Samuel slowly stood up, took a step back. Zane shot up off the bed, grabbed his brother by his arms. “What happened next, Samuel?”
“She said something about her parents and then ran off!”
“That is it?”
“Yes!”
Zane released Samuel, dragged a hand down his face as he turned away. “What did she say?”
“Huh?”
Zane whirled around with his hands clenched. “What did she say about her parents, Samuel?”
His brother’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Why are you so interested in Lacey?”
Zane inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly.
Calm.
The.
Fuck.
Down.
“I am interested in you, Samuel, not the girl.”
“Then why all the questions about her?”
“I was only trying to help you figure out why she reacted the way she did. I hate seeing you this upset.” Zane forced a smile. “Now, tell me what she said...please. I want to help.”
Samuel’s stiffened spine arched as he slumped forward. “Only that her mom left when she was thirteen.”
“And then what happened?”
“That’s the weird part—she jumped out of her chair looking like I do in those dreams where I’m standing naked in front of the whole school and then just ran away.”
Zane nodded. “I believe I understand.”
“You do? Tell me!”
“Did you not sense the emotion in her blood during this interaction?”
Frowning, Samuel blinked a few times. “I didn’t think to do that...I was sort of distracted, you know?”
Zane tsked. “You must use the gifts you have been given, brother.”
“Okay, okay,” Samuel whined, stamping his foot, “now pleeeease tell me what you think!”
“Lacey’s reaction immediately following disclosure of intimate knowledge is self-explanatory, Samuel,” Zane said, thankful for his brother’s lack of people reading skills.
Samuel’s dark brows knitted together. “Could you say that again in English?”
Zane expelled a harsh breath. “She was shocked and horrified by the fact that she had revealed something so personal.”
Samuel’s eyes darted back and forth as he digested this information.
“Apparently she feels comfortable with you, brother,” Zane said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his slacks and then balling them into fists.
“Yeah,” his brother whispered, his face brightening a little more with each slow nod. “Yeah!”
Zane cleared his dry throat as it tightened. “I apologize, Samuel, but I really must feed now.”
“Sure, yeah, okay,” his brother said to Zane’s retreating back. “Oh—and thanks!”
Zane growled low in his throat as he stormed down the hall and to his bedroom, headbutting the door after closing it.
“Problems, mon frère?”
Zane whirled around to find his sister laying on her stomach on his bed, one eyebrow arched high. “Off limits means you fucking stay out,” he snarled, taking a step forward. “This is my goddamn room.”
“Technically,” she said, holding his gaze as she rolled over, “it belongs to the ancient-looking self-help writer we borrowed the house from.”
“Alexis,” he growled through clenched teeth, “you are four seconds away from literally having your ass thrown out of here.”
Arching her back, Alexis slowly ran her hands up her stomach and over her breasts. The sight of his sister’s nipples behind her sheer, red bra brought with it the memory of Lacey’s straining against the damp fabric of her white tank top. Zane licked his lips at the thought of flicking his tongue over one of the girl’s small, stiff peaks and then biting it...hard.
Alexis slipped a hand inside her sheer panties as she parted her legs. Zane growled low in his throat as he imagined it was Lacey laying naked on his bed, shapely thighs spread wide, her pussy dripping with need, her soft voice begging for his cock. Which he would deny her...
For as long as he could.
“You look hungry, le grand frère,” Alexis cooed.
Yanked from his fantasy, Zane gnashed his teeth. “Three seconds now.”
Thrusting her slicked red bottom lip out, Alexis swung her bare legs around so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”
“...two... ”
With a sharp expulsion of breath, Alexis shot up off the bed. “If you’re worried about her, don’t be,” she snapped, her inch-long fingernails sinking into the flesh of her hips. “The problem has been taken care of.”
Zane went rigid. His heartbeat quickened as he stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at his sister. “The girl is not a threat anymore,” Alexis continued, “so you can just fucking relax, all right?”
