“The past is past. It may be the reason why we’ve become who we are today, but we can change our tomorrow. Another past is seconds away,” Jedrik said.
“Wow, a philosopher and a charmer. What a mix.” How had he known what I was thinking?
Jedrik chuckled. “Chicks like it. And I love chicks. Beautiful, sexy, enticing, and when they melt in my arms—”
“You mean when you fuck them.”
Jedrik threw his head back, laughing. “Yeah, that too.”
“Well, don’t expect me to be one of them. I might be tipsy, but I’m not obliterated enough to fall for your charm.”
“I know,” Jedrik said, the twinkle in his eyes dissipating. “I just want you to know that if you ever need to—”
“Get back in the saddle, you’d be happy to oblige?” Damn him. Just when I was starting to like him, he had to go throw sex into the deal.
I stood.
Jedrik put his glass down and rose, grabbing my hand before I could walk off. “No, that’s not what I was going to say. I’m saying if you ever need to talk or just hang out, you know, go to the pub and have a few drinks, shoot a little pool, well, I’m up for it. No sex. Just friends.”
“And the bet?”
“Screw the bet, Danni.”
I slipped my hand from his grasp, eyes narrowing. “Why? Because you feel sorry for me? Because I can’t get over what happened? Because I continually paint the same damn guy over and over again? Or maybe because—”
Before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into his arms and tears slid down my cheeks. Sobs racked my body, uncontrollable pain and hurt storming through me.
Jedrik held me, his hands soothing as he rubbed them up and down my back. After a couple minutes, I calmed down to a respectable sobbing. I never cried in front of others. It was a weakness my father had displayed continually after my mother died.
Jedrik drew back and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I lost my best friend, Delara. She just up and left one night a while back. You remind me of her. She’s stubborn, determined and man, she can kick a guy’s ass, but beneath that . . . she’s hurting. ” He dropped his hand from my chin. “I thought if we hung out, maybe I wouldn’t miss her so much.”
“Oh.”
He wiped my tears away with the pad of his thumb. “So what do you think? Tuesday night, pool, beer, and wings at the Rivilie? Eight o’clock.”
I nodded. “Fine. But you’re buying.”
I paced back and forth along the shadowed tree line. Every muscle strung tight, heart pounding, fists clenched. Fuck, I hated this. I hated being near her and unable to touch her.
My enhanced tracking ability allowed me to scent her movements through the house, even when walls impaired my vision. I felt her uneasiness in the beginning of the evening and wanted to crash through the fuckin’ door and get her the hell out of there. But I kept my shit together. I had to if I didn’t want Jedrik and Keir coming after me. And that wouldn’t be fuckin’ pretty.
I scented her move into the living room and positioned myself so I could see her through the bay window. I felt the low rumble in my chest when Jedrik’s arms wrapped around her. Fury whirled. Rage churned. The branch I held onto snapped and I flung it aside so hard it hit a garden statue and cracked it.
Fuck this. I approached the house, ready to jump through the window if I had to, when I saw her shoulders shaking and tears staining her cheeks.
I slunk down behind the row of bushes and put my head in my hands. Jesus, Danni.
I was taking a chance being here. Fuck, being anywhere near Danni. But, it was a driving force inside me that I couldn’t control ever since I came back to Toronto.
Two years I stayed away, fighting the toxic vampire blood inside me that threatened to take my existence. Finally, I’d done what no other Scar had managed . . . I overpowered the tainted blood I’d consumed. Not that it mattered. According to our laws, I was to be killed for drinking vampire blood.
But there was no way in hell I was going to face the executioner before I saw Danni again.
I’d seen the painting above her bed, the portrait of me, and she’d captured my eyes perfectly. What bothered me was that my hair was wet in the painting like it had been when we were trapped in the cages. That meant she remembered something from that night, which wasn’t supposed to happen. Waleron, our Taldeburu, had erased her memories of the incident in order to protect the Scars from being discovered by humans.
The air suddenly shifted and I focused my tracking ability, catching the scent of Keir’s quick movement through the house.
Fuck. I had to get out of here before some ass was kicked, most likely mine, considering Keir and Jedrik together had the advantage.
I briefly glanced again at Danni then disappeared into the darkness.
JEDRIK’S ARM HOOKED AROUND my waist as he yanked me away from the living room window. He pulled me through the house then shoved me back against the wall in the foyer, arm locking across my chest like a safety bar on a roller coaster.
Keir and Anstice came running down the stairs.
The familiar fear of being trapped skipped across my skin and I shoved at Jedrik’s chest. “Jedrik, let go, damn it.”
He lowered his arm, but his eyes were narrowed and fierce, the playfulness gone. “Don’t move.”
I didn’t hear words pass between the two men, but it was as if they’d spoken when Jedrik gave Keir an abrupt nod, then ran out the front door. Keir took off through the living room into the kitchen and out the back door.