Love Nip (2 page)

“Whatever,
” I said looking out the window. Talking about it always made me grumpy. Everyone was on me about not being able to do magic, and no one could mention the one thrilling performance I had put on.

“Emily, don’t do this again.
It’s for the best, you know that,” he explained. I rolled my eyes. Everyone treated me like they knew what was best for me. The pressure of not performing was terrifying. I felt like a loser. Everyone I worked with had supernatural powers and I was the errand girl. We spent the rest of the car ride in silence.

Excitement set in as we pulled into the parking lot
. “So do I get to see Kimmy while we’re here?”

Ezra threw me a glare as he pulled into his very own parking spot. He and Robert were the only two of the group
that had a designated space. My second week working I parked in his spot as a joke. He had my car towed by lunch and brought back to my apartment. Thankfully I hitched a ride home with Gavin that day, and never tried that again.

“That just depends on how good you
are today,” he replied, stepping out of the car.

“
Says the employee of the month,” I teased, pointing to the sign.

“It pays to be good
, baby,” he joked.

“Uh, you sound like Axle,
” I nagged. Axle was not only a coworker, he was also a werewolf. Just like Robert, I had yet to see him do much of anything. Except eat, boy could that man pack away some grub.

Ezra
’s only reply was a warning glare.

“If you’re not careful
, Ezra, your face is going to stick like that one day,” I added as he held the front door to the building.

“Mr. Boyd, Miss Sullivan, good afternoon
,” Bob, the security guard at the front desk, greeted us.

“Bob
, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me Emily,” I fussed at him as we walked up.

“Yes
, ma’am,” he replied. I shook my head at him. I said the same thing to him every day and he had yet to catch on. I took time to get to know good ole Bobby. He had a wife and two kids. Sarah was eight and Nathan was five. He was a really great guy.

We stepped into the elevator and I noticed Ezra was smiling at me.

“What?” I asked. He swiped his access card into the elevator wall and tapped the down button.

“Nothing,
” he remarked, still smiling.

“Ezra, you
’re being weird. Did Axle die or something? You’re awfully happy for a Saturday,” I asked.

“I just t
hink you are a really nice girl,” he stated.

His statement took me by surprise
. I couldn’t decide if it was because he called me nice or because he called me a girl. Either way, it left a funny taste in my mouth. The elevator dinged, letting us know we had arrived.

“Let’s just get this over with
so I can get home and go back to doing nothing,” I stated, stepping out of the doors.

“Surprise!” the room full of people yelled as someone flicked on the lights. There were balloons scattered
all around. A desk had been cleared and filled with food and cake.

“What is the surprise fo
r?” I whispered to Ezra while giving my best fake smile.

He smiled down at me proudly
. “Your birthday.”

My heart skipped a beat with excitement. I
felt like a normal human being. “My birthday isn’t until next Saturday,” I explained as everyone started filing towards me for hugs.

“Dammi
t, Ezra! How could you get the date wrong?” Axle teased. From the look on Ezra’s face he didn’t think the joke was funny. Axle looked absolutely mouthwatering in his dark jeans and tight, dark green t-shirt. He is over six feet tall, dark skin, and has huge muscles. I can barely get my arms around him when he hugs me. He has hungry golden brown eyes that could burn a hole straight through a girl’s underpants.  

“
We know when your birthday is, but we figured next weekend it would be impossible for any of us to steal you from your apartment,” Gavin stated as he hugged me.

“Happy Birthday
, Emily,” Robert said as he gave me a hug, which I returned. We hadn’t worked on our father-daughter relationship since we met, but we had an unwritten agreement that we would stay cordial to each other.

“Thanks
, Robert,” I answered. I spotted Axle behind Robert, waiting for his hug. Axle was dangerous in more ways than one. I could handle Gavin’s hotness because he never tried anything with me. Axle, on the other hand, never sugar-coated his feelings for me. Unfortunately for him, I still had feelings for Ezra.  

“Happy
Birthday, pumpkin,” Axle said as he grabbed my face and planted a quick kiss on my cheek. I shot him a glare and playfully pushed him away. I couldn’t help but smile again before I noticed Ezra had caught our greeting. I just shrugged at him, saying that it was no big deal. Ezra made it very clear that he didn’t want to be exclusive. I knew Ezra wasn’t dating anyone else, but it still hurt that he didn’t care if he was the only guy in my life.

“Wow, tha
nk you all so much for this,” I said. Someone standing in the back caught my attention. I had never seen a girl in the agency before so it took me by surprise.

“Ezra, who is the new chick
by my desk?” I asked curiously.

He glanced toward her and answered, “
We just hired her.”

“You guys didn’t even talk to me about it?” I asked
, furious. We had discussed when I started working that this was a team. If we added a new person we had to decide together. I felt offended that I had been left out of the decision.

“Emily, you’ve been working downstairs on your magic.
We didn’t think you would care,” he replied.

“I wouldn’t care? A
re you on drugs? We have enough female hormones going on here with me and I don’t even have hormones,” I fussed. I wasn’t sure why, but I had never in my life been visited by “Aunt Flo” if you catch my drift. Chalk it up as yet another mystery in my life.

“That’s good
, because she doesn’t really have female hormones either. She’s a vampire. Can you just meet her before judging her?” he begged. I was not happy about it. I was mad they would offer a vampire the job before Kimmy.

“If anyone should ge
t a job here, it should be Kimmy. Especially after everything that girl has been through,” I stated, stepping closer to the new girl. I was hoping she would hear me and understand that I wasn’t going to be as welcoming as the rest of the crew. Ezra squeezed my hand in response. As we got close, I decided I needed to check out the competition. I looked up and almost fell over.

