Chapter 11

After cleaning the already fairly tidy kitchen and then making sure the bathroom was as spotless as humanly possible, I turned to the bed Valen had slept in. I took a deep breath and then walked slowly over to the sleeping space. I resisted every urge to lift his sheets to my nose and take in a deep inhale of his scent. That would make me a creeper.

No matter how long I tried to drag it out, it still didn’t take me long to straighten up the bed. I left his belongings alone since that would have been an invasion of privacy. Instead, I backed away and then marched over to the couch before dropping down with a huff.

I was bored.

A loud, insistent banging jarred me hard enough to almost have me falling over the edge of the couch. Again. I swiped the hair out of my eyes and ran the back of my hand over my mouth, wiping away the small bit of moisture from the corners. I must have drifted off as I stared up at the ugly tiles on the ceiling that reminded me of an office building.

The sound of the knocking repeated, making my head swivel toward the direction of the smaller door next to the now closed cargo lift. I frowned as my heart sped up a little. No one should have been here, right? Valen promised that nobody knew where he lived. Or, I suppose, he didn’t actually live here. He made it sound as if he traveled a lot and didn’t stay in one place for long.

I sat up slowly, swinging my bare feet to the ground. On shaky legs, I took slow steps toward the door, trying to stay as quiet as possible. I had no idea who would have been banging on Valen’s door. I glanced over at the stove, seeing the time there on the small digital clock. He’d been gone a little over an hour. I must have only been asleep for a few minutes.

“Kallista, I know you’re in there.” A low, husky chuckle sounded from behind the metal door. “I can hear you.”

I frowned harder. I wasn’t sure if I should be more disturbed that Syn could hear me through a heavy steel door or that she had come back after Valen had told her to go away. I chose to stay silent.

“You probably heard the conversation earlier, right? I promise, I only have good intentions.” There was a long pause as if she were waiting for me to respond or perhaps open the door for her. A heavy sigh sounded before she began again. “Look, the vampires aren’t that bad, okay? They will treat you well, I promise. You caught their attention. After the havoc you caused last night, they want reparations. They want you, Kallie.”

I grimaced at the nickname I hated. Did she really think I was going to fall for that shit? And how the hell could she even begin to blame me for what had happened? Tiny died last night because one of those guys was a psychotic murderer. That was after he went insane at the smell and taste of my blood. None of that would have happened if those guys hadn’t acted like assholes. And she wanted to hand me over to them?

Her tone switched from cajoling as she tried to convince me to fall in line, offering myself up to the vampires. Suddenly, she was irritated.

“Valen’s a nice guy, right? He’s always been a real sweetheart under all that gruff exterior. It’s why I love him so much. I’ve been the closest person to him for almost three hundred years. I know that’s probably hard to imagine, but it’s true. He’s lived a very long life. We have that in common.” There was a brief pause. “What do you have in common with him?”

I looked down at my wrist, at the dark red brand there that matched his perfectly. I wanted to tell her that we were mates, that it was so much more than what she could ever hope to have with him, but instead of saying any of those things, I bit my lip hard enough to sting. She was goading me, trying to make me think there was more between her and Valen than just friendship. But maybe there was. He had never explicitly said they hadn’t been intimate together. He had just said they were friends.

I frowned as I went back over our conversations. What had he said about Syn, exactly? I shook my head. I didn’t believe for a minute he thought of her in the way she was implying. Nice try to get me to back away from him, though. That was the oldest trick in the book. She was trying to paint a picture that would make me doubt him. If I didn’t trust Valen enough to keep me safe, it would be the opportunity Syn needed for me to open the door. Syn would give me to the vampires without hesitation. However, I was sure her goal was more personal when it came to the sexy demon.

“What is the human lifespan, Kallie? Eighty years? Valen has been alive for longer than even I know. Thousands of years, girl. He sees you as nothing more than a small blip in his life. Of course, he’s trying to help you; it’s what he’s always done. It’s how we met all those years ago.”

There was the muffled sound of her heels clacking as she paced back and forth on the metal floor of the elevator outside the door. Suddenly, she hit the door one more time, making me jump with the force of it.

“Damn it, Kallista! I promised the vampires they could have you. If you don’t go to them, they are going to destroy my business. Do you want more deaths on your hands? All the girls working for me? You already caused Tiny to lose his life. What was it like to see him die right in front of you, knowing you could have prevented it?”

Tears pricked my eyes at her words. I hated the memory flashing through my mind of watching Tiny die. Of course, I didn’t want anyone else to die. But did that mean that I was responsible for their lives? I covered my ears with my hands and walked away, no longer caring if she heard my footsteps. I needed to think.

I walked to the bathroom and slammed the door behind me in a fit of anger. I leaned against the small counter, my hands against the edge, bracing me. As I stared into the mirror, I could see through my blurry vision that my eyes were switching from hazel to black, back and forth rapidly. I squeezed them shut and took several deep breaths as I tried to calm myself before I got out of control.

