17. SEVENTEEN

seventeenThomas and Nathan were still discussing battle plans when I left. I headed back to Joseph’s makeshift hospital room in search of Liam. But he wasn’t there. His scent still lingered on the air, telling me he hadn’t been gone long.

Changing course, I headed for his room.

Located on the third floor in a wing of the house where only Liam and Thomas were allowed to stay, it hadn’t seen much use since he’d bought a house outside of the city. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d visited as a result.

In a rush to check on him, I climbed the stairs two at a time. Eric was leaving Liam’s room as I reached it.

“How is he?” I asked.

“Joseph believes we’ve provided adequate blood for his needs.”

The relief that rushed through me made me light-headed. I’d been so afraid.

“Joseph and Rick are still inside,” Eric said, moving past me. “They should be done soon.”

I watched him reach the end of the hallway and turn the corner before reaching for Liam’s door. I pushed it open and stepped inside.

Liam’s room was masculine. Gold and wood accents ran throughout. A perfect counterpoint to the dark walls. It was difficult to tell the exact color; either a deep green or a blue black. Maybe some combination of the two. Wainscoting had been added to the walls to create depth and give it a more traditional flare. Directly over the bed was a painting of a horse, its form lost to the fog surrounding it. In the distance, behind the animal, you could just make out the outline of a castle.

Liam had told me the story of that painting before. It was of Liam’s home. His birth place. His sire had commissioned it a decade after Thomas and Liam were forced to leave.

It had hung in his bedroom ever since. A reminder of what he’d lost—and the eternity he’d gained.

I joined Joseph at the end of the bed.

Liam was in the midst of feeding off a red-headed enforcer. Rick didn’t show any signs of pain as Liam pulled him closer, clutching the other man’s arm to his mouth.

Joseph didn’t get the chance to speak as Liam’s focus jumped to me, the raw need on his face making me catch my breath. He looked at me the way a dying man might salvation. Like I was the only thing that existed.

Liam let Rick’s wrist slide through his hand, his movements predatory as he stared at me.

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Joseph was already packing his things. He gestured for Rick to follow him out of the room.

The enforcer gave me a quick nod and a half smile before strolling toward the door with a lazy saunter. As if he didn’t have a care in the world. And as if terrifying snarls weren’t coming from Liam’s throat as he got a little too close to me.

“You sure about that?” I asked in a tight voice.

Liam shifted forward, the covers sliding down to pool at his thighs. His chest and arms were bare, revealing a body that was every woman’s dream.

Rick paused to shoot him a look as he smoothed his sleeves over his wrist to cover the wound that was already in the process of healing. “He won’t hurt you. He’s simply reacting to the amount of blood he’s ingested.”

I looked from the enforcer to Liam with uncertainty. Is that what he was calling this?

Joseph lost his patience, rolling his eyes as he grabbed his stuff off the dresser. “He’s just feeling a little excitable right now. Help him fuck some of that energy out of his system, and he’ll be fine.”

“You’re a little too frank,” I told him.

Joseph headed for the door. “It’s part of my bedside manner. Feed him. Fuck him. Keep him occupied for the next few hours and by tomorrow night he’ll be ready for war.”

Rick’s face held sympathy as he followed the other man. “Vampires are predatory in nature. We enjoy the hunt. You can use that.”

Use that, how?

The pair left, sealing me in a room with a vampire whose control over himself was up for debate.

Liam’s breath stirred the hair on the back of my neck. I froze in place, conscious of how close he was standing behind me. I’d never even heard him move.

“Mo chuisle.”

I tried to control the fluttering in my stomach. “Liam.”

Fear wasn’t the emotion that held me in its grasp, per se. Maybe something closer to trepidation. A mixture of apprehension and nerves.

This version of Liam was unfamiliar. And with vampires, there was always a danger of our instincts taking over and making us do something we would regret later.

Despite that knowledge, I couldn’t help the awareness that made my skin tingle with anticipation of his touch. A part of me didn’t believe Liam could ever hurt me. Even lost to blood lust as he might be.

