Page 28 of Drowning in the Deep

With that, I headed back downstairs to make sure that no one else died before their time. When I reached the first floor, I looked up to see Tilda standing against the wall in the living room, her arms folded, her body visibly shaking.

She noticed me and gave me a reassuring smile and a nod. Even though she was nervous to be back here, she was glad I’d let her come. I nodded at her and then turned to Dezzy.

“Get these assholes out to the meth barn,” I told him. “We’ll make them talk out there.”

Things were about to getmethy.

CHAPTER19

ELISA

The daiquiris were gone, and I could feel my buzz beginning to die. From Sara’s room, I could hear the sound of tense music and wondered what she was watching. I knew when she went in there alone, she didn’t want to be bothered, but sitting out in the living room alone, staring at my phone, wondering if Daemon was ever going to call me, wasn’t doing my mental health any good.

I decided to wander into the kitchen for something else to drink. I knew we didn’t have any more of the ingredients for daiquiris, but we might have something else tasty in the alcoholic beverage department. Mindlessly, I began to open cabinets, looking inside for anything that might help me get past the idea that Daemon Petrov wasn’t ever going to call me. My fingers itched to go ahead and dial his number to see if he answered like last time, but the idea that I would be thoroughly disappointed when he didn’t kept me from doing it.

In the third cabinet I opened, I saw a bottle of strawberry wine, and my face lit up. Running my tongue over my bottom lip, I anticipated how delicious this would taste. It wasn’t going to be daiquiri good, but it was better than nothing.

Pulling the bottle out, along with two wine glasses, I quickly filled one and practically downed the whole thing before refilling it and the other. Then, careful not to spill, I made my way to Sara’s room. The hallway seemed more narrow than usual. I bumped against the wall a couple of times, always telling myself to be careful not to lose a single drop of wine.

I knocked on her door and waited for her to answer. The sound of the TV went silent as she must’ve hit the pause button. “Yeah?”

“Want some strawberry wine?” I couldn’t help but smile as I waited for her to respond.

“Where did you find that?” she asked, and I could hear the glee in her voice. “But yes. Always.”

I entered her room, closing the door behind me, being cautious not to trip over the mounds of discarded clothing and take-out boxes on the floor. Sara was usually tidier than this, but she’d been working a lot lately and probably planned to clean up over the weekend or something. I managed to hand her the glass without incident and then took a seat next to her, sipping mine as I set the bottle on her nightstand. “What are you watching?”

She took a drink out of her glass and stared at me over the brim for a moment before she said, “You’ll make fun of me.”

“Never!” I insisted. My eyes locked on the fuzzy image on the screen. All I could see were two hot guys talking to some blonde chick, but I didn’t recognize any of them.

Sucking in a deep breath, Sara blew it out slowly. “Fine. I’ll tell you, but if you laugh, you have to get out. And you have to leave the wine behind. I’m pretty sure I bought it anyway.”

She very well may have bought it, but I bought the ingredients for the daiquiris she’d made, so we were even if we both drank half. “I promise I won’t make fun of you,” I swore.

“It’sVampire Diaries,” she said, closing her eyes and looking away from me. “I know it’s cheesy but—”

“Oh, wow. I haven’t watched this in forever!” I exclaimed, making myself comfortable on her bed. While I was looking for my dark angel, praying that he’d turn up somewhere, I’d brooded over Stefan and how angsty his character was. It had been several years since I’d watched a single episode, but I was down for it now, especially if it helped take my mind off Daemon.

“Are you sure?” Sara asked, leaning back on her pillow. “You don’t have to watch it with me if you don’t want to.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to watch a bunch of beautiful actors pretending to be vampires navigate their complicated fictional world that makes mine look like a cakewalk?” I asked her.

Obviously, most of what I’d just said wasn’t true—my life was definitely not a cakewalk, even compared to that of the realm of vampires before us. No, in a lot of ways, I would’ve rather put up with a bunch of paranormal bloodsuckers than have to keep living with the mafia crime lords that haunted my very existence.

Satisfied that I was there of my own free will and not wanting to make fun of her, Sara picked up the remote and pressed play, and we began to watch the drama unfold before us. All the while, my mind wandered off-topic, away from the sharp-toothed characters on the screen and back to Daemon.

Why hadn’t he called me yet? What if he was out doing something dangerous and things went badly? How would I find out that he’d been hurt—or worse? Would the call come from my father, laughing as he told me Daemon had been killed? Or maybe one of my brothers would nonchalantly drop me the news with a snicker.

They were all miniature versions of our father, after all. Every one of them except Drake. Jace, Decan, and Alex had been molded to be exactly like our father, and they were eager to show him what they had learned, wanting to make a name for themselves in the family business as quickly as possible. Sometimes, I envied Drake, having gotten out of the family crime circle so easily. I wondered how he did it, but even he didn’t know.

Or if he did know, he’d never say. It was nice to see him the other day. I hoped that the clinic was taking off for him and that he was going to be able to help a lot of people. If our father found out that was what he was up to, he would probably find a way to put an end to it. Unless, of course, there was something going on I wasn’t aware of. I did know that Father dealt in illegal narcotics. Could it be that Drake was able to keep his distance from the family business because he was actually a supplier?

I scoffed. No way. Drake would never stoop so low as to trade his freedom for other people’s suffering. He’d become a doctor to help people, not to get them hooked on drugs they’d never be able to come off. That was a ridiculous notion, one I needed to never let slip into my thoughts again.

“That wasn’t funny,” Sara said, talking about whatever had happened on the television, not what was going on in my mind. “She said she doesn’t love him.”

“Right, right,” I said, trying to remind myself not to scoff aloud anymore. “I was laughing at her outfit, that’s all.”

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