Scorned (14 page)

“You’re hurting her,” Adelina replied, her
voice more calm than I would have chosen. I knew she didn’t like me
much, but some urgency would have been nice.

“I am only sharing memories with her.”

“Purposefully? Because, you know what can
happen when you share memories with her by accident.”

There was silence. I thought maybe Adelina
was in trouble, but the pain began to fade and, as it did, my body
became light. I lost my balance and fell forward on my head, then
to my side. My muscles spasmed. I felt my whole body shake and I
wasn’t able to do a thing about it. Someone lifted me until I was
looking at Roman eye to eye. There was a myriad of emotions in
Roman’s eyes; anger, pain, concern, discomfort. It was weird. I
didn’t know which one to believe.

“She needs to know. She needs to know why
Lucretious and I feuded. She needs to know that, were it not for
the death of my beloved it wouldn’t be this way. If he could have
just left well enough alone.”

I looked up into Roman’s face. It had gone
mysteriously blank. No emotion, no thoughts running through his
eyes. One of the advantages to being a vampire.

“You killed her.”

Roman nodded.

“On purpose?”

He nodded again. “I didn’t have control of
myself then.”

“And now?” I wanted to know.

“Now I do.”

“But you almost lost it,” I told him. “Just
now, you almost lost control and you weren’t even mad at me. You
were mad at Calliope. Afraid I would see something. More
girls?”

Something flashed very quickly across
Roman’s face and disappeared before I could tell what it was.

“I want to go home,” I said.

Roman reached out to put his arms around me
and I pushed him away. He looked at me and didn’t bother to hide
the hurt in his eyes.

“Can Adelina or Calliope take me,
please?”

Roman nodded after a moment. I think he was
trying to think of an excuse, but chose to give me what I asked
for.

Adelina helped me outside to Roman’s Jaguar.
The drive home was quiet, but I could sense something along the
lines of a new found respect from Adelina.

“Take me to Pierce. Please."

“How do I get there?”

I gave her directions and we speeded all the
way to Pierce’s house. The door was locked when we arrived so I
called his phone.

“Hello?” Pierce’s voice was groggy when he
answered on the second ring.

“Hey,” I sniffed, and I felt the tears burn
behind my eyes.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“Um...I’m outside. Can you come open the
door?”

He was at the door two seconds later with
his phone in his hand. “Staci?”

I went to him and let the tears fall. He
wrapped me in his arms and I cried all night. I caught the hiccups
sometime between three and four, but I fell asleep soon after
that.

It was almost noon when I woke. My head
hurt, my mouth was dry, and my eyes felt like dried up raisins
rolling around in my head. They burned as they tried to rehydrate
themselves.

“You okay, Staci?” Pierce asked from across
the room, and I rolled onto my side to look at him through my
watery eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I assured him and sniffed
as he crossed the room to hold me. He cradled my head in his lap
and stroked my hair. I closed my eyes and savored the affection
while I could. Once I told him my story there wouldn’t be any.

“Baby, tell me what happened.”

I contemplated telling him we could talk
about it later. It would be so much easier to put it off until he
didn’t remember, and we wouldn’t have to go through what I knew was
about to come. I didn’t want to do this, but because of my own
stupidity and boredom and lack of self-control...here we were. Best
to just get it over with.

“You’re not going to believe me when I tell
you, but you have to because it’s all true. Okay?”

Pierce nodded. “Okay.”

I took a deep breath and plunged in. “Roman
is a vampire,” I began, and I felt Pierce tense around me. Did he
believe that easily? Dear, God, what had I done?

I told Pierce everything starting with the
beer catastrophe and I didn’t stop until I got to what happened
last night. By the time I finished my story, we were on separate
sides of the room. I was sitting on his bed, my legs crossed
beneath me, my arms wrapped around me, and he was pacing the floor
along the far wall. He hadn’t said much the whole time and I was
afraid of what he might be thinking. This was my least favorite
part about arguing with him. He never had anything to say. He took
it all in and processed it, but never had anything to say to me. I
hated it. I wanted him to yell or cuss or hit me, something, but he
never showed any emotion. What was worse, he put up those emotional
walls so I couldn’t read him.

