by H. T. Night
I pulled Yari into my bedroom so we wouldn’t wake Lena with our conversation. I shut the door softly and then turned to Yari. “Look, we are friends. There is nothing going on between us. Lena isn’t like you and me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, sounding dangerously irritated.
“She has a little more self-control.”
“Fuck you, Tommy. I’m going to go out there and tell that skank that she better watch herself.”
“Please don’t!” I knew there was no way I could stop Yari from doing anything she had her mind set on, just as I couldn’t stop her advances toward me, weeks earlier.
Yari went and stood by the door, her way of warning me that one more shitty response from me and she was waking up Lena.
I said quietly, “Look, I love Josiah far too much to let physical desires get in the way.”
Yari grinned and stepped toward me. “So, you admit Lena is stirring up desires in your penile area.”
I shook my head at Yari and she took another step toward me. “So, tell me, Tom. What desires are you resisting?” Yari took another step and now, we were face to face. She was a couple inches shorter than I was, so she tilted her face up into mine. I could smell alcohol on her breath and a hint of blood. She’d had herself a helluva night before she came here.
“Were you partying with people or alone?” I asked.
She grinned and said, “You know me, Tom. One man is never enough to satiate my needs.”
“Especially when you are feasting,” I said.
“Feasting? That is interesting. You have never asked or even referred to the fact that I need blood to survive. You would just assume I would take advantage of some poor sap for his nature’s finest.”
“Am I wrong?” I looked deep into her eyes. I could tell when she was lying.
“I wish I could be more mysterious and lead you to believe I killed someone tonight for their blood, but that wouldn’t be very ladylike of me.”
“Lady?”
“Aren’t I a lady?” Yari pulled up her tight black dress and placed my hand on her hip. I was extremely turned on.
“Yes, you are.” I placed my other hand on the small of her back and pressed her body into mine.
She whispered playfully, “Are you going to kiss me, Tommy Jenkins?”
“I’m going to do more than that.” I picked up Yari and carried her over to my bed. We began kissing one another deeply and removing each other’s clothes as quickly as we could. When we were completely naked, she jumped on top of me, straddled my hips and placed my hard member inside of her. It was early in the morning, but Yari’s body was so hot, it was easy to have a strong erection.
Yari and I fooled around quietly on my bed for the next forty-five minutes. When we were both satisfied, we rolled over onto our backs completely naked and looked up at the ceiling.
“And Tommy TKOs in the third,” Yari joked.
“No TKO here. Match over. Victor, Jenkins.” I turned my head and looked at Yari in the darkness.
Yari sat up, searched for her clothes and began putting them back on. “We have to quit meeting like this, Tom.”
I sat up, too. “You’re right about that. I’m just a 4 a.m. booty call to you.”
“I’m horrible. I know.” Yari laughed. She had all her clothes on and stood up, straightening them in my full-length door mirror. “I just didn’t expect you to have Snow White over here.”
“We are friends, Yari.” I slipped into my pants and zipped them up.
“We’re friends, too, Tommy.” Yari snickered. “Look at the extracurricular activities we figured we could play if we kept it in the friend zone. Are you and Lena playing any extracurricular activities?”
“Of course not.”
“Then you should be okay. What I know about Josiah is that loyalty and trust are two huge parts of his DNA. I would never want to lose that from him. He is going to do great things, Tom. He is going to need you every step of the way. Don’t let Helen of Troy screw up destiny. Have her go home when she wakes up.”
I nodded my head.
Yari stood on her tiptoes and kissed me one more time on the lips. “You are tasty, Tommy Jenkins.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lena woke up at 10 a.m. and had no idea that Yari had come and gone while she’d slept. She made her way to the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed the bottle of blood she had stored in there. Then she poured herself some blood right in a coffee cup. She had brought ten packets of blood over from the blood bank she had been hitting up with Hector and Wyatt.
There was something disgustingly sexy about a woman drinking a cup of blood. Was it her innocent nature that turned me on while I watched her eat? Or, was I slowly falling into some type of crush?
Crush? Shit. What was I, a junior high kid? I left the kitchen and went to the living room. Hopefully, if I avoided her while she was eating, I could relax on the crushing.
“What’s on the agenda today?” Lena came into the living room and sat two feet away from me on the couch. She was extremely lax with our boundaries.
“I have to go down to my gym and pay some fees. I need to go to the bank and move some money over from savings to checking.”
“Are you running out of dough, Tom?”
“I still have plenty to live on. Especially because I don’t have to pay rent. Once I pay the utilities and my phone, it’s barely 500 bucks a month.”
“How much do you have saved?”
“Close to six figures,” I said vaguely.
I’m private when it concerns my money. People either use you for it, or they want you to waste it on stupid shit.”
“Well, I don’t fall into either category. I find it fascinating that you have so much money in the bank and so does Josiah with all the life insurance he received. Has he ever told you the amount?” Lena asked.
“Look, Lena, I know you didn’t grow up in any type of money. There must be a reason why Josiah hasn’t told you. I will tell you this. It’s more money than I have and that’s all you will get out of me.”
“Wow,” Lena replied. “I have $22.37 in the bank with no job.”