Zane lunged. Grabbing his sister by the upper arms, he jerked her forward. “What did you do?!”
Brows furrowing, Alexis opened her mouth but remained silent.
“Goddamn it!” Zane shook her so hard the red sequined clip holding her hair up popped off. “Do not make me torture it out of you!”
“I did exactly what you wanted me to!” Alexis shrieked, eyes widening. “I convinced everyone that she is alive and well and living in California!”
“Heather,” Zane breathed, dragging a hand down his face. “You’re talking about Heather.”
The ‘Duh!’ that remained unspoken was clear upon Alexis’ face. “Unless you had another accident while I was gone.” Her eyes narrowed fractionally. “Speaking of which, exactly what did happen during my absence? I come back after only four days and find strangers instead of my brothers.”
“You spent way too much time soaking up the sun, Alexis,” Zane grumbled as he opened the door. “Your brain is fried.”
“You would know all about that, wouldn’t you, Zane?” Alexis’ top lip curled back as she folded her arms over her chest. “Blodbad told me about your little problem.”
Fury exploded inside Zane like a nuclear bomb. He seized Alexis by her long black hair and then slung her out of the room. She flew across the hallway, hit the wall with a startled gasp, dropped to the floor. Before she could make a move to stand he was kneeling in front of and over her with his hand around her throat. She grabbed his wrist as he growled, “What problem?”
“Your loyalty and affection is now with another,” she breathed.
Panic seized control of Zane’s lungs, making it a damn good thing that he did not actually need the organs. “And who might this individual be?”
“A human female is all Blodbad said.”
“Why did He tell you this?”
Alexis shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Zane snarled, the saliva dripping from the tips of his fangs landing on his sister’s chin. “Liar.”
He yanked Alexis up and then charged down the hall with her dangling from the end of his outstretched arm. “No!” She began thrashing her legs as he carried her down the stairs. “I’m telling you the truth, I swear!”
Zane yanked open the basement door. “You underestimate my intelligence, sister, if you expect me to believe He volunteered information without a reason.”
“Los Angeles,” she all but screamed as Zane started down the stairs. “I was thinking about how much I wished I could live there and Blodbad told me to go and I said I couldn’t leave you and Sammy and that’s when He said what I told you!”
Zane came to an abrupt stop halfway to The Room, turning his gaze from the steel door to Alexis’ wide eyes. “My loyalty and affection was tied to a human female,” he repeated.
Alexis nodded. “And Sammy’s.”
Zane’s hand twitched involuntarily, allowing Alexis to slip from his grasp. She sprinted over to and then hurdled the bar, disappearing behind the four foot high counter.
A couple seconds later a small section of shiny black hair appeared, followed by a forehead and then a pair of wide, ice blue eyes. “You’re not goin
g to lock me up, are you?”
Zane could only stare at his sister as a rapid succession of questions and emotions fired inside his brain and body, most of which were concerning and directed toward his creator. Blodbad had warned that the girl could not be harmed, and yet He was risking unleashing Alexis’ territorial wrath upon her, which would destroy them both. What the fuck did He think He was doing?
I am protecting you, my child, and am willing to sacrifice your sibling in order to do so.
Zane started at the deep, booming voice inside his head, jumping back a good foot. He collected himself immediately and had his hands around Alexis’s throat before she could react. “Samuel,” he bellowed, “hurry!”
A thud and then fast, heavy footsteps, which ended directly behind him within half a minute. “What’s going on?!”
“Alexis is going to kill Lacey.” With a sharp gasp, his sister’s mouth dropped open. “Both she and Blodbad told me so.”
Samuel’s heart picked up speed, the sound like a hammer rapidly tapping a nail. “What? Why?”
“Alexis believes that she is the only one worthy of your attention,” Zane said, sneering at his sister as her eyes narrowed. “And thus we have no choice but to contain her, brother...” He glanced over his shoulder. “For your friend’s sake.”
