“I can’t stand seeing you with him,” he admitted.
“With who?” she asked in confusion.
“Owen.”
“Oh.” She sighed as she gazed down at her hands. He had no right to know anything about her personal life, but she didn’t like seeing him like this. When she’d been lost and floundering, he helped her get through it, and she couldn’t walk away and leave him like this. “Owen’s not my boyfriend.”
“But I saw you two kissing last night.”
She glared at him. “And I kissed you this afternoon. Do you really think I would do that if I had a boyfriend? Do you think so little of me?”
“No! I think you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”
“The most amazing person who jumps from one guy to the next without any care for their feelings?”
“Aida—”
“I don’t owe you an explanation for anything in my life, but he kissed me last night. I wasn’t expecting it, and I didn’t welcome it. You arrived at the same time and caught it happening. We dated a few times a while ago, and it didn’t work out. He wants more, I don’t, and that’s all you need to know about it.”
“Okay.” He held up his hands when she glowered at him as if she expected more. “I won’t bring it up again.”
“Good. Why did you come here tonight if you knew it would be difficult for you?” she asked.
“To see you.”
Those words stole her anger. Before she could reply, a loud knock sounded on the door.
“Aida, is everything okay in there?” Nicolette asked.
“Yes,” she called back. “I’ll be right out.”
She waited for Nicolette to walk away, but a shadow remained under the door, and she suspected her boss wasn’t budging until she left here. “I have to get back out there. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes.”
She went to turn away, but he caught her wrist and tugged her back. Before she could react, he kissed her tenderly and released her. “Pick out your favorite painting,” he told her, “and I’ll buy it.”
It took her a minute to find her voice. “My favorite painting was purchased; you’re on your own with this one.”
She opened the door to find Nicolette and Owen standing on the other side. Owen craned his head to see past her, but Aida shut the door before he could.
“Is everything okay?” Nicolette demanded.
“Everything’s fine,” Aida assured her. “He cut his hand on some glass. He’ll be out soon.”
“Was there something wrong with the glass? Should I fire the caterers?” Nicolette asked. “I saw that waitress spill a tray earlier.”
“No, it was nothing like that,” Aida rushed to assure her before some innocent person lost their job over this. “He almost dropped the glass but caught it before it hit the floor. It broke in half when he did. It was an accident, and the cut was so small it’s already stopped bleeding.”
“Good.”
Nicolette started to say more, but the door opened behind Aida, and Julian stepped out. Owen bristled and threw back his shoulders; he was taller than Julian, but that was where his advantage ended. Next to Julian, Owen looked like a boy instead of a man.
If Nicolette was feeling any irritation toward Julian, it vanished when he gave her his most charming smile. Nicolette practically melted as she smiled in return and fluttered her lashes. Aida rolled her eyes and almost threw her hands in the air. After three years of busting her ass in this place, Nicolette had still looked ready to kick her to the curb. One smile from Julian and she was a flirty, teenage girl instead of a haughty, middle-aged woman.
“I’d like to purchase that painting now,” Julian said.
Owen’s irritation vanished as the possibility of more dollar signs brought a smile to his face. “Which one are you interested in?”
Julian glanced at her, but he was on his own with this. “Why don’t you show me your favorite,” he said to Nicolette.
If it were possible, Aida thought Nicolette might melt through the floor as she became putty in his hands. “Well, I love them all, but this one over here…”
Aida watched them walk over to a painting of a young girl releasing a balloon into the air. The girl’s head was tipped back as her mournful eyes watched the balloon float away. She was aware that some people released balloons for their loved ones in Heaven, and the details of this little girl were so vivid that Aida suspected she was a real subject.
Aida loved the painting, it was hauntingly beautiful, but it made her want to cry. She hoped Julian found something a little happier to purchase.
CHAPTER 18
Aida sipped her beer while she stared around the crowded bar. From the piano, the haunting strains of a familiar song started to play. Standing near the piano, Cassidy held her microphone as her beautiful, clear voice filled the air. She’d been born to perform, Aida decided as Cassidy’s voice enthralled everyone in the bar.
The piano bar drew an older crowd, which was fine with Aida. While in Arizona, she tried going to a couple of clubs, but the noise, vast amount of people, and the flashing lights drove her out of them.
It was impossible to take in her surroundings in one of those places, and people or a vampire could easily sneak up on her. She’d hated every second she spent in those clubs and been on the verge of a panic attack by the time she fled the crowded, disorienting atmosphere for fresh air.
The middle-aged crowd of Addy’s suited her, and she could relax in this place because she knew exactly where everyone was located and who was here. Whenever she came in, she sat in the chair at the corner of the bar to keep her back to the wall while surveying the crowd. If someone occupied that chair, she leaned against the wall near it and waited for them to leave. Thankfully, it was empty when she came in tonight because she was too tired to stand.
She took another sip of her beer as she surveyed the Friday crowd. Celebrating the weekend, the place was far more lively tonight than during the week. Couples and groups of friends danced on the wooden floor set before the stage.
