Her head popped up again and she eyed me. “What was your name again?”
“Xan.”
“That’s a neat name.” She smiled dreamily. Wow, yeah she was really blitzed.
I kept glancing in Bea’s direction helplessly, but the damned woman was ringing up receipts and wouldn’t look at me. I pasted a smile on my face. “Can I call you a cab?”
“I’m gonna throw up.” She tumbled off her stool and beelined to the ladies’ room.
With shoulders hunched in defeat, I abandoned my post at the bar and went after her. The bathrooms were nearby, just under the stairs, giving the little rooms a strange angle of ceiling that anyone around my height suffered often with a solid thwack to the head. Sure, Charlie had a sign on the wall in huge-ass letters, Watch Your Head, but who the hell read warnings when they were deep in the bottle? If I needed to wash my hands, I usually went to the bathroom upstairs, which had a separate partition for the sink and mirror. It worked for me fine because I never had to use the restroom for what it was intended. I tapped on the door just under the Ladies sign. “You okay in there?”
She groaned in response and tossed her cookies.
I grimaced. “Are you decent at least?”
“Unghh...” More puking. I tried the door. It was unlocked, so I pushed it open, turning my head away in case she had her drawers around her ankles or something.
“I’m decent.” She growled and heaved again. Fucking. Hell. The reek of regurgitated beer and whatever she’d eaten earlier trapped in that tiny room made my throat clench and my nose burn. Tabby plopped down on her ass, and leaned back on her hand.
I reached under her arms and hefted her to her feet. “Get up. You don’t want to sit on the floor in a public bathroom, girl.”
“I feel better.” She staggered toward the sink and I turned the faucet on for her to wash her face and hands. She watched me in the mirror as she toweled off. “Jesus, how tall are you?”
True, in that room, I felt nearly claustrophobic. My head was to the doorframe with less than an inch to spare. If I reached up to touch the ceiling, my arm would still be pretty much bent in half at the elbow. “Six-five.” I opened the door, letting in the sounds and smells of the bar and gratefully, fresh air. Her face changed colors and, for a moment, I thought she might barf again. “You need to sit down for a while.” She nodded and I offered my arm for support. “Come with me.”
I walked past the bar with Tabby clinging to my arm like a tottering old lady. She waited while I collected the glass of water and her coat, which was thrown over her stool. I winked at Bea and steered Tabby to the stairs and up through the roof hatch. We paused there for her to put on her coat.
Up there, it was quiet, free of people and close to nature. The roof was a private place I could sit under the moon and just stare out over the lake and toward the mountains spooning it beyond. I loved the outdoors. It was one of the perks about Pale Rider, that closeness of woods and water. But on that night, I had a slight little thing clinging to me for warmth, of which I really had none to give. I lowered her down in the chair I usually occupied when alone, and handed her the glass of water.
She accepted gratefully and sipped at it like a bird. “Aren’t you cold?”
I shrugged. “Nah. I’m used to it.” Temperature wasn’t a big thing to a vampire.
She raised an eyebrow at me but was quickly distracted by the view. “It’s beautiful up here.”
Evergreens sighed in a slight breeze, their needles brushing together sounding like hundreds of wings. Somewhere nearby, a nighthawk ran its nasal peent. Gentle ripples in the lake lapped at the bank’s edge. She gave a tired smile.
“Did you want to talk about what’s bothering you? If you don’t, I understand, but you came in here all upset, drank yourself sick and now I have to figure out a way to get you home.”
Her smile evaporated just like that. She bowed her head and sat the half-empty glass on the empty cable spool-table beside her that matched the one in my room. “Just...problems.”
“I take it your boyfriend is still being a dick.”
“He got mad at me.”
I fished a cigarette from the pack in my pocket and offered it to her but she declined. I shrugged and lit my own. “And?”
“He went into this rage. Screaming at me. Breaking things.” She looked up at me. “I wish you’d sit down. All I see is a tall, dark and looming silhouette.”
