Page 11 of Wicked Bite
This was like pulling teeth. “Go ahead. Give me your thoughts.”
“Oh, I was still waiting for the part where I’m supposed to run for the hills.” He stepped in closer to me. “If you want me to run, which I never will, you’ll have to come up with something much scarier.”
I moved in closer, completely intrigued by his low voice and half-smile. “Like what?”
“Like demon wars, or cursed friends, or dark warlords hellbent to kill you or possess you.” He ran his finger down the side of my cheek. “Family isn’t made of blood, love. It’s made of the ones you choose to hold around you. From where I’m standing, you and your daring friend over there have got one already.”
Why did his words have to melt me from the inside out? This was a bad sign I like him too much, too fast. “All right.”
I wagged my eyebrows at him. “True test of running for the hills? Are you ready?”
“Hit me.” He ran his hand through his hair and the tangled wet strands just fell back into place.
“Tuesday night I’m working at the pub in Salem.”
“Salem? Not Boston?” His brow furrowed.
“I was helping out tonight. You come and have a proper date with me after my shift, and we’ll see if the picker is fixed.” It was ballsy on my part to challenge a guy so early on. But what was the point of wasting my own time if he wasn’t worth it?
“Oh, I’ll be there, Sassy Creature.” He pressed a light kiss to my lips. “I am dependably boring.”
I began to take a step back from him. “Somehow I doubt that, Sexy Brit.”
“Where are you going?” He chuckled. “Are you leaving me like this?”
“A challenge has been issued and accepted. Until Tuesday then.” I blew him a kiss and turned for the door. If I looked back at his delicious ass, I wouldn’t be able to leave. And I had to go get Dice and leave before what was left of my damaged heart was given to him for one night of fun.
CHAPTER FOUR
GRAYSON
Tuesday
“No, I am not bloody well going there right now.” I pressed my phone to my ear and held it there. High atop the Evermore Academy castle, in the middle of New York City, I fought for an ounce of patience to deal with this bullshit right now.
“Why?” Sav asked so simply, so calmly. He took a bite of something that sounded like a crisp apple.
“Because I don’t want to.” Piper was waiting for me, and here I was at the top corner of the school, in the only spot that got reception, arguing with Sav. The girl had laid out a challenge, and I’d be damned if I failed it on a first date. I still tasted her lips on mine whenever I thought about her.
“Why?”
“Because I have more important things to do.” I ran my hands through my hair and gazed out over the busy city life. It would take me four hours to get to Salem from here. Two if I sped down the highway the way I planned.
“Such as?” I could almost picture Sav lying on his bed with apple in hand, lazily taking bites while staring at the ceiling.
Such as a date.
“None of your business.”
“Such is the ways of a complicated two-hundred-year-old vampire. Whilst amid an ancient prophecy foretelling of a future that might not be as secure as The House of Shade would trust. Priorities.”
“Shut up, Sav.”
“One does not simply shut up, when one’s best friend must continue on the path of that of a child. It’s time to put away childish things.”
“You do a bloody good job of reminding me of my age. You’re not that far behind. But need I remind you, I am forging ties that will have a lasting affect through the vampire community?”
“Are you talking about in Salem with a certain sassy bartender that has captured the attention of the reluctant heir, or are you talking about the Witches?”
