Page 14 of Feathers From the Sky

“My turn,” he says, and then he leans back down to kiss me. His tongue is thorough, trying to taste what I’d sucked off his fingers. He is a mess of saliva and teeth, and I can’t stop myself from moaning. His fingers move as they were before but more desperately, needing me to finish as much as I need it. He is relentless, and his thumb presses in just the right spot on my clit. I’m writhing beneath his heavy body as he kisses me, and it feels wrong that I take comfort in his weight holding me down. Feels wrong that I am content to stay beneath him, unable to move. I nip his lower lip and roll my hips against his hand, searching for release.

He bites my lip, hard, and I freeze when I taste iron. I’ve been bitten during sex before, but never to the point of drawing blood. His body shudders, and his muscles tighten as he takes a deep breath. He buries his face into my neck. I shiver, but I’m no longer teetering on the edge of orgasm.

“Ouch,” I say, reaching to rub my lip. “I think I’m bleeding,” I say, unnerved by his silence.

When he sits up, he wipes his hand over his mouth but refuses to look at me. “Fuck. Hang on,” he mumbles.

A moment later, when he comes back from the bathroom, shoving the hand towel at me, he refuses to meet my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he says, as I glance at the white towel in my hands.

“Toilet paper, Roman,” I say, trying to give him a gentle smile, but he keeps his eyes averted, and I notice his skin has paled. “I can’t wipe blood on this nice towel.”

“I’ve got to go. I—I can’t do blood,” he says, and then before I can move, he’s pulling his pants on and running down the stairs.

6

ROMAN

Sittingin the parking lot in a car I borrowed, coercion assisted, I wait for Alexa Strom to show up to her prenatal appointment. Margot had told me she was scheduled for an ultrasound, so it was likely Gwyn’s ex would be with her. I didn’t want to seek them out separately, having no desire to speak to such worms for more than I had to. I’ve already pushed my father’s timeline further than he wanted, and I need to get this dealt with.

Meeting with these two allows me to get more information without being aroundher.

When a sensible silver Honda pulls into the lot, I’m relieved to stop my spiraling thoughts. Thoughts of home and my mom and old and new and warm and cold and contentment and exhilaration. Thoughts brought to the forefront by that fucking hunter’s blood. I’m convinced I’m still high from it days later, and my teeth have lengthened while I wait.

He drops her off at the door before driving past it to park. She walks inside, already waddling even though she’s barely into her first trimester. This is her first ultrasound, and I’m pretty sure that baby is no bigger than an apple.

My mouth waters thinking about apples, and I curse under my breath as I get out of the borrowed BMW. I’d barely had more than a drop, and that fucking blood is killing me slowly. I scan the parking lot, waiting for Alexa to go inside before moving quickly towards where Josh is parking his car. When he gets out, I wait a respectable few paces away, and he looks at me curiously.

He’s narrow and wiry, and I know his running habits are responsible for his form. Everything about him is average, which is why he ought to have been perfect for Gwyn. But he cheated. A lot. I still don’t know why. I had already known he’d fucked her friend, but when Gwyn told me at the photo shoot, it finally sunk in just how cruel that was.

Fuck, even thinking her name is making my pants tight and my teeth tingle. If I had known what her blood would do to me, I would have been more careful.

“Hey, man. Can you give me a jump? I called a tow, but they won’t be here for an hour,” I explain as I gesture to the BMW.

“I actually have to go in to my wife’s appointment. Getting a look at my boy for the first time,” he replies with a broad smile. Christ. I don’t know shit about babies, but I doubt they know the gender this early.

I nod and smile. “Congratulations. Maybe if I’m still out here on your way out, you can help a guy out,” I say, and when my eyes catch his, I lace my voice with my vampire influence. “Do you know anything about Bill Parsons’ friends? Where he went, who he associated with?”

Josh blinks, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Gwyn’s dad only went to the auto parts store up the street from his house. He didn’t have many friends. An old trucking buddy named Charlie is the only person I can think of,” he says, voice monotone. He shakes his head, trying to rid himself of the coercion. I hadn’t gone easy on him though, and I know I’d have him in my thrall for a few hours if I wanted to.

“Know anything else about Charlie? Bill didn’t goanywhere? Groceries? Out to dinner?”

“He only went out to dinner when the girls begged him. Gwyn usually picked up their groceries because of his bum knee and Angela’s schedule. Charlie only called him once in front of me, and Bill left the room to talk with him.” Josh’s face relaxes as he gives in to my pull.

“Did Charlie call him on the same cell phone Bill always used?”

“Nah, house phone,” he replies, and I gape at him for a moment. A fucking house phone. In all my research and Margot’s deep dives, neither one of us had even thought about a landline. Gwyn doesn’t have one currently, and Bill used his cell phone regularly. It hadn’t even occurred to me.

I’m in a rush to end this conversation, ready to text Margot with a new lead.

“Anything peculiar about Gwyn? Anything abnormal?” She is nothing close to normal, but they don’t know that.

Josh chuckles as he speaks. “Nothing worth mentioning. Like the rest of her.”

I feel my temple throb. “That why you left her? Cheated on her? Because she wasn’t worth mentioning?” I’m annoyed by the grate of my voice.

“I was sick of hearing her cry,” he says, and I can feel his mind fighting against my influence, and I let him speak more freely. “All she wanted to do was sleep after the accident. For months, she barely brushed her teeth, let alone her hair. I had to force her to shower half the time.” He shrugs. “Alexa was there, and she was sick of it too.”

What he said twists my gut into a knot.

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