“I’ve been better.”
He groaned. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry I bit you. I don’t know what came over me. You were there, and you smelled so good, so clean and pure, and my mouth was watering, and the urge hit me, and it was so strong, so intense, I couldn’t fight it.” The words spilled from him with barely a breath. “I didn’t want to fight it.”
Some of what he’d said really jelled with me. A clean, pure scent. An unwillingness to fight. An unquenchable hunger. “Has anything else happened to you since that night?”
A crackling pause that set my nerves on edge. “Like what?”
Yeah, like I was really going to confide in him. “You tell me,” I said, using a tactic Cole had once used on me.
Cole. I ran my tongue over my teeth.
I had to stop thinking about him.
“To be honest, I’ve been normal,” Justin said. “Nothing’s happened. To me, at least,” he added. “I’m guessing something’s happening with you, though.”
The brakes on the car squeaked, and I peeked out the window to see we’d reached our destination. So soon?
“I have to go,” I said.
“Don’t want to talk about it?”
“I’m kind of busy.” And yes.
Another pause. “We’ll talk again, though?” he asked, hesitant.
“Yeah. I think so.”
I hung up and stepped into the cold of the evening. The sun would soon disappear, and the moon would take its place, full and golden in the sky. Even though darkness had yet to fall, the path to the barn was lit by small halogens meant to discourage any zombies from drawing near.
I used the code on the ID pad to open the door. Before our breakup, when I’d come here and he hadn’t, Cole had finally broken down and given me the “key.” I pushed my way inside, only to discover the meeting was already in full swing. A chair had been carried to the center of the boxing ring, where Cole was perched.
Veronica sat in his lap.
His arm was wrapped around her waist.
The girl was relaxed against him, completely at ease, as if she had no doubts about her reception.
Cole was disheveled, but also perfectly at ease. As if they’d messed around before settling down, and he’d never been happier.
The details hit me like bullets, one at a time, fast and sure. He’d always liked touching me. Sifting the ends of my hair through his fingers. Ghosting his knuckles across my jaw. Pulling me into the hard line of his body for a kiss. Seeing him act that way with someone else...
Pain? Yes, I felt pain. Betrayal? Jealousy? Yes, I felt those, too. Felt them so deeply I wasn’t sure how I remained on my feet—or out of that ring. I think a part of me had hoped he would eventually come crawling back to me, no matter what I’d told him. No matter what I’d told my friends. But he wasn’t going to, was he? We were done, just as he’d said. Just as I’d agreed. Only he’d already moved on.
Breathe. Just breathe.
I wouldn’t freak out over this.
I’d come here to do a job. So I would do it.
I switched my focus. The rest of the crew leaned against the ropes. Frosty, Bronx, Mackenzie, Derek, Trina, Lucas, Collins, Cruz and Gavin, each hard bodied and dressed in black, ready for action. No one seemed to care that Cole—a guy who had only split from me a short while ago—had already forgotten about me.
Okay, so I hadn’t exactly switched my focus.
Threads of fury joined an already toxic mix of emotions, whooshing through me. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t fair. How could he do this to me? Was he trying to punish me for the vision I’d had? A vision I couldn’t control? A vision I wouldn’t allow to come true?
No. This wasn’t for my benefit and wasn’t a punishment. He hadn’t known I would show up. This was for him. He wanted that girl in his lap.
My hands fisted. I’d been wrong about his sense of honesty. He’d lied to me.
I remembered what he’d said to me.
Me: Do you want Veronica?
Him: No. Not even a little.