His touch feathered along my spine as his lips touched the side of my neck. “I yearn.”

My breath shuddered. He wasn’t the only one.

Liam toyed with the ends of my hair as I remained still, concentrating on keeping my pulse at a steady pace. Any sign of desire would hasten his loss of control. And mine.

His low, masculine chuckle told me I wasn’t entirely successful. A hand wrapped around my throat, gentle but firm as he ran his nose down the side of my neck. “Mine.”

“Maybe.”

His grip tightened, not cutting off my air but a reminder that he could. It was probably foolish to poke the tiger while he had me in his claws, but that slightly insane person inside of me that I usually ignored couldn’t help herself.

“Forever mine.” He clasped my hip, bringing me more fully against him and letting me feel his hard length.

“Perhaps.”

The sting on the side of my neck made me gasp a second before pleasure flooded my veins. My resolve to play keep-away wavered, desire making my thoughts slow.

Liam’s hands cupped my breasts, playing with them for a moment before one hand slipped inside my shirt.

I let myself enjoy the sensation for a second before ripping myself out of his arms. The brief flash of pain sent a thrill through me.

Liam withdrew his fangs rather than cause more damage.

I spun out of his arms, conscious of a thin trail of liquid sliding down my neck to stain the collar of my shirt.

Liam didn’t look away from the mark he’d made, licking his lips at the sight of blood.

Focus, Aileen.

“I wish to ruin you,” he whispered, still staring at my neck.

“Funny thing—I feel the same.”

I wanted to dive so deep inside of him that he wouldn’t be able to breathe without me. To occupy his thoughts and desires the way he did mine.

His gaze deepened. “Be good.”

“Never.”

That ended with my human life. I lived the way I wanted. And what I wanted right now was to drive Liam a little crazy.

My earlier caution was gone, replaced by something else. Something wicked and wild. I didn’t even want to try to control myself.

I laughed and danced out of the way as he reached for me. My victory was short lived as he used vampire speed to pin me against a wall.

I groaned as he fitted himself against me, pressing his hard length where I wanted him most.

“How about now?” he teased, looking far too satisfied with himself.

I thrust my arms up, breaking his grip and shoving him away. Rather than escape, I remained where I was, notching my chin up as he stared me down. My eyebrow lifted to ask what he was going to do about it.

His gaze flashed. There was something erotic in the way he licked my blood off his lips.

Anticipation made my breathing shallow.

He was on me in the next second, his movement a blur. His mouth found mine. He wasn’t gentle, his fangs or mine accidentally piercing his bottom lip, flavoring our kiss with blood.

My resistance crumbled at the first sip.

Liam’s hands roamed my body as he fed from my lips.

He lifted me, using his body weight to press me against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his hips, too far gone to resist. His lips left mine to trail a path over my jaw and down my neck.

His bite made me jerk before I softened around him.

The pleasure built as he ground against me, creating a delicious friction that tipped me over the edge.

Before I could recover, I heard a rip and then felt air against my lower parts. Liam parted my folds, sliding inside in the next second with a strength that had me gasping. I moaned as he started moving.

Sensation coiled deep within. A spring that got tighter and tighter as I approached climax.

He touched my clitoris, shoving me over the edge. I screamed as I fluttered around him before going limp.

Liam picked up the pace, his hips moving between my legs at a frantic pace. He thrust once more, deeper than before as his climax detonated.

Our breaths mingled as he remained inside me. After a moment, he pressed his forehead against mine, his grip gentling as he withdrew from my body.

Before I could say anything, he swept me into his arms and carried me to the bed. His gaze never left mine as set me down and divested me of the rest of my clothes. I clenched the bedsheets on either side of me to keep from reaching for him.

He set a knee on the bed, crawling towards me. My breath shortened. I got lost in the mesmerizing way the muscles in his arms bunched and flexed.

