Bell, Book, and Sandals

by Melissa L. Webb

  Once again, I found myself at La Fem under the appreciative eyes of Harold Morgan. His arm looped through mine as soon as we made our way through the doorway.

  “There’s that special girl,” Harry cooed in my ear. “I hoped you would be back, though, I had expected you sooner.”

  I gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a little preoccupied lately.”

  His smile lessened at my words. “I bet you have.” Pulling away from me, he turned to Ryan, his huge, welcoming smile in place once again. “Your table is waiting for you. It’s set up just the way you asked.”

  “Thank you, Harry,” Ryan said softly as he gestured me to follow him.

  Harry shot me a troubled glance, but didn’t say anything as I followed Ryan back to the same room we were in on our first date. I was glad he didn’t ask what was wrong. There were too many emotions flooding me right now, at war with each other over which one was right.

  Saying I was done with Ryan was a lot easier when he wasn’t around. Now that I was with him, there were too many things wearing down my resolve. His smile. His charming personality. Who he was, or seemed to be, with me. These were things I just couldn’t ignore. I still loved him, God help me, I did. And I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to leave him, but I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t mess up my life anymore than I already had.

  I followed Ryan into the backroom and gasped. The room was once again empty. Candles flickered all around us, giving the room a soft, inviting glow. Bouquets of red roses sat on every table and petals lined the floor. A single silver rose waited at our table, a small card hanging off the vase.

  I took in the room, a tear sliding from the corner of my eye. “It’s beautiful.”

  “It’s all for you, sweetheart,” Ryan told me softly. “You deserve so much more than this. But…at least it’s a start.”

  I couldn’t believe it. No one had ever done anything like this for me before. Stephen’s idea of romance had been seriously lacking. The best he ever did was come home early from work with a bouquet of flowers his secretary had picked out. How lame is that? That should have been a warning to our future right there.

  But this…this was amazing. All of this was for me. Why did Ryan have to be so perfect?

  “I’ll leave you two for now,” Harry told us from the doorway. “Diner will be served shortly.” Giving me another smile, he disappeared from view, leaving us to our date.

  “Join me?” Ryan asked as he led me to our table, pulling the chair out for me. I couldn’t help the grin on my face as I slid into the chair. I meet the most perfect guy and he turns out to be a vampire. What does that really say about the world?

  Taking the card from the vase, I snuck a peek as Ryan took his seat across from me.

  A special rose for my special girl. I’m sorry.

  “I really am,” he said as he stared across the table at me, the sadness in his eyes plain to see. “I am so, so sorry. I should have told you. I wanted to tell you.”

  “Then why didn’t you?” I asked, pushing the vase to the side. But even as I spoke the words, I already knew the answer. There was no way he could.

  “I tried a million times, but something held me back each time,” he told me, taking one of my hands in his cool one. “I didn’t want…I couldn’t…You would have thought I was crazy. Or worse. You might have thought I was telling the truth and ran screaming for the door. I had to wait until you knew who I really was.”

  “I get why you didn’t,” I told him, and I did. Like I said, there was no way he could have told me when we first met. I wasn’t ready to hear it. But that didn’t change the position he had put me in by keeping it a secret. “But what am I supposed to do about it now?”

  He looked at me, the tension between us wearing heavily on his shoulders. “Forgive me. Love me. Let us rise above who we are so we can become who we’re meant to be.”

  It sounded so simple. Just let go of everything and be together. But I knew this life would never let go of us. “I do love you.”

  “Good,” he said, his smile coming back in full force. “And I love you. That’s all that matters.”

  I was silent for a moment, fighting the urge to throw myself into his arms, telling him I, too, believed that’s all that mattered. But deep down, I knew it didn’t and that was the problem. “I’ve been told vampires can’t be trusted,” I said softly. “Is that true?”

  The question took him by surprise. “Yes. Normally it’s true,” he admitted to me. I could tell it pained him to do so. “But,” he added quickly, “I’m not like other vampires.”

  I looked at him, knowing it didn’t really matter. “Are you like your father?”

  Words failed him at that moment. He looked down at the glass of champagne in front of him. His fingers tapped nervously against the stem. “You know about him?”

  “Yes.” He had really thought I wouldn’t find that out? Maybe he was too naive to be like his dad.

  “I’m not my father, Maxie,” he told me, looking me in the eye. “That’s why I left. That’s why I’m here in Hollywood squandering my life away, because I could never be my father.”

  Squandering his life, huh? I thought he was happy. Time for the million-dollar question. “Does your father know about me, Ryan?”

  He nodded quickly. “He knows all about the amazing Maxie Duncan, the girl who has stolen my heart.”

  Great. It was as we suspected. Richard Everheart knew I existed. Even if he wasn’t the one trying to kill me, my life had just gotten very, very complicated. “How?”

  “My father knows everything,” he said with a shrug. “He’s happy about it. He thinks you’re perfect for me.” He gave me another small smile. “And I do, too.”

  Darn it. This was exactly what I didn’t want. I had been approved by the Godfather of vampires. What was I going to do now?

  Ryan must have sensed the worry on me. He squeezed my hand gently. “It’s okay. He won’t interfere with our life together. He promised.”

  I grimaced as fear flooded my mouth. Yeah, and I’m the queen of Mars. This was bad. Very, very bad. “Ryan,” I said, taking my hand back from him. “I can’t do this.”

  He stared down at his empty hand and then back up at me. “Do what?”

  “I can’t be involved with your world. It wasn’t fair to drag me into it.”

  He eyed me carefully. “What are you saying, Maxie?”

  “I can’t be with you, Ryan.”

  Anger flooded his face, turning his eyes even paler blue. “You don’t want to be with me?” he repeated softly.