I pulled the second chair over to her with a grunt of metal scraping over wood and dropped into it, the vinyl cushion whistling comically. That brought a brief flicker of a smile to her face before her features darkened again. I leaned forward. “Did he hurt you, Tabby?”
She shook her head fiercely. “I told him to get out of my house. He said he lived there. I told him he needed to leave and not come back tonight.”
“Do you think he’ll come back?” I hated probing for answers, but seeing a female abused by some big jackass that felt he had something to prove by exerting authority by force, was worse. That wasn’t a relationship. That was possession.
“I don’t know.”
I sat back in my chair and finished my smoke in silence, then crushed it out in the ashtray. “Where do you live?”
She blinked. “Why?”
“I’m trying to think of a way to keep you safe tonight.” I didn’t want to come across as another perv trying to get in her pants and I barely knew her. But there was a little click at that moment of years ago, only the girl’d been blonde. But the tears and the fear were the same. A little wriggle in what I had left of a conscience.
She sniffled, and rubbed her nose on her sleeve. “Why are you being so nice to me? You don’t even know me.”
“Because you need it.” I stood and offered my hand. “And you remind me of someone.”
She looked up at me before taking my hand, like she still wasn’t sure she could entirely trust me. I pulled her to her feet. The inertia pushed her against my chest and we froze like that for probably a minute, just staring into each other’s eyes. Our faces gravitated closer, closer, until I blinked and stopped, realizing I was about to kiss her. Damnit. I had no idea if it was something stirring between us besides stupid vampire voodoo, namely the thrall shit.
She cleared her throat and opened a gap between us, the cold air swirling to fill the space.
Yeah, she reminded me of someone all right. Once upon a time, I was alive. I used to be Gabriel Nez, an advertising artist, mechanic and hopeless bachelor. Until I met Jessica. My heart sank as I remembered my girlfriend’s smile. Her laugh. When I met her, she had been in a dying relationship with a big guy, John, or something like that. Anyway, he threatened her, pushed her around. Until I came along, that is. When she met me, she ended their disastrous relationship and jumpstarted ours. I was about to ask Jessica to marry me after two years of being mad-sick in love with her. Until the obvious happened.
I swallowed hard and realized Tabby was still staring at me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I fumbled for conversation. “So, are you from around here?”
She grinned a little and stared at her hands. “I’m Brady Cole’s daughter. You know, the postmaster here? Lived here all my life. You?”
We had a teeny-tiny post office. That I knew. Something about me not being around to wander around in the daytime prevented me from knowing who she was talking about, though. I shrugged. “I’ve lived here for a bit, yeah.” She still seemed kinda woozy, so I stood and offered my hand. “Let me drive you home, okay?”
She laughed. “I can get home all right.”
I shook my head. “No, Charlie wouldn’t like that you left feeling like you do. Your car’ll be fine, I promise.”
She smiled and took my hand. “Okay.”
I took Tabby home in the RS. She lived about twelve miles away, even farther out in the sticks than Pinecliffe. The roads were twistier out there–steep hills populated with bristlecone pines, quaking aspen and Rocky Mountai
n juniper lined both sides. Her house wasn’t much, but it was a decent size, post-war sixties design with a shingled roof and white Sears-siding exterior. A nice sized bunch of blue spruce grew in the front yard, concealing the porch, but a window glowed with light. I asked her if she lived alone.
“Sometimes.” She got out of the car and shut the door.
“What about tonight?” I followed her up the steps to the door with my hands shoved in my pockets and waited while she unlocked the door. “You sure you’re going to be okay?”
She opened her mouth to answer then the phone rang.
“It’s probably my sister.” She scurried in to answer the call while I waited outside. Her voice went from pleasant to surprised then angry in a matter of thirty seconds.
“I told you no, Art. Stay with your grandmamma for all I care...no. No...you can pick up your things tomorrow. Goodbye, Art.” She slammed down the receiver and leaned against the wall, her face buried in her hands.
