Cash reading my mind stood from the bed and came to stand beside me. "You kind of razored my back." I turned him so I could see, assuming the marks would be gone by now, I could see the deep red streaks. He was slowly healing because I had drained him.
"Did I hurt you?" I asked my voice barely a whisper. “You need to feed Cash.”
He laughed and pulled me close. "Only when I asked you to Princess. I promise I enjoyed it." He kissed my lips softly. “I’ll get some blood from the fridge.”
"The things I said to you, about your dick....." I couldn’t finish because I was so ashamed.
He only laughed again. "I redeemed myself don’t worry, you made sure everyone in the house knew how hard I was."
Mortified I fell back down on the bed and buried my face in the pillows to cry. Cash sat down beside me and stoked my back. "He will forgive you Princess."
I knew he was talking about Preacher and I turned to look at him. "I need to see him."
He nodded and reached for a pair of work out pants. Pulling them on he reached for a grey T shirt. "Come down when you’re ready." He leaned down and kissed me. "I love you." He said against my lips. I wished that were enough, that it was all I needed to live. Only then would I know everything was ok.
Cash left the room and I tried to remember what I said exactly to Preacher, I replayed it over and over looking for a loop hole, praying he deserved it. He didn’t. I was so awful and knowing I had to face him was killing me. Not one to back down I showered and got ready. I slapped on some mascara and blush and my favorite clear lip gloss. I put my hair in a twisted knot atop of my head and threw on a hoodie and jeans with my moccasin boots.
The minute I left the room I could hear Preacher and Leushus talking and laughing with Cash and I hoped like hell they weren’t making fun of me. Another voice I didn’t recognize had me wondering. Then I faintly recalled another guy with Leushus, Bastian I think. He was a werewolf, or the werewolf if I heard right. God help me did I try and get him to fuck me too?
I walked in the kitchen and silence fell. Cash sat Next to Preacher, his I'm with stupid mug pointing in Preachers direction. Preacher and his stolen Denny's mug in hand didn’t look up to greet me. It was a first. I wanted to cry because my favorite part of the day was Preacher saying, 'Good evening Cookie'. Would I ever hear it again?
Leushus smiled the second he seen me and stood to give me a hug. "Hello London, good to see you." His manners were impeccable. He acted like I didn’t try and rape him last night and somehow it made it worse.
"Whatever Leushus. Why are you here?" I asked my tone bitter but he just laughed.
"Only you would use that tone with me London, and it's fair to say only you could get away with it." It was true. Leushus liked me, he always said I was funny and a fire cracker.
I looked at Bastian who sat quietly Next to Leushus. "Hi, I'm London, the girl who tried to fuck you last night." With that the tension died and everyone started laughing.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the guy who rocked myself to sleep in fear you would come back." He said and I liked him immediately. I took a seat on Cash's lap and reached for the sugar and cream for my coffee. Looking at Preacher I feared my own hands. "Morning Preach." I said and tussled his hair.
He said nothing and stood, taking his Denny's mug he walked out of the room.
I stood to follow him but Cash gripped my hips. "Give him some space Princess."
Those words broke my heart. I sat silently stirring my coffee but I was raging inside. Two months, I had a best friend for two whole months and true to form I fucked it all up.
*
Chapter Twenty One
London
They guys talked for a few hours about the guy Simon in the basement. In all the embarrassment I had forgotten about him being alive in the house. Cash assured me he wouldn’t be wasting space much longer and I was glad. This Nex was so excited last night, so ready to fuck me and use me. He didn’t care for anything or anyone and his death would seriously improve the world.
I went into the living room to watch TV while the men puffed their chest and thought strategy. Normally I would demand I be included but I was giving Preacher his space, even though it killed me. I hated space, I hated people who did things their way, not my way and my way was badgering Preacher until he forgave me. It wouldn’t have worked and so I sat tight, biting my nails and wishing for a miracle.
My nerves finally got the best of me and I decided to go work out. Stepping into Cash's den I stayed in the doorway, iPod in hand. "Cash?" I asked interrupting.
He looked at me; I could see the smile in his eyes and felt that tug of happiness that he still loved me. "Is it safe to go down and work out? With Simon I mean?" I could be as edgy as a crack whore without a fix and still wouldn’t risk going near that fucker without making sure I was safe.
"Yeah Princess, he's paralyzed right now."
That got my attention. "Paralyzed? How?"
"Strapped to a chair with small dose of silver running through his veins, even if he got free he would be in too much pain to hurt anyone."
“Silver? I thought that was considered cheating?" I asked referring to the small vial he gave me on our way to Cally's Bar in New Mexico. It seemed ages ago now.
He smiled a devious grin. "It is if I killed him with it. It's fair when it's simple torture."
I had a moment of humanity and mercy strike then I replayed last night’s events and his eagerness to use me to his will and it all disappeared. "Okay." I said and headed for the gym.
