Page 82 of Love Lives
On the floor, Douglas Bertson groaned. Against my better judgment, I stared at him. At his ugly face, at his stupid big nose. God, I wanted to punch him. I wanted to bury my fist in his face and drive it deeper. I wanted to let Aldrich tear his throat open and have the action solve all my problems.
Did he really deserve to live while I stood back and watched more of my family die? Did he really get to run a pizza place after his actions had killed the only person in my life who gave a shit about me?
Cold rage swept over me. This bastard had taken the one person I'd cared about. And now I needed to show him mercy while my new family suffered. Images of my dreams, my visions, rose to the forefront of my mind. Collin, dead. Luke, dead. Aldrich dead.
One possible future.
A future that could be avoided if I just... let Aldrich do what he needed to do.
Jesus Christ...
Disgusted with myself, I turned and left the room before I could give in to the anger pulsing through me. I went down the hall, never stopping until I'd reached the bathroom. Then, I bent over the toilet and threw up.
For a second there, I'd really wanted someone to die. I'd been so close to letting the vampire have his way.
No, I couldn't pin this on him. My thoughts and emotions were entirely my own responsibility. Douglas Bertson had killed my grandmother and I wanted him to pay for that.
And I wanted to make Aldrich pay for making me face the man again.
For making me face this darkness I'd buried so deep inside myself I hadn't even known it was there anymore.
How dare he?
How fucking dare he?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Aldrich knewhe'd fucked up when Remy stormed out of the room. A few seconds later, the sound of retching echoed back to him. Yeah, this was not exactly going to plan. He looked down at the man on the floor. Probably better to get the dude out of here before Remy came back. He lifted the man up and carried him out of the room. Fortunately, Talon was waiting for him by the stairs.
"You haven't killed him," he observed.
"Nope, need him out of sight."
Talon nodded as if he understood exactly what was going on. He took the mortal from Aldrich and glanced in the direction Remy had left. "Go after him."
"Thanks." Aldrich patted his partner on the shoulder before doing exactly that. There was a small voice inside his head that told him he should have listened to Talon all along, but he shut that up. How could he have known if he hadn't tried?
Besides, Remy had been close to caving in. If he'd played his cards just a little differently...
Maybe there was still hope.
He didn't bother knocking on the bathroom door before stepping in. Remy stood in front of the sink, washing his mouth out. He paused to glare at Aldrich. Wordlessly, he turned off the faucet and strode past Aldrich, out of the room.
So he was getting the silent treatment, then?
Deciding not to let that bother him, Aldrich followed Remy back to his room. "You can't ignore me forever, you know."
"No, I know how fucking stubborn you are." Remy's tone was flat, unamused. Aldrich had really managed to piss him off this time.
Nothing that couldn't be fixed, though, right? It was irrational of Remy to get mad, anyway. He'd known who he was getting into bed with. He really had no right to get squeamish over a potential murder or two now. Especially when no one had actually been killed.
Aldrich closed the door to Remy's room behind himself before addressing the mortal again. "Don't worry. Nobody died tonight. At least not by my hands."
Remy inhaled audibly, then blew out his breath, as if he could barely stop himself from going off on Aldrich. "It's beyond me how you could even suggest--"
"Really?" Aldrich cut in before Remy could finish that sentence. "I thought you knew who I was."
"And I thought you knew who I was!" Remy shot back. "How did you think I would ever agree to killing someone?"
