by Jessica Sims
I shook my head and squinted, trying to focus my gaze. “I’m good.” It wasn’t as if I’d be able to sleep anyhow.
My phone rang and I picked it up, fighting the wave of anxiety crashing through me. My screen was still blurry, my vision skewed. “Hello?”
“Ma petite puce, it’s me. Got a minute?”
Oh, Lord. Little flea—my nickname from when I was a child. “Of course, Dad. What’s up?”
“Well, I was realizing it’s been a few weeks since we’ve gotten together,” he said, all smiles in his voice.
My vision finally cleared, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “It has been a few,” I agreed. “I thought you were busy with work?”
“I am, but I have this next week off,” he said. “Posey and I are going to Vegas again!”
I forced a smile so he’d hear it in my voice. “That sounds great, Dad. You’ll have to have a drink on me.”
“We want you to come with us! It’ll be fun, just the three of us. We can hit all the casinos. You haven’t seen someone play blackjack until you’ve seen Posey play.”
I grimaced at the thought. “I don’t think I can get off work, Dad.”
“Oh, call in sick. How often do you get to spend time with your dear old dad?”
Not often enough. But I looked at the box of chocolates on my desk. Thought about the fierce kiss Josh had given me in the parking lot. Thought about the next vampire date, booked two days from now. “I wish I could. Maybe you guys can swing by after the trip and tell me about it?”
We chatted for a bit longer, my father extolling the virtues of Posey and me listening patiently as I nibbled on a chocolate. They were delicious—the expensive kind, and Ryder had swooped up a handful, unable to resist as well. I nodded and made the appropriate responses as my father talked about the adventures on his latest flight. The weather had been bad on his last trip; he’d been stranded for two days in Manila. And did I know that he’d tried balut for the first time last week?
When Bathsheba entered the office, I decided to end the call. “I’m sorry, Dad, but my shift’s about to end. Call me when you’re back from Vegas and we’ll meet up, okay?”
“Sounds good. I’ll put a few chips down in your honor.”
I smiled. “You do that. Love you, Dad; have fun.”
Bath paused by my desk, eyeing the half-eaten box of chocolates and scattered cans of Red Bull on my desk. “Long night? You look wiped.”
I was getting really damn tired of everyone telling me that I looked awful. But I knew she didn’t mean anything by it, so I simply gave her a faint smile and held the box up. “Chocolate?”
As she plucked one from the box, my vision wavered and went blurry again. Anxiety clenched my stomach as strange lights flashed before my eyes.
Was my disease getting worse? The next step was hallucinations—which meant it was progressing, and fast. I rubbed my eyes and silently willed the sliding colors to go away.
When I opened them again, the colors were gone. Relieved, I reached for my computer mouse . . . and halted.
It looked like a giant cockroach.
I held in a screech and abruptly got up from my chair. Ryder glanced up at me, and I gave her a shaky smile. “I think I need a soda.” I hurried away from my desk, hoping that by the time I returned, my mind would stop playing tricks on me.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter Seven
I was just sitting down to one of my puzzles when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey. You asleep?” It was Josh.
Oh, if he only knew the answer to that question. “I’m not tired,” I lied. “Why?”
“I have to run some errands today and I was wondering if you wanted to come along.”
I tapped a puzzle piece on the table, thinking. Was this a trick question? My suspicious mind automatically wondered what he was up to. “Exactly why would I want to come along with you to run errands? Are you bored?”
“Nah. I just like spending time with you.”
“You do?” I blurted out, surprised. Josh . . . liked to spend time with me? Immediately I wondered if it was just another flirty come-on and felt stupid. Of course it was.
“I do,” he responded cheerfully. “Plus, I have a surprise for you if you spend the day with me. It’ll mean an all-nighter for you, but I can handle it if you can handle it.”
I couldn’t resist the smile tugging at my mouth despite myself. “I’m used to all-nighters,” I told him. “But tell me the surprise first.”
“Nope. It’s a secret. I’ll tell you if you spend the day with me.”
“Is this bribery?”
He laughed. “Of course it is. It’s the only way I can get you out of your pajamas and into my arms, so I’ll use it.”
I blushed and put down the puzzle piece. “I’m not falling into your arms.”
“I’ll settle for spending some time together, then. Come on. What do you say?”
I hesitated.
“Remember, big surprise at the end of the day,” he teased. “Well worth the missing hours of sleep.”
“I’m getting dressed,” I said, standing up and heading to my bedroom, curious despite myself. “Are you coming by to pick me up, then?”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Only ten minutes? I thought you lived farther away.”
“I do. I’m already on my way there.”
Figured. “And what would you have done if I’d said no?”
His chuckle was warm. “I knew you wouldn’t say no. You find me irresistable.”
“Batarde. I do not.” I hung up before he could come back with something suitable. I couldn’t stop smiling, though. Okay, Josh irritated me, but it was a fun kind of irritation. He was incorrigible and flirty as hell, but I enjoyed his antics.
I’d barely finished dressing when I heard a knock at the door. Sure enough, Josh was ready and waiting, all grins. He didn’t look the least bit tired, even though I knew he’d been up all night, just like me. He held out a cup of coffee as I opened the door. “Ready to go?”
