Exposure: Bloodlust Series Book 1

by L. L. Ash

  Clarence had come to see me two times since Mom’s death. The first time was the day after her death, and the second was the day of the funeral. I had explained calmly that if it weren’t for him, there wouldn’t even need to be a funeral. That his selfishness had finished my mom off. He’d taken the verbal beating silently, but I didn’t bother to listen to him after I’d said my piece. After the second time, he stopped coming around. I saw him here and there in town, and I figured he was probably watching me from a distance, but I didn’t care. I could never forgive him for what he did. Or rather, what he didn’t do.

  Eventually, I stopped seeing him.

  I never went back to school, but instead got pamphlets and took a test, getting myself a GED which was almost as good as a diploma. Aunt Cindy had tried to get me to go back but I couldn’t face my old friends so soon after Mom’s death.

  I was still cold inside. My heart torn to shreds then burned to ashes all while still residing inside my chest. I was numb, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I’d lost everything I ever loved, and now I had to somehow learn to live with it.

  I was invited to a high school party the night of the 3 month anniversary. I’d told Aunt Cindy I was going to try and hang out with a friend, but I had absolutely no intention of talking to anybody. I did, however, have every intention of getting so incredibly drunk I couldn’t even walk. After arriving at the party, I soon learned my wish was going to come true.

  Downing strong drink after strong drink, I recognized faintly when my inebriation led to blurry vision and failed memory, but soon I was blackout drunk.

  I only remembered briefly deciding to go home. I wasn’t thinking clearly at all, and I just wanted my warm bed and a nearby toilet for when I threw up. Not if, but when. Stumbling through the street I managed to make it most of the way home before things got just a little too cloudy in my head. I swayed, then collapsed.

  I collapsed into arms. Strong arms.

  The embrace that came around me was familiar and I hummed, wondering if I got closer if I could smell the deep, woodsy and musky scent of Clarence.

  Instead a coarse voice met my ears as those arms hauled me up.

  “Upsy daisy now, Sweetie,” the deep voice grumbled into my ear from behind me.

  I shrieked and jumped out of the muscular embrace, straight into the road.

  “Don’t be stupid, Kiddo. Work with me here.”

  My head was swimming, but I swung it around anyway, my stomach roiling at the movement.

  A man stood beside me, bulky and muscular everywhere, with dark longish hair on his head and a thick layer of stubble over his chin and face.

  “W-who are you?” I managed to force out.

  “Eddie. Now get your ass up pretty girl. You gotta get out of here.”

  I met his glowing green eyes and felt my stomach flip flop again.

  I puked. All over my jeans and his shoes.

  He cursed.

  Not giving me another minute to throw up again, he picked me up and hauled me to his chest, broad shoulders cradling me like an infant as he strode quickly toward my townhouse.

  “But...but who are you?”

  “Shut up and stop asking questions Kid, or I swear I'll drop you on your ass if you puke on me again.”

  My brain was too sloshed to even consider the fact that this giant stranger was carrying me who knows where to do who knows what. When we arrived at my familiar townhome he gingerly set me on my feet.

  “Get inside and go to bed. Don’t be this stupid again, yeah? I don’t appreciate you making my job harder than it has to be.”

  I just nodded and scrambled up the steps before fumbling my keys out of my pocket and opening the door. By the time the door was open and I had turned around, he was gone.

  “Eddie...” I said to myself a couple times, trying to ingrain it so I’d remember in the morning.

  Aunt Cindy ran into me on the stairs and looked sick at the sight of me. She helped me to my room, crying and asking me how I had gotten alcohol, then she told me to sleep and I passed out cold on the bed.

  It was the middle of the afternoon before I woke again, sun burning my eyes out of my sockets and my head blowing up like a balloon, ready to pop.

  I turned onto my back and closed my eyes, trying to remember how I had gotten home the night before. Faint memories returned of walking home and running into someone. And on the other hand I remembered stunning green eyes and wide shoulders.