I didn’t resist as he lifted one of my legs to press a worshipful kiss to the inside of my ankle. A shaky breath left me as he moved up my leg, lingering in several sensitive spots that tested my control. The back of my knee. The inside of my thigh.

Until finally, he reached the place where my legs met my body. There he paused. “I plan to do such bad things to you.”

I sat up, holding his gaze as I ran my hands up the hard planes of his chest. I traced the ridges of his pectoral muscles, lingering to draw light circles around his nipples. Until, finally, I brushed a touch over the raised area of his bullet wound.

The skin had healed with no signs of the black lines to denote silver poisoning.

“Then you should get on with it,” I whispered, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss over the site of the wound.

Liam’s control broke. His arms closed around me, spilling us down onto the bed.

His hands drew needy sounds from me as passion consumed us.

Dawn came and went while we were still lost in each other’s arms. Hours passed.

It wasn’t until we were deep into the morning hours that my strength faded and I collapsed onto my front.

“I give up,” I moaned into the pillow. “If you want to do anything else, it’ll have to be without my active participation.”

His chuckle followed me into slumber as he pressed a kiss on the back of my head and drew the covers over us. “Sleep, mo chuisle.”

The world faded away.

Clad in clothes that weren’t mine, I sat at a table I didn’t recognize.

The dress I wore was from a different era and made from black lace. The neckline swooped from the ball of each shoulder to dip into a vee between my breasts, leaving my clavicle and shoulders bare. Strangely, the sleeves were long, coming to a point on each wrist. A corset cinched in my waist and the full skirt spilled to either side of my chair.

Though beautiful, it wasn’t something I would ever have picked for myself.

So, it felt strange to be wearing it in my dream.

Distracted by that thought, I touched the table in front of me. The wood felt disconcertingly real under my fingers.

The table was set with silver and gold platters. In front of me was a bowl with a deep red liquid inside.

I didn’t have to taste it to know what it was. Blood.

“Why am I having so many weird dreams about blood lately?”

Was my subconscious trying to tell me something?

The clinking sound of metal against metal distracted me from my thoughts.

There was a sense of disconnection as I took in the person dangling from his wrists. A chain was wrapped around each arm and attached to a rafter overhead.

I couldn’t make out the person’s features with the way his head slumped forward, his white-blond hair falling over his shoulder to veil his face. But I didn’t need to see what was behind that hair to know who was in front of me.

Connor. My brother.

“This is not a good dream,” I whispered, feeling unease in the back of my mind. The horror that waited like an evil thing to devour me if I dared let myself stray in that direction.

I took in Connor’s unconscious body, that strange detachment still affecting me as I registered the red slashes on his limbs and chest.

He’d lost his shirt and shoes since the last time I’d seen him, leaving his torso bare.

His hair stirred and I realized there was something behind him. I hadn’t seen it before because of my preoccupation with Connor, but now that I did it was impossible to unsee.

Thin arms cradled Connor to the desiccated body of the vampire behind him.

Ahrun had filled out a little since his feeding in the Blue Pepper, but he still looked more like a cadaver than a person. His skin was dehydrated, stretched tight over his bones. His features were sunken in, making the bones of his face stand out in stark relief.

His gaze shifted to mine with a suddenness that made my pulse jump. Even the haze-like quality of the dream wasn’t enough to fully suppress my fear.

“You have a habit of straying into spaces you shouldn’t be,” a cultured voice at odds with the bag of skin and bones in front of me said. “This is the second time you’ve invaded my psyche.”

Connor stirred, his gaze unfocused as he lifted his head to see who Ahrun was talking to. His eyes slid right past me without registering my presence.

“What have you done to him?” I asked.

Ahrun unlatched from Connor’s neck. I made a small sound as blood trickled out of the wound; he didn’t bother to close it as he stepped around Connor. His movements stuttered and stopped in a creepy fashion as he slunk toward me. “Are you brave because you think this is a dream or is it just who you are?”

I was silent as he drew near. More than anything, I wanted to go to Connor’s side, but my limbs wouldn’t obey my commands no matter how I strained.

