Deadly Is the Kiss
Page 17
At first Juliana was terrified Josh might say something that would reveal she was an escaped convict, but he’d seemed to know she didn’t want to be spotted, angling his body so that his friends couldn’t see her as they went out the back door together.
Staring up at his handsome face, she said, “Josh, I can’t believe it’s you. It’s been so long.”
Concern darkened his eyes. “Jules, I thought you were in the Wasteland. How did you—?”
She cut him off. “Please, don’t ask anything about what I’m doing here,” she pleaded, gripping his forearm and pulling him deeper into the shadowed walkway that ran between the nightclub and the café. “I don’t want to put you in danger.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, then changed his mind, probably sensing that it would just send her running. He pushed one hand through the light brown strands of his hair, the familiar gesture taking her back to the weekends she’d shared with his family. His sister Jackie had been her best friend since the age of six, and Juliana had grown up with a huge crush on Josh, who was older than her and Jackie by five years. She’d never told him, but she’d always suspected that he knew. He’d even asked her out when he’d moved back home after university, and she would have said yes, if it hadn’t been for Raphe.
The years had been good to him, adding a maturity to his looks that probably had women chasing after him in droves, his athletic build one that any female would appreciate.
“Can we at least talk for a little while?” he asked, catching and squeezing her hand. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’ve…I’ve missed you. We all have.”
Juliana knew she should say no and head back up to her room to confront Ashe when he returned. But…she just wasn’t ready yet, her emotions still too shredded to face him. And that was assuming he even bothered to go back to their room tonight.
Knowing she needed a distraction, she gave Josh a wobbly smile. “I don’t have much time, but…I’d like that. We could take a walk in the park across the street.”
They headed toward the empty park, leaving the noise of the nightclub behind as they walked together down the winding path that cut through the sloping hills. The park spread out over several city blocks, the wintry trees softened by the twinkling white lights that had been strung through their boughs, creating a magical effect in the moonlit darkness.
Noticing her shiver, Josh slipped off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Thanks,” she murmured, keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. Ashe had bought her a knife when they’d gone shopping, and she was wearing the blade in a sheath on her calf. She felt better about being out in the open knowing she was armed, but didn’t want to take any chances with Josh’s safety.
“How’s your family?” he asked, reaching down and taking her cold hand in his.
“Good. I mean, as good as can be expected,” she told him, finding the entire situation surreal. For a moment, it had felt so good to simply walk beside him, as if she’d gone back in time and chosen a different path for her life, agreeing to go out with Josh instead of thinking she could handle a man like Raphe Delacourt. She’d been so stupid, and so many people had paid for her mistake.
And now she was putting Josh’s life in danger by letting him be seen with her, just so she could keep from facing what had happened back in the club. God, did she never learn?
Yes, it had been like a knife in her heart, watching Ashe disappear with the busty redhead. But she’d known what the score was. She hadn’t expected him to be exclusive—had known, when she’d accepted his deal, that he would sleep with other women. That’s the only reason she’d accepted it in the first place, thinking she could satisfy her body’s craving for him without risking her heart. After all, only an idiot would fall in love with a man who was as promiscuous as Ashe Granger.
It’s just too bad I didn’t realize I fit into that embarrassing category before we left London.
She flinched, shoving that painful thought into the back of her mind, unable to deal with it right then. Instead, she forced herself to accept the fact that none of this was Ashe’s fault. The guy hadn’t broken any promises to her, because he hadn’t made any. And she still needed his help with her family.
So she’d go back to the bar, and talk to him. The physical part of their relationship was going to have to end, but she’d find some other way to ensure his help. She didn’t have any money, the Sabins’ funds seized by the Council when they’d been banished, but there had to be something she could offer him. Who knew? Now that he’d gotten his fill of her, maybe he’d decide to keep helping her simply out of honor.
“Jules? Are you okay?”
“What?” She blinked, startled, and found herself standing in the middle of the path, staring up at Josh’s worried face. God, she’d just been standing there, clutching his hand, so lost in her thoughts she’d probably looked catatonic. “I’m sorry. I, um, just have a lot on my mind. And I’m…hungry,” she added, completely surprised by the husky words as they spilled from her lips. What on earth was she doing? She wasn’t hungry. She’d had an entire bag of blood from the pack Gideon had left in their room before going down to dinner.
But she was jealous. And heartbroken.