I nodded and locked the door, pocketing my phone. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Thanks for being my company,” he said cheerfully. “It’s the least I could do.”
“So where are we headed?” I asked as we trotted down the stairs and back out to the parking lot.
“We’re going by Carol’s place first. She promised to make me breakfast.”
I gave him a cross look as we got into the car. “We’re doing all this so you can get a free breakfast?”
“Not exactly. Free breakfast is just a perk.”
We were quiet as Josh pulled onto the highway and began heading south. I sipped my coffee, content with watching Josh and the road. The neighborhoods got progressively worse and worse the longer we were in the car, and by the time we pulled into an apartment complex, I was ready to lock my doors and not get out of the car. “Carol lives here?”
“Rent’s cheap, and she doesn’t make a lot of money,” Josh said. “Come on. She’ll be thrilled to see you.”
I followed him through the parking lot, trying my best not to be judgmental. The building could have used a good coat of paint, and the long carport stretched out in front of the building looked as if it was on its last legs. Graffiti covered a nearby Dumpster, and as we walked to Carol’s first-floor apartment, I noticed dirty window-unit air conditioners hanging out of nearby windows. Classy. One of her neighbors had foil in the window. Double classy.
There was an enormous box on Carol’s doorstep, and Josh immediately moved to it. “Can you hit the doorbell? I’m going to start moving this for her.”
I did as I was told, and a moment later, Carol opened the door, giving Josh and me a beaming, wrinkled smile. “Josh, my love. You brought a friend today. Come on in!”
“This the entertainment center you ordered, Carol?” Josh hefted it, his voice strained as he carried the massive box into the house. “O
r did you order a box of bricks?”
“Silly boy,” Carol said, tittering. “Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
“Of course not,” Josh said, moving into the living room of the tiny apartment and setting the entertainment center box against the door. “I knew you’d fix me up something delicious. That’s how I talked Marie here into coming over.”
She beamed a smile over at me. “Why don’t I make some coffee?”
“Coffee sounds great,” I told her, reaching down at the cat rubbing on my jeans leg. When she left the room, I looked over at Josh, who’d pulled out a pocketknife and was slitting open the sides of the box. “Is that what you came over for? To put together an entertainment center for her?”
Josh nodded, peeling tape back from the box. “Her last one broke a few days ago. I told her to buy one and I’d put it together.”
Carol returned to the room, a fresh cup of coffee in hand. There were layers to Josh that I was just beginning to discover, and every time I thought I had him pegged, he surprised me.
Carol was a much better cook than the one at the diner. Her coffee was great, and her pancakes amazing. As she loaded me with breakfast food, Josh took bites between working on the furniture. It was clear that she was pleased that she had company, and I began to warm up to our visit. After a while, she pulled out some photo albums and showed me pictures of her family, all deceased.
I was starting to realize why Josh visited Carol so much, and my estimation of him grew. He worked hard on the entertainment center, screwing and bolting together the wood as if it had been no big deal, and looking pleased to do so.
Hours later, when it was all put together and we’d gone through all of Carol’s pancakes, Josh set up her TV and programmed it for her.
“That’s wonderful, Josh. You’re such a good boy.” She reached up and ruffled his hair, as if he’d been a child. “Do you think you could stop by Lula’s place after you go? Her toilet won’t stop running and she said her water bill was ten dollars more last month. She’s quite concerned.”
“You know I will,” he said easily.
We said our good-byes to Carol, petted her cats one more time, and left. Josh immediately went next door and knocked.
“Lula?” I asked.
“Yep,” he said. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” I said honestly. At this point, I was more curious about how many people Josh stopped to help than anything else. I eyed the foil in the window and felt bad for internally mocking it when we’d first arrived. Was she trying to lower her power bill? A few dollars wasn’t much here and there, but maybe she didn’t have the money.
Lula was a wizened old woman with thick, outdated glasses and a floral muumuu. Her hands were twisted from arthritis, and she gave Josh a toothless smile. “There you are. Are you here to fix my toilet?”
“That I am, Miss Lula,” Josh said cheerfully. “Why don’t you show it to me?”
As she shuffled inside, I followed Josh, noting the dark interior of the apartment and the spotless floors and counters. Miss Lula was old, but she wasn’t feeble. It was clear she was pleased to see Josh, talking a mile a minute and gesturing at her toilet as if it had been the biggest problem in the world. He listened politely, then set to working on it.
My estimation of Josh grew more. He was patient and kind—kinder than I was—and unfailingly nice. This didn’t mesh with my mental vision of the careless, wild playboy that I’d always thought he was.
After a few minutes, Josh replaced the tank lid. “I need to get my toolbox, Lula. Can we come back in an hour?”
“Of course, of course,” she said with a wave of her small hands. “I’ll make you sandwiches for lunch. Does that sound nice?”
“You know it does,” he told her. “We’ll be back very shortly.”
We piled back into Josh’s car, and I gave him a curious look. “Where now?”
“To my place—the Russell place. I need to borrow some tools. That okay, or are you too tired to go on?”