  “No. I can’t do this. I’m barely getting used to what I am. I can’t be thrown head first into the world of vampire politics.”

  He sat there, staring at me, his anger hitting me like a brick wall. “You said you loved me.”

  “And I do. That wasn’t a lie.”

  “Then how can you do this?”

  He was right. I was being heartless, but how could I be with someone who terrified me as much as he did right then? The monster in him was dangerously closed to the surface. If he was the good one, I’d hate to see his father on a bad day. “I’m sorry, Ryan.”

  Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, his anger lessening around me. “Please, Maxie. Don’t do this,” he said, looking at me once more. His eyes held so much sadness in them, I could barley hold his gaze. “We’ll run away. We’ll go some place where we never have to think about another vampire, let alone see one. I’d do that for you. I’d do anything for you.”

  That sounded good, perfect even. But I knew it was only a pipe dream. There wouldn’t be any place we could go that his father couldn’t find us if he wanted to.

  There was a noise behind me as servers started to bring in our food. I felt sick to my stomach just looking at it. This was definitely not the way I wanted our night to go.

  “P
lease,” Ryan said, pulling my attention away from the wait staff. “Give us a chance.”

  I shook my head. How fair was that to put me on the spot in front of everyone? It wasn’t going to work. I had to protect myself. “No, Ryan. I’m sorry.”

  Anger filled the room like a tidal wave. Ryan’s eyes turned white as he pulled his gaze away from me. It landed on the people around us. “Take the food away,” he told them calmly.

  I held my breath. Those words were too calm to come from the man in front of me. His emotions were a time bomb and I hoped no one would do anything to set him off.

  “But, sir…we were told to bring this out here,” one of the men carrying trays said.

  Uh, oh. Big mistake.

  Ryan was up and out of his chair faster than I could even blink. The tray of food went flying as he slammed the guy into the back wall, his fingers pressed into the flesh of the man’s throat. “I said take it away,” he hissed at him, his exposed fangs distorting the words.

  The wait staff wasted no time. The rest of them grabbed the food and ran from the room. The man watched his friends go, panic in his eyes. He was trapped and had no clue what Ryan would do to him.

  I didn’t even know what he would do to him. This was a Ryan I had never seen before. The Ryan I was afraid existed ever since I learned he was a vampire. My heart shuddered at the confirmation.

  “Ryan,’ I said, getting out of my chair. “Let the guy go, Ryan. He didn’t do anything.” I slowly moved next to him, placing a hand against his arm. “It’s me you’re angry with. Let him go.”

  Ryan turned his gaze on me, anger flaring even brighter. His fingers dug in the man’s throat harder, causing him to scream.

  “Ryan. Stop it,” I told him, praying he wouldn’t turn on me next. But I’d be ready for him.

  “I’d do what the lady says, son,” a voice spoke from the doorway.

  I spun around to find Harry standing there, sadness in his eyes as he watched Ryan.

  “You don’t want to do this. This isn’t you. You’re not your father,” he said to him, stepping up next to me. “Don’t undo everything you’ve worked for.”

  Ryan looked at him, then at me. His fingers relaxed, dropping the guy to the floor. “Go,” he said, stepping away from him. “And consider yourself lucky.”

  The man crawled past us, finding his feet at last, disappearing out the door.

  “Ryan,” I said, taking a step forward. This wasn’t what I wanted.

  “Give him some room,” Harry whispered, pulling me back. “Right now is not the time to push it.”

  Ryan turned and looked at us, his fangs gone and his eyes once again a sparkling blue. They trailed over my face, boring into the depths of my soul. “I love you, Maxie. I’m sorry for everything,” he spoke before turning away from us, then quickly disappearing from the room.

  I stood there, tears welling up in my eyes. Was it possible to break a vampire’s heart? Cause if it was, I was sure I just had.

  “Are you okay?” Harry asked me as I dabbed at my eyes.

  I couldn’t trust myself to form words at the moment, so I just shook my head. Nothing about this was okay. I turned America’s golden boy into a raging monster.

  “Ryan will be okay,” he assured me, patting my shoulder. “He’s stronger than even he knows.”

  I tried to collect myself as I stood there next to Harry. A thought occurred to me as I focused on his sympathetic face. This was Harry Morgan, owner of L.A.’s exclusive La Fem and Richard Everheart’s friend. And I just broke Ryan’s heart in front of him. If I hadn’t been in deep doo doo before, I was now.

  Harry seemed to know exactly where my thoughts were heading. He stepped closer, a conspiratorial smile crossing his lips. “Don’t worry. He won’t hear it from me. I may be an acquaintance of the family, but I’m loyal to my own kind, not there’s.”

  Loyal to his own kind? But that would mean… “You’re a…”

  “Witch,” he finished for me. “And I saw how special you were the first time I laid eyes on you.”

  I glanced over at the open doorway Ryan had disappeared through. “Did I do the right thing?”

  Harry was quiet for a moment. “Ryan’s different from any vampire I have ever known. He truly loves you, I can tell,” he told me sincerely. “I think you’re good for him. He hasn’t been this happy in years, but…that doesn’t mean he’s good for you.” He patted me on the arm again, looking every bit like a concerned uncle at that moment. “You’re meant for greater things than their petty wars. I think you made the right choice for you. If the vampire’s had their way, they’d drain every last drop of goodness from you. You’d be wise to remember that.”

  I stared at him, at a loss for words. Harry was condoning what I did. He was their friend and he thought I should get out. Ryan’s father must be a lot worse than I’d ever imagined. I had done the right thing even if it didn’t feel like it. I had to watch out for me.

  “You’ve had a rough night. Sit. I’ll call you a cab,” Harry said before heading out of the room. “And when you feel better, come back and see me. I think I can make this journey of yours a lot easier.”

  Thirty Two