Mistaking the pain on her face for hunger, Josh gave her an easy smile. His eyes burned a little brighter, the rise of desire in his warm scent impossible to miss.
“It’s okay,” he said, pulling her closer as he turned his face to the side, exposing the masculine line of his throat. “Take whatever you need.”
He wasn’t as tall as Ashe, but she still had to lift up on her tiptoes to reach him. Bracing her hands against his solid chest, she closed her eyes as she nuzzled his skin, her fangs pulsing as they lengthened. But as she drew in a deep breath, the warm scent filling her nose wasn’t…the right one. He smelled good, but not…not like Ashe. He didn’t smell like hers.
Like hers?
Ha! As if! A bitter sound erupted from her lips, that sharp burn of pain cutting deeper, and she reacted by sinking her fangs into Josh’s strong throat, his blood hitting her tongue in a smooth spill of heat.
“No…stop!” a voice shouted in her mind. “This isn’t right!”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, quickly sealing the small puncture wounds and pulling away. She was shaking so hard she could barely talk, but she slipped off his jacket and handed it back to him. “I’m sorry, Josh. Thank you…thank you for your offer. But I can’t do this.”
He lifted his hand, cupping her cheek as his pale gaze moved over her face, taking in each line of strain. “You look so sad, Jules. Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want to come and stay with my family?”
Tears burned at the backs of her eyes, roughening her voice. “Oh, Josh. That’s so sweet of you. But I can’t. It wouldn’t be fair to—”
Her words broke off into a scream as a fist suddenly shot over her shoulder, connecting with Josh’s face in a sickening crunch that knocked the vamp off his feet, sending him crashing back into one of the twinkling trees. With horrified eyes, she watched Ashe come around her side, stalking toward Josh’s prone body.
“Ashe, stop!” she yelled, realizing he must have caught her scent outside the club and followed it to the park. Reaching out and grabbing on tight to his arm, she yanked with all her strength, struggling to keep him from throwing another punch. “His sister was my best friend! Don’t hurt him!”
“I’m not gonna hurt him,” he snarled, trying to shake her off. “I’m just gonna beat the shit out of him.”
“No!” she shouted, shoving herself in front of him. “He didn’t do anything wrong!”
“He had his bloody hands on you!” he growled, glaring down at her with a molten, glittering look of fury.
“Then beat up on me,” she snapped, pushing against his chest. “But leave him out of it!”
“Beat up on…” Disgust washed over his angry expression. “I would never lay a finger on you, woman!”
His brows were drawn together in a scowl. “You know this guy?”
She responded with a tight nod. “He’s…with me. Helping me. Please, just go.”
“You gonna be okay?” he asked, his gaze shooting over her head at Ashe with obvious concern.
“I’ll be fine. Just go, Josh. And please, for your safety, don’t tell anyone that you’ve seen me.”
“I won’t,” he grunted, and she could see that he was afraid to leave her.
“I promise I’ll be okay, Josh. But I’m sor—”
“Don’t,” he said, holding up his hands. “It wasn’t your fault.” The glare he cut toward Ashe made it clear whose fault he thought it was. A muscle pulsed in his jaw, his gray eyes burning with anger, but he agreed with a nod, then turned and headed back down the path, picking up the jacket he’d dropped on the ground as he walked past it. Juliana waited until he’d disappeared from sight, then turned her gaze up to Ashe, the air all but sizzling with the violent emotions arcing between them.
She still had her hands fisted in the front of his sweater, her breaths coming in a hard, angry rush that was identical to his. He started stalking forward, backing her into the same tree that Josh had crashed against after that powerful punch.
“Are you screwing him?” he demanded in an awful voice, slamming his fist into the tree’s trunk just above her shoulder and splitting the skin across his knuckles. She blinked, staring at him in astonishment as the rich scent of his blood filled her head. His face was rigid, lips parted for the ragged breaths rushing from his chest. He wasn’t just mad, he was furious. Burning with rage.
“What’s wrong with you?” she whispered, releasing her hold on his sweater.
He started to say something, then looked from the deep imprint he’d made in the tree trunk, to his clenched, bloodied fist, and back to her face. His brows drew together in a deep line over his nose, his breaths coming faster as he asked, “Are you screwing him?”
Shock hit her so hard she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or tell him to go to hell. “Are you crazy? I’ve been in prison, Ashe.”