  And vomiting all over shoes.

  I groaned in embarrassment as I lifted my blanket, seeing my puke-stained jeans still on and rubbing all over my blanket and sheets. Getting up, I stomped around and pulled off my shoes and pants before getting into the shower. I didn’t remember whose shoes I threw up all over, but I felt bad vomiting all over a stranger who was nice enough to help a drunk girl home.

  In the shower I remembered a few other things, including his name, Eddie, and one thing he said that didn’t make any sense. He told me to stop making his job harder than it needed to be. So either he was some kind of superhero, or he was hired by someone to watch out for me.

  After getting out of the shower and dressing, I did the one thing I promised I wouldn’t do. I called Clarence.

  On the last occasion I saw him, he gave me a slip of paper with a phone number on it, telling me he’d gotten a cell phone so I could contact him if I needed to. Pulling out the paper I’d shoved in a desk drawer a long time ago, I dialed the number into my phone and waited for it as it rang.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  Ring.

  “This is Clarence,” he answered in an even voice.

  “Did you hire someone to watch me?” I asked, dismissing all formalities.

  I needed information, not pleasantries.

  “Addie?”

  “Did you or did you not?”

  “Did I hire someone to watch you? No. I’ve been in town periodically to check on you, make sure you’re safe, but nobody else should be watching you. Is someone following you?”

  I sighed heavily and shoved my finger down on the big red ‘end call’ button.

  Immediately his number appeared again on my phone.

  “Leave me alone Clarence,” I ground out after pressing the answer button quickly.

  “Addie, I know you’re mad at me but if someone’s following you, you could be in danger...”

  “It’s not a vamp,” I cut him off. “Someone helped me home yesterday while I was inebriated, but I remember him saying something strange. It was probably just my drunk brain and he didn’t mean anything by it anyway. Your ex-mistress isn’t following me or threatening me so don’t worry about me.”

  Hanging up again after my rant, I expected the phone to start vibrating and ringing again but it didn’t. It stayed silent and still in my hand as I stared at it.

  Tears burned in my eyes, wondering why he didn’t call back. Didn’t he love me enough to be worried that some man that knew my name helped me home last night? He didn’t seem like a vampire, but then again, who really knew? I sat down, staring at the black, reflective screen for a few minutes as I had a nice pity party for myself.

  I missed him so much. I wished he would apologize, beg forgiveness, but he didn’t. And he wouldn’t. He felt like he’d done the right thing, whether I agreed with his reasoning or not. He gave me the space I asked for, not intruding on my life besides the occasional visit where he didn’t try to contact me, but rather peeked in on my devastated world.

  I wanted him to beg and to cry for me, but he didn’t. That was what showed me that he really didn’t love me like he said he did. Surely people that loved each other were together no matter what. He allowed this to split us up, and he allowed my mother to die even after I’d begged and cried for him to help her.

  Shoving my hand through my hair I tried to swallow down the tears, unable to think of Clarence without thinking of the loss of my mother. Mom was gone 3 months now but I still missed her eve
ry hour of every day. There was always something that came up, something good or bad that I wanted to talk to her about. I wanted to get her advice about Clarence, and share my apprehension about the strange man who carried me home last night. I wanted her to be there with me to apply to college, or to help me fill out job applications. I still needed my mother and she could have still been there for me if it weren’t for Clarence.

  That was what I couldn’t forgive him for.

  Steeling myself again at the thoughts of Clarence, I wasn’t prepared when my door opened to an anxious Aunt Cindy.

  “I got you a job,” was the first thing she said. “I know you have a lot of plans for your future but it takes money to accomplish that.”

  Aunt Cindy was wringing her hands.

  “After what happened last night I realized that you needed some help finding something to occupy you now that Beverly is gone. I know you don’t want to, but you have to start to move on or you’ll end up mourning her for the rest of your life. Clarence seemed like a good boy, and I know you were in pain but it was unfair what you did to him. Maybe after you start work and begin to move on, you can repair that relationship.”