I stepped inside her house but stayed close to the door. “Would you like it if I stayed with you?” The words just kind of rolled out of my mouth before I could filter them. The girl needed help. I had protected for years. It was encoded in me by then. I had to heed the call.
Whatever call that was. It wasn’t really fair, once I thought about it. I should have gone back to Pale Rider. It wasn’t like Tabby hadn’t handled problems with Arturo before, judging from her responses.
Tabby peeked through her fingers. “Stay? You mean here?” She arched an eyebrow.
“Yeah. I can sleep on your couch or something.” Of course I wouldn’t sleep ’til morning, at which point the threat would be minimized. I remembered Jessica telling me evil slept at dawn. It was the way of things. Not saying much about me, though.
“You don’t have to do that.” Tabby narrowed her eyes, sending a small arrow of annoyance through me.
I mean fuck, did I have to beg to do her a favor? I had shit to do if she didn’t want my help. Fuck it. “It’s cool. I’ll get out of your hair.”
She said nothing, just kind of stood there, wrapping her coat more tightly around her.
“Okay then, I’ll see you later.” I turned to leave but she snatched me back by my elbow. Had I been sincerely intent on leaving she couldn’t have stopped me if she wanted to, but I was a little worried about her because I’d seen Arturo, or Art in action. I waited, facing out the screen door with my jaw set. Girl games got on my nerves.
“Stay.” As if to test her position with me, she relaxed her grip on my arm, which slid from her fingers easily. “I just don’t know what to give you for your help.”
“I never said you had to give me anything.” I refocused attention on the doorknob and the lock above it. “We need to change your locks.”
“We can go when the hardware store opens in the morning.”
“I can’t,” I said, a little too quickly for my own comfort, but she didn’t pick up the thread.
“Okay maybe tomorrow afternoon?”
“Probably evening.” I closed the door and locked it before turning to face her. She threw herself in my arms, surprising me. I hesitated for a few moments as she clung to my waist, gradually giving a warm hug in return. Being male of course, I liked the way her body molded to mine. Anybody with a dick could understand. And she wasn’t unattractive by any means–tall enough to cuddle without feeling like I was hugging a kid, definitely curvy in all the right places, but a chick with one too many issues.
She lifted her head away from her chest to look up at me. Drying tears stained her cheeks in twin streams. She mumbled something, and when I bowed my head to hear her repeat it, she kissed my cheek instead, prompting me to turn my head to look at her in surprise. That’s when she brushed her lips against mine, her body’s heat burning into my skin.
I licked my lips, suddenly very hard and responsive despite my good intentions.
She laid a hand against my chest. “Wait. Let me brush my teeth first.”
I nodded and she shed her coat, hanging it on the back of a chair, before venturing deeper into the house. Water ran for a few minutes, and when she came back, she was smiling.
“That’s better.”
I smirked. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She snaked her hands up under my t-shirt to squeeze my sides as I slid my jacket off to drop it to the floor. I cupped her cheek and kissed her lips again, this time our mouths opening to each other. We shuffled backward to bump into the kitchen counter. “Let’s take this to the living room,” she whispered, kissing me again as I stroked her cheek with a thumb. She was so soft. So warm.
She linked fingers with me and pulled me through the doorway that led into the darkened living room, and toward the couch. I ran my hands up her sides, squeezing as we kissed again. It was like we couldn’t get enough of that. She sucked my bottom lip, and we pressed into one another, me gripping her ass and her with her hands up my shirt. I unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. We broke the kiss to strip off our shirts at the same time and tossed them aside. I nibbled at her neck while I unfastened her bra and she unbuckled my belt and tugged open my fly. Part of me wanted to bite, but I held back. She was fragile compared to me. My knees went liquid as she freed my raging erection, took it in her hand and stroked it. Fuck, it felt wonderful. I kissed her again, nipping her lips hard enough to coax a tang of blood on my tongue.
Mm, a little reminder of what I’d tasted outside of Pale Rider. Little flashes sparked in my vision. I blinked. No, I couldn’t drink from her. Not when I thought of her as a new friend. Speaking of being a good friend, I didn’t think I was getting off to a good start. “We shouldn’t...”
