Page 64 of Love Bites
And it did.
Everything did.
Chapter Nineteen
When I woke up, I had no idea where I was. I was not in my old room, nor in my apartment, nor in Talon's loft. I wasn't at the manor anymore either. I was lying in a queen size bed, staring up at a slowly spinning ceiling fan. My whole body felt sore.
"Collin?"
I turned to the sound of my sister's voice. "Elena?" I croaked.
She handed me a glass of water. "Thank God you're awake, little brother. We were all worried about you."
I didn'twantto be awake, but she was probably right about it being a good thing. "Where am I?" I asked after taking a sip of the water. My throat was so dry it wasn't funny. I could tell that I was going to need blood soon, but that wasn't something I was going to bring up with my sister. "What happened?"
"We're at my house, silly."
I gave her a blank look. Her house was a couple of miles outside of town. How had I gotten here?
"Your boyfriend explained everything to me," Elena said. "He brought you here last night. Well, it was Remy's idea, really. He's here too, and so's Luke." She paused to lightly box my arm. "You should have told me you were dating a vampire."
"You're... You believed it all?"
"Didn't really have much choice in the moment." Her mood dropped. "You were all in such a state. You scared me, Collin. You and Luke both. You could have... Remy told me you could have died last night." She whispered the last thing as if she was scared to say it out loud and make it real.
"I'm sorry." I really was, and I wanted to apologize more, but I also had so many questions left to ask. Elena had mentioned my 'boyfriend' so that had to mean she'd met Talon which meant he was okay, right? If that was true, where was he? Why wasn't he here with me? "Where's Talon?"
"You mean your boyfriend?"
I nodded, not sure if the term boyfriend was appropriate but not caring all that much either.
"Waiting outside somewhere." Elena rubbed her face. It was only now that I noticed the deep rings under her eyes. She must have been up all night. Very likely my fault. "We vampire-proofed the house," she explained. "Extensively. Talon brought all Dad's notes. I just hope that it'll work." She shook her head. "Honestly not how I'd imagined spending the night."
"I'm sorry," I said again, because I couldn't say it enough.
"It's okay." She stroked through my hair. "You just need to rest up." She paused again. "Are you really going to have a baby?" Her eyes wandered down to my belly, even though it was covered by the sheets.
"Yeah, really." I rested a hand on my belly, where I was already sporting a bump even though I'd only known the baby's daddy for a little over two months. Talon and I both suspected that this pregnancy was going to progress faster than an ordinary pregnancy. On the one hand, I was glad that I wasn't going to have to hide from the public for nine months. On the other hand, it meant less time to prepare, both practically and mentally. Although I was slowly warming up to the idea of carrying a tiny living being inside of me. A tiny living being that would look like me and Talon and call me Daddy.
Elena glanced at my belly. "Is the baby okay?”
I blinked, feeling all color drain from my face. That question hadn't even occurred to me. I'd blacked out, hadn't I? Could that have hurt the baby? "Oh shit, I don't know." And I really kind of wanted to see Talon now. I needed to see with my own eyes that he was okay, and then I needed him to tell me that the baby was going to be okay too.
Before Elena could stop me, I swung my legs out of bed.
"I gotta see my boyfriend," I cut her off when she opened her mouth. I was fine, really. A little tired, but fine.
I dressed quickly and found my phone in my pants pocket. Pulling it out, I unlocked it and dialed Talon's number. He'd be glad to hear from me too, right?
At least, he didn't take long to answer the phone. "Sparkles?"
"Where are you?" I blurted out.
"Just down the street, hiding from the sun in a dark pub."
"A pub? I'm coming." Thank God the baby bump wasn't so prominent yet that I couldn't hide it.
"Stay where you are."
