Chapter 24
Sunday came and went,and I had another phone call from Erin.
No more overnight visits until the stalker had been dealt with. Our lunch dates would be supervised by either her or Ben, if they happened at all—the jury was still out on that one. Based on the unhappy grumbles I caught coming from Ben in the background, he had little say in the matter and was guilty only by association.
For the first time in forever, I cried. A fact I’ll deny to my deathbed. So when I walked into work, I totally didn’t have a sniffly nose or red-rimmed eyes. James wasn’t giving me a pitying look as I made my way behind the bar, and I didn’t have to tell Dani multiple times that I didn’t want to talk about it.
I powered through my shift, making drinks without flair and still managing to spill things at every turn. I wasn’t my usual, outgoing self, but I was too damn stubborn to admit out loud that I wanted help.
James only put up with it for so long. Once the doors were locked, my tactic of avoiding his gaze stopped working. I busied myself with cleaning and piling away dishes, aware that he waswatching me the entire time. I think he was hoping I’d be the one to break the silence.
“Ryder,” he finally called, “do you want to come talk to me?”
“Not really.”
“Ryder!” he commanded in a tone of voice I couldn’t ignore.
I wrung the towel in my hands, casting a glance toward Dani, who was in the process of restocking the clean glasses behind the bar. “Are you good?”
“Of course.” She inclined her head toward James. “Go.”
I tossed the towel onto the bar, sulking across the room and entering the hallway ahead of James. As we entered his office, I hovered awkwardly in the middle of the room until he stepped in and closed the door behind us.
“James…”
He locked the door, then sat down on the leather couch against the wall, settling right in the middle. I suspiciously eyed the small amount of space he left me on either side, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I only knew what he wanted when he glanced at his lap then raised a brow at me.
“I’ll crush you,” I joked. Anything to avoid being too serious. Truth was, I could feel my foundation cracking. I feared that if he touched me, it’d crumble completely.
“I’m not buying this self-conscious act for a second. Get over here.”
With a sigh, I relented. I climbed onto his lap, a knee on either side, and he spread his legs, giving me more space to sit back. His hands traveled up my thighs until they landed on my hips—which I loved. I could feel his body heat through my clothes. His hand traced my birthmark through the fabric.
He stayed quiet, waiting for me to guide the conversation. I dropped my gaze, part of me expecting him to pick my head back up. I was relieved when he didn’t.
“Have you ever had your heart broken?” I asked, voice soquiet that if he hadn’t been a vampire, I was certain he wouldn’t have heard me.
“Once,” he said without hesitation. “A long time ago. Would you like to hear about her?”
That made me raise my head. “Her?”
He smiled, lightening the mood. “Funny enough, homosexuality wasn’t widely accepted in the 1600s.”
I ran my hands up his biceps, coming to rest with my arms around his neck, fingers twisting into the hair at his nape. “Tell me.”
He continued stroking my birthmark, almost as if it soothed him. “Her name was Elizabeth.”
“Liz’s,” I whispered. Like the bar.
“Mm-hmm. She was twenty-three, which was old for a bride at that time. Quite a bit younger than me, mind you, but that never fazed anyone. The pressure to marry fell on women, all too often.” He took a deep breath. “My family was well-off.Reallywell-off. We were some of the richest in Massachusetts. I wouldn’t say our marriage was ‘arranged,’ exactly, but her parents asked me to meet her, so I did—and I became smitten with her. I asked her dad for her hand, and we married that winter.”
“Why the rush?”
“It wasn’t a rush back then. We had nothing to lose, and her parents had a daughter to marry off, to bear them grandchildren.”
My brow furrowed. “I didn’t think vampires could have kids.”
“We can’t,” he confirmed. Then with a deep breath that was clearly out of discomfort rather than necessity he added, “Which is why Liz couldn’t conceive.”