His hands clenched at his sides as he clearly struggled to control his temper. With a low sound in his throat, he turned and paced away from her, then cut her a sharp look over his broad shoulder, his muscles straining the seams of his sweater. “Did you sleep with him before your banishment?”
Juliana crossed her arms. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no.”
His voice got lower. “Did you let him touch you tonight?”
Fury narrowed her eyes. “You, of all people, have no right to ask me that.”
He turned toward her, his eyes burning like twin sparks of silver fire. “Either you answer the question, Juliana, or I go track his ass down and get it from him.”
“He held my hand!” she exploded, so angry she could have slapped him. “But that’s it!”
He stalked toward her again, his nostrils flaring as he pulled in a deep breath. “You’re lying,” he sneered. “I can smell him on you.”
“I’m not lying, you bastard.” She flung the words at him, each one biting and sharp. “It wasn’t sexual! He gave me blood!”
“Blood?” He bared his fangs, looking ready to kill. “You took from his vein?”
“Yes!” she hissed, tears of anger and frustration in her eyes as she glared up at his rugged face. She wanted so badly to hate him for what he was, but even more for what he wasn’t. Which was hers. “I thought you were getting a good meal from your little fuck buddy, so why shouldn’t I get the same?”
“She isn’t my fuck buddy,” he snarled, shoving the words through his clenched teeth.
A bitter laugh tore from her chest. “Are you saying that you’ve never slept with her?”
He cursed, pacing away again. “Once.” He cut her a sharp, dark look. “Once was enough. It was a few years ago. I never went back for seconds.”
“Well, bully for you.”
He pulled in another deep breath, and scrubbed his hands over his face a few times. A moment later, when he lowered them again and looked at her, Juliana was surprised to hear what sounded like a rough note of regret in his deep voice as he said, “All I did with Lacey tonight was talk.”
“Right.” Her snide tone made it clear she didn’t believe him.
“Why would I lie, damn it?”
“You had to take her into the club’s back room to talk? What’s back there, anyway? Whips and chains?”
“It’s just another bar,” he muttered, starting up that restless pacing again, “with more tables and no dance floor.” Rubbing at the back of his neck, he watched her from the corner of his eye. “And I went with her because I needed…I needed some space from you,” he ground out, the thick words sounding torn from inside him. “It was too much. Everything we talked about.”
Realization settled like a ghostly caress against her skin, and she trembled. “You mean you thought you’d use her to push me away,” she stated, wrapping her arms around her middle, as if she could somehow hold herself together.
He stopped pacing, hands braced on his hips as he stared at the ground. He didn’t deny what she’d said. Instead, he confirmed it. “I realized it was a dumbass idea before we even got into the back room,” he admitted in a low voice. And then, very slowly, his head lifted, that bright gaze locking with hers. “And what about you?” he asked. “You had no right going to that guy for blood.”
Juliana lifted her chin, refusing to feel guilty. “I can feed from whoever I damn well please.”
His eyes narrowed to dark, piercing slits. “If I’m going to be the man fucking you, then I’ll bloody well be the man feeding you.”
“No,” she argued, shaking her head. “That isn’t our deal. In fact, considering everything that’s happened, I think it’s safe to say that our deal is off!”
His jaw tightened as he came toward her, muscles flexing beneath his sweater with raw, predatory power. When he spoke, his voice was little more than a threatening rasp. “Keep pushing me, Jules. I dare you.”
She swallowed, torn between conflicting desires. On the one hand, she wanted to turn and run, unwilling to give him what he wanted. But on the other, she was dying to throw herself against him and claim every ounce of that hard, mouthwatering attitude for her own.
Before she could decide what to do, he got right in her face, looming over her, and said, “If you’re not taking from me, then you’ll continue to feed from the bagged blood Gideon brought us. Do you understand me?”
She was so angry she wouldn’t have been surprised if steam started pouring from her ears. “So I have to keep drinking cold blood while you get it fresh?”
Something in his eyes flickered, frustration molding every word out of his mouth. “I’ve been drinking bagged blood for months now. It won’t kill you.”
Her jaw dropped, but then she quickly shook off the reaction. “It’s a nice story,” she muttered, turning her face to the side. “But I’d be an idiot to believe you.”
“Damn it, look at me!” He took her chin between his forefinger and thumb, forcing her gaze back to his. “I didn’t fuck her!” he growled. “I didn’t even kiss her!”
“You just sucked on her neck, is that it?”