Something was rendering me immobile.

I was helpless to avoid Ahrun’s touch as he picked up a piece of my hair and played with it the same way Liam had earlier in the day.

“Not going to answer me?”

“I’d say it’s a little of both,” I said stiffly, willing to entertain the scary as fuck ancient until I knew whether this was an actual dream or something else.

“I never thought that old man would have a child,” Ahrun mused. “He swore he wouldn’t subject any of his bloodline to his fate. I guess Brin changed his mind after all.”

“You know my father.”

Ahrun circled me. “A secret.”

The hazy edges of my dream began to deteriorate.

I concentrated on stabilizing them, because I was beginning to suspect this wasn’t a dream at all.

“Why are you hurting Connor?”

“It’s necessary.”

“Why?”

Fingers trailed along my shoulders, leaving shivers behind.

“Why else does a vampire drink blood from another?” He leaned down to whisper into my ear. “Because it is necessary.”

I kept my spine as straight as possible. “You’re trying to use Connor to heal yourself.”

The same reason the enforcers had allowed Liam to feed from them.

A touch landed on the top of my head. It took a second to realize Ahrun was patting me like I was a child.

“Who are you talking to?” Connor rasped.

Ahrun’s face was impassive as he watched Connor struggle to lift his head. “He was always a foolish boy. As blind now as he was the day his father saved him.” Ahrun knelt beside me with a blur of speed that made my heart beat jump. He put his face uncomfortably close to mine. “Are you the same as him?”

Connor struggled harder, yanking at his chains. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling at the attempt. The chains didn’t budge. “Aileen? Is it Aileen?”

Ahrun hummed softly to himself as Connor continued to thrash.

“Aileen, get out of his mind. It’s too dangerous,” Connor yelled. “Warn Thomas. And whatever you do, don’t come looking for me.”

Ahrun reached in front of me, poking the bowl of blood. “Nosy children must take their medicine.”

I couldn’t stop myself as my hands reached forward to pick up the bowl. I strained as I brought it to my lips.

“That’s it,” Ahrun crooned, petting my hair. “That’s a good girl.”

This was a dream. Nothing but a dream. None of it was real.

Telling myself that didn’t take away from the terror of the moment. The knowledge that if I drank this, I would be irreparably changed in some way.

Blood touched my lips, filling my mouth.

“Remember—this is necessary.” Ahrun’s head tilted. “Though I can’t quite remember why.”

The fetter in my mind snapped as he rose. I regained control of my body, dropping the bowl immediately. It landed with a clatter as a bark shook the dream realm.

Ahrun’s expression showed interest. “Noctessa’s guardian. I didn’t think to meet you again in a place like this.”

The taste of blackberry and currant were strong on my tongue as I awoke.

I shot upright. What the hell was that?

Alches’s soft chuff made me realize the shadow hound was sitting on the bed next to me, concern in his eyes.

“That wasn’t a dream, was it?”

Alches jumped off the bed, padding toward the closest shadow and using it to slip away.

“As always, good talk,” I muttered sarcastically.

Helpful my ass.

As far as I could tell, all the shadow hound was good for was a game of catch, and being in the vicinity when things went to shit.

The sheets slid down my naked body as I rolled over to search the end table for my phone.

“I need a shower,” I muttered, looking down at myself.

Fang marks dotted my body, evidence of how I’d spent my day. I ached in places where I didn’t normally and there was a pleasurable soreness in my muscles. Like I’d spent a few hours training. I also smelled like sex.

A shower was definitely in order.

Before I could move, a tentative knock came from the door. “Aileen, can I come in?”

I leaned over the side of the bed, hoping to swipe a shirt off the floor but finding it empty.

Damn it.

“One moment,” I called.

Getting out of bed, I padded to the closest dresser, opened a drawer at random and grabbed the first shirt I could find. I shrugged it over my head before opening another and grabbing a pair of Liam’s boxers.