  “Where?” asked her, not about to get into the reasons why Clarence and I had broken up.

  “My friend owns a bar and restaurant not too far away. He’s doing me a personal favor by taking you in, so please make the most of this. It’s a good starting wage and it’ll give you some experience. It’s always hard to find a first job, especially in this economy.”

  “What am I supposed to do there?”

  “You’ll be waitressing. Three dollars an hour plus you keep your tips.”

  “So I have to get tips to earn anything.”

  “You’ll have to provide good customer service to get good wages, yes. That’s how waitressing works.”

  “Ok, yeah, fine.”

  I was low on funds. I didn’t have any access to my share of Mom’s life insurance until I was 21. According to Mom’s will, anyway.

  “Douglas asked you to start Monday, tomorrow.”

  I just nodded.

  “11 o’clock at the Sports Fountain.”

  “Ok, I’ll be there. Thanks Aunt Cindy.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief before giving me a small smile and nodding, leaving my room a moment later.

  Whelp, it was waitressing. To the bar, back to the kitchen, to the bar, to the kitchen. I wore my shoes out quick after the first week of constantly standing and moving. Training was almost non-existent so I was pretty much thrown into the deep end and expected to swim. Luckily there was an easygoing waiter that worked with me on my typical shifts and he helped me to learn the register and how the kitchen worked. He taught me the table numbers and the shorthand for each order. Henry helped a lot in respect to work, but that was as far as it went. He’d invited me to hang out with him and his friends once after my first week, but I’d declined, not wanting to meet more strangers or pretend to be ok around people I didn’t know.

  But on my 11th day, almost 2 weeks into working my odd-hour shifts, I saw familiar green eyes. The man from that night who carried me home was sitting at one of my tables, glancing around the room and ignoring the menu.

  I bit down on my lip hard, then made my way slowly over to him. Eddie.

  He looked toward me the moment I started moving and didn’t peel his eyes away. He stared unabashed, though his eyes never strayed from my face.

  “So we meet again,” I told him, taking in his face far better than I had that night. His jaw was large and square, prominent, and his face was just generally the definition of strong masculinity.

  Handsome but not pretty at all.

  “So you remember, huh? I thought you were so smashed you’d forget about puking all over me.”

  I blushed from the tip of my nose to my toes.

  “I’m so sorry about that...”

  He shrugged.

  “It’s alright. I needed new shoes anyway. You just gave me an excuse to get some.”

  “I never thanked you, but thanks for seeing me home that night. I can’t believe I was able to recite my address by that point, but I’m glad I was.”

  I watched his face carefully, but he simply inclined his head, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

  A moment of silence passed before he held up the menu.

  “Skirt steak. Rare as the cook’ll make it. And a beer. Hell, a pitcher.”

  “Want a side?”

  “No.”

  “What beer?”

  “Whatever’s on tap.”

  I just nodded and slowly turned, jotting his order down on my pad of paper before seeing the bartender.

  “Table 7 asked for a pitcher of whatever’s on tap.”

  “Yep, got it,” Kent, the bartender nodded as he pulled out a plastic pitcher and a tall glass, pouring a foamy brew into the pitcher.

  I hurried back to the kitchen and told the chef what Eddie wanted.

  “What the fuck does rare as I’ll cook it mean?” he scowled at me.

  “I don’t know. That’s just what he said.”

  He mumbled but turned back to his busy stove.

  Taking the opportunity to leave, I rushed out the door, checking to see if Eddie got his drink yet.

  He sat back, reclined in his seat, legs stretched under the table as he watched baseball on the TV across from him. A frosty glass was in his hand, his pitcher already half empty.

  I walked by him, just in case he needed something but he only met my eyes before turning back to the TV. After taking the order of a couple who sat down in a nearby table, I headed back to the kitchen with a new ticket and to check on Eddie’s steak.

