Ayres nodded and seemed unperturbed when I didn’t offer my own thanks.
As I lifted to cup to my mouth to sip, my stomach grumbled.
With a sigh, Ayres got to his feet and headed toward the fridge. I wanted to tell him not to bother but I was hungry.
I sipped my hot chocolate after watching Garrett take a huge drink of his and watched as the vampire made me a sandwich. When he opened the jar of mayonnaise, I winced.
“Mustard, you heathen,” I said.
He sighed again, obviously put out by the fact that he had tofeed the woman he’d kidnapped. But, still, he returned the mayo to the fridge and took a bottle of mustard out of the fridge door.
A few moments later, he returned to the kitchen table, a plate in his hand. A slab of a sandwich on what looked like homemade bread sat next to a small pile of chips and a pickle spear.
Ugh. It looked great. I scowled as my stomach growled again.
He set it in front of me and went back to his chair.
I bit back the habitual thanks that hovered on the tip of my tongue, because, as I said before, he didn’t deserve it. Feeding me was the least he could do considering I was his hostage.
I took a big bite of sandwich and chewed. Oh, yeah. Definitely homemade bread. And, oh-so-yummy.
Once I finished the bite, I washed it down with another sip of my cocoa and asked, “Okay, so what’s the deal here?”
Garrett studied me as I took another huge bite of the sandwich, but it was Ayres that answered.
“Like I told you before you decided to run through the dark and nearly break your idiot neck, I’m not going to hurt you. You’ll stay here with me until Bernie gets back. He’ll lift the protection spell he put on you long enough for me to wipe your memory, and then you can go on your way.”
I bit into my pickle spear, crunching aggressively as I stared at him.
“That’s it. You swear?” I paused. “Wait. What am I asking? I can’t trust anything you say.”
Ayres opened his mouth, his eyes flaring brilliant green again, when the police chief interrupted.
“Let me settle this.”
We both turned toward him.
Garrett faced me. “It’s either here with Ayres or down at the station in a cell. Trust me, the food and the bed are much better here, and you’ll have privacy, and your toilet won’t be out in the open.”
“I thought I could stay at Aunt Bethany’s cottage once you were sure I couldn’t leave town?” I asked, turning toward the vampire who was still staring at me with fiery emerald eyes.
“That was until you tried to do something stupid,” he said. “It’s clear you have no common sense, so you’re staying where I can keep an eye on you.”
I sneered at him. “Oh, of course it was stupid of me to try and run away from the man whokidnapped me and handcuffed me to a bed!”
“You handcuffed her?” Garrett interrupted.
“Yeah. Speaking of which, how did you get out?” the vampire asked, his eyes boring into mine as though he could force me to answer with the sheer force of his will.
“Like I’d tell you,” I scoffed.
I dropped my feet out of the chair, planning to stand up. But when my heels hit the floor, I couldn’t suppress the gasp that escaped my mouth. Oh, yeah. I had blisters on my feet, and I was pretty sure they were busted.
“I smell blood,” Garrett said. His voice was little more than a growl.
Both of them turned toward me and I fought the urge to bolt. I suddenly felt like I was in the sights of two predatory animals.
3
