the sandwich while waiting. I knew he had more to say.
Dapper disappeared around the corner. I could hear him rummaging in his small bar, ice cubes clinking into a glass. ‘You want a drink?’ he called out.
‘No, thanks,’ I responded, pouring myself a glass of milk instead.
I was putting the cheese sandwich in the press when he resumed his position against the doorjamb, drink in hand.
‘He came here tonight so I could heal him.’
I nodded. I’d noticed that the cut on Lincoln’s forehead was considerably better. It would probably be gone by morning. Dapper had the ability to heal both humans and not-only humans.
‘Thank you,’ I rasped.
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking tired. ‘I would’ve done it even if you hadn’t asked me to be there for him before you left,’ he said, referring to the favour I’d called in. ‘Not that he comes to me as often as he should.’