Chapter 25

TWENTY-FIVE

INDI

"You can't just walk into The Emerald and go wherever you want," I whisper-shouted as I hurried to keep up with him.

When Will asked me to go somewhere and talk, I didn't think it meant sneaking into the building that housed the Prescott Tech offices. Not to mention this was where the angels lived and operated. It was basically headquarters for all things non-human. I didn't think we were allowed to be here.

"I'm not." He shrugged. "Not exactly."

We walked down a long hall with multiple doors. It reminded me of an upscale hotel with black marble floors and dark walls. Will stopped at one door and held his phone to the lock. The lock clicked and Will pushed the door open.

"Lexington keeps a room here for me if I'm passing through. I've been staying here for a few days, so I figured this would be a perfect place."

I sauntered past him and walked into the room. Though it was a hotel room, it was more upscale than anything I'd been in before. There was a four-poster king-sized bed that sat against the wall. The room was wide and spacious. It didn't feel like a typical tight hotel room. This one was more like someplace a person could settle into. While the floors were a dark wooden color, there was a plush area rug that sat under the bed and spread through some of the room. To my left was a seating area over by the window with two armchairs and a small table between them. To my right was a huge flat-screen TV.

"Nice."

He let the door fall shut behind him. "It is."

I walked over to the window and gazed out over Columbus circle and Central Park. Moonlight trickled over all the leaves as they moved with the breeze.

I spun around to face him. "What the hell is going on, Will? Have you been lying to me the whole time?" I couldn't believe he was Liam. It all felt too coincidental to be real. "Was this some sick, twisted game of yours to trick me into getting back with you? A five-year scam?"

His cheeks flushed with anger. "Why would I do something like that?"

"To get me back!"

His eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? Are you seriously suggesting this?"

"Of course I am. How can I not think this? It's a natural thought progression. I mean, come on, Indi . . . Andi. They're pretty close, don't you think? One damn letter!"

"They're entirely different names!"

"You know Andi had a sister named Torrey who she practically raised since birth. You knew Indi had a sister named Torren who she practically raised since birth. You can't possibly expect me to believe you didn't put two and two together?"

He opened his mouth, then shut it. Then he cursed and shoved his hands into his hair. "SHIT."

I gasped and stepped backwards. " So you DID know? "

"NO, of course not, Indi!" He tugged on his hair. "You know, it's really easy to put all these pieces together in hindsight . . . when you've got them all lined up nice and pretty."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When we were together, your sister Torren was fifteen and I'd never met her. OH—" he snapped his fingers excitedly, "and . . . and . . . and you referred to her as Toto , as in the dog from Wizard of Oz. It was your inside joke, remember? I never heard you even call her Torren when we were together after that first conversation about her."

My eyes widened. How did I forget about her nickname Toto?

"And if you remember correctly, Andi , it took over a year of us being friends before you ever told me a single thing remotely personal about you, and it wasn't your sister's name." He took a step forward. "Okay!? Okay? Thank you. So back off with that. Not to mention, I didn't meet Torren until last Christmas. That was nine years after we broke up. It's really unfair to assume some malicious intent just because I didn't make the connection between Torrey and Torren. Those aren't exactly rare names either."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.

"I hate to break it to you but I'm not in the habit of stalking my ex-girlfriends. I may be head over heels in love with you, but that's an attack on my character." He glared and pointed a finger at me. "And for you to think I would . . . that hurts."

"It was a logical conclusion to reach?—"

"Oh, check your ego at the damned door, Indi. And don't come at me about being a woman out in the dangerous world." He slammed his palm against his own chest. "It's me. You know I would never do something like that, so you're either reaching for an excuse to push me away again or it's your freaking ego. Which is it?"

I pressed my hand to my chest. My heart was racing with anger and frustration. "I'm not pushing you away with this . . . It's not my ego . . . It's just weird ?—"

"I didn't say it wasn't," His voice was raw and gravely. "And what about you?"

I flinched. "What about me?"

"You didn't put anything of mine together. The night we met, that first night ten years ago . . ." He cocked his head to the side and narrowed those amber eyes at me. "What name did you call me all night before you realized?"

I gasped. Tears stung the backs of my eyes. " William," I all but growled and balled my hands into fists at my sides because I had nothing else to do with all this adrenaline rushing through my muscles.

"William. That's right. Everyone thinks my name is William—hell, the whole situation with Ivy last Christmas being at the wrong house was partially because she thought Archer called me William instead of Willem. I got Liam from William. How did you not see that? Huh?" He threw his hands up in the air. "Pot meet kettle. And Arrow as in Bow and Arrow? I used Bow in the name of my book even. But you don't see me accusing you of deceiving me intentionally."

I rolled my eyes. "Because all that's a bit far-fetched."

He took a step toward me, closing the distance between us by another foot. He was only three feet in front of me and I could feel the heat radiating off of his body. His fangs slid down enough to slice into his bottom lip, but he seemed to not notice. "I sent you a picture of my mother's Halloween decorations and you didn't recognize any of it? It's the Bow house on the Island. Everyone knows our house!"

"Oh, now who's got an ego problem?" I stepped forward and looked up into his eyes. "It was of a couple pumpkins on a stoop. It's not like you sent me the whole house with your family posing for the pic?—"

"—No, but I might as hell have." He threw his arms wide. "Did you not see that exact same stoop and decorations the night of the zombie crawl?—"

"—I was a little busy watching you fall out of a window, Will!"

