Better Off Red (14 page)

Camila had no problem fucking me, so I could fuck her and go about my business. I wasn’t attached to anyone else, human or

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vampire, and no one but Camila had caught my eye, so why couldn’t I enjoy the time we spent together?

Her thumb swirled over my clit once more and my hips jerked off the sheets. Enjoying wouldn’t be a problem.

“Red,” she whispered. I peeled my eyes open and stared at her beautiful face as she slid onto her belly between my legs. “I’m going to go slow.” All I could do was nod, swallowing a gasp as her thumb pushed back inside me.

She worked my body at a brutal pace, taking her time as she moved through different motions with her fingers and her palm. I fought to keep my hips still. The moment I pushed back or tried to ride her hand, I knew I would come. I wasn’t ready yet.

Finally, she lowered her head, her shoulders bunching. This time she didn’t have to bite me. The moment her lips locked on to my pussy, I came.

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Instead of a sexy naked vampire, I woke up next to a tented piece of white stationary. I grabbed the note Camila had left me and I rolled onto my back. The sheets on her side of the bed were cold. I shivered and rolled back into my pocket of warmth before I opened the note.

Red, I’m right next door.

Her handwriting was swirly and feminine. For some reason, I expected something more angular or maybe even typed. She didn’t sign the note. A small heart was etched on the paper in the place of her name. I stared at the little symbol for love, and my chest fluttered a bit. I was in trouble.

Our second night together had been perfect. Better than the first. I didn’t know it was possible to let yourself go that way, leave yourself completely at the will of someone else. Every ounce of resistance fell to the side. Camila took over, took every inch of me, twice before we fell asleep and once more in the middle of the night.

There were sensations I never thought existed, positions I’d never considered. And then there were the emotions, ones I wasn’t ready to feel for anyone, ones I should never feel for her, that grew stronger and stronger with every kiss and every touch. I was so fucking screwed.

I was in love with Camila.

There was no falling about it. I’d packed my bags sometime during the week, and last night I’d changed my address and moved into the You’re Insane Manor.

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reBekah WeatherspOOn

I looked at the note again and imagined receiving hundreds more like it, hopefully with heavier meaning and more thoughtful or x-rated content. As if she would slip little pieces of paper in my locker after study hall. I needed to get a grip. Before long, I’d be imagining myself with her last name, if she had one.

I rubbed my neck where she’d bitten me. She had kept her word. There was never any pain, and even now as I brushed my fingers over the healed skin, my clit tingled. I wanted to equate that feeling to the amazing sex Camila and I had, but it was more than that. It was the way Camila made me feel when she kissed me, the smile that touched her lips every time she called me Red. So many things about her that I loved.

“You are mental,” I muttered. Then I got out of bed. I pulled one of my new ABO shirts and a pair of sweats out of my bag. My sanity kept her opinion to herself when I slipped Camila’s note in the side pocket.

After I pulled my hair up, I went looking for Camila. I heard her voice off to the left, from the one room of her underground apartment I hadn’t seen. The door was open. I peeked around the jamb and saw Camila pacing around, talking on her cell. She was back in her uniform: the black tank top and undies. Bedhead never seemed to affect her perfect black spikes that I had yet to run my fingers through. Her lips looked soft and perfect.

She held out her hand, beckoning me across the room. My feet carried me over to her immediately. I wanted to throw my arms around her and nuzzle my cheek against her shoulder, the kind of stuff you do first thing in the morning when you see someone you love.

Instead, our fingers intertwined and I felt her warmth spread through me. My stomach flipped and I could feel the heat rising up my face. Unless we were actually having sex, holding hands was pretty much all we did. But I loved when she touched me, so I didn’t see any reason to complain.

“No. I told him that was not okay…No. He cleans himself up or he’s done,” she said. She held the phone away from her cheek and kissed me softly on the lips. While we touched, I could faintly hear some guy muttering on the other end. She took a small step back,

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looking at our feet. I could tell she was pretty pissed at whoever she was talking about, but there was still a gentleness to her tone.