“I’m fine,” I told him truthfully. “And I want to come back.”
• • •
The drive out to the Russell house was long but pleasant. Josh and I bickered over radio stations, and it turned into a game—find an obnoxious song on the radio and see if you could annoy the other person. It was childish, but it made me laugh, and the time with Josh passed so pleasantly that I couldn’t remember why I’d ever been irritated with him.
When we finally parked in the driveway, I was surprised to see that a few cars were already there. “Someone home?”
He laughed. “I live with my brothers and cousins. Someone is always home.”
Good point.
The Russell house was a two-story monster of a house out in the country. It was spare on furnishings, which wasn’t surprising, considering the fact that only men lived there. The place was clean and neat.
“I need to go find the toolbox,” Josh told me. “It’s in the garage. Just wait here a minute.”
“Can I see your room?” I was suddenly wildly curious to see what kind of digs Josh had.
“Why, Marie,” he said with amusement. “You want to see my bed?”
“Just curious is all,” I said lightly, ignoring his innuendo.
“Go right ahead. Last room at the back of the hall upstairs. I’ll just be a minute.”
I waited for him to disappear, then headed up the stairs to his room. The door was shut, and I pushed it open slowly, feeling very much like an invader.
His room was messy in typical guy fashion. His clothes hamper was overflowing with laundry. The bed was covered with dark plaid blankets, tossed into a ball. Pillows were strewn all over the mattress, and magazines lay scattered in a nearby chair. I picked one up. Science magazine. The one underneath it was about cars, and the one below that was travel. Okay, that told me nothing about the man. I glanced over at his dresser. A few photos were stuck along the edge of the mirror, and a scatter of small objects decorated the surface.
I gravitated to the photos, mostly a montage of shots of Josh and his brothers on vacation. There was a photo of Beau, much younger, hanging off Josh’s shoulders, both of them in swim trunks. And there was an older man who resembled Josh—his father? I’d heard Beau mention once that his father was deceased. Poor Josh. I knew what it was like to lose a parent.
An answering-machine light flickered, and I checked the display, curious. Thirty-one messages. Good Lord. If his messages were anything like the ones he got at the dating agency, they were all from women. My fingers hovered over the playback button, and I fought the urge to listen to them. That would be a major invasion of privacy.
“Whatcha doing?”
I whirled around, my face hot, to face one of the twins. I didn’t know if it was Everett or Ellis. They looked exactly alike to me. “Um, hi.”
He took a bite out of an apple, giving me an interested look. “Checking things out?”
“Um, no. I was just, uh, looking around. Josh is getting a toolbox.” I stepped away from the answering machine, feeling guilty. “We’re about to head back out.”
“Mmmhmm.” He took another bite of apple, still watching me. After a moment, he said, “He keeps it full on purpose.”
“Huh?”
“The answering machine.” He nodded at it. “Keeps it full on purpose. If it’s full, no one can leave him a message. He prefers that. The girls don’t leave him alone otherwise.”
Oh. That was interesting. “I see.”
“You were wondering about it, admit it.”
I would admit no such thing. “You know, they might leave him alone if he’d actually pick up the phone. It’s what normal people would do.”
He snorted, as if I’d said something funny.
“You tellin’ all my secrets, Ellis?” Josh appeared, clapping his cousin on the shoulder. “Maybe you should learn to keep your mouth shut.”
Oh, hell. Now I was really caught red-handed.
“Eh,” Ellis said, unafr
aid. He took another leisurely bite of apple. “I figured if you let her up in your bedroom unattended, she’s probably pretty special.”
“Probably,” Josh agreed with a drawl.
“So he doesn’t normally let women hang around in his bedroom?” I asked Ellis, unable to stop myself.
He only grinned, and I felt silly for asking.
“Come on, Marie.” Josh nodded at the door. “We need to get a move on if we’re going to fix Lula’s toilet for her. We have to be done by five.”
“Why?” I was curious despite myself. “What happens at five?”
“We have to leave for our date.”
“Date?” I sputtered. “Are we going on a date?”
“We’re going on a double date,” he told me with a grin. “A pair of newly turned vampires. I figured you’d want to ask them some questions.”
Ellis gave me a speculative look. “What kind of questions?”
Excitement flared through me. “None of your business. Josh, do you mean it?”
He nodded at me, looking pleased with himself.
I sucked in a breath in excitement. “You’re the best, you know that?”
“Yeah,” he said with a grin. “I know.”
• • •
My palms were sweaty with excitement. I slid them up and down the legs of my jeans to dry them and tried not to look overeager.
Josh, meanwhile, sat next to me in the booth, his legs sprawled under the table as if he’d had not a care in the world. His beer was coated with condensation, however, and the large plate of food in front of him sat untouched, a sure sign that Josh wasn’t nearly as relaxed as his manner suggested.
The restaurant was crowded despite the late hour, but dimly lit. Josh and I occupied a booth near the back, close enough to the bathroom that I looked up every time someone came near our table.
Here I was, dying to date a vampire—no pun intended—and I couldn’t get them to go out with me. Yet all Josh had to do was snap his fingers and they’d come running to do him a favor.