The clothing swallowed my figure, making me look like a slob but it was better than greeting Deborah with no clothes.

“Come in,” I said, heading back for my phone.

I grabbed it, checking my messages. I scanned the email in my inbox before looking to see if Connor had contacted me.

Nothing.

Calm down,I told myself. You know how terrible Connor is with technology.

So, he wasn’t answering his phone or returning my texts. It didn’t mean I had to jump to the worst-case scenario. Or that my dream was real.

Even with that reassurance, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“Did you see Connor tonight?” I asked as Deborah entered.

She shook her head. “I’ve been here since before dawn. Some of the enforcer’s came to get me around five this morning. They said there was an emergency and that you needed me here.” Her gaze scanned me. “Do you need blood?”

I wasn’t listening as my thoughts turned toward the events of the dream. Don’t come looking for me. That’s what Connor had said.

“Oh shit,” I gasped. “How did I forget about that?”

Past Aileen had been a genius. Though, present Aileen almost fucked everything up by forgetting about the location app I’d put on Connor’s phone for this exact scenario. So that if he ever got lost, I could go find him.

It’d been so long since I’d downloaded the app that I’d almost forgotten. Current events hadn’t helped either. I could probably be forgiven for not thinking of this sooner, given the fear and adrenaline due to everything that happened last night.

Excited, I searched through my phone for the location app, opening it only to frown. Hmm. No wonder no one could find him. How the hell did he get all the way down there?

“Aileen?” Deborah asked.

I started, turning off the phone’s screen and placing it on the bed. “Did they mention anything else?”

Deborah started to answer and then paused, sensing that there was an underlying cause for my question. “Is there something I should know?”

Besides the fact that Liam’s people suspected her as our leak? No, not at all.

I dropped my hands. “Why are you here in this room?”

“Liam said you needed to feed and asked me to come.”

Did he now?

It was a little surprising she hadn’t already been placed under Anton or Liam’s care for questioning. I wanted to say neither would hurt her without proof of her guilt. Then again, both preferred to be safe than sorry.

Her presence here must be Liam’s way of telling me he would let me handle it myself.

I sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “Remember how I told you I didn’t need to know why you decided to leave your old master?”

Despite the loss in status and the chance she would never become a vampire.

“I do.”

I looked away from the ceiling to glance at her. “I rescind that statement. I need to know everything.”

“Did Chadwick do something?” Deborah asked.

I held up a hand. “Just answer the question. Why did you stay behind when he relocated?”

A mask slammed down. “I have family here. I didn’t want to leave them.”

“Lying right now will get you killed.”

“I’m not lying,” she protested.

“Do you know what I do?” I paused as she blinked at me in confusion. “I investigate things.”

I didn’t mention the fact I couldn’t investigate her personally because of the lack of time. She needed to be scared of me right now, and telling her some of Thomas’s people had looked into her wouldn’t have the effect I wanted.

“I thought you were more of an errand person.”

“I do that too.” My smile was faint. “I know you don’t have family. Your parents died in a car crash when you were twenty-one and you have no siblings. You became a companion a year after that, when you were diagnosed with Huntington’s.”

The disease wasn’t immediately fatal but would impact the quality of her life, progressively getting worse if her symptoms weren’t managed. It made it all the more strange that she would elect to abandon her companion when suffering from something like that. Most humans would cling to the possibility of salvation. No matter how bad things got.

Occasionally, a vampire would lose interest in their companion, or the companion would do something to be cast out, but it almost never happened in reverse.

Deborah folded her arms in front of her stomach, everything about her screaming vulnerability. “You’re right that I don’t have biological family still in town but there are other kinds.”

That there were.

Two types of family existed in this world. The kind you were born to and the kind you made. Neither was better than the other. I considered myself lucky to have both in my life.

“I have someone I consider a younger sister,” Deborah confessed. “My parents fostered her when she was ten.”

“That’s not in your history.”