I looked at Lena. She wasn’t one to beg or ask for anything. I knew this wasn’t an elaborate way to steer the conversation into manipulating me into offering her some money. Nonetheless, I was going to do it. This was Josiah’s girl. He could pay me back when he came back home.
“Lena, when it gets dark, I will take you to my bank.”
“No, Tom. That wasn’t what I was asking for.”
“Okay, how about I give you five hundred tonight, and tomorrow, you clean the house from top to bottom?”
“For five hundred dollars? I would have to be one amazing maid to be paid such a ridiculously high amount.”
She wasn’t making this easy on me. “Okay, I will pay $125 for you to clean the house once a week until Josiah gets back. That is in about four weeks. So, you can get four good cleaning sessions in between now and then.”
Lena thought about it. If what she was saying was true and she only had $22.37 in the bank, then five hundred would feel like a big jump in cash.
“Okay, but I start today. I will clean every room from top to bottom. So, if you have anything embarrassing in your room, you might want to hide it. I’m cleaning your room first.”
“Okay,” I grinned. “Other than my sexy briefs, there isn’t much to embarrass me in my room.”
Lena cleaned from 11 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. without taking any breaks. The entire house was spotless. Dishes were washed, dried and put in their respective cabinets. The floors were swept and washed. Who knew the kitchen floor was white and not gray? That layer of dust that had been coating everything was gone and she’d even managed to sweep away the cobweb a spider had going in the corner of the living room. Everything smelled fresh and clean. Including the linens on my bed.
“Let me treat you to a friendly dinner tonight for all the hard work you did. I know you can’t eat most thin
gs, but I know a place that has great soup and we can take in the ambiance.”
“Nothing fancy.” Lena walked to her bedroom all sweaty and dirty. I would have hoped that would have turned me off. It only showed how hot she looked covered in sweat and working hard. This was not good. I needed Josiah to come home fast or this situation could lead to something unintentionally.
“Where do you want to go eat?” Lena asked, combing her fingers through her sweat-dampened hair.
“Let’s go down to Long Beach and hit Ruby’s Diner on the pier.”
She perked up a bit. “Sounds fun.”
“We’ll leave in about an hour,” I said. “So, do whatever it is you need to do.”
“You mean shower, get dressed and put on my makeup?”
“You have an hour.” I smiled at Lena. “You can jump in the shower first and I will take mine after you. Let’s plan to leave here by 7:00. Sun should be down by then.”
When it was my turn, I took a quick shower and put on black jeans and a white T-shirt. I grabbed one of my leather jackets and would plan on putting it on later when we hit the beach. I tied up my Doc Martens boots. You never know when you’re going to need to kick some idiot in the ass.
I went out to the living room and waited for Lena to get ready. There was a Dodgers game in progress when I turned on the TV. I wasn’t a big baseball fan, but I did like the Dodgers. They were beating the Cubs 10-1 in the fifth inning and I was sure they were going to pull this one off.
Lena opened the door to Josiah’s room and walked out to the living room. She was absolutely breathtaking. How could this woman not be aware that she could make any man fall in love with her while she was wearing that beautiful white gown? Her hair was up in a soft bun, showing off the sexy slope of her neck. If she was wearing makeup, it was natural and only served to accentuate her natural beauty.
I tried not to look too longingly at her. At least, not while she was looking at me.
“Ready to go?” I asked, trying to cover the shock I was feeling.
“You want to drive?” she asked.
“Sure, I’ll drive. I invited you and this is my treat from beginning to end.”
Lena smiled up at me. It wasn’t the usual friendly smile she had been giving me over the past couple of weeks. This smile had a vulnerability. The type of vulnerability someone had when they were attracted to someone.
Uh-oh.
We needed to get to dinner. A public place was exactly what we needed to defuse this situation.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I decided to drive Josiah’s truck to serve as a reminder that Lena, his girlfriend, and I were going out to dinner in a date-type setting.
Josiah had left his keys for me, just in case I came by the house. He thought I would stay in West Hollywood with the others, but I wasn’t like them. This werewolf just didn’t feel comfortable in a house full of vampires. Especially when my main bro was halfway across the world on some vampire soul-searching mission. If there was such a thing. Or, if any of us even had a soul anymore.
The drive was longer than I remembered. It took nearly ninety minutes to make it to the Long Beach Pier. Luckily, we hit very little traffic, so it was just a long distance away.
I parked along the street. I was lucky to find a parking space. Lena and I both stepped out of the truck. We both shrugged into our jackets. Lena had a tiny little leather jacket. It went well with her outfit. She seriously had the whole chic Goth attire perfect. She never disappointed.
Tonight, she was looking even more beautiful than ever, and I was kicking myself in my emotional ass every time I felt anything inappropriate toward my best friend’s girlfriend.
It was a perfect summer evening with a gentle cool breeze coming off of the ocean. It was a day before the full moon. Ever since Josiah had trained me to be a cognitive werewolf, I had been able to control my turning during the full moon. It was an effort on my part. If I did stress-free activities, I hadn’t had a problem. I was kinda like the Hulk during a full moon. ‘Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.’