The booths against the wall hid many of the occupants, but those filling the pub tables closer to the dance space were visible beneath the dim lights illuminating the dance space and stage. Competing to be heard over the music and each other, the voices of the occupants grew steadily louder with every drink they consumed.
Unlike a lot of other bars and clubs, the scent of stale alcohol wasn’t strong here. Instead, the aroma of cooking food and an underlying hint of lemon polish and cleaning supplies mingled pleasantly with the alcohol aroma.
Most of the bar’s occupants were middle-aged, but Addy’s did draw some younger people into it, or, more likely, Kylie and Cassidy drew them in. Cassidy’s beauty and voice were impossible to resist, and Kyle was extremely handsome with his easygoing smile, wheat blond hair, and blue eyes.
Many of the people packed around the rectangle-shaped bar were women who watched Kyle with a hungry gleam in their eyes. She’d lived with them long enough to know Kyle wouldn’t be coming home tonight.
Aida closed her eyes against the pounding of her head before opening them again. She should have gone home, but she was so freaking hungry she could eat an entire cow, and she wasn’t sure how trustworthy her leftovers were.
She could have grabbed a pizza, but the idea of a beer after this day was too tempting to turn down. Before leaving the gallery, she texted Kyle to put in an order for her and dragged her ass down the street to the bar.
She was taking sip number three of her beer when Kyle placed her order of a cheeseburger, chicken tenders, and french fries in front of her. Her mouth watered, and she imagined she resembled a dog just tossed a steak. She wasn’t sure it would be enough, but it was a good start.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
He grinned at her as he slapped his hand on the bar and turned to one of his many female admirers. Aida squirted some ketchup next to her fries and dunked a handful in while she watched the danc
ers. She envied them their energy; she planned to stuff herself and waddle home to pass out.
She started on her cheeseburger and, between bites, ate some of her chicken and fries. Her meal was almost gone by the time her stomach said enough, and she pushed the plate away. Lifting her beer, Aida leaned against the wall to survey the crowd.
Her eyes were drawn to the door when it opened, and Julian stepped inside. Aida hadn’t known if he would be here when she arrived or if he found somewhere and someone else to entertain him for the night.
After the incident in the bathroom, he would have to feed, but she didn’t question him about it. He had to feed to survive, and unlike the vampires who held her prisoner, he didn’t harm those he fed on, but she still hated the idea of it.
If she were truly honest, she despised the idea of him feeding on someone else. Aida shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Julian’s eyes scanned the bar, and when they landed on her, she realized this was exactly what she was hoping for when she came here. She could have grabbed that pizza, but Julian wouldn’t have a chance of showing up there.
Here he was though, and she couldn’t deny the enthusiastic beat of her heart. Her exhaustion faded away as her lips insisted on tugging up toward a smile. She kept fighting to keep them in a flat line—he couldn’t realize how excited she was to see him—but her smile was winning the battle.
Julian couldn’t stop himself from smiling when he spotted Aida. After leaving the gallery, he returned to the apartment to feed. He didn’t trust himself to drink from a human without killing them, but he hadn’t expected to consume as many of the blood bags as he did.
He’d planned to return to the gallery to walk Aida home, but by the time he felt steady enough to face the public again, he discovered the gallery closed. Convinced he’d somehow missed her, he returned to her apartment to find she wasn’t there.
He was starting to worry when Kyle texted to tell him she was at the bar. Julian had assumed she was too tired to go out, but he was wrong. She still looked tired, but the small smile she gave him caused her eyes to twinkle, and a healthy color filled her cheeks.
With every predatory step Julian took toward her, Aida’s heart beat a little faster. She gulped beer to wet her suddenly parched throat, but she might require the whole keg to calm her.
When Julian stopped beside Aida, he rested his arm on the bar and leaned against it while smiling at her. Unable to resist, he brushed back a strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. Her lips parted as she gazed at him before turning her head away and drinking more of her beer.
“Your boss talked me into buying an expensive painting,” he told her.
Aida grinned around the mouth of her bottle before lowering it. “That’s what you get for unexpectedly showing up at my job.”
He smiled at the teasing note in her voice. “That woman is more of a vampire than I am. She pretty much drained my savings account.” And all for a painting he planned to give away as soon as he received it. Owen wasn’t her boyfriend, but he still didn’t want a reminder of the guy.
Aida glanced nervously around to make sure no one overheard him, but no one was paying attention to them. “You have a savings account?” she asked.
“I did.”
Aida chuckled as she turned her attention back to him. “Where did you get the money?”
“I worked while I was traveling. How do you think I got around?”
“I guess I assumed you used your ability to manipulate minds for places to stay, money, transportation, and… well, anything you needed.”
“Nope. I had money in savings before I left, mostly from hacking jobs I took for the kids at school. I kept more than a few of my classmates and their friends in good standing with their grades by stealing tests and answers for them.”
“How… upstanding of you.”
He grinned at her as his hand fell on the bar beside hers. It was so close. If she moved her finger a couple of tiny centimeters, they would be touching.