“He’s useless to me in more ways than one, and there’s no way I’m sending him to someone else…No, I took him off Faeth’s hands as a favor on the terms that he wouldn’t feed again. I’m not running a rehab.”

There was more muttering on the line. She shook her head with a quick laugh then kissed me again.

“I’m not yelling at you. Don’t worry about it. This is not your problem. Thank you for telling me, and I’ll handle it. How was last night?”

I finally peeled my eyes off her gorgeous face and gave myself a chance to look around the office. She let go of my hand, and I strolled across the cool hardwood floor. There were shelves and shelves lined with books, everything from old leather-bound volumes to brightly colored paperbacks. There were trinkets on every available surface.

Figures of round-bellied fertility goddesses in different stones and sizes lined the top of her bookshelves. Between her volumes of poetry and seven versions of the Bible was what looked like the first soccer ball ever stitched together. On a low sideboard near the door sat three long black feathers tied together with a yellow ribbon, the fragile leaves of a dried palm frond, a raw ruby the size of my head, an antique tea set, and an ashtray from Colonial Williamsburg.

There was no real theme to the decorations, just evidence she was the type of person who kept things that interested her or had meaning. And maybe that she’d been alive for a very long time.

There was only one piece of art. A graffiti mural covered the wall opposite her bookshelves. Bright swirls and blocks transformed the space from floor to ceiling. In the center, the mash of colors came together around a smooth black and gray portrait of Camila.

Her eyes were cast down, and there was a bright red rose in her hair.

It captured every detail of her beauty and more emotion than I’d seen from her in the little amount of time we’d spent together.

I couldn’t hold in the “Wow” that whispered through my lips.

I turned around and found Camila grinning at me.

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reBekah WeatherspOOn

“Kina did it,” she said, nodding at the painting. I turned back and stared at the details in the image. It was amazing.

I spun slowly and did a final sweep of the room. On the far wall three computer monitors were set up on her long desk. I took a few steps forward, being a little nosy. I held in a laugh when I looked at the first screen. Camila was shopping for more books online. It was adorable to think of her doing something so normal like partaking in online retail therapy. The others showed a few dozen split screen videos captured from various security cameras.

I looked at the gray images of an empty storefront, a busy hotel lobby, and a short man covered in tattoos sitting in a small office.

The phone up to his ear made me think he had Camila on the line. I glanced at the other monitor and saw images from around the ABO

house. Cleo’s Honda and Danni’s beat-up Jeep were parked in the back among the other cars. The elevator was empty. Florencia sat in front of the TV with Kate, Jordan, and Ruth, drinking coffee.

Upstairs was relatively quiet. Most of the girls were still asleep.

Julia and Georgiana were passed out in Julia’s bed. There was an early morning gab session going on in Cleo’s room. Benny was there, cuddled up with Cleo under her comforter. Amy and Danni were both squeezing into Cleo’s papasan chair. Anna-Jade was passed out at the foot of the bed wrapped in an ABO fleece blanket.

They all had that rumpled from sleep look, but they were laughing at something Cleo was saying.

I wanted to feel left out, but I didn’t. Not when Camila’s arms wrapped around me. She’d gotten off the phone without me noticing.

“Did you sleep well?” she murmured against my cheek.

I nodded and then asked, “Are there cameras in every room?”

“Yes. Just making sure my girls are safe. Last spring, the boys from Iota planned to ‘kidnap’ a member of every sorority. They were supposed to give Florencia a warning, but they didn’t. The footage of their botched break-in was the only thing that kept me from pressing charges.”

“Who’d they get?”

“Nobody. Jordan caught wind of it and told everyone. It took them ten minutes to get in, and the house was empty.”

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My eyes drifted back to the shot of the girls in Cleo’s room.

Kyle and Mel wandered into the room just as Anna-Jade had rolled over. “Do you want to join them?” Camila’s lips softly brushed my neck.“Not right now.”

