Page 25 of Sleepless Beauties
I ignore his hostility and turn to the small rack of dresses, heels and clutches that Prey set up for me in the corner.
He really is a fantastic assistant. No wonder my sister kept him around for as long as she did. That has to be the reason, because it sure as shit couldn’t have anything to do with his sparkling fucking personality.
I grab the largest handbag, though it’s still no longer than my forearm and no thicker than a Bible, but I’ll have to make the most of it.
I abandon my driver’s license, I don’t even think about my debit or credit cards, and I don’t search for my apartment key.
I don’t need any of those things anymore.
The one thing I’ll need in my future is that kitchen knife.
I pull the blade from beneath my pillow and the moonlight glints off of the edge of it. Sure it’s no dagger, but Gordan Ramsay would be super impressed, I’m sure.
And it’s all I have at the moment, so it’ll have to do.
I slip it into the black clutch. My head lifts high, shoulders back, ready to walk right into their world.
And by the end of it all, I’ll slay that motherfucker who hurt my twin.
* * *
The three men walk casually with me down the apartment stairwell. I pass Miss Croot and her wide eyes ping pong between the entourage of the gorgeous men who flock me as well as my new, crisp business woman attire.
“Goodnight, Croot.”
“Ww—g’nighttt…” she stutters while Prey winks at her and strides on by like the delinquent prep boy that he is.
The moment Vuitton swings open the front door, the stinging fall wind bites into my barely clothed body.
“Fuck!” I hiss and pull back from the sidewalk. I scurry back toward the building, but Rival jerks me right back out.
He holds his hand around my shoulder like I’m nothing more than a leaning post for him.
“Prey,” he says with a firm nod my way.
Prey bows his head oddly and before I can utter a single insult, the vampire sweeps me up with one palm beneath my thighs and the other curled intimately around my back.
“This is not Twilight! Put me down, you glitterless Edward Cullen fuck!”
“Glitterless?”
“The glitter was the best damn part. You’re a dim comparison!” My jaw grinds against itself in protest, but my teeth still try to chatter from the cold.
A slow smirk pulls at his lips and it’s almost strange to see. It shines in his eyes with thin little lines meeting at the corners of his cold gaze. It’s genuine amusement from the heartless vampire.
At least I think it is...
It could just as well be allergies.
Constipation?
A seizure?
I may never actually know.
In the next several blurry seconds, the city lights of Chicago streak like a stream of fire overhead. It’s a hellish sight of falling stars through the night sky that is both beautiful and terrifying all at once. Thrashing wind claws at my hair and captures the air in my lungs. It’s such a breath-consuming, dizzying experience that I have to close my eyes and shield my face into Prey’s soft black tee-shirt. His fingers digging into my thighs ease and his thumb brushes oddly back and forth there. I focus on that sweeping sensation against my skin. Once, twice, Three times—
And then we stop.