“Upstanding is boring,” he said.
And he was anything but boring. Like Kyle and Cassidy, he could have asked his parents for help if it became necessary, and she could do the same with Mollie, but she didn’t want to rely on Mollie, and it seemed Julian felt the same way about his parents.
“There were a few times I had to use my abilities,” he continued. “But, for the most part, I did as humans do and worked my way around the world. It was a challenge I welcomed.”
Kyle and Cassidy wanted to experience life as humans for a bit, but she was curious as to why Julian did too. “Why?”
“Why not? It was more of a challenge to work, save money, and move on than it was to use my abilities.” He glanced around before pitching his voice lower and leaning closer to her. “For those first years, it wasn’t as difficult to be around people. It still wasn’t great, but I could handle it, and I actually enjoyed watching them go about their lives. I knew, one day, that wouldn’t be the case, and I decided to experience as much of this world as possible before being around humans made it too difficult to travel.”
Aida didn’t recall thinking about moving her hand before it was resting over his. Julian didn’t move for a second, and then his hand turned over beneath hers, and he squeezed it. “And is it becoming too difficult?” she asked.
It’s a lot easier when you’re here. But he kept that to himself. “It’s getting there,” he admitted.
“What will you do?”
“I’ll handle it.”
“Julian—”
“I’ll be fine, Aida.”
The haunting strains of music drifted away. From the pub tables closest to the stage, a group of men applauded loudly as one of them released a loud whistle. Cassidy smiled at them before giving an elegant bow that made them cheer louder. They were still clapping when the piano player started the next song, and they didn’t stop until Cassidy began singing again.
CHAPTER 19
“She’s so talented,” Aida said as she pulled her hand away from Julian’s.
“That she is,” Julian agreed.
“Do you want a drink?” Kyle asked as he appeared in front of Julian.
“I’ll have a beer.”
“We have many beers; you’re going to have to narrow it down some,” Kyle said as he waved at the row of at least twenty taps. “Plus, we have bottles.”
Julian studied the taps. “Give me your favorite.”
“You got it.”
The brief exchange between the brothers drew the attention of a few of Kyle’s hunters. Aida’s hackles rose when some of the women’s gazes ran ravenously over Julian. She almost snapped at them to back off, but she bit back the words. He wasn’t hers to defend. He could do whatever he wanted with anyone he wanted.
He’d been traipsing around the world, probably going from one woman to another as easily as he traveled from one country to another. And she’d been… well, she hated to admit it, but she’d been trying to get over a kiss.
She’d dated plenty of guys, kissed them, and made out with them, but she’d never dated anyone long enough in high school to have sex with them. After the island, she’d been trying to get her shit together to date again, and once she finally felt stable enough to date, she found herself comparing every guy to Julian. They all failed.
She couldn’t count the number of times she cursed his name while she stomped back to her apartment after another failed attempt at a relationship and sex. Often, she would imagine him as she slid her hand between her legs to ease herself.
Afterward, she would sometimes feel so lonely she would cry herself to sleep. Other times, she cursed him for putting her into this miserable position.
Every time she told herself it was time to forget him and move on, but that was easier said than done. Then, before she could get herself together enough to find a guy she could love, Julian strolled back into her life and turned it upside down.
The thought soured her mood as Kyle set a foaming mug before Julian.
>
“One of my favorites,” Kyle said.
“Thanks,” Julian said as he pulled the chilled mug closer. Kyle nodded and walked away.
“So, how did your travels around the world go?” Aida asked.
Julian sipped his beer as he recalled his time away. He’d enjoyed traveling. In the beginning, even though it was difficult to be around people so much and was a big adjustment for him, he also enjoyed meeting new people. But he still thought about her all the time and would often wonder how she would react to every new thing he saw.
“It was interesting,” he said. “There are a lot of beautiful places in this world. I want to show them to you one day.”
Unsure of how to take it, Aida ignored his last comment. “What was your favorite place?”
“I loved Antarctica. I know it sounds crazy, but it was so stark and barren and—” and he went there right after reaching maturity, so the lack of humans was perfect, but he didn’t reveal that— “it had penguins.”
She couldn’t help smiling as she imagined him bundled into a puffy snowsuit and hanging out with penguins. “I bet those penguins melted your heart.”
“They did.”
“You’re such a horrible vampire.”
He chuckled as the teasing glint returned to her eyes. “I’m the worst.”
He’d meant it to sound teasing too, but somehow, it came out flat. The malicious evil residing inside him was the worst in many ways. When his thoughts weren’t consumed by her, they were filled with killing. That didn’t make him a good man, and she definitely deserved better, but if she would have him, he’d spend every day of his life striving to be a man who was worthy of her.
Aida frowned when the amusement vanished from Julian’s face. “Was there anywhere else you liked?” she asked to distract him from whatever upset him.
“There were many places. The Great Barrier Reef was amazing, as was the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. I spent a lot of time exploring the Serengeti and watching the animals.”
Forsaken (Vampire Awakenings, Book 10) Page 11