Waiting (18 page)

Apparently not.

"On my neck."

"Have you looked at your neck then?" He quickly picked up my hair and pulled away my clothes enough to get a good look at my skin while I patted his hands away, t
rying to get him to stop, continuing
to contemplate what he was telling me. "There. Let me take you home so you can look in the mirror."

I grabbed my
collar
and removed the clothing to try and get a look at whatever it was he was seeing, but had no luck.

"Fine."
 
More politely I added a request. "Please make sure Brian doesn't remember kissing me. I only did it because I thought maybe Parker was watching."

He chuckled then nodded at Gunner, apparently excusing him for now, letting him take Brian with him.

"I figured you knew someone was watching when I heard you say 'Francis has first rights'. That was brilliant by the way
. If I had been a bad guy, it would’ve deterred me. At least a little.” He winked. “Though it won’t stop everyone. Keep that in mind.”

My lips twitched at his praise before he abruptly wrapped an arm around me as I blinked, then we were standing in front of my building, making the rest of the trip inside at human speed.

"He's just taking him home and altering his memory, right?" I wanted to make sure, not wanting anyone to get hurt on my account.

"He'll be fine. Maybe a bit low on blood, but no
one will be the wiser." He smiled down at me as if that was reassurance.

We reached my apartment door and
I
let him in, but kept in mind I could make him leave with just a few spoken words.

"So where is he? You said his phone was stolen, but what about yours? And couldn't you get new phones?" Was I just falling for more lines given to me?

"You really are put out with him aren't you?"

Duh.

"Pretty much. I'm not sure what's true and what isn't. He told me he slept with Sam before, and now you're telling me that they're off somewhere together, where he's unreachable and hasn't contacted you because there's just no other way to do so then by his cell that was conveniently stolen before you were captured, then released by the same woman you'd gone looking for in the first place?"

"Blimey, calm down woman!
You're thinking way too much into this, though I can see how you'd be thinking some of those things." He laughed while plopping himself on my couch. "Go check out your neck so I can explain some more things. Parker should call within the next few hours. I sent some friends to help them in case they ran into trouble."

Before he was done t
alking
I dropped my purse and ran to my bathroom while shrugging off my coat to get a good look at my neck. I moved my hair and pulled down the sleeve of my dress to reveal a
vertical
wavy black line that
definitely
had never been there before. Gas
ping, I traced my finger over the curve of my shoulder blade
, trying to figure out what it was.

Francis was behind me before my gasp ended.

"That's the start of the mating mark. Once you got all bitchy and hateful it stopped, but will no doubt continue and finish the moment Parker walks back into your life."

This was just crazy.
And did he just call me bitchy?

"Ok. I'm going to change and then I'll join you in the living room where you'll answer all my questions or I'll have
to ask you to leave."

He nodded
then disappeared, leaving me to myself.

I changed quickly, constantly rubbing my neck as if I could actually feel the mark now, then took a seat on the opposite side of the couch and started out on my questions.

"So what happened?"

He thankfully didn't waste any time with small talk.

"There were no sign
s of Sam
anywhere
. Parker and I
decided to head back to a club
on Sunday night
that made us
both feel itchy
. We w
ere bombarded by masked figures
that we know are Pulpa
s, who
wrapped
silver chains
around our necks
before throwing us into a cage hardly big enough for a dog. We weren't fed and no one even came to check on us until this morning when Sam showed up limping and let us out. We'd barely made it far before we were surrounded again, and still weak."

I'm a horrible person. They'd been prisoners while I was drinking and making out, not to mention pouting the last few days.

"Sam recovered enough to take out two of the attackers, while we barely manage
d the one. T
hen we all took off. Parker asked me to lo
se any trail and come
back to make sure you were safe
while he and Sam tried to draw their attention to follow them instead." Bitch. I'm a bitch. "I'm sorry about what happened, and I won't tell Parker about the fellow if you don't want me to, not that it will matter to him. He'd forgive you almost instantly if you murdered me, so a kiss won't matter much." He winked and tried to turn the conversation lighter. "You have nothing to worry about with Sam
either. Parker doesn't want any
one but you."

My chin started to tremble and before I had the chance to respond, I burst out crying, startling him before he moved beside me and wrapped an arm around me in
condolence
.

"I'm a horrible person,
" I wailed, making him chuckle and rub my arm.

"No you're not. It seemed that he'd disappeared, just like he had before, and you were angry. I understand."

I sat in his arms and cri
ed for what seemed like forever
before finally letting
it all out, tiring myself out, passing out for at least an hour
before opening my eyes to find we hadn't moved from our position.

"You awake?" h
e asked, though I hadn't moved to indicate it.

"Yeah. Sorry about falling asleep on you." I sat up and tried to lean against the back of the couch like him, but he kept his arm around me, making me lean my head against his shoulder.

"No problem. Do you want me to leave?"

"Not really, but you can. I'll be fine." My chin started trembling again, this time making me laugh at my stupidity and cry at the same time, still upset at myself for how I'd acted.