“Shut up, Xan.”
My eyes fluttered shut as she worked my length, and I pushed my jeans down, kind of sitting–kind of falling–into one of the wide overstuffed chairs. I nudged off one shoe with the other and repeated with the other foot just in time for her to whisk off my pants.
“What about you?” I smiled up at her, pulling her to me and squeezed her ass. She grinned down at me and slid her jeans down her legs, pulling them off to expose tiny pale pink panties. Silk ones.
I bit my lip. “You sure about this, Tab?” Hell, I don’t think I could have stopped if she’d changed her mind. All I had to do was keep my big teeth away from her neck. She had me so hot and bothered I was shaking.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Both of us naked, she straddled my lap and rubbed me against her. She pulled my hair loose from the elastic band and ran her fingers through it.
“I love your hair. Watching you on stage, throwing it around.” She kissed me again, sucking my tongue. “Your fangs...”
I slid down farther in the chair and opened my legs a little as she positioned me just right. I surprised her with a good hard buck, shoving myself deep up in her. She cried out with a gasp and dug fingertips into my skin, making me echo her sound without meaning to. My head dropped back against the cushion as she rose up on my cock and slid back down, settling into an easy rhythm. My hands found her breasts, and I pulled her forward to flick my tongue over her nipples, which were tight and hard in arousal. She gripped my hair and crushed my face into them, moving faster. When she grew tired, I picked her up and deposited her on the carpet to crawl up her body, tickling her skin with my lips. She wrapped her legs around my hips as I thrust inside her again. I kissed my way from her collarbone to her neck, and nipped just under her ear. She pulled me deeper into her and I increased the pace, holding her in my arms. She moaned in our kiss when her orgasm rose, and I groaned in response. I held her tight and stroked harder, faster. She gasped, gripped my flesh and bit my shoulder, which sent me over the edge. I released deep in her with sharp, hard thrusts. She buried her face in my neck to scream, her insides clamping around me as we came together.
She lay motionless beneath me, heart thundering in her chest. I closed my eyes and listened to it slow to normal before pulling out of her. She smiled and kissed me gently.
I held
my hands against her cheeks, and broke the kiss to look her in the eyes. “What just happened?”
“I don’t know.” She was still a little breathless, and her brow was dotted with perspiration. I rolled over on my back to lie beside her and she dangled a leg over one of mine.
“I didn’t mean to take advantage of you.” I felt like since she’d had so much to drink before that maybe it made her more open to suggestion. But she’d come on to me and I could have done the gentlemanly thing and firmly declined, but the truth was, I was curious about her too.
On top of that, I hadn’t even bitten her once during the whole thing. That was weird. I untangled myself from her gently and stood to gather my clothes. I hadn’t meant to fuck her. I was there to protect her. Jesus, Arturo could have come through the door and caught us both in the act.
She rose from the floor and followed my example, both of us dressing without a word. After I laced my shoes, I fished through my jacket pocket for my cigarettes and lighter.
“Are you okay?” She frowned.
“I need a cigarette.”
I stood out on her porch to smoke and to enjoy the cold air. I couldn’t really see the sky there–the trees were thick and tall. A good distance away, somebody’s porch light burned, and a dog barked every so often. Other than that, Tabby didn’t seem to have any neighbors. Beyond the open door, she fiddled with making coffee. She’d felt good. I smiled a little. I hadn’t gone out to a girl’s house in a long time, probably a couple of years. I usually just stayed at the bar, preferring to take someone upstairs for a nip and fuck, rather than deal with the problem of where’d I’d be safe when the sun came up. And it was definitely about to come up.
“Did you want some coffee?” She stood at the screen door, silhouetted by the kitchen light.
I shook my head. “I’ll take something stronger if you have it.”
“Like what?”
I shrugged. I sure as hell wasn’t drinking coffee.
“I don’t drink alcohol–usually. I mean, not like today. Sorry.”
Crooked Fang Page 5