by Mandy Rosko
He came and handed them to her. She reached her good arm out and took them, like she would take an infant, sniffed the buds, and held them protectively close.
"I can't imagine why,” he said. He really couldn’t. “Your arm looks better."
Understatement.
She sniffed the flowers again and stroked a few petals between her healing fingers. "Vampires and plants don't do so well. They die because we can't give them the sun unless we plant them outside. But I like them anyway." She set the bouquet on her bed. It chilled him the way she did it. It reminded him of how someone might set flowers on the bed of a person who'd recently died.
"As for my arm," she continued, shifting the arm in question enough to show him that it worked. "Vampires are excellent healers, as you must know by now."
He figured as much. "I came to ask a question."
"Shoot." She took a seat on the edge of her bed next to her flowers. Despite her spotted hospital gown and the place they were in, it was like watching lady take seat and invite a guest to tea. "I've got nothing better to do except read old magazines and books that the other patients leave me."
He got straight to the point, even then feeling the pull of Jackie’s heartbreak tugging at the inside of his chest. "There may not be a connection, but if there were I figured I could trust you to be honest with me since you're the only other vampire I really know." And he knew almost nothing about her, which was an indicator of how badly he wanted the answer.
"I can feel Jackie's emotions. It's like cold water rolling off her and splashing me in the face, it's vivid and real, and it's how I knew to go to the store the night you two were attacked. This has never happened to me with anyone else and I'm positive it has something to do with my curse. I need you to tell me if that means anything."
He watched her face, her eyes becoming hard as she calculated him and what to tell him.
“Basically,” she started with a sigh. “You’re her perfect match.”
THIRTEEN
Kyle came back for her just before the sun came up.
Jackie couldn't summon the energy to be mad at him for dumping her there, or the extra emotion to be sad when she grabbed her bag of things, and on the way out saw that her mother had still not come out of bed.
Patty was an early riser. Jackie was being avoided by her own mother.
She didn't bother trying to disguise these emotions as she allowed Kyle to put his hand on the small of her back and lead her out of the quiet house. The door clicking shut behind them with a finality Jackie couldn’t stomach.
She would have wanted Kyle to hold her, comfort her, but he smelled like something that died.
A cab waited for them, and inside the back seat was a brown paper bag of what smelled like coffee and pastries. Next to it sat a bundle of bright red roses.
She slid inside wordlessly, shoving her duffel bag on the floor. When the car started to move Kyle took the roses by their wrapped stems and handed them to her.
"You look like you could use these." She felt a swell of emotion for him in her chest and inhaled deeply. Even the weird smell coming off him couldn’t ruin the gifts.
“I was in the morgue today.” Kyle said. “That’s where Carter took me, and, as you must have noticed, that’s why I smell like this.”
She nodded dumbly. He could’ve told her he was in the garbage dump in the land of Oz and she wouldn’t have blinked an eye. “I didn’t know morgues smelled like that.”
When he pulled a large coffee out of the bag and began tearing sugars packs and pouring them in two at a time she wanted to cry, simply because he remembered.
“Just make sure that if you ever visit one, you take the mask,” he said with a light chuckle.
He handed her the cup and she inhaled the scent gratefully, thanking Heaven she didn't have to work until her mother finished the repairs to the shop. She could go home, enjoy her coffee, and let everything slide away while she relaxed.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. I have some good news for you."
She looked up at him. He'd been watching her carefully. She decided not to make anything of it, she probably looked like crap after the horrible sleep she had, and he was likely wondering what was going on with her emotions. "What is it?"
He stared ahead, speaking as though the driver couldn’t hear a word of their conversation. "Carter thinks the attack on you and your friend wasn't personal."
She blinked and rubbed some sleep from her eyes, not quite comprehending. "It might be just me, but I tend to think of any attempt on my life as personal."
His lips twitched. "Let me rephrase that. When I took you to your mother's last night it was because another store was attacked, burned down this time. So far the only connection between your mother's store and the one from last was that they both sold blood to vampires."
Jackie's eyes focused a lot faster now, and she was no longer tired. "So this is just someone who really hates vampires?"
He nodded. "The fact that you're good friends with a vampire, and that you’re helping me, probably doesn't help."
The fact that I'm falling for you doesn't help either. Jackie choked on the hot coffee she sipped when the thought entered her head.
"Are you okay?"
Despite the fact that he sat a little closer and straighter to make sure she wasn't choking, his little satisfied smirk was not lost on her.
He couldn’t read her thoughts, just her emotions, but he obviously knew the jolt of what she felt involved him. Now would be a good time to start keeping a lid on her emotions before she let anything else slip.
"Fine. I’m fine. Just swallowed the wrong way." Was she crazy? She couldn’t let this happen. He didn’t feel the same way and he wasn’t even going to be sticking around long enough for anything to happen between them.
"Hmm," he said.
