Page 35 of Caution

And waited some more.

“Well?” I asked, when he still didn’t say anything. “Are you going to actuallydoit?”

He groaned. “Shit, you’re really going to make me do this shit? Like it didn’t work out perfectly fine?”

“What if it hadn’t though,” I countered. “You put me in danger, for… what exactly?”

“So I can get my girl too.”

Right.

He’d mentioned that in the overheard conversation with Cassius and his brothers, but still…

“Seriously? I don’t get that vibe from you.”

He frowned. “What vibe?”

“Looking for an eternal mate,” I answered.

He chuckled. “Oh, yeah, definitely not. I’m looking for the perfectanatomy,I’ll say,which happens to be connected to the perfect mate.”

“So it’s about pussy to you? Not the prophecy?”

“You said it, not me.” He shrugged. “Anyway, I’m sorry for… doing everybody a favor. We good?”

Again, I raised an eyebrow. “Sure, Parris.”

“Excellent. Bye.”

I blinked and he was gone, just as fast as he’d arrived.

I blinked again and Cassius was there.

“Did he apologize?” he asked, immediately pacing around, a little more frantic than warranted. “He put up a block before he came in, so I didn’t know if—”

“Wow, he really gets under your skin, huh?” I laughed, moving to put a hand on his arm. “Yes, he apologized… kinda. It was very uneventful. Did you think he would hurt me or something?”

“Of course not. The boy is wild, but not… likethat,” Cassius admitted. “I just don’t appreciate being blocked off from you and he knows better,” he fumed.

“Wow,” I mused. “Who would’ve thought that even freakingvampireswould have the same family dynamics as the rest of us mere mortals. He did that shit to get under your skin because he’s the baby. Clearly.”

Cassius raised an eyebrow at me. “Us mere mortals? How quickly you’ve forgotten…”

“I… well… I guess you’re… damn.” I laughed. “I’m not part of thatusanymore.”

“No, but you’re part ofus,” he reminded me. “And trust me… there’s nothing bigger.”

* * *

“She keepsit at her apartment, you’re deadass?” I asked Celeste as we climbed out of the car in the parking lot of Riv’s rowhouse. We’d just been driving past, on our way up into the Blackwood Hills for dinner with the Blacks, when we spotted her car at the property, a perfect little sub-community of cute colorful connected homes, perfect for people who were always coming and going like she was.

“Yuppp,” Celeste confirmed. “She’s gonna show you.”

“Fine,” I agreed, following her up to Riv’s door.

Riv’s slightly cracked door.

Weird.

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