Without looking at myself again, I went straight to the small shower and turned on the spray. I stripped off the T-shirt quickly, dropping it unseeing to the floor, and stepped in without waiting to test the temperature. My heart was still hammering in my chest, but the beating of the water against my back was already starting to soothe my frayed nerves.

Last night, when I showered, it was merely to rinse away the blood and sweat from the attack. There hadn’t been any toiletries, so I wasn’t able to do much to actually cleanse myself. Now, as I glanced around the stall, I could see it was no longer empty. I picked up the black bottle resting on a shelf and grimaced at the label. I didn’t understand how men could use the stuff. An all-in-one shampoo, conditioner, and body wash seemed like a crime against nature. I didn’t have much of a choice, though.

I was already dreading the mess my hair was going to be later when I tried to finger comb it out. I thought of Valen’s gorgeous black hair and shook my head. Maybe if this stuff could keep his long hair looking so good, it wouldn’t destroy mine.

I sniffed the bottle, inhaling the fresh, manly scent, and decided it wasn’t all that bad. It wasn’t my usual fruity scent, but it smelled good. It smelled like Valen. I poured a generous amount into my palm and began to lather my hair before moving onto my body. It wasn’t until I was rinsed off and ready to get out that I realized I walked into the bathroom with no towel.

I turned off the tap and stood there for a long minute as I dripped, debating on what to do. I shivered as I looked down at the discarded tee and let out a long sigh. Without any other options, I picked the shirt up and patted my damp skin. It did little good as my dripping hair just proceeded to saturate me as quickly as I could pat myself down until the tee was as wet as I was.

“What a mess,” I muttered to myself as I cracked open the door. I held the tee tight to my breasts as I poked my head out. The large open space was as silent as a tomb, and no sound could be heard from the elevator door, so it seemed Syn had finally taken the hint and left. Remembering her instantly caused her caustic words to flood back in. I had to shake off the hurt and shame they caused me. It wasn’t my fault. None of this was my fault.

I walked on tiptoes over toward the bed in the corner, remembering how Valen had dropped his towel to the ground earlier, causing goosebumps of delight to replace the ones from the cold water, making my skin prickle. I spied the towel where I had folded it neatly, laying it on the end of the bed. I really should have hung it back up earlier.

I dropped the sodden T-shirt to the floor and reached out for the towel just as the cargo lift started a mechanical rumbling, lightly vibrating the floor under my feet. I stared with wide eyes at the door, frozen in shock. As the big metal door began to slide open, I squeaked in panic and snatched at the towel.

In seconds, the door was wide open, and Valen sat there straddling the big leather seat of his Harley-Davidson. He hadn’t looked up yet as I fumbled with the folded towel, but before I could get it straightened out and wrapped around me, he lifted his head. He sat staring for a long second as I held the crumpled terrycloth to my chest, doing very little to cover my nakedness. A sudden heat flared in his green eyes, making them grow darker as I swallowed convulsively.

He swung one leg over the side of his bike and stood to his full height. He reached into one of his saddlebags, retrieving something, and then slowly, one step at a time, he walked toward me. The distance between the lift and the corner of the loft where the bed was located seemed like a huge chasm, but he crossed to me in what felt like a blink of an eye as I stood frozen.

I felt the icy water dripping down my back, and in the silence between us, I could have sworn I heard it as the water plopped onto the concrete floor beneath my bare feet. The goosebumps that had been on my arms earlier spread to every inch of my body as I kept eye contact with Valen as he stalked closer. My chin lifted, accounting for our height difference, until my neck was bent back at an awkward angle.

He stood towering over me, staring down into my eyes without letting his gaze wander over my naked body. But there was no denying the desire that had flared to life when he first saw me and only grew with every step he had taken closer. I just knew that if he allowed himself, he would have touched me with his large hands and wouldn’t have stopped there. At that moment, every part of me wished he would. I could almost feel the brand on my wrist throbbing at his nearness and at the tension that was beating between us like a drum.

Then, without a word spoken between us, Valen dropped what he had been holding in his hand onto the bed and turned around. He began to walk away but paused. Without looking back at me, he snatched the towel from my trembling fingers, leaving me bare to the room, and moved toward the bathroom. His footsteps were much quicker, taking him across the room in a flash, and then the bathroom door was slammed shut.

I let out a frustrated groan as I heard the shower turn on. We were going to be taking a lot of showers if whatever was between us didn’t break. I glanced down at the bed to see what he dropped there and saw a bag with the name of a boutique I’d heard of but had never been inside. I’d known I could never afford anything from the upscale store, so I hadn’t bothered stepping inside.

I peeked inside the bag, and a smile spread over my face.