“Such a delightful character,” breathed Drake.
“Drake, are you going to be okay?” I asked him.
He staggered over to me and then steadied himself using the wall. “You know,” he murmured, staring down at me. “If Ethan wasn’t so smitten by you,” he teased, “I’d take you away from all of this and make you forget about that bloke.”
I could tell by the look in his eyes he wasn’t lying, either. My cheeks turned pink.
“I hope we meet again, under better circumstances,” he said, grabbing my hand. His was so cool, it gave me goose bumps.
“I agree,” I said as he kissed my knuckles.
“You saved my life, friend, but that means we’re even and I no longer owe you,” said Ethan, coming up behind me. He slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me back against his body.
“He’s not very good at saying ‘thank you’,” chuckled Drake with a gleam in his eyes. “Is he?”
I opened my mouth but couldn’t respond because I was so flustered, especially now that Ethan seemed to be claiming me once again.
Ethan reached out a hand and gave him a slight shove. “Thanks. Now go and feed before you make yourself more dangerous around Nikki than you already are.”
“You know me all too well,” said Drake. “Take care of this little lady and stay away from the shape-shifter. Didn’t I warn you about her before?”
“Yes, I should have listened.”
Drake turned to my brother and chuckled. “Nice seeing you again, Nate. I hope you get over your attitude. Not all of us are the monsters you may think we are.”
My brother glared at him. “It’s Nathan.”
“Nathan,” he said and turned back to me. “Nikki, you’ve got your hands full with these two blokes,” said Drake. “You sure you don’t want to come with me? I’ll be heading back to New York soon. You’d be like… a breath of fresh air.”
Before I could respond, Ethan cut in. “Goodbye, Drake,” he said.
Drake laughed and turned to leave. “Try to stay out of trouble, all of you.”
“Easier said than done,” mumbled Ethan.
I stepped out of Ethan’s grasp as soon as Drake left and turned on him, my confusion now replaced with anger. “What in the hell is up with you?”
He stared at me in confusion. “What?”
Nathan, sensing I was about to explode, backed away towards the door. “I’ll meet you upstairs, Nikk, and you… Fangs,” he said to Ethan. “You hurt my sister, in any way, I’ll skin you alive.”
Ethan shook his head in exasperation.
“I’ll be right up, Nathan,” I said.
“Now, tell me what’s wrong?” asked Ethan once we were alone.
I scowled. “What’s wrong? Do you even have to ask?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “I’ve had a rough night and don’t have time for games. What exactly are you referring to this time?”
I tapped my foot on the ground, angrily. “Yeah, I know you had a rough night, lover boy. Before you were turned into a…a… mummy, you were worked over by a couple of girls. You don’t recall that?”
His eyebrows shot up. “What?”
I folded my arms under my chest and leaned forward. “Oh, you don’t remember that part of your adventure?”
He smiled. “Wait a second, where and when did this happen? And I was with two girls, you say?”
“You were at Club Nightshade,” I snapped. “Just a few hours ago.”
He chuckled. “Listen, you may have been there, but I certainly wasn’t.”
“That’s crap. Celeste picked me up at the cabin, brought me to the club, and there you were, getting it on with two dominatrix-type of skanks.”
He laughed. “Are you serious? Did they whip me?”
I glared at him. “Not funny.”
He sighed and then grabbed my shoulders. “Listen to me, I swear to God,” he said, staring into my eyes. “I wasn’t there. I left you at the cabin and came straight here, like I said I would. Unfortunately, Faye was also here and like an idiot, I walked into some kind of trap. The next thing I knew, I was locked inside of that cell, unable to move because she’d somehow drained me of both my blood and energy.”
“Why would she do that? I thought you were her little ‘boy toy’?”
He frowned. “Who said that?”
“Celeste.”
He dropped his arms and ran a hand over his face. “Okay, fine…we had something a long time ago but it was clearly a mistake. Once I found out how dangerous and twisted Faye was, it drove me away. The only reason I was at the diner with her yesterday was because I knew she was up to something and I wanted to find out exactly what. Then, when you stopped over to our table, I could actually feel her rage. That’s the only reason I blew you off. She’d have killed you if she knew my true feelings.”
“Well, I felt her true feelings about me. In fact sometimes I can hear her in my head.”
“You can?” He frowned. “She was probably toying with you. She can connect to anyone she wants and send them messages.”