Page 8 of Love Bites
Love? Where had she gotten that idea? She wasn’t in Spain to fall in love. She was simply there to let loose and be free. Love was a hole she didn’t feel like digging anymore. Not when betrayal had bitten her like a deadly viper, leaving its poison implanted in her heart, spreading outward, making her bitter and mean.
A million doubts floated through her mind as she rinsed her body, turned off the faucets, and stepped out of the shower into the chilly bathroom to reach for a towel. The thought of sleeping with a stranger was a concept as foreign to her as this country. She had never used someone in her life like that, and she didn’t plan on it; just becauseshewas heartbroken didn’t mean she should just sleep with someone like a metaphorical slap to Hunter’s face.
Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’tkissIgnacio and see him again…if she could only woman up and call his number.
Heaving a sigh, Katheryn dried off and went to dig for clothes. She hadn’t packed much, only a few pairs of jeans and whatever she could find. After a few minutes of contemplation, Katheryn pulled on a pair of jeans and a flowing, blue shirt. She’d always thought blue to be her best color. It highlighted the light tone of her skin and made her eyes seem deeper and darker than they actually were. Plus, being a redhead, she couldn’t wear a lot of things that didn’t clash with her hair.
Katheryn stood in front of the mirror and ran her brush through her hair, untangling the knots that had formed in her sleep. Just as she started cursing the gods of split ends, a vibrating noise caught her attention. She turned to her cell phone, charging on the little table next to the bed. It vibrated again, indicating a missed call.
She ignored it and turned back to her reflection. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she stared at herself. Her face wasn’t pale, but it lacked color, save for the dozens of bright freckles scattered across her skin, and her eyes were blue, a simple dark blue that had little appeal to them.
Am I not pretty enough? Not good enough to stay faithful to? What did I do wrong? Was it something I said that drove you to do it? How long did it last? Was it with only one woman? Two? Three? More? How many did you have? Why did you do this to me? Why? Why? Why?
Tears began to prick her eyes, she wiped them away with frustration. She wouldn’t let herself cry over him. Sherefused.There was no use crying, because crying wouldn’t solve a damn thing.
She pulled the brush through her hair, getting out the rest of the knots then tossed the brush to the floor. If only she could control the sickness in her gut. She wished she could simply wash away the feeling of anger that coiled around her. But she had to know. She wanted to know. Without thinking twice about it, she dove for her phone and turned it on. Quickly, she dialed the number she was so familiar with and pressed it to her ear as it rang, waiting for him to pick up.
“Hello, Katheryn?” Hunter’s clipped, familiar tone came on the other line. The sound of it angered her, yet she suddenly couldn’t bring herself to say anything.
She’d wanted to ask him why, but that was as good as tearing her heart out and tossing it at his feet. The truth was, she had been insecure in herself for the longest time because of him, because she’dlethim turn her into something she was not.
There was nothing left to say. And wanting to know the answers to all her doubts would only bring torture to her heart.
“Katheryn, are you there?” he asked urgently, almost annoyed. “Listen, Katheryn Meyers.” He used her full name, the way he always did when he was angry at her, as if he were her mother. What right didhehave to be angry? “I hope you realize your absence has not only worried me but also your mother. Let’s just set up a meeting and talk about what happened, work out our problems like adults so we can move forward in our relationship. This tantrum of yours, not calling, not messaging, is quite irritating, and it has to stop. Now.”
He spoke in that superior tone, the way he always did. And she wondered why it bothered her more now than it ever had before. Why was she noticing his attitude now, when before she’d simply shrugged it off and accepted it?Because I’m an idiot, that’s why. Agitated, she hung up and threw the phone to the floor.
I shouldn’t have called.Now, her heart felt heavy, as if it were an anchor ready to fall through her body at any given moment. Her throat was tight with emotion, and her eyes stung. But she couldn’t cry. She wouldn’t…
Instead, she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror again. Her eyes were wide and red-rimmed. Feeling ashamed, she picked up the brush and finished taming her hair, focusing on her movements. It wasn’t until she felt the droplets trickle down her chin that she realized she was crying.
With one final tug of frustration, she set down the brush, grabbed her purse, and begrudgingly threw her phone into it before walking out the door.
7
Ignacio felt Katheryn’s distress in his sleep, and, hard as he tried to reach her mind, to whisper to her and tell her that it was all right, that everything would be all right, he couldn’t. He wondered why that was. Why was it that one moment they were able to share a dream together, and the next, when she desperately needed him, he couldn’t get to her? What was he to do? He was in his death sleep, and she was awake. He couldn’t possibly wake up or even go out in the sunlight or else he’d burn to a crisp and die.
He didn’t know what it was that had caused her sudden torment or how it was possible he could even feel it. And it mattered little. All that mattered was that she was in trouble, sheneededhim, and he wasn’t there for her. He could have screamed, and were he any other type of Supernatural, he would have burst awake and found her, if only he could hold her in his arms to comfort her.
But he wasn’t just any other Supernatural. He was a vampire. And he couldn’t wake up and rush to her. He could only wait hours upon hours in torment, feeling her anguish ripple through his body. He fought hard to wake up, to battle his own body, but it was too difficult—it was impossible.
So he waited until night descended, until his body could finally respond. As soon as he was conscious, he jumped from his bed and hastily dressed in whatever he could find on his bedroom floor. He had to hurry, he had to find Katheryn.
He rushed out of his house without a word of goodbye to his mother and ran to Katheryn’s hotel but didn’t sense her there. Where could she be? Sudden worry gripped him, took the breath from his lungs. Hopefully, nothing had happened to her. Hopefully, no one had tried mugging her or worse.
He didn’t even want to think about it. Ignacio waited and listened to his instinct, to the chord being struck over and over again inside his soul. And he felt it. The thing others had described and what he’d only ever dreamt of feeling. A pull, a tug on his very self. Like an internal compass that would lead him to the missing part of himself. So he listened and ran, and he didn’t stop until he found her.
She sat outside a nearby diner at a table for two, her posture rigid and stiff. She looked down at her hands. At first, the sight of her relaxed him, made him happy she wasn’t in any physical danger. But it all dissipated when he saw her beautiful night sky eyes drip sadness. He saw how she tried to hold it in, tried not to show her true feelings. He took a long, deep breath before he walked over to her. He had to see if she was okay.
Katheryn didn’t notice him. It wasn’t until he sat across from her and cleared his throat that she looked up with surprise. Almost immediately, she ducked her head and rubbed her eyes, furiously wiping away the tears.
Rage and worry seethed through him in equal measure. When he found out who had caused her distress, he would wring their neck.
The urge to reach across the table and swipe away her tears gripped him like a vice, but he didn’t think she would have appreciated it, considering she was trying to wipe away the evidence of her sadness.
Finally, she looked up at him and gave him an obviously forced smile.
“Hey,” she said.
