Page 62 of Sweethearts and Savages
“Nah, no one will be calling the cops on my behalf. I mean, I have family, but we aren’t close. I have acquaintances too, but I’m not sure any of them would come to my funeral unless there was free booze at the wake, you know?”
She shook her head, and I guess she really didn’t know. People had torn apart the world when she went missing.
“Lucky. But yeah, as far as prisons go, this is a really nice one,” I joked, pulling her to my side again.
Bohdie returned, his eyes taking in my position, but he didn’t tear my head off. That was something, I guess. He sat on Enit’s other side and passed me the laptop. He pulled her onto his lap and I let her go.
“My precioussss…” I hissed, making her laugh again. Argh, I’d missed this, even if it was only a shitty off-the-shelf laptop. I could make it purr like a whore and give up all its secrets.
They both shook their heads, and Enit tilted her head back and kissed Bohdie’s chin. “I’m going to make popcorn and watch a movie. Want to stay and chill with me?”
Honestly, they were so cute I was going to throw up all over this inbuilt, clunky keyboard.
“Sounds good.”
I started downloading the tools I would need to make this shit work, looking over at the lion Alpha who was watching Enit like she was the best thing in the world.
“You are so fucking whipped—you know that, right?”
The grin he gave me lit up his face. Fuck me, they were a pretty couple. I wondered how I could get invited to be the marshmallow in that gooey s’more sandwich.
He shrugged. “I know it. It's the best feeling in the world.”
Lucky bastard.
31
Kell
The girl behind the bar pushed another drink in front of me and walked away. I hadn’t asked for one, but I guess since I’d been sitting on this stool for at least four hours, it was probably a given now.
It’d been months, and this ache hadn’t left my chest. Months in which I’d thought I could forget all about that giant clusterfuck and move on with my life. Appreciate my second chance.
That's what it had been. One of those vampires could’ve torn me to pieces, I knew that. Against two? I would’ve had no chance. I’d slunk out of Eastern Europe with my tail between my legs and disappeared off the face of the earth. Kell Arborson no longer existed. I was Pieter Arnold. Out of work farm laborer. One of many in today's society.
It wasn’t just that I’d been transplanted far from home, or the fact that thoughts of Enit still plagued me. Taking down Eden had been my life's goal since I was a kid. The one promise that had governed my choices for so long.
I didn’t know what the fuck to do with myself now. There were groups I could join, that killed for money or on some rich guy’s word, but I didn’t want to be a mercenary. I could really embrace my new alter ego and become a laborer, back-breaking hard work but honest. But I’d be poor forever.
Alone.
I downed the beer in front of me and the girl behind the bar tsked.
“If you do not slow down, I will get Bjorn to throw your ass out,” she said in heavily accented English.
I nodded and threw fifty euros on the bar. I tipped an imaginary hat and left on unsteady legs. The old Kell would have tried to get in her pants, but now? I couldn’t get it hard for other girls. Like my cock had seen nirvana and it didn’t want to go back to dirty fucks in dark alleys.
I stepped out of the only pub in the tiny village where I was staying. Small enough that it was easy to pick people who didn’t belong, but with enough tourism that while I stuck out, it wasn’t unusual for me to be here.
So when I saw a guy looking at his phone, leaning against the wall opposite the bar, I was instantly suspicious. His clothes said he wasn’t a local. His six-hundred dollar watch said he wasn’t from around these parts at all. I turned the opposite way to the little bed and breakfast I was staying in, looping back around toward the stream that ran through town. I watched the plate glass windows, and noted when the guy started walking along behind me. Another one peeled off further up ahead and now I knew I was being ambushed.
Fuck.
They weren’t supes, that was for sure. They didn’t walk like shifters, and if they were vampires, I would already be dead. I stilled my feet, and watched the guy in front of me stop and look into a boutique window.
“Let’s stop with the foreplay, hmm?” I said loudly, and apparently to no one. The passing villagers gave me the side-eye but didn’t stop. The guy checking out the women's boutique turned around, striding toward me. I didn’t make any sudden moves, but I brought my hand a little closer to the holster on my hip. I turned so my back was to a wall, and I could keep an eye on the converging men.
Finally, Mr. Fancy Watch was in front of me. “Mr. Arborson, we come on behalf of an organization that has similar values as you.”