*
Cash
"Here’s what we got from him last night while you were...uh...busy." Bastian said. I knew what he meant and I couldn’t forget soon enough. I was happy that these guys had class and didn’t make jokes about my flaccidity but I knew they were dying to. They were guys and I would have had a thousand jokes itching to get out if the situations were reversed.
"He says he doesn’t know the suppliers name but that he is meeting with him at the end of the month for a larger supply." Bastian took a seat in a nearby chair and crossed one leg over the other. "This Conlin guy is careful. He's making sure the drug go's in the right hands and he's taking his time. It's merely a test right now. He functions like every dealer known to the world. He sends out samples, gets people hooked and interested, then jacks the price and distributes in mass quantities. The minute word gets out on Bliss; there won’t be a woman safe on this earth short of hiding under a rock."
Bastian’s words chilled me to the bone, I seen up front what happens with this drug. "Bliss is more than an Infatuation blocker. She had no free will. I could have told her to jump off a bridge and she would have. She didn’t know what she wanted outside of sex." I scrubbed my hands over my face. "Let alone the comedown. After she had my blood it took hours for the fever to break and she was in pain, awful pain Leush." I said pointedly. I didn’t want jokes I wanted answers and I feared that by telling them they would crack jokes.
But like before they had more class than that and I could feel the tension coming off both of them as I spoke of its affects. "Did she say anything about what she was feeling?" Bastian asked.
"Just that it burnt, bad. Every time I touched her she would come but cry because it seemed to make it worse if I kept going. Then I'd stop and she'd thrash around the bed. Let alone, I had given her a few ounces of my blood before we even went to doubt, just to protect her while we were there." The Next thought chilled me. "If I hadn’t, I don’t know how bad it could have been."
"How much blood did she take last night after I left the room?" Leushus asked. I could see his concern and I was glad. Seemed my girl was loved by many and hated only by cocksuckers.
"I don’t know, a lot. I had to reopen the wound to feed her time and time again. Once she was back mentally she just cried, she was scared and blushing and normal signs of London but she was a savage." I remembered her attacking my back and though the sex last night was tainted I enjoyed her nails biting into me and I
was damn sure to keep that to myself.
I could see the strain on Leushus and Bastian and I felt it the same as them. We wanted answers and I was aching to kill Simon. But I needed him to get to Conlin. The end of the month was coming up. "Hey did he say where he was going to meet Conlin, or whoever the supplier was?" I asked and I knew Leushus picked up on where I was going with this.
"Yeah." Bastian said and wiped out his palm pilot. "Bar at the top of the PALMS Hotel."
"Looks like we're going out tonight." Leushus said and I nodded.
"Looks like it." I said and smiled before heading down to the prison to look for Preacher.
*
London
I had grown so accustomed to my Vampires that I knew when one of them was close. Turning around I saw Preacher standing in the doorway. Smiling I pulled the skull candy from my ears. I could hear Lady Gaga singing and paused the song. Breathless from my run I rested my hands on my knees and looked at him. "Hey."
He made no move to come in the gym and I said nothing. I waited, my stomach in my throat, I waited for him to speak. "I don’t hate you London." He said but stayed still as stone. The fact he called me London, when I don’t think he ever has in all the time I've known him, it spoke volumes.
"I'm glad because I would never hurt you." I said standing strait and rolling the damp towel in my hands and through my fingers. I was so nervous about where this was going.
"I know that." He said. He made a move like he wanted to come in but remained still.
"Good." I said and nodded. I was glad he was talking to me but feared it wasn’t going well.
"See, what you said. You were right." He finally stepped into the room but kept his distance from me. "I have held on to my Emigen for too long-"
..."Preacher I had no right."
He held his hand up, Vampire for Shut the fuck up. I did.
"I held on for so long I have kept myself at arm’s length from any woman. Last night when you looked at me you saw what I refused to."
He stopped for a few seconds as if gathering his thoughts. "It hurt, but I needed to hear it. She is dead and I will never see her again unless God shows me mercy. I however am still here and I can’t pretend I'm not lonely, because I am." I saw it then, saw the weight he carried for almost a century lift. He looked tired, and I wanted so desperately to hold him.
"Preacher how long has it been?" He knew what I asked.
He looked at me then and I knew what he was feeling. He felt transparent and exposed. It was an awful feeling. "The week I was turned... I went out the second I was free. The change makes you pretty.... yeah so it's been almost a century."
"Jesus." I said under my breath but he heard me. That long without contact of a lover, that long without affection and passion. It broke my heart. I stepped towards him and didn’t care if he wanted space. He was hurting and ashamed and I wouldn’t let him feel it alone. "Preacher." I said my voice soft. I called on the same advice he gave me once. "Let it go now, all of it. Let it go."
I opened my arms letting him know I was there if he needed me. I didn’t expect him to accept my embrace, but when he did I held my friend and promised him I would always be there for him.