Camila reached across the desk and pressed the speaker button on a regular looking office phone. Considering the computer setup, I was a little shocked she didn’t have something a little more high tech. She pressed “four,” and it started to ring. A few seconds later, I saw Cleo pick up a phone next to her bed.

“Helloooo,” she drawled.

“Do you ladies have plans for this morning?” Camila asked.

“I think we’re going to hit up the cafeteria in a little while and then go to the library.”

“How long is a little while?”

“Maybe an hour or so.” Cleo gently poked Anna-Jade through the sheets with her toe. “A.J. was on the phone with Micah until five this morning. We’re going to let her sleep for a while before we go.

Why? Does Ginger feel like rejoining us day dwellers?” I watched Amy on the monitor as she leaned toward the phone.

“Hi, Ginger!”

“You want to roll with us, Ginge?” Cleo asked.

“Yeah. I have to meet Greg.” We agreed I would meet them in an hour and a half before we said our good-byes. When Camila hung up, I watched as Cleo said something to the girls. They all burst out laughing. I knew they were making fun of me for being teacher’s pet and all, but whatever. I couldn’t bring myself to care. I’d just bought myself more time with Camila. If things kept up this way between us, there would be plenty of chances for Cleo to give me crap for hanging out with Camila.

I looked back to the image of the empty elevator.

“Are there cameras in every room down here?”

Camila slid in closer, pressing the curve of her hips against my body. I swallowed, pressing back. Her breath came out raggedly as she replied.

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reBekah WeatherspOOn

“Of course. For my sister-queens’ protection. They still have their privacy, but what’s stored here is more important for reassurance.” Camila reached over and grabbed the mouse. It took a few clicks to find the right file and cue it up to the right time. The camera above Camila’s bedroom door was hidden, but the angle of the lens captured the whole room. The whole bed.

It was strange to see myself asleep, but not strange enough to quash the heat that rushed over my skin as I watched Camila’s body between the sheets, close to mine. The covers were pulled up to our shoulders. I still remembered drifting off, the feeling of Camila’s fingers pressed against my stomach.

And the next second she was gone. I gasped as the sheets on the screen fluttered flat, covering the spot where Camila had been. I had woken up alone not even ten minutes ago, and I was in her arms now, but something about seeing her vanish, how quick and easy it was for her to disappear, left me hollow. I watched myself roll onto my back. Even in my sleep, I grimaced, sensing my loneliness.

“Where’d you go?” I asked.

“Not far, Red. See.” And at that moment Camila walked back into the frame. She had her cell phone pressed to her ear. “Rodrick was simply checking in.”

The proof that she hadn’t abandoned me calmed my shaky nerves.

Her lips brushing against my cheek started my breathing again.

On the screen I watched her take a seat on the end of the bed.

She gently lifted the sheets and began caressing my legs. My sleeping self took a deep breath and relaxed against the pillow. A few seconds later, Camila ended her call and tossed her phone onto the dresser.

Then she crawled between my legs, under the covers. My eyes traced the path she took underneath the silky black fabric until the outline of her head and shoulders reached the tops of my thighs.

My body tensed the moment her head dipped lower, on the screen, and there in her office, standing in Camila’s arms. I didn’t remember the first strokes of her tongue, but I could feel it now along with the tips of her fangs, dragging down my neck.

My shirt was pulled up and over my head just in time for me to see myself wake up on the computer screen. The night before, I had

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gently grasped Camila’s shoulders, rolling my hips. Now I gripped the edge of the desk as she moved me to step out of my sweats.

On the monitor, my head pitched back into the pillow. There in the office, she rose behind me and found my hard nipples with her warm fingers. There was no sound on the video so I knew the moan I heard in my ears was echoing off the walls and the wood floor and not coming from the speakers of her computer.

She played with me forever, only touching my breasts with her hands, refusing to go any lower. That didn’t stop my clit from throbbing as I watched myself coming on the screen.

I remembered how the orgasm had brought me fully awake, how I’d whimpered her name. But that hadn’t been enough to stop her from licking and sucking. My thigh went up over her shoulder, and I remembered the feeling of her tongue thrusting into my pussy.