“He killed her.” I felt the tears starting
again, but I had to finish this now. Not later. “He killed her
because she was unfaithful. I have the same connection with him
that she had.”

Pierce stopped pacing to look at me.
Something inside me died at how emotionless he was. I knew he would
see the fear on my face. I knew he would sense how scared I was.
And I knew he wouldn’t care. He wouldn’t come to me to comfort
because he was angry. I’d betrayed him in a roundabout way, and I
was the bad guy here. Not Roman.

“LeKrista, I...” Pierce’s voice faded for a
moment and I almost started crying again at the use of my real
name. He never called me that. Never. Unless we were on the verge
of a break up. “I don’t know what to say. I know you’re scared, and
you should be, but you got yourself into this position. I’ll
protect you to the best of my ability...”

I waited for the “but”. It didn’t come and I
relaxed a little. I nodded at him. “I’ll go,” I said. “I’m sorry. I
never meant...I wasn’t cheating on you.”

Pierce smiled then. It didn’t quite reach
his eyes, but his eyes weren’t completely dead either. “I know you
weren’t. I’m not mad. Just disappointed.”

I shook my head. Just perfect. Who wants to
have their boyfriend disappointed in them? “I love you,
Pierce.”

“I know, StaciDoll. I love you too.”

“I’ll go, if you want.”

Pierce nodded and I felt my heart break a
little more. “I think that might be a good idea for now. I’ll call
you, okay?”

I nodded because I couldn’t make any words
come out. As I stood, the tears came and I pressed my hands to my
eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed. “I didn’t mean to.”

Pierce wrapped his arms around me and held
me tighter than I expected. “I know you didn’t, baby, but it
happened.”

If he said he needed some space, I thought
my heart would explode.

Please, don’t say it. Please.

I thought of Roman and hoped I was
projecting everything I was feeling in that moment.

Do you see?! Do you see what you’ve done?!
Damn you to hell!

Pierce let me go and I turned and left
before I lost my nerve. My heart was so broken I never thought I
would be able to put the pieces back together. Gable drove me home,
but I don’t remember the drive. I don’t really remember
anything.

Two Weeks Later

A knock sounded at my door. I closed my eyes
and curled up tighter in hopes they would think I was still asleep
and leave me alone.

“Kris?” My aunt whispered. “LeKrista, are
you still asleep?”

“I was,” I lied. “What’s up?”

“Eddy is on the phone for you.”

I uncurled from my ball, sat up, and swung
my legs over the edge of the bed with little resistance. “Tell him
I’ll just be a moment.”

My aunt left and I stretched until all the
blood drained from my head and I thought I might pass out. I
slipped a t-shirt over my nakedness and ran my fingers through my
hair to try and tame it a little so my family wouldn’t be privy to
my bed-head. It was getting long, hitting just between my shoulder
blades. I pulled it over my shoulder and gave my best
“just-woke-up-vixen” look. That’s what Pierce called it.

My aunt and uncle sat at the breakfast nook
having their morning coffee.

“Hello?” I said into the phone, all the
sleepiness gone.

“Good morning, LeKrista.”

“What’s up, Eddy?”

“Three of my girls called out and I need you
to help with a wedding.”

I
thought
about getting smart, but
chose to keep it to myself because he sounded desperate. “Yeah,
sure. You need me right away?”

“Please.”

He was being extra polite and it made me
laugh. “Alright. Do I have time to get a shower?”

“That’s fine. I’ll just expect you in
forty-five minutes.”

“I’ll see you in a little bit.” As I hung
up, the phone rang. I made a quizzical face at it and answered.
“Hello?”

“Hey, StaciDoll.”

I forgot to breathe for a second. I hadn’t
heard his voice in two weeks and it was like hearing it for the
first time. “Pierce?” I whispered, afraid I was hallucinating.

“Yeah, babe. It’s me.”

“I...um...why didn’t you call my cell?” I
asked.

Pierce chuckled and my heart fluttered. “I
did. You didn’t answer.”

“Oh.”

“What you are doing today?”

“I just got called in to work.”