The two of us made our way to the pier. Ruby’s Diner was at the very end of the pier and lit up like the Fourth of July. We walked up onto the pier and headed toward the restaurant.
We didn’t talk much, and that was probably on me. I was sorting out the inappropriate feelings I was having. It was difficult to do that and carry on a conversation at the same time.
Obviously, Lena felt something was amiss with my silence because she questioned me. “What’s wrong, Tommy?”
I kept walking toward the restaurant as if nothing were wrong. Why did she think there was something wrong? What signals was I giving off?
“There’s nothing wrong,” I said, playing it cool and hoping she would believe me. “Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been oddly quiet. Not just today, but it seems you are becoming more and more withdrawn from me. Have I done something that has pissed you off and you are only putting up with me because I’m Josiah’s girlfriend?”
I smiled and nearly laughed at her statement because it couldn’t have been any further from the truth.
“I’m right, huh? I’ve done something that has irritated the crap out of you. Are you still pissed that I cock-blocked you the other night?” she asked, sounding hurt.
“No, I need to thank you for that. Seriously, that situation had years of regret written all over it.”
“Okay, then, Tommy. What’s the matter? You are never one to be quiet.”
I stopped in front of the diner at the end of the pier. I shrugged, “Look, I have just been thinking about Maya a lot these past couple of days.” That wasn’t a lie. Each time I felt an emotional connection with Lena, I was quickly wracked with guilt on two accounts. Both Josiah and Maya were deep in my thoughts. Maya would never leave my thoughts or my heart. Life had just thrown me another unfair emotional curveball. A curveball that I was in no way, shape, or form prepared to open up with Lena about. If I did, I would lose my best friend and new dear friend in one heartfelt conversation.
“I’m sorry I pried.” Lena gave me a half-hug and motioned toward the door. “Let’s go inside.”
I opened the door for her and we walked in. We entered and were greeted by Ruby’s shocking 50s’ decor. A hostess wearing a crisp white button-down shirt, pale pink poodle skirt, white bobby socks and a high ponytail welcomed us. “Hello, would you like to sit at a booth or a table?” It was hard to understand her with the huge wad of gum she had in her mouth.
“Uh, how about a booth?” I said.
She nodded and led us further into the restaurant. Most of the pictures adorning the walls were in black and white. They had a more natural 1950s’ feel because they weren’t of celebrities, but of everyday people. The only exception to the black and white was a bright yellow picture of a woman wearing a red scarf on her head and a collared blue work shirt. She had a tough look on her face with arm muscles to match. The poster read, “We can do it!”
She led us to a large booth with a white table and red vinyl seats. She told us our waitress would be with us shortly and went back to her greeting station by the front door. Lena flipped through the miniature jukebox that sat on the table. We marveled at the fun old songs it offered and picked a few to add to the queue of music that filled the diner.
We ate and had light conversation throughout the dinner. Lena was able to stomach some tomato bisque. I had a burger and fries and washed it down with a chocolate shake.
When we were finished, we went to the front to pay the cashier. I used my debit card. The lady ran my card and gave it back to me with a receipt to sign. I wrote in the tip. I always tipped 20 percent. If service was poor, I tipped 15 percent. If service sucked balls, I would only tip 10 percent. On the flip side, if the service was amazing, I would go up to 25-35 percent. Today, the service was adequate. So, I left an adequate tip.
It felt like the night was about to go off without a hitch. Then Lena asked me while
we were leaving the diner, “Do you want to go for a walk on the beach? The moon is over the ocean. It must look incredible by the water.”
“Sure.” I knew this wasn’t a wise decision. A romantic setting, a beautiful woman and me. They should never mix, not when that woman was Josiah’s. I was a romantic at heart, and I knew this was a bad idea from the start.
We walked out onto the sand. The moon overhead gave the sand an otherworldly look. It was like we were walking along a beach made of diamond dust. The tide was high and powerful, inky black waves crashed relentlessly along the shore. The natural rhythm was oddly soothing.
Lena took off her shoes and I decided to join her. The sand still held some of the sun’s warmth from the day. It felt amazing under my feet and squishing in between my toes. Like a foot massage from Mother Nature.
We walked along the edge of the water and let the ocean wash over our feet, allowing us to sink into the sand. The weight of the world melted out of my feet into the ocean. I felt carefree.
After a while, we decide to sit about twenty feet from the water line. The moon was insanely huge overhead.
I took off my jacket because I was getting warm. I turned it inside out and laid it down on the sand for Lena to sit on so she would not get her dress too sandy.
“Such a gentleman,” Lena teased me as she smushed her butt on top of my jacket. “Here, take a sleeve,” she teased.
“I’m fine sitting on the sand. I’m rugged that way.”
“Oh, I know you are.” Lena laughed to herself. “Sometimes, I forget I’m not with Josiah because the two of you talk and act nearly the same. You may not be biological brothers, but you sure are alike.”
“I’ll consider that a compliment.”
“You should.” Lena took a deep breath and sighed. “You and I have both had our share of heartache over someone we lost.”
She was referring to Atticai. I had always wondered what she truly felt about Josiah killing the man she’d thought she loved.