He lifted a single eyebrow at me, a sardonic smirk curving his lips before he lifted the mug to his mouth.
“I won’t. No one would believe me,” I insisted. “But I do have a best friend who is extremely co-dependent and even crazier than I am. If I don’t respond to her calls or texts within 24 hours, she might call the cops and the media.”
He froze, staring at me in disbelief. “Crazier than you are?”
I waved my arms around. “That’syour takeaway? You should be more worried about the cops and the media because I guarantee you, she’ll find a way to commandeer a chopper and rappel into the middle of town with a cameraman and a commando.”
He just continued to stare at me, the mug aloft.
“What?” I snapped.
“You’re not lying, are you?” It was a genuine question, full of puzzlement.
“No, I’m not. Sela is a force of nature. Like an earthquake and a hurricane had a love child.”
“Dear God.” He put the cup down on the counter with a snap. “Fine. I’ll let you use your phone, but it stays with me when you’re not responding to Sela’s communications.”
“Fine,” I said.
“And no calling Bernie because he needs this time to grieve.”
“I know. I didn’t plan on it.”
My words must have finally sunk in because he blinked at me, his expression blank.
“What?”
“I didn’t plan to call Bernie,” I repeated. “Are you losing your hearing? Can that happen to vampires? Is there a ringing in your ears?”
He shook his head. “Why weren’t you going to call Bernie?”
“Because he said he wanted to spend one more week with Aunt Bethany. You may be an asshole, but that doesn’t mean I should punish Bernie for your bad behavior.”
He sighed.
“Besides, this way, I get to punish you.”
“Is there any way I can convince you to spend the day planning my punishment while sitting around my office? I need to go to work.”
“I can stay—”
“No, you can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to get a call from Garrett that you blew my house up.”
I scoffed. “I have no idea how to build a bomb.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not going to give you the opportunity or the time alone to figure it out.”
“Fine,” I said. “But before I do any scheming, I need coffee and breakfast. You kidnapped me, it’s your duty to feed me.”
He gave me another strange look, but I wasn’t afraid of him any longer. Well, not much. If he didn’t try to kill me for slapping him last night, I doubted he was going to drain me dry over my smart mouth.
Besides, pre-coffee Cari didn’t have a filter between her brain and mouth. Only caffeine activated my ability to think before I spoke.
“Would you settle for tea?” he asked.
