Page 62 of The Vampire Always Rises
Easy-peasy, right?
I sighed. My pep talk to myself did nothing but make me feel just how far from perfect my life really was.
Chapter Fourteen
Merrick’s arrival wasn’t everything I had hoped it would be.
I’m sorry if I’m disappointing,he said, giving the two men in my room a fist bump.
You’re not—wait, did you just fist-bump your buddies?
I greeted them, yes.
“But you fist-bumped them,” I said, inadvertently interrupting Han when he was in the middle of asking Merrick about Carlo’s journey north. “Sorry, Han, didn’t mean to stop the conversation, but you fist-bumped. That’s modern! Even I know that.”
“So?” Ciaran asked, a frown wrinkling his brow.
“She believes what she reads in Christian’s books,” Merrick said in a mansplaining voice.
“Ah.” Both of the other vamps nodded.
I objected to that sort of thing immediately. “Look, I don’t like this boys’ club attitude where you guys are imagining that you’re superior to me, and you can talk down to me.”
“You’re the one who has problems with us fist-bumping,” Ciaran retorted. “You clearly expect us to act like we’re living a hundred or more years ago.”
“We wouldn’t last long if we were like the Dark Ones in Christian’s books,” Han said, agreeing with his friend.
I glared at Merrick, who just raised an eyebrow.
Well?I asked at last.
Well what?
Aren’t you going to jump on the Horseman bandwagon and tell me how wrong I am about you guys?
No.
I smiled at him, thinking to myself just how handsome he was. How any woman could look at him and not want to fling herself on him was beyond my understanding, but I hugged the knowledge that he was utterly pounce-worthy, and he was mine.
I don’t have to tell you, because they just did.
You rat! Just when I was thinking nice thoughts about you, too. I retract them all.
Even the part about other women wanting to fling themselves on me?
“OK, this eavesdropping thing is getting out of hand,” I told him, gathering my dignity to myself, and making a mental promise that I wasn’t going to think anything smutty about him without first making sure he couldn’t hear me.
What a shame that would be.“Have you heard anything from Carlo?”
“No.” I had been sitting on the edge of my bed while we waited for Merrick to arrive, but got to my feet and retrieved my phone from where I’d placed it next to my bag. “I texted him my new number, though, in case he wants to explain why he kidnapped me, and where he is now.”
Merrick, who had been about to ask something of his friends, shot me a startled look. “You did what?”
“Was there a reason I shouldn’t?” I pulled a small notebook from my suitcase. “I had his number written down, so I figured I’d just text him my new number, and tell him that my old phone was destroyed, and that we found the tracking thingie, and that I really didn’t appreciate it, but if he wanted to explain, I’d be willing to listen. It ended up taking about ten text messages to type it all out, but you said it was important to make sure I was available for contact, so I figured it was worth the effort.”
The two other Horsemen slid him unreadable looks.
Merrick’s lips tightened.