  “There’s the steak,” Chef said. “Can’t make it any rarer by law. If he gives you a hard time, get a manager.”

  “Ok, thanks Chef.”

  He nodded and dismissed me.

  Taking the platter with cut up pieces of underdone steak, I carefully made my way back to Eddie, who again watched as I approached.

  Something in his eyes scared me and enticed me at the same time. Like he knew a million things but said little. Much like how Clarence made me feel. Except Clarence was younger. In body, anyway.

  Eddie’s expression perked up as I set the plate down.

  “Rarest Chef can make it,” I told him and he dove straight into it, barely taking a moment to pick up a fork.

  “Thanks, Kid,” Eddie said with a full mouth and turned back to the baseball game.

  Slightly shocked with the quick dismissal, I turned and stalked back to the bartop. The restaurant was relatively empty as it was only 3 in the afternoon, so me and Kent stared at each other, bored.

  “Hey, waiter,” Eddie called after a few minutes. “You got any hot sauce around here?”

  Kent reached under his counter and slid some Tabasco to me before I headed back to Eddie.

  “Thanks,” he mumbled, mouth full as he unscrewed the top and covered his steak with the spicy condiment.

  “Anything else I can get you?”

  “Nah, just don’t get into trouble,” his mouth quirked into a half smile.

  A second later the familiar ding ding of the door alarm went off, signaling another customer.

  Blond hair immediately caught my eyes, being the same shade as Clarence’s hair, but then I saw the face, and the eyes.

  My heart fluttered and my chest constricted as Clarence took a seat at the bar, glancing my way but trying not to be obvious. He talked with Kent for a minute before Kent went to get his drink.

  Immediately at my side I heard a deep rumble coming from Eddie. He looked at Clarence and their eyes met. Clarence’s eyes narrowed at him and Eddie growled louder in his throat.

  Throwing my body between the two, I started to worry how they knew each other.

  I approached Clarence and his eyes softened as he looked into mine.

  “So are you stalking me now?” I asked, leaning at the counter by his side.

  Kent’s head perked u
p at my words but he kept wiping at glasses.

  “Actually, if I were a stalker I’d be a bad one. It took me more than a week to figure out you had begun to work, and another couple days to find out where.”

  “You coulda just asked Aunt Cindy. She still loves you.”

  He nodded his head slightly in agreement as he stared into his amber colored drink.

  “I just wanted to check in. You’re talking to me, so maybe you’ve begun to dismiss some of your anger?”

  “Not even slightly. I actually wanted to know how you and Eddie know each other?”

  Clarence shuddered.

  “I don’t know him. I’m just familiar with his...kind.”

  His kind? What the hell did that… Oh.

  My head swung back in the direction of Eddie but the table was empty save his empty plate, pitcher and glass.

  I cursed under my breath as I ran back to the table, seeing that he left $30 on the tabletop. Breathing a sigh of relief I took the bills to the register.

  Clarence had moved seats, following me as I paid Eddie’s tab with the money before pocketing the rest.

  “Why are you still checking on me?” I finally asked Clarence, running out of patience.

  Thank goodness the place was pretty empty. I’d get wrung if I was having this conversation during rush hours.

  “Because I care about you,” he said in a low voice. “Despite what you think, I love you and I want you to be safe. With everything that’s happened… It’s not safe for you to live alone, Addie.”

  “I’m not living alone. I have Aunt Cindy.”

  “You know what I mean,” he sounded exasperated.

  “I know that you made a choice, so I made a choice. I’m forced to live with yours and now it’s your turn. You need to stop showing up everywhere. Seriously, it’s creepy.”

  “Addie, we need to talk. Alone. There’s things I need to tell you about...”

  “Nope, not getting involved.”

  “Mason needs a favor too.”

  “Too bad.”

  Clarence sighed, chugged his glass before slipping Kent a 20.

  “I’ll give you more time, Addie. Eventually, you need to talk to me.”