*
Chapter Twenty Two
London
I was on house arrest. No longer willing to fight with Cash I accepted but not without a fight. He pointed out my antics last week from Bliss and I didn’t have an argument. Now every night I stayed home with a babysitter. Sometimes it was Preacher; sometimes it was Leushus or Bastian but never Cash. He had a personal vendetta against Conlin and refused to stay home. Like I didn’t? Can you say double standard?
Tonight I was with a new guy. This should be fun. Cash was still getting ready for his night at the sky bar in PALMS. Jealously I watched him get ready for the night. I sat on the counter next to him feeling sorry for myself. “You know you don’t need to make yourself that appealing. It’s like your rubbing it in.”
"Don’t pout Princess; I hear it gives you wrinkles."
I scowled at him through the mirror but he only smiled. "That’s why some genius in the beauty industry invented Oil of Olay."
He laughed and leaned in to kiss me. Those kisses still melted me. Usually I was bored with a guy in a week or two but Cash had been mine for three whole months and I had no desire to ever be away from him. "You know if you would stay and babysit I could make it worth your while." I opened my legs and slipped a finger under my boy cut cotton panties and watched as his fangs elongated.
He dropped the towel he was wiping his hands on and stepped between my legs. In that moment he was the sexiest thing I had ever seen. He was shirtless and every hard line of his chest was on display. His jeans were unbuttoned and half zipped, his feet bare. I let my fingertips play down his arms, over his tattoos until I reached his wrists. "Stay..." I breathed and leaned in for a kiss.
He moaned and kissed me, giving me just enough to make me moan and pull him closer. He leaned his forehead against mine and looked down between our bodies. "Touch yourself again." He said and made a guttural sound as I dipped a finger under the band of my panties.
He slipped a hand under the white tank top I was wearing and went for my breast. He trailed his fingers under the top of my mound, grazing my rib cage and making me ache for a real touch. He let his head fall and nuzzled in my neck letting his fangs scrape my collar bone. The tips of his mo hawk tickled below my ear and I laughed when my arms covered in gooseflesh.
I dipped my finger deep into my pussy and pumped my hand a few times. I moved my finger back out and looked at it glistening from being inside of me. Knowing I was so close to making him crack I slid my finger over his lips, then leaned in to kiss him, tasting myself on his mouth.
He sat his palms on the counter beside my hips and looked at me. "You’re in dangerous territory Princess." His voice sounded on edge but I knew what edge he was teetering on and it was right where I wanted him.
"So are you. Leaving me wet and ready so you can go piss and moan at the bar all night." I lifted my shirt and slipped it over my head, letting my hair fall and splay over my breasts just how he liked. "When you could be here with me, inside of me, doing all sorts of nasty creative things to my body."
I tucked my thumbs into the band of my panties and shifted so I could pull them off. "Did you know I did a little gymnastics as a teen?" I asked and placed the heel of my foot on the counter next to my hip, then did the same thing with the other foot. Completely open to him I rested my hands on the counter Next to his.
He hissed the second he looked down and saw how open I was, right in front of him, naked and wet. "So what you’re saying is, if I stay in tonight I get to bend you in all sorts of positions and fuck that pretty pussy all I want?" He used his knuckles then to slide them between my clit. I arched and bit my lip.
"Mmm Hmmm."
He rolled his neck and pinched his knuckles together making me want to crack in half. "And if I don’t?"
I dropped my feet and crossed my legs, his hand still between the lips of my pussy we both moaned. His was from agony mine was because it felt so good trapping him between my thighs. "Then I finger myself and go to bed early and alone."
He dropped to his knees. "Let me in Princess." There was no candor in his voice. He was a man on a mission and I was his target. Looking down on him from this angle, his cross tattoo looked like a checkpoint letting me know he was right where I wanted him to be all night.
"Stay with me tonight Cash please...." I knew he loved when I begged and this whole scene was getting hotter by the second. I so was ready to beg.
He lifted one of my legs by the ankle and placed soft kisses, trailing up towards my thigh. I could see the fight he wanted to give me and I had to be careful to not push. I let my leg fall open as he placed it over his shoulder. "I have to taste you." He said and looked at me through his dark lashes. I felt the slip of his tongue as he parted my slit. Needing him to not stop I sighed and gasped when he found my
clit. Each breath I took I undid him. He lifted my other leg and placed it on his other shoulder, then got serious. "If I stayed, wouldn’t this waste all the fun you have planned?"
That confused me. "What fun?"
He laughed and slipped a finger inside of me, then another. Sucking my clit in his mouth I asked again. "What did you mean...Oh yes right there!"
We didn’t talk any more. I couldn’t and even if I could I wasn’t about to make him stop so he could answer me. With each flick of his tongue he brought me closer to that blissful place, the one where I scream his name and beg him to fuck me.
Bliss (The Custos) Page 17