Page 26 of Cinderella and Her Vampires (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 5)

“Not sleeping well, either huh?” he asked.

I frowned. “Bobby, I need to go. I’ll see you later, okay?”

There was a simple explanation for everything. One that was staring me in the face. I just had to touch it and my answer would materialize. The problem was, I wasn’t close enough for anything to jump out at me. The dizziness and fuzziness made it hard to focus and think. Not to mention being on the phone with Bobby. I loved him, but he wasn’t helping.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, sounding disappointed.

“Thanks, Bobby. See you later,” I said and then ended the call. I tossed the phone to the foot of the bed and sighed.

The solution to my problem would come to me. Eventually. But I knew I couldn’t wait forever.

Then it hit me.

I was duped. They pulled the wool over my eyes.

I had gone to the mansion to see if the man who had gone missing was at the mansion. I had sent him there as a joke and ever since the first night he came into my bar, things started turning… well, really weird.

I wanted to make sure I was free of guilt when it came to that man and his reckless decisions. But then the three vampires cornered me, and Silas seduced me. I must have fallen asleep at some point, though when was still foggy. And I couldn’t forget the giant question of how I got home to begin with.

I had put myself on the line for that crazy-ass man from the bar only to have the greatest sex of my life and wake up in my bed as though everything was nothing more than a vivid, incredible, wet dream.

“Well played, clever assholes,” I muttered under my breath.

But if they thought I was going to give up so easily, they had another thing coming. I was going to figure out everything. They weren’t going to stop me, and I was going to show up before my shift. See how they liked those apples.

My eyes flittered to the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand next to my mattress. I stared hard at the time and rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe what time it was. I had exactly one hour to dress and be ready for work. I barely had enough time to shower and drink a cup of coffee before I needed to leave for my shift. Taking a trip to the mansion was completely out of the question.

“Fine. After work, it is then,” I said to myself.

I fought against the dizziness that continued to wash over me and pulled myself out of bed to go make a pot of coffee. Once I got to the kitchen, I noticed my window directly above my table was wide open to the fire escape on the other side.

It was just one more thing that stood out. I never left my windows open, especially while I slept. I glared at the window for several moments and then went to close it before returning to my task of making coffee. While brewing, I hopped into the shower. Though I didn’t want to look too closely at what I did last night, considering I threw caution to the wind and slept with a perceived predator, the events continued to play on repeat in my mind.

The way Silas touched me. The way his mouth brushed along mine. The way his sex moved inside mine. My body went through wave after wave of pleasure.

It was such a stupid, nearly deadly mistake going to the mansion much less having sex with one of the vampires.

Yet, reprimanding myself felt extremely empty. Why should I need to feel bad about what I had done? It wasn’t like I was killed, drained, or turned into one of them. Sure, dying was a possibility, but I trusted him for some reason.

I was running out of time. Once I finished my shower, I dried off, wrapped the towel around me, and walked through my apartment, heading for the coffee. My thoughts rushed through my mind. The more I replayed things, the more I was able to piece things together. It was all still vague, and I had a loose connection between everything that happened.

But loose connections weren’t going to get me back into that mansion and digging through the levels for the man responsible for my dilemma. He had to have been there. I just had to figure out what happened to him, find him, and let him go.

I still needed to figure out what happened to me following the sex. The time I was missing still confused the shit out of me.

My shower had turned cold, and I climbed out then got dressed and ready for work in a daze. I barely drank my only cup of coffee. Questions continued to circle my mind as I walked out the door.

The biggest question of them all was, how the hell did the vampires know where I lived? If I was passed out, I couldn’t have possibly been able to tell them.

I kept coming up with more and more questions, and the second my shift was over, I was going to get them.

12

XAVIER

Watching Silas become consumed by his desire for the woman hurt like nothing I had ever felt before. It wasn’t like I could stop him. I didn’t stand a chance when it came to getting close to her. Not when Silas was a choice. Although none of that changed the way she looked at the three of us. Regardless, losing out was something I had grown used to over the years. I accepted my place a long time ago and knew that my only duty was to protect Silas. It always had been.

Besides, it wasn’t like I was completely alone. I had my favorite donor to keep me company, and she was damn good at that.

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