Page 28 of Love Bites
Talon's fingers slid down my arm and closed around my wrist. "You really don't know, do you?"
"I don't. What are you even talking about?" I made a half-hearted attempt to free myself from his grasp but he held on fast. "What's going on?"
For a long time, Talon said nothing. His eyes went back and forth between me and my arm and I could see the gears turning in his head, but I had no idea what he was thinking so hard about.
Finally, he tugged on my wrist and led me out of the bathroom, and out of the club.
"Where are we going?" I asked as we made our way through a group of people who had gathered near the entrance. They weren't glowing. No one was now, thank God.
"Out." Talon opened the door and dragged me outside before I could protest. "You're not safe in there."
I looked back at the club. "Why not?"
"Because of what you are."
"What the hell are you talking about?" My voice went up in pitch. Both because I was upset at being treated this way and because I needed some damn answers already. My little outburst didn't seem to impress Talon, though.
"I'd hoped making you forget would be the end of this," he murmured. "But now I see that's impossible. You've been acting completely irresponsibly."
"How have I acted irresponsibly?" What did I have to do for this man to stop speaking in riddles and start making sense?
Talon scanned the area before speaking on. There wasn't anyone in the parking lot beside us, at least not that we could see. The insides of the cars were all doused in darkness. "I'll explain," Talon said. "But we'll have to go somewhere a little safer first."
"Don't think I'm going anywhere with you until you've told me what's going on."
Talon scoffed and let go of my hand. "Fine. You can stay here and never learn what that mark on your arm means, or you can come with me. The choice is yours."
I opened my mouth. Closed it again. Damn.
"That's what I thought," Talon said.
"You said it wasn't safe to stay here."
"It's not."
"So you wouldn't mind I waltzed back in there? With my sleeve rolled up?" I laid a hand on my arm as if I was about to pull the fabric up.
Talon watched me impassively. "I don't believe you're stupid enough to do that, but if you are, I'm not going to interfere with natural selection doing its job."
"Okay, fine." I exhaled, letting my hands sink to my sides. "But you have to promise that you'll actually explain when we get to wherever you wanna go."
"To the best of my abilities." He offered me his hand. I took it.
Chapter Ten
"This place is amazing. You really live here?"
Talon stood in the entrance, his hands in his pocket and an amused smile on his lips as he watched me take in his apartment. The lighting was a little dim, but I thought it added to the atmosphere. Talon lived in studio loft. It was open-plan and spacious and chock-full of cool stuff. The corner that caught my eyes the most was the one with the couch and the giant TV. Especially because the shelves around the TV were filled not just with DVD and Blue-ray cases, but also with all sorts of Halloween decorations and goodies. I'd never have pegged Talon for the type.
"I can't believe you've still got your Halloween decorations up," I said, stepping closer to the couch. It had been a couple of weeks since Halloween now. Thinking of the holiday always brought a smile to my face, if only because Dad had always been so offended at the mere idea of celebrating it in our house. Of course my siblings and I had made a point of dressing in elaborate costumes every year once we were teens. My favorite was that time we'd all dressed up as characters from My Little Pony—if they werezombies. It had taken forever to convince Jared of the idea and we'd had to pay for Remy's costume to get him on board, but it had been so worth it. I was just a natural born unicorn.
"This place looks the same all year," Talon informed me. "The decorations aren't seasonal."
"You must be really into Halloween then." A plastic skeleton sat on the couch. I hoped that it was plastic, at least. It looked pretty darn real.
"That's Eddie," Talon commented when he noticed me study the creepy-cool thing. "Don't touch him. He doesn't like that."
"Okay, I'll respect Eddie's boundaries." I walked around the couch and flopped down next to Eddie without touching him. "Just don't tell me that he's your best friend or whatever, that would be seriously weird." As I said this, I eyed the decorative spider webs on the shelves next to the television. Hopefully there weren't anyrealspiders crawling around there.
