Page 20 of Kentucky Nights
“Dead Man’s Ranch?” The high-pitched break in my question should be embarrassing. My palms begin to sweat and slip across the glass filled with water. It tumbles right out of my hand, bumping the bed before heading to the floor.
Water spills all over the sheets, but before the loud crash of the glass shattering, Kentucky is there.
Quicker than I can blink, he catches it before it hits the ground. He freezes, his shoulders rising and falling in a way that lets me know he didn’t mean to reveal his secret. He peers at me from the corner of his eye, waiting to see if I’ve reacted.
Oh, he hasn’t seen nothin’ yet!
“It’s an inside joke considering I’m a dead man.” He straightens, setting the cup on the dresser, continuing to give me my space.
“You’re one of them.” I slip from the bed, my feet landing in a puddle of water on the wooden floor. Naturally, I take a step back from him. My eyes are round in shock, and I can’t catch my breath. “Please,” I beg as terror begins to take hold and memories of being bound naked to a chair assault me in every corner of my mind. “Please, don’t hurt me. Just let me go. Please, just let me go. I don’t know what you want, but I don’t have it, okay? I can’t give you anything.” I snatch the vase sitting on the table closest to me and launch it at him.
He ducks, the vase shatters against the wall, and a shard lands in his cheek. A big white chunk of pottery sticks out from his face. Meeting my eyes, he tugs it free and drops it on the dresser.
Before my eyes, his skin heals, the blood sinking back into his body.
Not once does he lose his temper. I expect him to charge, for his eyes to change, for his fangs to flash, but he remains calm and collected.
That only confuses me more. There’s nothing else I can throw at him unless I try to pick up this chair nestled in the corner.
I’m trapped.
I peer around the room for another exit, spotting a window to my left. I hold my breath, plastering my body against the wall as I scoot closer to my only route to freedom.
His gaze drifts from me to the window. “You’re upstairs, Dru. If you fall, you’ll hurt yourself. It’s best if you don’t do that.” His eyes morph red, reminding me of a ruby gem catching the sunlight.
I try not to get lost in the catastrophic color of his eyes and remember they are the color of murder. “Why? You’re going to kill me anyway.”
He takes one step forward to try and stop me. “Dru, Darlin’, hurting you has never once crossed my mind. You’re safest with me. I’m not sure what vampire you ran into before, but they aren’t like me. We can talk about that if you want, but remember this, I could have left you in that shack. I could have done a lot worse. I could have finished you off and drank what little blood you had left. I killed all those shifters to save you. The wounds on your body were pretty bad. You had lost a lot of blood and…I healed you.”
The hesitancy in his sentences tells me he isn’t telling me the entire truth. Do I care about the truth, or do I need to be thankful that he saved me?
“You are still weak from the blood loss. I’ve made you breakfast to help get your energy up. You need to eat.”
I inch closer to the window, still not fully believing him. “Did you play with my mind like the other vampire did?” My fingers curl around the window frame, the adrenaline pumping in my veins, shouting at me to risk my life and jump.
The muscle in his jaw ticks from clenching his teeth together. “When you’re up for it, you’ll tell me all about this vampire who took advantage of you so I can kill him. To answer your question, no, I did not use that trick on you.”
The slight click of the lock has Kentucky inhale a sharp breath. “Don’t, Dru. After all you have survived, you’re going to risk your life jumping out of a window? I won’t allow it.”
He’s right, but the closer he gets to me, the more my knees tremble, and it isn’t because I’m afraid. It’s because, for some reason, I want to leap into his arms. Why would I want that? The thought alone has me opening the window.
“Just tell me who hurt you and I’ll prove it, Darlin’. I’ll bring you his fangs if it means you will rest easier.”
“You’d kill your own kind?” The breeze swaying the curtains can’t hide the surprise in my voice.
“They aren’t my kind, Darlin’. I’d kill them all for you if it meant your heart got to beat for another minute. I smell how afraid you are, so I’m going to give you space. I’ll go if you promise not to jump out the window.” He steps around the foot of the bed, and I lean against the windowsill to get as far away from him as I can.
He points to the heavy wooden door to the right of me. “There’s a bathroom there. You’ll find everything you need. There are clothes folded on the vanity. I’m afraid I don’t have anything in your size, so hopefully what’s in there will suffice.”
My nails dig into the windowsill to strengthen my grip. “I should want to kill you,” I say out of nowhere, tears brimming in my eyes when I think about the way that vampire bit me, the way the shifters clawed at me in the shed. “I should want you all to die.”
“I agree. You should.” He backs away, opening the bedroom door with iron hinges, the top of it arched and wide to fit his body frame. The design in the wood is intricate, with a beaming sun casting down on a large amount of land. A few cattle graze the pastures, and a horse stands guard with them.
His brutal honesty takes me by surprise.
“Now, I’m trusting you, Darlin’, but I’ll save you again. I’ll save you every time, even if it means saving you from yourself.” He eyes the window, gripping the tip of his hat with his wide fingers, he tilts his chin to his chest, and walks out.
I’m left staring at his strong back and the way his muscles flex when he grabs the door handle to shut it. With a soft click, I’m alone in the massive room with a heart that aches, and I have no idea why.