“Holy
shitake mushrooms, Kimmy!” I yelled and flung myself onto her. Ezra still had not let go of my arm as I hugged her. She looked completely different. Her once crazy curly brown hair was now shiny and straight reaching her lower back. Bright blues replaced her once chocolate eyes. Her tan skin had faded to the same fair complexion as Ezra’s.

“Ezra, back off
! This isn’t a three way. I’m just hugging her,” I fussed at him, trying to pry his hand off of my arm.

“
Emily, it’s okay,” Kimmy said softly. This was the first time I had ever heard her say anything that wasn’t completely uncalled for.

“You became a vampire
, Kimmy, not a robot,” I told her. She was acting different. I felt guilt building up inside of me. Her life was thrown into a whirlwind and changed completely, and it was my fault. I would never forgive myself.

“S
orry, I’m just a little nervous,” she admitted. She finally smiled and made me feel a little better. I was still in disbelief that this was Kimmy.

“What did you do to her?” I asked
, looking at Ezra. He laughed.

“How have you been?” I
questioned her, fighting to keep my emotions at bay. I wanted to pull her in and never let go. Standing there with Kimmy made me realize how much I had missed her.

“I’m ok
ay now. It was difficult at first, but Ezra’s been teaching me how to fight the urges.” She stopped and looked up at me. It was clear that she wasn’t comfortable talking about it. She didn’t have to say it, I already knew what she meant, the urge to drain humans dry. Ezra called it a blood addiction. All new vampires have to learn to control themselves before they can be let out into society. Apparently it’s like being addicted to drugs … or worse. He said you never taste anything so amazing in your human life so once you have blood for the first time you go crazy for it.

“Come on, you have to blow some candles or something like that. Don’t ask me
, I don’t understand the tradition, but Gavin and Axle said it was necessary,” he said, pulling me away from Kimmy. I was angry that he was taking me away from my friend, but I was probably being rude to the rest of the party.

A few guys from the B team showed up and wished me
a happy birthday. They don’t work with us every day; they are the back up if we need more people on a job. They come watch me on their lunch break. I’m the amusement for the entire building. They laugh as I stand next to Gavin, thrusting my hands out at a bottle trying to move it, or the time Gavin brought in a broomstick and tried to teach me to fly. Apparently, the joke was on me. Witches don’t fly at all, but everyone got quite a laugh as I tried. I can remember how humiliated I was jumping up and down on the broom. They finally stopped me when I tried going to the roof to get a head start.

“You look like
you’re thinking about me again,” Axle whispered in my ear.

I didn’t realize I was smiling
while I reminisced. “No, Axle, my expression looks nothing like this when I’m thinking about you.”

“
I have that effect on women,” he teased. Leave it to Axle to come up with something completely offensive. I smiled as everyone stood around the desk and sang happy birthday. I breathed in deeply and blew out hard. Each flame flickered, staying lit, and everyone began laughing. Chatting continued as I bent back down and blew again, this time each flame died out. The talking stopped instantly. The silence startled me and I jumped.

“What happened?” I asked
, looking at Robert and Ezra for an answer. Everyone’s eyes were locked on me in astonishment.

“
Yay!” Kimmy yelled, clapping her hands and breaking the silence. Everyone looked around and started laughing. I was flabbergasted; it was candles not magic. Did they not understand how a candle works? Or maybe I accidently spat on the cake and they were all grossed out.

Ezra got me an
iPad and Robert got me a spell book. I didn’t know what I would do with a spell book if I couldn’t do magic, but I was grateful. The guys from the B team all got me a pointed witch’s hat and a new broom. Gavin gave me a gift certificate for a relaxing day at the spa, and Axle said he didn’t believe in giving gifts unless it was the actual day. I would be scared to open a gift from Axle in front of a crowd of people anyway.

“Thank you
everybody, this was really great,” I stated, smiling. I had a blast just hanging out with the guys and seeing Kimmy. Soon after I opened my presents she stated that she had to leave.

“Sorry I didn’t get you anything
. I’ve been a little preoccupied,” she said, hugging me.

“Don’t even
apologize, it’s fine. I should be allowed to come see you more often now. Maybe Ezra will loosen up his leash,” I said as our hug ended.

“Emily, it wasn’t Ezra that wasn’t allowing you to come see me, that was my decision. Ezra has been bugging me for a
month now. I didn’t feel ready,” she stated, laughing softly. She kissed my forehead and left me to my thoughts. I didn’t understand why Ezra didn’t just tell me. Maybe he was protecting me from getting hurt. I must admit it was easier thinking that Ezra was keeping us apart, instead of Kimmy.  People filed out soon after. I dropped cake off at the front desk for Bob as we all walked out of the building together.

“Man, you guys
, that was awesome. Thank you,” I stated, giving them all a hug goodbye. I climbed into Ezra’s car and buckled in. I noticed he was staring at me. He leaned in for a kiss and I backed away.

“What’s wrong? I can’t give you a happy birthday kiss?”
he asked, smiling. I knew his games all too well.

“Are you trying to kiss me because it’s my birthday or to make
Axle jealous?” I asked. He turned around and started the car.

“Fingerprint,
” he stated, holding his finger in the air. His disregard for the question gave me my answer. Sometimes I wanted him to be able to hear my thoughts, and then he would know how the game they play against me hurts. I wasn’t sure if either one of them truly liked me, or if I was a prize in a contest.

“Did you like your party?”
he asked, noticing I was being quiet.

“I did. I was so excited
to see Kimmy. But I must admit I was disappointed that you didn’t really have a case I could help with,” I admitted.