Page 49 of Graced
He had a profile view of her face, of her beautiful face, now freshly pink from her shower.She still smelled of her menstrual blood but not as strongly as before.
“Rhyne?How oldareyou?”
“I’m—”
“I mean, are you centuries old?Or is that more movie nonsense?”She sipped her soft drink.
He shrugged.“I don’t know how old we can get, although I’ve met vamps who were older than me.”He grinned.“For the record, I was born in the twentieth century.”
“When in the twentieth century?”
“Let’s just say the early nineteen hundreds.”
Her eyes widened slightly.“Wow.So, were you born here in the U.S.?”
“Yeah.In a little town up east in Maine you’ve probably never heard of, called Tumbril Harbor.”
“Were you born a vampire?”
“No.I was changed.”
“Changed how?Did a vamp drink your blood?”
“It’s a bit more…involved than that.Listen, can we change the topic?For now?”
It was clear she could tell he was uncomfortable opening up to her.Tilting her head slightly, Grace softly asked, “Will you tell me about it later?”She wanted to know his life story.That alone told him she was serious about their relationship.She needed to understand why he was what he was if they planned on having a future together.
“Yes.I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
His promise was enough.
“I saw you had a one-car garage.Where do Nash and Welsh park?On the street?”
“Actually, we only have the one car.We swap who gets to drive it every first of the month.Otherwise we ride bikes.”
A corner of her mouth lifted.“This is your month?”
“Yeah.”
“Lucky you.I’d hate to think where we’d be right now if you were still using a bicycle.”
He could tell she immediately regretted making the comment.Reaching across the bed, he patted her arm.“Hey.You’re gonna be okay.We’re gonna be okay.”
“Are we?Seriously, are we, Rhyne?”She glanced around their motel room.“What do we do now?What’s going to happen to us?Can I even go back to my job?Back to my apartment?And you, what’s going to happen to you?”
Rhyne searched for something to say that would make their situation appear less hopeless.Before he could respond, his phone went off.He started to reach for it when he noticed the name on the caller ID.So did Grace.
“You’re not gonna answer it?”
“No.The police might be using his phone to track mine.”
“Or he could be worried about you.”
He hesitated again, then caved.“It won’t be the first time I’ve had to ditch a phone and get a new one,” he grumbled and answered it.“Nash?”
“Your ass is mine, Rhyne,” Welsh growled.“Count your days because there aren’t that many of them left.”
Rhyne checked to see that Grace was aware of who was on the other end.“You killed our supplier, Welsh.You killed him in cold blood, and you’re not going to get away with it this time.”