Samuel had the steel door to The Room open before Zane had even finished the last sentence. “Do it,” he breathed, “please, do it!”
Alexis screamed and kicked and flailed as Zane carried her inside, keeping his hands around her throat as he held her down in the chair. “Secure her, Samuel.”
“They won’t hold for long,” he protested, fastening the leather straps around Alexis’s wrists and ankles.
“We do not need them to,” Zane said in a reassuring tone.
A pinkish tear slipped from one corner of Alexis’s arctic eyes. “I will...kill...all of you...for this,” she said in between hitches of breath.
“You’re not going to touch her!” Samuel roared, tightening the last strap as much as he could. “Ever!”
Zane smirked at Alexis, who bared her fangs. “Let us go, brother.”
The sound of ripping leather preceded the pounding of fists upon the steel door as it slammed shut. Zane secured the row of dead bolts on the outside and then turned to face Samuel, whose gaze was expectant. “Do you know the last time she fed?”
“We had breakfast together.”
“I will allow her to do so again after she has weakened considerably, and then only enough to sustain her.”
“Good idea,” Samuel said, nodding.
“We cannot allow her to escape.”
Samuel shook his head. “No...no.”
“Under no circumstances are you to open this door, understand?”
“Don’t have to worry about—” Panic filled his eyes. “Where will we keep...you know...our food?”
“I will simply have to make a run into the city every night.”
“Okay,” Samuel replied, nodding. “Okay.”
Zane put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Did Alexis say anything to you this morning?”
Samuel started to shake his head but then stopped, his eyes widening as he gasped. “Yeah—she said Blodbad told her we were in love with and fighting over the same woman!”
Zane’s eyebrows shot up in feigned shock. “And to think I did not believe Blodbad when He told me a week ago that she was suffering from hallucinations.”
Samuel blinked at that. “Hallucinations?”
“Yes.” With a heavy sigh, Zane dragged a hand down his face. “I cannot believe how delusional she has become.” He cocked his head to one side. “Has Blodbad not said anything to you about this?”
Samuel shook his head. “I guess I got so good at blocking him out that it’s automatic now. I haven’t heard his voice in a very long time…years.” He looked down at his feet, shuffled them. “And I don’t want to...He scares me.”
“Alexis scares me more, brother,” Zane replied. “She is under the impression that Lacey is going to steal you away from this family…from her.”
“That’s crazy!”
“You do not have to convince me, brother.” Zane placed his hands on Samuel’s shoulders, leaned down to look him in the eyes. “And you know there is no convincing Alexis, so you must promise me that you will not try.”
“I won’t,” he said, shaking his head. “I won’t.”
“She will say and do whatever it takes to get out of that room so she can execute her insane plan. You must not allow that to happen. Lacey is depending on you.”
“I know.” Pink tears filled the boy’s wide gaze as he nodded. “I know.”
Zane pulled Samuel into a tight embrace, cupping the back of his head with one hand as the boy began to sob against his chest. “Do not fear, brother—no harm shall come to the girl.”
Closing his eyes, Zane once again tried to recall the feel of Lacey in his arms...and once again failed.
“I give you my word.”
Chapter 33
The noise beyond the open window created a soundtrack to what felt like a nature show playing out inside of her. A red-headed woodpecker had taken up residence inside her head, the rapid taps of its beak and fluttering wings matching the beat and flickering of her heart, and a flock of sparrows fought over the squirming nest of worms inside her stomach.
Lacey stared at the alarm clock, a little more life draining out of her with each change of the blood red numbers. The first thought upon waking had been about Sammy, followed by excitement over getting to see, talk to and hang out with someone who wasn’t covered with fur and knew only how to meow.
The realization that she was actually looking forward to school because of him had immobilized her.
She didn’t know what to do.
Her pounding heart told her that Sammy wasn’t a phony like everyone else. That he wore his heart on his sleeve, just like she’d done before she’d realized doing so was an open invitation for everyone to come take a bite out of it. And although she was sure that he, too, had learned that lesson a very long time ago, he continued to be Sammy: sweet, funny, goofy Sammy.