She cleared her throat and felt the soft petals of her roses with her fingertips. Actually, was it possible he did feel something for her? "Why the flowers?"
"I got them from the hospital after I saw your friend, figured you could use some flowers too."
He answered her question without answering it.
The cab dropped them off at her building. Kyle paid the driver and they were walking towards the door, both silent, then he said. "I figured I should get something nice for the woman who's my match."
She dropped her roses and keys in the middle of trying to unlock the door. Sharp panic attacked her heart and she felt like she was falling. Kyle picked up the dropped flowers and keys and opened the door for her.
"Coming?" He called when he entered the building and she didn't follow.
Finally she got her feet working; he kept walking up the stairs to her apartment, not looking back at her. She watched him stop in front of her door and unlock it, holding her roses and the bag of breakfast in one hand while opening the door with the other. He stepped inside, removed his shoes at the door and placed the items on the table.
She couldn't help but think that he already belonged with her, in this apartment. The image of a live-in boyfriend certainly fit.
When the door was safely shut behind her he grabbed her shoulder. She jumped a bit but there was no anger in his eyes or tightening in his face. “Stay here a sec.”
She did as she was told, not understanding why she had to or why he moved in and out of all the rooms. She heard him opening and closing her dresser drawers and other pieces of heavy furniture in her room.
“What are you doing?” She called.
He came back out and peered under the kitchen table, she then understood what he was doing before he said anything.
“Making sure no one came in here while we were gone and left a little something for you. No sign of forced entry on your door, no scratches at the windows, and so far I’m not finding anything hidden.”
Her cheeks colored and she pressed herself a little closer to the door. “You’re checking for bombs?”
“Anything really.” He
pulled a chair away from the table to stand on and even looked inside the glass bowl on the ceiling that held her light bulbs.
He glanced down at where she pressed herself into the door, ready to run at the first sign. “Don’t look so tense, I didn’t find anything,” he said, getting down from the chair and returning it to its proper place.
“But you think something might be here.” It wasn’t a question.
“It’s just a precaution. If you ever see anything out of the ordinary you might want to tell me, no matter how small it might seem.”
She nodded, torn between dreading an argument with him about hiding the strange bond they shared, and the possibility of being attacked in her own apartment.
They stared silently at each other. Actually, did he purposely change the subject on her?
She could see the gears in his head turning, trying to find the right words. Maybe he wasn’t looking forward to this either.
She couldn’t even look him in the eyes, and she shifted her eyes to the floor.
Instead of speaking to her, Kyle moved like a man confined to a train track towards the bathroom.
Somehow, that was much worse than an argument.
She heard the spray of shower water running in seconds and took a seat in the living room to wait for him. Her hands turned into fists on her knees as she ran over and over what she was going to say when he came out.
Was he doing this to prolong her torture?
He walked out with only a damp towel hanging limply over his narrow hips, his arm raised to dry out his hair with another, and she had a perfect view of his chest.
Yup, he definitely took the shower to torture her.
She didn’t get out of her chair, just watched him walk around wet and barefoot in her kitchen.
“I’m going to have to burn my clothes.”
Oh right, the smell on his clothes.
He looked into her eyes, looked through her, transfixing her with his steady stare. That weird smell on him earlier vanished from her thoughts. His face was still wet, a single drop of water breaking away from his dark brow to roll down the side of his nose, cheek, then finally touching his lips where he licked it away.
She shook herself. Jesus that was something. He wasn’t a vamp until the sun went down, but she couldn’t ignore the pull she felt when he looked at her like that.
She forced herself to remember the real matter at hand. "Do you still want to know about the matched thing?"
He leaned against the plain table in her plain kitchen; his arms crossed while his eyes held onto hers. There was no anger there, only curiosity. "Yes. Because knowing you can feel what I'm feeling would have been nice, I would have been able to keep some control over myself."
"You can feel my emotions, I can’t feel yours." Not entirely, anyway.
He approached her, slow and purposefully. She didn't allow herself to get up and step back. "Apparently you know when I have certain … thoughts about you." He ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek. Her eyes snapped back to his as her flesh prickled, warmed by his nearness and breath on her face. "I'd say you could feel a few things that I did."
She shivered and anger took over. She slapped his hand away, and he allowed it but didn't step back. He knew everything now. Not only that they were matched, but that every emotional stress he’d felt since meeting her came from her. She thought about how she cried last night after her argument with her mother and sister, and Jackie hid her face in her hands.
How could she not have seen it coming? Kyle obviously put it together and now knew about her messed up emotions involving her family. It was probably the only reason he didn’t blow up on her for hiding their match.
"Did Evey help you?”
"Does it matter? Right now we're talking about why you’d hide something like this from me."
She exploded on him. "Because it doesn't make a difference! Just because we're matched doesn't make us meant to be or anything!"
"I think it does."