He groaned and spun away from me, tugging on his hair again. Then he turned back. "I am not stalking you. I've never stalked you. I never had the heart to even look you up after you dumped me the morning after we got married—official or not. If I knew it was you this whole damn time, why would I have suggested you get a fake boyfriend and then accuse said boyfriend in public when I thought he was cheating on you? Why? Why would I do that?"

Shit, he had a point. "Then why with Zita?"

"Because it was KILLING me to see you with Daniel!" he shouted and his whole face turned red. His chest rose and fell rapidly like he was struggling to breathe. "And my family kept trying to set me up on blind dates from the Neverland Dating app. And because Zita was getting the same treatment. We were two old, old friends helping each other out."

He cursed violently and pinched the bridge of his nose.

I clenched my teeth and wrung my hands together. I wanted to scream and yell at him for this, but I had nothing. He was right. All of it. I was just as guilty as he was for not doing the math and connecting the dots.

"No more excuses, Indi. Your sister is married now. You don't have to take care of her. I'm thirty years old with a more successful and lucrative career than yours, so you don't have to take care of me either. But you know all of this because I've been your best friend for five years. We're co-dependent, remember? You. Know. Me." He stomped toward me, closing the distance between us until I could feel his breath on my face. "So where does that leave us, Indi? You threw me away once. I don't care how immortal I am now, you won't get a third chance."

"Will—"

His vivid eyes bore into mine and I found myself unable to turn away. He lowered his voice to a rough whisper, " Where does that leave us now ?"

Willem Bow was perfect and everything that any girl could ask for. I didn't want to run scared from him anymore, but I didn't know how to stop myself from doing so. My legs were itching to flee, to run, to be just like my mother and never settle in one place. But my mind and heart were fighting. Tears pooled in my eyes. I couldn't get words to come out of my mouth, I was barely getting oxygen. I gripped the front of his cashmere sweater and balled it into my fist.

He reached out and grabbed the back of my head, dragging me flush against his body. The heat of his skin burned through his sweater and sent shivers down my body. I pushed up on my tiptoes and then his lips crashed into mine. I melted against him.

I wanted to think I'd forgotten what it was like to be kissed by Willem Bow, but I never had. It was a punishing, all-consuming kiss that made my head spin and legs weak. I slid my hands up his chest and beneath this blazer, pushing it over his shoulders. Without breaking our kiss, he ripped his jacket off and threw it on the ground, then dove for the hem of my sweater. With quick, vampire speed he pulled it up over my head. It hit the floor with a soft thud. I reached for his sweater, but he yanked it off faster than I could have and dragged me back against his bare chest. I pushed up on my tiptoes and took his bottom lip between my teeth. His hand slid a blazing path over my hip, then up my back. I felt each of his fingertips run up my spine and linger on the clasp of my bra.

I threw my arms around his neck. This close he was every bit the temptation. Will knew how to possess my body. A growl ripped from his lips, then he tore my bra from my body. The second the room's cold air brushed across my bare chest, it was like a bomb went off between us. My hands were at his belt and shoving his pants down in seconds while he reached for my zipper. The tweed pants I wore fell to the ground and I kicked my boots off as he reached for me. His hand cupped my breast just as I leapt on top of him and wrapped my legs around his hips. Our skin brushed together, and I didn't think there was any sensation more sensual than the feel of his skin against mine, his chest pressed to mine, and his legs wrapped around mine. I missed this. I missed him. He was everywhere at the same time and my body was a riot of sensations as he turned and planted me on the table.

He leaned his head to the side and ran his tongue over the side of my neck. His fingers drifted down my body and over my stomach and so much lower. When he parted me, I moaned at the feel of his fingers in the perfect spot. A growl rumbled in his chest and he hissed in a breath.

There was something more primal about Will now. Before he'd been gentler, almost sweet and revered. Now he was possessive and commanding, as if my body belonged to him and only him.

With a growl he shoved himself forward and I felt my body part around him. I sucked in a sharp breath at the feel of him. It was pleasure, it was perfection, it was everything. He moved with a sensuous roll of his hips and the table shook beneath us. He fanned kisses over my neck and shoulders as his movements grew harder and faster. One of his fangs scraped my skin and it sent flutters all over my body. I trembled in his arms and craned my neck back. I wanted him to bite me. I needed him to bite me. Before I could ask for what I wanted, he struck hard and fast, his fangs piercing through the soft skin on my throat. The pain was sharp but quickly turned into pleasure as he continued to roll his hips forward, driving into me. My body quaked around his and I knew I wouldn't last much longer. There was something about the way he sucked at my neck while filling me that I couldn't resist. My body tightened around his, about to let go, about to find that perfect place, when the table cracked beneath us. It fell to the ground, and I thought I would go with it, but Will was so strong and his hands were splayed under my ass, holding me there while he rocked.

He took two steps and my back was flush against the wall. His fingers dug into my skin while his fangs stayed in my neck. The sensations were too much, and my body responded, climbing higher than I thought it could possibly go. Ecstasy exploded behind my eyes, and I felt myself flying higher than any bird could.