I moved over to him and tried looking at his neck. “Let me check.”
He pushed me away. “Oh, for the love of God, she didn’t bite me, okay? She’s not into freaky sex or anything; at least not with me.”
“This is serious, okay? We need to check for bites.”
“Fine. If it’ll get you off my back, check for yourself.”
I examined his neck but didn’t seem to find anything.
“Are you sure she didn’t bite you? Maybe somewhere else?”
“Well, actually, now that you mention it, she scraped my back.”
I raised my eyebrows. “With her teeth?”
He smiled. “Yeah, but don’t ask me to get into details.”
I raised his T-shirt and examined his back. Sure enough, right below his shoulder blades, were two little holes. “Oh, my God,” I groaned. “She bit you.”
He stood up and went over to the dresser mirror. “Yeah, looks like she did.” He smiled. “She’s a little tigress in bed.”
“That’s gross and T.M.I., Nathan. You have to stay away from her. I’m serious.”
He dropped his shirt back down. “Now why would I want to do that?”
“If she bites you three times during sex, you’ll turn into a vampire.”
His eyes lit up. “You mean I might get lucky two more times?”
I punched him in the shoulder. “You’re such a pig. Look, this isn’t joke. She already turned Duncan into a vampire. Have you seen him yet?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Duncan’s back in town?”
“Yes and she had sex with him.”
He clapped his hands and laughed. “Holy crap, Duncan had a shot at her, too?”
I grimaced. “Nice.”
His face fell and he put an arm around me. “I’m sorry. I forgot you and Duncan had something going last summer.”
“Well, it’s not even that. Duncan says he doesn’t remember much of what happened anyway. She probably put some kind of spell on him.”
“Right, a spell. Well, I definitely remember having sex with her. She didn’t need a spell to get me naked.”
I glared at him. “Obviously. My point is, if she’s bitten you once already, she must have real plans for you.”
He bit the side of his lip and looked thoughtful. “Tell you what… let me speak to Duncan about all of this. It kind of pisses me off that she’s playing both of us. I mean, shit, we’re good friends.”
“Yeah, if you can find him.”
He shook his head. “She really had sex with Duncan?”
I nodded. “I guess so.”
He sighed. “Shit.”
Chapter Eighteen
We both missed school that day, and while mom left for work, we snuck out and took a trip into town. Our first stop was the marina.
“Hey, Sonny, Duncan around?” asked Nathan as we strolled into his office.
Sonny frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”
Nathan nodded. “We are, but one of our friends was murdered last night. Did you hear about Susan?”
His face turned somber. “I saw that on the news this morning. I still can’t believe it myself, that poor child.”
“Obviously, someone’s killing these girls and we’re trying to find a way to help with the investigation,” said Nathan. “In fact, I actually saw Susan last night at the diner.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You did? Well, I’m sure the sheriff will be interviewing everyone she came in contact with yesterday. Better let him know you saw her, too.”
“What time did Duncan come home last night?” I asked.
“He got back into town pretty early this morning. He’s probably still sleeping.”
I looked at my watch; it was almost ten in the morning.
“Do you think he’d mind if we stopped over?” asked Nathan.
He shrugged. “Go for it. The house should be open. Tell him to get his ass to work, I need him here.”
“No problem,” said Nathan. “Come on, Nikki.”
Duncan and Sonny lived in an old house right next to the marina. We walked over and rang the doorbell, but nobody answered.
“Let’s go inside,” said Nathan, pushing the door open.
“Do you know where his bedroom is?” I asked, as we stepped into the living room.
He shook his head. “No. I’m surprised you don’t.”
I smacked his shoulder. “Very funny.”
He laughed. “Why don’t I check upstairs and you look on the main floor?”
“Okay.”
I made my way through the house, which was definitely a bachelor pad. Empty beer bottles and soda cans were sitting out, along with some empty bags from a fast food joint up the street. The place looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in forever, and the kitchen floors were sticky.
They could use a maid, I thought with a grimace. I was sure Sonny was bringing in good money with the marina, although from what Nathan mentioned, he was pretty tight with it.
I moved past the kitchen and noticed there were a couple of rooms down the hall. I knocked on the first one, but nobody answered, so I opened it slowly.