It’s a quarter after eight in the morning when the next customer comes in, and by this point Aidan has already stood from his seat and placed several bills in the tip jar. He gives me a curt nod as he heads for the door, but just as the belldingsabove him, I hear something else filter in past the early morning sounds of birds chirping and shop owners opening their doors.
A voice—Raegan’s voice—and it’s in distress.
Aidan must have heard it, too. He halts on the threshold, head slightly turned to look at me and gauge my reaction. He has no idea about what happened with Patrick, but I must havemanaged to communicate the seriousness of the situation by the panic in my eyes, because Aidan darts across the room in the blink of an eye and is now right in front of me. “That sounded like Raegan.”
As much as I hate to admit it, I know he’s faster than me. Aidan’s glaring eyes are telling me as much as he waits for me to react, or at least say something. But I’m glued to the spot. I hadn’t realized that in a fight or flight situation I would end up freezing.
I manage to speak one word as I strip off my apron and toss it onto the counter. “Go.”
Aidan splits from the premises in a blur of motion, the door left ajar from where he ran through it at top speed.
My single patron is rooted to the spot, rapidly blinking and mouth gaping with words she can’t get out. I don’t take the time to explain what just happened. Instead, I race down the street after Aiden, wishing for the first time for a power I don’t have. I’m fast, but not vampire fast. I just hope whatever’s happening, Aidan is already there to stop it.
I never should have let Raegan out of my sight.
Chapter Seven
RAEGAN
Ihave never been this angry at someone before. And frustrated. No matter what I say to this man, I can’t make him see reason.
“Raegan, come on,” he drones, drawing out the words. “You know we’re good together. You felt it on our first date. It’s that bitch of a best friend of yours whispering lies about me in your ear, isn’t it?”
Patrick refuses to accept the words I’ve repeated not once, not twice, but three times. And now I’m yelling it for a fourth. Because apparently, I’m in just as much denial as he is.
What is it called when you do something over and over and expect a different result? Oh yeah, insanity.
This idiot is driving me insane.
He’s obviously drunk. He’s barely keeping his balance without a hand against the brick wall of Bound and Buried. I was minding my own business, simultaneously counting inventory while making a mental note of the books I need to buy, when Ethan stomped over irritably to tell me there’s a man pacing back and forth in front of the store and giving ‘bad juju’.
My first reaction after seeing Patrick through the front window swaying from foot to foot with sweat dripping from his temples was to smack my palm flat against my forehead. Clearly he didn’t get Jamie’s message like I thought he did. I didn’t even ask myself what the hell he was thinking, because I already knew. The dipshit knew the only way to get my full attention would be to catch me at work, without Jamie.
Now I’m standing on the sidewalk, embarrassing myself in front of all the other small business owners, as I try to talk some sense into this basket case of a man. I need to coax him into the side alley between the book store and Claudia’s bakery, so we aren’t in front of so many prying eyes.
“Patrick,” I start again, taking a tentative step toward him like he’s a wild animal that’s gotten loose in the streets, “let’s talk somewhere private. Just you and me.”
I’m hoping he’ll take this as a sign he’s won me over. After all, getting me alone is what he was aiming at to begin with. Miraculously, he actually starts to follow me into the alley, though I don’t think he realizes he’s doing it. He’s so drunk I could probably steal his shoes right now and he’d have no idea.
I lace my voice with a fake dulcet tone. “I know technically I didn’t get a chance to break up with you, because, well, Jamie did it for me, but it’s the truth.” Now that the words are out, there’s no point backtracking, so I plow forward. “I just don’t see this working out. And after the way you’ve acted today, you’re only confirming my choice. Because that’s what it is: my choice. I need you to respect that.”
Patrick stares at me with busted pupils and nostrils flaring. I can see it’s taking him a second to process what I’m saying, but once he does, his veins cord under his skin. He looks enraged.
But then he reaches out as if to brush a hand across my cheek, and I quickly step away, shouting, “Don’t touch me!”
But he’s moving much faster than I thought he would be capable of in his inebriated state, and now he’s got his hands around my throat. “You belong to me!” he bellows.
I screech as he squeezes the air from my lungs. I attempt to claw at his fingers as they dig into my flesh, but it’s becoming harder and harder to take a breath. Black spots dance around the edges of my vision, but just when I think I’ve made a terrible mistake being alone with Patrick, my lungs expand and I’m breathing fresh air.
I gasp and run a hand over my already aching throat, but I have no idea how I’m standing here. Where is Patrick?
Then I see him. Jamie’s friend, Aidan, is standing above Patrick with a menacing scowl. At the speed he just moved he should be breathing heavily or sweating profusely, but he’s perfectly poised. He leans over Patrick’s confused face and slowly cocks his head.
“What do we have here?” Aidan says, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
Patrick scrambles to his feet and plants them widely with his shoulders back. He looks like he’s about to try and fight a vampire, but surely he can’t be serious.
Aidan smirks in clear amusement. “Please,” he pleads in a mocking tone. He holds both hands up in fake surrender. “I beg you.”