"I'll stay, though I need to go get a refresher." He stood and turned back to smile at me. "I'll be back in less than five."

Then he was gone, my front door shut and me left alone with my thoughts. That wasn't good.

I went to
the bathroom and washed my face
then grabbed a pint of ice
cream out of my freezer and a giant spoon before nuzzling back into the couch, this time looking out at the night sky.

On my second bite I felt the couch sink next to me and found Francis was back, looking healthier. I wonder which of my neighbors he'd bitten.

"I guess that was rude of me, not offering to feed you."

"I'd never feed from you." There was no joking when he admitted this.

I didn't reply, but enjoyed the sweet taste of cookie dough in my mouth until I got the courage to ask more questions.

"What does the mating mark mean or do?"

"It means you're mates." Simple enough. "Very rare this day and age, but he must've known it all these years. You're connected on a whole new level that most people only dream about on a minute scale, compared to what you'll be able to have."

That's romantic.

"Has he ever had a mate before? Have you?"

He was shaking his head before I was done.

"No. Neither of us has
though I've been so messed up the past century or so I might've missed my chance. But Parker, he's never felt anything close to what he feels with you. I'm sure you can feel it too, whether you want to admit it or not."

I started crying again, placing the tub down and burying my head against his shoulder while he held me and tried to calm me down. It was we
ak of me to cry on his shoulder
but I just couldn't find the strength to keep
myself
together. I was embarrassed but wouldn't care until the morning.

"Francis, I..."

"Oh shit."

I felt a
whoosh
of air before my support was taken out from under me and was now being held by his neck up against the wall, my front door wide open and Parker looking angrier than I've ever seen him.

"What did he do to you? Why are you crying?"

First I had to make my heart beat before I passed out and made a fool of myself again. Second, I had to figure out something to say.

Seeing Francis pressed up against the wall, not fighting against the hand threatening him, made me snap out of it.

"Put him down!" I stood an
d crossed my arms over my chest.  M
y voice thankfully didn't crack. "He was just comforting me." He let him drop and walked up to me, determination still in his dark gaze.

"Are you hurt? What's the matter?" He lowered his lips to mine but I froze, confusing him more.

"We should talk." I looked over his shoulder at Francis who seemed to know where this was going.

"I'll go tend to Sam."

He disappeared with the click of the door w
hile I took a seat on the couch.
Parker sat right next to me, his hand wiping the dried tears on my cheeks.

"So, you were in a cage?" I wanted to hear his side of the story before I told him about my
own
unfortunate week.

"Yes," h
e all but growled the word. "I wanted to stop by this club where Sam works one more time, but we were blind sighted, incapacitated in the VIP a
rea.  T
hen when we woke u
p we were caged. Pulpa
s did it.  N
ow I just have to f
igure out who and why. Sam freed us
after escaping capture herself.  T
hen we took off in
separate
directions to lose anyone trying to follow."

Great. So the story was true, or they collaborated
beforehand
. What's wrong with me? Can I not trust anyone?

"Are you alright? Francis said Sam was hurt, is she ok?"

"She's fine. Almost back to normal, and I will be too as soon as I feed again. I was in a hurry to get back to you and only stopped to feed so I'd have the strength to fly." He bent to kiss me and this time I didn't pull away, but kissed him back.

"I'm glad you're all alive." Oh man, I did
not
want to tell him this, but it was the right thing to do. "So...someone sent me texts from your phone that Francis told me was
stolen, and they pissed me off.  E
specially since you said you'd be back on Monday. I thought you'
d gotten what you wanted and you were
just never coming back." His face pulled into a frown. "Brian kept stopping by my office and we ended up going out for drinks tonight. I only agreed because I was so pissed at you and wanted to get back at you, even if you didn't care about me anymore." He straightened his face and waited for me to finish. "I kissed him tonight
. B
ecause I saw something moving in the shadows and thought maybe it was you, but turns out it was Francis. I'm sorry. But I really thought you weren't coming back. I didn't think tha
t anyone or anything could over
power you."

I was looking down at my hands when I confessed, too afraid to look in his eyes to see the anger or whatever it was going through his mind.

"Kissed?"

I nodded but still didn't look up.

"If he were a vampire I'd kill him, but since he's human, and a friend of yours, I'll leave him be unless you request otherwise." His left hand lifted my chin so I'd have to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry I wasn't back when I said I'd be, and I'm sorry you felt betrayed. I would never leave you voluntarily."

My stomach did
butterflies
, again
way
too excited over simply just words that were spoken to me.

"I'm sorry I kissed Brian."

He chuckled before claiming my lips once more.

"It means nothing." I guess Francis was right.
 
"I'm just glad to be back wit
h you. Maybe we could....damnit!
"

I was confused when he
cradled
me in his arms, holding me close against him, before we were standing on my roof seconds later. My eyes adjusted to the dark night and focused on two forms. One was Francis smiling like he'd do to a parent who caught him being
mischievous
, and the other must've been Sam, too beautiful for my brain to comprehend as she smiled sweetly at us.