Rolling over, he grabbed his jeans from where he’d tossed them on the floor and pulled the small cell phone from a pocket. He turned it on before sliding into the bed again and settling himself behind her. Stretching his legs out along her sides, he pulled her against his chest as he leaned on the wall. She stared at the phone he held before them as the voicemail button lit up before a number appeared above the text box.
There were over twenty new text messages that he didn’t bother with before the voicemails. After listening to the voicemails, he deleted them and called Vern. She relaxed against him, relishing the vibrations in his chest as he spoke with Vern in an authoritative tone so different than the man who held her tenderly against him.
CHAPTER 15
Julian closed the phone and set it down before draping his arm around the back of the booth he sat in. His fingers idly played with Quinn’s silken hair as she sipped at her Mountain Dew and surveyed the people in the diner. Across from them, Chris was happily diving into a double bacon cheeseburger while Melissa poked at her salad.
To others, Melissa may have simply appeared preoccupied, but he’d sensed a growing change in her for a while now, one he didn’t need to touch her in order to understand better. When Chris leaned forward to grab the ketchup and his arm brushed Melissa’s, she stiffened minutely. She didn’t relax again until he sat back in the booth.
He recalled the conversation they’d had in Clint’s bar about her ending things with Zach before the Hunter had lost his life. ”They didn’t work out on my part. The chemistry wasn’t there, you know?” she’d asked of him.
”I do,” he’d replied.
Melissa had gone on to tell him that, ”Sometimes things are just… just not what you were expecting.”
”I understand.”
”You would understand, perhaps better than anyone.”
Julian recalled the way her gaze had gone to Chris after she’d said this. At the time, he’d been more concerned about cleaning up the remains of the vampires he’d killed in the bar, but now he realized there had been more to her words and that look. There had been something he’d been missing with Melissa in his drive to protect Quinn.
Melissa’s onyx eyes briefly met his across the table before she pushed her plate away. “I’ll be back,” she said and slid out of the booth.
Chris didn’t look up to watch her go, happily oblivious to anything other than his greasy burger as he doused it with more ketchup.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to taste the meat,” Quinn said to him.
Chris glanced at her while he placed the ketchup on the table. “It enhances the flavor.”
Quinn gave him a doubtful look as she lifted her cup and took another sip of her drink. Julian turned in the booth to find Melissa and Cassie engaged in conversation near the front door. Devon, Luther, Dani, and Lou remained in the booth a few feet away from them.
Vern, Hadie, and Prue would be meeting them here, with some of their recruits, before they continued on to Herb’s house. Julian wanted to crush The Commission himself, to grind every last one of them into dust with his bare hands, but when it came to Quinn, he wouldn’t turn away help in order to end any threat to her life.
There had been little more useful information in the journal he’d read through. He’d received no further glimpses into the life of the Hunter he’d killed. Herb’s house would have answers, he was certain of it, and as soon as they were all done eating and Vern was here, they would be heading to that house. They’d made the drive to Pennsylvania far faster than he’d anticipated, but then they’d all taken turns driving the RV throughout the nights to get here.
He glanced around the tiny diner with its 50’s style motif and bright lights. The sizzling of bacon and the scents of cooking meat, grease, and potatoes filled the air. A handful of patrons sat on the stools lining the counter. They talked with each other as they ate their dinners. He had a feeling the men, most of whom had gray hair and wrinkles lining their weathered faces, met here often as the staff conversed easily with them and the men acted as if this were their second home.
Somewhere from the other end of the diner, music began to play from one of the small, silver jukeboxes on each of the tables. Biting into his cheeseburger, Chris leaned over and, with his other hand, pushed the button to flip through the music choices.
“It’s all old people music,” he muttered before glancing at Julian. “You would like it.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed on him as Quinn choked on her soda. “Keep it up and you won’t live long enough for your music to be considered old people music,” Julian warned.
Chris grinned at him and lifted a handful of French fries from his plate. “You’re really not all that intimidating now that I know your bark is worse than your bite.”
Julian’s fangs extended as he leaned across the table toward him. “Want to see if that’s really true?”
“Maybe you wouldn’t like the music after all,” Chris replied with a grin. Julian retracted his fangs before leaning back in the vinyl red booth again. “There’s no classical. Mozart was more your time, right?”