Page 48 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

“Do you agree?”

“Yes,” she said automatically. If she didn’t, then he’d never let her leave again. Plus, who would care about her images? “You’ll show me how to use the website?”

“I’ll set it up by end of day,” he promised.

She swallowed and met his gaze with earnest sincerity. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. His shoulders relaxed as he seemed to have gotten through the difficult part of the conversation. “Also, you have a shopping date with Sophie.”

Reyna’s face fell. He gave her freedom and a ball and chain at the exact same time.

“Do I have to?” she asked, feeling like a child.

“Yes,” he said, already turning back to his phone. “Visage is throwing a celebratory ball for the passage of the Blood Census. I have to be in attendance, which meansyouhave to be in attendance.”

“A ball?” Her ears perked up at that prospect. A ball with Beckham. Now, that could be interesting.

“Find something suitable to wear and put it on the credit card. I don’t care about the cost. Whatever you want,” he muttered into his phone.

“All right.” She hugged her camera to her chest. “When am I meeting her?”

“Noon.” He looked back up at her. His eyes remained fixed on her face. God, if she only had a penny for his thoughts. “Be careful around her, Reyna. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“Then why do I have to meet her?” she asked, exasperated. The politics behind this was all so confusing. She didn’t want to spend time with people she had to guard herself against.

“You said you wanted friends.” He arched his eyebrow, just waiting for her to question him.

“Yeah…friends. People I meet who I have common interests with. Not a woman who also happens to be a permanent Visage employee.”

“What? Like the people from the hospital? Your life has completely changed, and the sooner you realize that, the easier this will all be for you.”

Her eyes drifted to his mouth again unconsciously. “What about you?”

“What about me, Reyna?”

“Your life has changed. The sooner you realize that, the easier it will be for both of us,” she whispered boldly.

Her eyes travel slowly back up to his, and she knew he must feel something underneath all that bravado, but he didn’t budge an inch. “The driver will be here within the hour.”

Chapter Sixteen

When she left her room again, Beckham was gone. She could have skipped out on this entire escapade and taken her camera into the city all on her own. But then her nightmares hit her fresh. She couldn’t do that. Not to herself and not to Beckham. He had been genuinely worried about her, and the last thing she wanted was for something to happen. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad with Sophie.

She traipsed down to the lobby and was relieved to see that Everett was back to work.

“Miss Carpenter,” he said formally, not meeting her eyes.

She opened her mouth to say something, but what could she say? He might have defended Beckham for saving his life, but he knew what she was, and all of his friends now knew, too. Maybe Beckham was right. Maybe it was all bad and there was no way to break through it. Everett was the nicest, most genuinely kind and optimistic person she had met. If he couldn’t get past the fact that she worked for Visage, then she didn’t know if anyone really could.

“Hello,” she said softly.

“Mr. Anderson’s car today?” Everett responded.

“Yes. Thank you.”

He signaled Beckham’s driver. The minute they stood together in silence was painful. She wanted to say so much. Share how glad she was that he was back at work, reiterate how sorry she was about the attack, try to refute the things his friends had said about her.

Instead, she didn’t say anything.

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