He was so calm she wanted to punch him. He all but said he wanted her without any heart in his voice. "Maybe I kept this from you because I don’t want other people knowing about my family problems. What do you know about how things work here anyway? You aren't even a real vampire and you don’t have the right to go poking into my life." She was stabbing her finger into his chest by the time she finished.
He leaned forward until his nose was a hair's breadth away from hers, rage boiling just under his surface. "What do I know? I'll show you what I know." He grabbed her by the face and smashed his mouth against hers.
She let out a tiny shriek and jumped. He used this move to his advantage and pushed her down onto her couch where they crashed together. She gasped, and using this advantage, he slipped his tongue in her mouth, pushing inside until she pushed back. Her hands stopped trying to push him away at the shoulders, and instead, pulled him against her body, which was rapidly increasing in interest.
He settled between her thighs, the little towel around his waist wasn’t enough to disguise the firmness she felt there. Her body throbbed in want.
He must’ve sensed this, because the second she began doing that he pulled away, still holding her body trapped, he rasped. "Don't tell me I don't know anything about this.”
The hard pressure between her legs didn’t vanish at his words. "You're in lust." She felt strange saying it. No one had ever been in lust with her before, especially not so early in the morning when she didn't have on make-up.
He smirked, grinding himself against her, and they both gasped. "Figured that out, did you?"
She put all of her weight into shoving him away and slapping his shoulders until he grabbed her wrists and put a stop to her feeble attack. She blew the loose hairs out of her face. "Get off me."
"No."
"I'll scream. Mrs. Harlen will hear and she'll call Mike."
He looked down at her, measuring her words. "I don't believe you. You're just scared that someone might actually want to be with you."
"Mike wants to be with me." She snapped, not sure if the comment was below the belt or not considering their positions, but it was the truth.
Kyle trailed his lips along her jaw. "I meant someone you actually wanted to be with, too. I’m tired of holding back just because of some promise I made to myself in New York. You’re not a client and you’re nothing like your sister. You’re better. And I want you."
Her blood ran hot, in a way that was delicious to every area of her body. Her wrists went slack in his grip and her heart pounded. He didn't put his lips anywhere other than her face, but it still felt good.
Abruptly, he got off of her and all she could do was lay there and stare at his back as he moved towards the table and opened the coffee bag, taking out his bagel.
"What are you doing?" She couldn't stop the question blurting out or the rising feeling of being the stupidest girl on the planet.
"Eating," he said, sitting down and pushing her chair out for her. "If you want to talk about us then I'll listen."
She stayed where she was, twisting until she was on her stomach. "There is no us." It was the truth. There wasn’t. He admitted to wanting her but not once did he mention anything about caring for her.
He took a bite of his bagel and leaned back in his chair, the towel slipping farther down his waist at the movement. Jackie’s body hummed in every place she had, pulsed like a violent drum in the sensitive areas. If he was going to keep twisting her around in circles like this then she’d be better off if he left so she could take care of the throbbing herself.
Of course, he could do that for her too. But he didn’t love her. He just wanted sex. Just like all the others, and when he couldn’t get it from her he’d find it somewhere else.
He looked at her, and she became very aware of the fact that she hadn't even changed out of her pajamas, which were even more rumpled than normal because of his wandering, rough hands.
"There will be an us," he said, going back to his bagel.
This time her blood boiled with rage. She stomped to her chair and sat down. "Sure of yourself, huh? What if I don’t care about this match thing? What if I don’t care about that stupid vow you made in New York and don’t want to have sex with you just because I don’t frigging feel like having sex? You’re going to leave when this is all over anyway."
He shrugged and she wondered if he heard her. "As of today that doesn't matter anymore. As soon as Carter confirms that the store was the target and not the owner or the people inside, you'll hardly need me around, will you?"
She hated these circular conversations. "But you'll stick around anyway."
"That's precisely right, Gorgeous." He leaned comfortably back against the chair, his arms dangling behind him. “This place is growing on me. Maybe I’ll find work here. Set up my own agency.”
She pouted at him and shoved her hand into the brown bag, finding a blueberry muffin and another bagel. She took the muffin.
She thought she was safe but he wasn't finished prodding. "You need to stand up to your mother."
Jackie just about choked the second time that day. "What?"
"Your mother. There wasn't any favoritism in my family but if there was it'd probably hurt like Hell. Why don’t you say something?"
Jackie clenched her fists on the table. It was none of his business. None of his damn business. Match or not.
"You look like you're about to pop," he said, ripping a piece of buttered bagel off and tossing it into his mouth.
She hissed between clenched teeth. "I probably will."
Kyle actually had the nerve to laugh. "You make it out as if your problems are some kind of secret. Everyone in town knows them."
Raw magic pulsed out of her. The muffin in her hand exploded in a shower of blueberry filling and crumbs that rained down on their heads. Jackie stood so quickly her chair knocked over and stomped to her room before slamming the door.
***
"Idiot." Kyle shook his head at himself, wondering which had angered her the most, the nosy questions or when he laughed at her problems.