Deborah’s smile was bitter. “It wouldn’t be. Lexi’s parents weren’t good people. They cared more about getting high than they did about their daughter. My parents let her stay with us whenever her mom and dad went on a bender. It wasn’t exactly approved through official channels.”

“How old is she?”

“Seventeen.”

Deborah was twenty-five. Lexi would have been fourteen when Deborah’s parents died. Three years was a long time not to have a safe place to live.

“I used the stipend I got as a companion to pay for a place for her to crash,” Deborah explained. “I didn’t see her as often as I liked because of my role as a companion but at least she was safe.”

“Something happened to change that,” I guessed.

Chadwick hadn’t been stationed that far away. Just two and a half hours to the north, near the Michigan/Ohio border in Toledo. It was close enough she could have come back to check on Lexi.

Deborah’s laugh was sharp. “You could say that.”

I was silent, giving her time to gather herself.

“Chadwick is cruel. I knew that going in but thought it was a small price to pay for my health. I figured I could do the ten years I needed before I was considered for the bite. After that, I’d do everything in my power to win a slot.” Deborah tried for a smile and failed. “Do you know I had a relapse last year? It’s almost unheard of for a companion to be anything but in the best of health. Chadwick didn’t care. He said my disease made me taste better.”

I was quiet, wondering how neglectful he’d had to be for that to happen. Thomas had fed Linda once and cured her cancer. As long as she didn’t come near death multiple times, he might never have to give her blood again.

Deborah would have had to be in very poor health for a relapse to be possible.

“And then he found out about Lexi.” Deborah nodded when she caught my jerk. “My baby sister. He said she should come with us. That he’d never been with sisters before.”

I should have been a lot less nice during our last encounter. Maybe if I’d beaten the shit out of him, I wouldn’t feel so enraged right now.

“So that’s why I ended my relationship with him,” Deborah finished. “Are you going to tell me why this is so important or just let me guess?”

Her tone was flat and even.

“My whereabouts were leaked last night,” I said, watching her face carefully.

She was too intelligent not to catch my meaning. “You think it was me.”

“I hope not.”

I really did. Because I liked her a lot more than I did a few days ago. It was hard not to admire someone who would put their life and health at risk to protect those dear to them the way she had.

“What do I need to do to prove I’m not the leak?” Deborah asked.

I considered her, weighing my options.

If we’d been human this would have been an impossible question. Innocence and guilt were more difficult to ascertain.

Luckily, we were vampires.

“Allow Joseph to examine your mind,” I said, coming to a decision.

He’d be able to tell her intentions, and if her mind had been tampered with using compulsion.

“If that’s what it takes, I agree.”

It was clear Liam had anticipated my response because Nathan was waiting outside my door to escort Deborah.

He grinned at seeing the state of my dress. “Nice outfit, A.”

“I was in a hurry.”

“Sure, you were.”

“See that she gets to Joseph.”

Nathan acknowledged the request with a twitch of an eyebrow as he gave Deborah a dismissive jerk of his head. “Wait for me by the stairs.”

I nodded reassuringly at her to say it was going to be okay. Reluctantly, she moved down the hallway, leaving us alone.

“You really believe that sob story she told you?” Nathan asked as we watched her go.

“I should, considering vampires can usually tell when humans are lying. And if by some miracle she’s trained in how to fool our senses, there’s also the fact that you emailed me her background. All of which lines up with what she shared.”

“Companions spend a lot of time with us. Self-preservation dictates they learn a few tricks to survive. She could very well know how to get around our senses. All you have is her word that Chadwick made a move on the kid. Maybe it wasn’t as she said and he just got tired of her. She could be using you to get back in his good graces.”

I shook my head, not believing it. “You didn’t see the way he was acting at the gathering. He wanted her and she wanted nothing to do with him.”

Her version of events made more sense than the one Nathan suggested.

“If you say so.”

“I do say so, which is why, when Joseph is done, you’re going to make sure she’s somewhere safe without letting any harm come to her.”

“Always the softy.”