“To deliver?” He sounded annoyed.

“No, three of Eddy’s women called in
today.”

“Poor Eddy.” But he didn’t sound sad about
it in the least.

“I’ll probably do some delivering as well
since so many people called in. I’ll bet it was the Blonde Twins.
And maybe the Hawaiian.”

Pierce chuckled. “You want to get
lunch?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Good. I’ll call you.”

I smiled. The day was looking up. I hung up
the phone and jumped in the shower. Ten minutes later I was
dripping wet and clean. I slipped into a pair of black skinny
jeans, a black blouse, and a pair of knee-high boots. I smiled at
myself in the mirror. With my hair hanging around my shoulders, I
didn’t look too bad, but I didn’t have time for makeup. Just as
well.

I said goodbye to my family and headed down
to the basement where I kept my car. My sad little Honda Civic was
totaled when Lucretious threw it into the quarry lake. Roman sent
me a new one - a silver Honda Accord. It was the only contact I’d
had with him or any of his women in two weeks. I was keeping the
car.

I made it to work with about two and a half
minutes to spare. When I walked in the door, Eddy looked genuinely
relieved to see me. His piercing green-yellow eyes lit up and he
offered me something of a relieved smile. He dressed like he was
ready for the runway every day of his life. Today he was wearing
dark-wash jeans tucked into leather boots and a leather jacket that
just hit his waistband. Underneath was a navy blue button-up silk
shirt. A speck of gold glittered in his right ear. He was actually
quite attractive, until he opened his mouth and started telling me
what a loser I was.

“LeKrista, god I'm glad to see you. I have
eighteen red rose centerpieces I have to have delivered in two
hours and they look like-"

“Edgar!” The super model stuck her head out
of the back room. She was a pretty, tall redhead who covered up her
adorable freckles with makeup and didn’t actually work in the shop.
I wish I had some freckles of my own. I don’t like that she hides
hers.

Eddy shot me a helpless look before he
hurried off to the back. I heard them mumble softly to each other
before they closed the door.

I found the arrangements and knew exactly
what word Eddy was going to use. Someone had thrown them together,
six roses in this vase, twenty-one in that vase. Some had baby's
breath and fern while some had one or the other or none or a poor
substitute. And there weren’t even eighteen of them.

“I need the order form,” I told him when he
came back. “Who was supposed to make these?”

He shook his head and shrugged. Something
crazy was going on if Eddy didn’t even know what was happening in
his own shop. He handed me the order sheet from his back
pocket.

“Just get me straight,” he said. “Just get
these...” He sighed heavily and walked away. He was without words
on this particular situation and that meant he was stressed.

I looked over the order sheet. I needed
eighteen thirty inch saucer pedestal vases with a dozen red roses,
each with baby’s breath and twigs, no ferns. And, swimming in each
vase was supposed to be a beta fish. Not one of the arrangements I
was looking at had a fish in it.

“Eddy!” I called and the man came
running.

“What? What now?”

“Where are the fish?”

“What?”

“Fish! There’s supposed to be a beta in each
one of these arrangements.”

Eddy looked dumbly at me for a moment before
he let out a string of expletives that just happened to be really
funny. I turned away so he wouldn’t see me smile.

“Are you laughing? How could you possibly be
laughing?” Eddy was livid.

“You have to admit, it’s kind of funny.
Someone’s screwed you over really well. Can you send Amanda to buy
eighteen betas while I work on these?”

Eddy nodded and called the supermodel from
the back. Her protégée was with her, but I couldn’t remember her
name.

“They have to be blue,” I called as they
reached the door. Amanda rolled her eyes like it was my fault and
left.

“Ignore her for now." It was probably the
nicest thing Eddy had ever said to me. “Do we have the rest of what
we need for these?”

“I think so. I’ll check.”

“Okay. I have another order to work on. Let
me know if you need anything.”

I spent the next hour on the arrangements;
clipping, trimming, pruning, fluffing, tucking, tying and feeding
the fish that eventually arrived. When Amanda got back she smelled
like margaritas. I looked over at Eddy. He was working on an
arrangement of unnatural hot pink calla lilies.