Page 45 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

“But it seems enough to condemn them,” Beckham said as he walked into the room.

The silence was deafening. Everyone turned and stared at his immense bulk in the doorway. The power radiating off of him was full of intensity. Tucker, Coop, and Brianna scurried to the far side of the room and huddled together. Mara stared back at Beckham defiantly, but she wasn’t immune to his power. When he turned his eyes directly on her, Reyna could tell that it was the last place she wanted to be.

“What exactly is going on here?” he asked, his voice booming.

No one said a word.

“That’s what I thought.”

His eyes finally found Reyna’s across the room, and she breathed a sigh of relief that he was here. She never would have thought that she would be so happy that he was near her. But she had felt not only degraded by Everett’s friends but also cornered like a mouse in a trap. These were the kind of people who started lynch mobs, and she didn’t want to get caught by the pitchfork.

“Let’s go, Reyna.”

She ducked her chin to her chest and hastened out of the room. She didn’t care what they said after she left. She didn’t want to stay there another minute. Not even Everett said anything at her departure.

They exited the hospital in silence. His driver was waiting for them at the guest entrance, and she slid easily into the darkened interior. Her tight skirt rode up her legs when she sat down. She was pulling the material down to attempt to cover herself up as Beckham got into the car. He took one look at her, the fact that ninety percent of her legs were clearly visible, and extracted his phone from his suit pocket.

As soon as the door shut behind them, the car headed back into the city. She could feel irritation radiating off of him. She didn’t know if it was because of the conversation he’d walked in on or something else.

“Where did you go?” she asked. Her eyes were locked on him tapping endlessly at that damn phone. Her own phone was tucked away in her purse, unused as usual.

Beckham didn’t say a word.

She sighed. Was he back to silence?

“I can’t believe what Everett’s friends were saying,” she whispered. She slumped back in her seat, wondering if she could get a reaction from him. The only thing he had noticed was her exposed legs, but she wasn’t about to stoop to taking her clothes off for him to pay attention. “Does everyone think like they do?”

Not one word. He didn’t even raise his head to acknowledge that she was talking. She thought about throwing her hand in between him and the damn phone, but she was worried about the consequences of her actions.

“Are you going to keep ignoring me?”

He closed his eyes for a second before responding. “Prejudices run deep between our people. No one thinks kindly of anyone, because no one is kind to anyone else. One act will change no one’s opinion. You should ignore what people think of you. You are the only one who knows whether or not it is true.”

Reyna stared at him for a long time after that. It was very insightful, coming from a vampire who had saved a human’s life. It proved over and over again that Beckham was not the bad person he wanted everyone, including her, to believe.

“You know it’s been a week and a half, Becks.”

“Have you been here irritating me for only that long? You make it seem like a lifetime, Little One.”

“I obviously can’t hang out with those people who hate me anymore. I can’t stay locked in your apartment. I need to do something. Anything,” she breathed.

Beckham huffed. “Then use the credit card and go shopping. Buy a mountain of clothes to fill your closet. Make friends with other employees, who’ll understand what you are doing and won’t judge you for it. Just do something that befits your new station in life.”

“My new station?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes, Reyna. I’m not sure what part of this you’re missing. You have more money than your wildest dreams could ever have imagined. Use some of it.”

Thinking of herself as wealthy, because she happened to work for Beckham and live in his penthouse, made her feel ludicrous. The only benefit of living with him was that the compensation she did receive for the job she wasn’t performing was funneled right back to her brothers. At least them receiving the money made it all worth it.

“And you want me to go shopping on the black credit card? The unlimited credit card?”

“It’s unlimited for a reason,” he said dryly.

“You know I have more clothes than I could ever want in my closet and absolutely nothing comfortable to wear.”

“What do you want from me, Reyna?”

Well, that was a loaded question if she had ever heard one. The list of things she wanted from him that she couldn’t possibly utter grew daily. Her gaze unconsciously dropped down to his lips and then slipped back up into those endlessly dark eyes. He clenched his jaw.

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