Page 16 of Desert Rose

I grab her chin, holding the bottle to her lips. “Drink. You need rest. I’m taking you’re blood tonight.”

“Let me go after.”

“Where? Crawling back to him? What’s he got anyway? Some magic dick?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t…”

I shudder. “Then you’re still fair game. Let me be the one.”

“I’m sorry. My heart wants him.”

I pick up a table, throwing it against a wall. “It’s always him! I’m sick of it!”

“But you have her. You have Elle. You have a piece of Mandy he can’t touch. He’ll never have…”

I grab a knife off a dresser then walk back to her, tracing the flat side over those tiny breasts, before cutting her free. “It’s only because I’m a father now that I won’t take you—make you love me and erase every memory of him. But I can’t let you go. I need your blood.”

“And I’ll gladly give it. That and nothing else.”

“That’s too bad, Amber. Me and you? We could’ve had one hell of a ride.”

“Maybe? Maybe in another life.”

“I wish you could be my desert queen. Not his.”

She cups a hand to my cheek. “Part of me wishes the same. I did feel something for you, but you did me wrong. You played me and he hated me. You should’ve told me about the truck. That it was hers.”

“Why? Yeah, I did it to piss him off. Make him hurt. But Mandy as much as she had issues was kind deep-down. She would’ve wanted you to have it. Please don’t trash that truck,” I beg her with my eyes and words.

“Maybe, Elle would like it? Could it even last that long?”

I swallow hard. “God, you’re perfect. Are you sure, it’s him?”

She nods.

“Fine. Go. I won’t keep you.”

“Go where? You brought me here.”

I hand her my phone. “Call him.”

“Tarak? It’s me.” She says his name so reverently I feel sick. “… No. I’m fine. He’s letting me go. It’s over.”

After they hang up, I give her back her own purse and phone from where I had locked it. “He’s going to kill you. Or at least try.”

“I know.”

“You can’t. You need to stop this for Elle’s sake.”

“Will you still help?”

“Of course.”

“Who is she? This woman you think could be it for me?”

“Ah, now that’s gonna cost you. You owe me two,” she winks.

“No hard feelings?”

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