I ducked back into the room and started to close the door. Nathan caught it before I could. “Why are you sending her with me? I’d think this would be something you’d want to sit in on. What with your concern over her safety and all.”

“I just have something I need to check into first,” I told him.

Nathan watched me with a speculative gaze. “Before you go gallivanting around town, you should know Liam and Thomas are waiting for you in the war room.”

“Are you serious?” I protested as my phone started ringing from the bed.

“Don’t go doing anything stupid without me,” Nathan responded with a grin before starting down the hallway in the direction Deborah had taken. “See you in a bit, A.”

The phone rang again. I slammed the door and hurried over to the bed in case a miracle had happened and Connor had escaped Ahrun and was now calling me. It seemed I was doomed for disappointment when instead of Connor’s name, “Mom” flashed across the screen.

I stopped in mid-step, treating the phone like it had become a snake that might bite me. The urge to pretend I’d missed her call was strong.

A brief moment of maturity compelled me to answer.

“Mom—to what do I owe the pleasure?”

A short silence crackled down the line.

“Aileen.”

The soft voice on the other side of the phone didn’t sound like the Elise Travers I knew. Uncertain of herself, when my mom was known for sallying forth without a single second of self-doubt.

“It’s a busy night for me so if you don’t have anything to say, I need to go,” I said into the awkward silence that resulted.

“Don’t hang up. Please.”

The desperation and pleading in her voice made me hesitate.

“I heard from your father that you attended Linda’s ballet recital.”

“I did.”

“I know she enjoyed that.”

“It was enjoyable for me too,” I responded.

“It was torture, wasn’t it?”

That surprised a laugh out of me. “The worst.”

Now that the ice was broken, my mom was more relaxed. “I heard something happened at dinner. That you got sick?”

I stared blankly at the wall.

“Are you okay now?” Mom sounded gentle, her concern wrapping around me like the most comfortable blanket. The one that had just the right amount of softness to snuggle down with and was a little faded from too many times through the wash.

I pretended not to feel the sting behind my eyes at my mom’s concern. “It was a momentary thing. I’m perfectly fine now.”

“Is that what the doctor said?”

“Doctor?”

Oh right. That was the lie Connor had given to Dad and Jenna.

“You didn’t see the doctor, did you?” Mom didn’t sound surprised, seeing through to the heart of the truth as quickly as she always did. “Is it money? If so—”

“No.”

“No strings attached,” she promised, a catch in her throat. “I just want you to be healthy.”

Damn it. Why did her concern make me want to cry?

Maybe that’s why my voice sounded clogged as I answered. “That’s not why I didn’t go. I’m actually doing really well in my business.”

“If money isn’t the reason, then why?”

Eye on the prize. Never distracted. That was my mom.

“Nose bleeds are a known side effect to the medicine I’m on.” It was the same explanation I’d given in the diner. Here’s hoping it worked better on her. “There’s no reason to go in. I’m not in any danger.”

I could feel my mother’s need to pursue this avenue of conversation, which was why I was a little impressed when she changed the subject.

“Your illness has gotten me to thinking. It’s time to bury the strife between us. I know I’m a big reason for everything,” Mom rushed to add before I could say anything. “I take full responsibility for my behavior these last few years. I can see now where you might have felt alienated because of things I did. Aileen, the truth is I don’t want you to have to go through this alone.”

My words died in my throat. This was more than I’d ever expected from her.

Mom cleared her throat to continue. “I’m having a family dinner tomorrow. I’d really like it if you came and gave me a chance to apologize in person.”

It took a moment for me to gather myself to speak. “I can’t. One of my clients needs my help for the next few days.”

“Next week then. And if you think you can’t make it, then just give me a call.”

I should say no. After what happened with Jenna, I should keep my distance.

“Yeah. Okay. I’d really like that,” I found myself agreeing.

“I’ll text you details then.”

“Alright, goodbye.” I hung up the phone and stared at the rumpled bed. “Damn it, Aileen. What are you doing?”