If anyone was the phony, it was her.
But her throbbing brain reminded her of what had happened the few times in her life she’d trusted someone. Believed in someone. Depended on someone.
And how damn stupid she’d be to do it again.
Lacey groaned. Her life should have gotten easier after finally making the decision not to continue playing Watson to her father’s Holmes. But now, instead of having only one man to deal with, she had two: one who had revealed a part of her that she hadn’t known existed, and one who had awakened a part she had long ago suppressed.
Zane plagued her day- and night dreams with fantasies of various physical exchanges that were as shocking to her as they were arousing. And Sammy made her ache with a different kind of need—for a friend.
For the first time in nearly eight years, Lacey allowed herself to think about Shannon. She’d been nine years old when the scrawny, raven-haired girl with silver braces that glinted in the sunlight moved in next door.
Lacey’s bedroom had overlooked the neighboring house’s side yard, where Shannon played while her parents unloaded and then took their belongings inside. She had remained there until she was called in for dinner, leaving behind a pile of toys. Climbing out of her bedroom window, Lacey had crept over to the item which had caught her attention, and had been about to make her grand escape with the pink-haired, bug-eyed doll when Shannon had burst out of the house. “Mommy, I forgot Trolly!”
Spotting Lacey, Shannon’s frown turned into a smile so wide she could have eaten a banana sideways. Waving the entire way, she skipped over to her.
“Hi, I’m Shannon! What’s your name?”
“Lacey,” she murmured.
Shannon’s bright blue gaze dropped to the plush toy. “Trolly likes you,” she giggled.
“I like her, too,” Lacey confesse
d, clutching the ugly thing to her chest.
The back door swung open. “Shannon!” her mother called out to her mini-me as she stepped onto the porch.
“Over here, mommy!” she yelled, waving. “Look! Trolly made a new friend and her name is Lacey!”
With a beaming smile that matched her daughter’s, the woman wiped her hands on the red apron she wore. “Nice to meet you, Lacey. I’m Carol.”
“Hi.”
“Would you like to join us for dinner?”
Lacey glanced over her shoulder at the window to the bathroom where she knew Amelia, as she did every evening at that time, was soaking in a hot bubble bath while listening to classical music and drinking a glass of champagne. Like she was a queen or something.
“Nothing fancy, just spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread,” Carol added.
Sounded fancy to Lacey since the only appliance in the kitchen her own mother used was a microwave. “Okay,” she said, nodding as her stomach growled.
Shannon squealed with delight. “Can she sleep over too, mommy?”
“Sure,” Carol replied, “if her parents say both are okay.”
“My parents aren’t home,” Lacey lied.
Carol’s eyebrows shot up. “They left you alone?”
Lacey straightened her back. “I can take care of myself,” she said, lifting her chin.
Carol’s sparkling blue eyes had been filled with sadness even though she’d given Lacey a smile, which she now recognized as having been one of sympathy, as was Shannon’s gesture of giving Trolly to her that same night ‘to keep her company from now on’.
And as much as Lacey hated anyone feeling sorry for her, the memory didn’t anger her.
After that night, Shannon, Carol and her husband, Richard, had been the family Lacey had always wanted and never had. Remembering how she’d been forced to leave them behind was like slowly peeling off the scab of a large wound and then pouring salt on it.
She’d eaten dinner with The Conner family every night for three weeks before Amelia realized what she’d been doing and out of jealousy forbade her from doing it again. “I gave birth to you,” Amelia had snapped, “not that June Cleaver wannabe!”
Lacey had been allowed to sleep over thanks only to her parents’ one-weekend-a-month getaway. She and Shannon, who had a television with cable access in her room, would spend that Friday and Saturday secretly watching USA Network’s “Up All Night”.
Let Him In (Let Him Trilogy) Page 23