He breathed deeply. “And no one talks to me like you do.”
Her gaze dropped to his throat. The blade moved — not in a slicing motion, but downward, pushing the top of his collar until more of his skin was exposed.
“Purple,” she murmured, pulling the knife away. “Your skin is purple. I wondered, but I couldn’t see it properly before.”
Sloane watched her slip the knife back into its sheath. Tucking it into her pocket, she sat up straight and sucked in a deep breath.
“Okay,” she announced, like they’d settled something, and held her hand out. “Now give me your phone.”
CHAPTER
TWELVE
Cecilia senther phantom off to keep himself busy while she made her call to Dahlia.
A part of her still couldn’t quite believe the way he just… did what she said. Even as she watched him disappear into a heavily locked room, she half expected him to jump out again and shove her back into the bedroom.
But he didn’t. Sloane slipped into what he calledhis armorywithout so much as a complaint, apparently unconcerned that she might take the opportunity to escape. Whether that meant he fully believed shecouldn’tescape or that he’d have no trouble tracking her down if she did remained to be seen.
Either way, Cecilia padded into the starkly decorated living space across from the nearly empty kitchen, his sleek black cell phone in hand.
Settling down on the black leather couch, she curled her legs beneath her and tapped the screen.
“Spooky,” she muttered, eyeing the default wallpaper and lack of pass code suspiciously. When she poked around the apps and contact list, she found nothing. There weren’t any photos in the camera roll, either — which was a relief, frankly, becauseshe was almost one hundred percent sure she’d find pictures of herself in there.
The phone appeared entirely unused aside from a handful of calls to private numbers over the course of a few months. Knowing he’d had it that long unsettled her more.
What kind of animal owns a phone for more than a day and doesn’t change the wallpaper?She shuddered at the thought.
Thanking her past self for bothering to memorize Dahlia’s phone number in case of an emergency, she held the device to her ear as she waited for her friend to pick up. Picking at her chipping nail polish, she tried to sort out what she’d say. The full truth was out of the question, obviously, but lying wouldn’t work, either. They knew each other too damn well to get away with it.
Before she could come up with a solid strategy, the line connected.
Dahlia’s voice came through the speaker like a breath of fresh air. “Hello?”
“Hey, dork,” Cecilia greeted, immediately wincing at how strained those two simple words sounded.
“Cece? What phone are you using?”
Eying the empty concrete walls of the living room, she hedged, “A friend’s. I lost my phone last night and didn’t want you to worry.”
“Oh.” There was the slightest pause before Dahlia asked, “What friend?”
“You haven’t met him,” she replied, trying hard for nonchalance.
There was a longer pause. In that silence, she could practically hear Dahlia’s eyes narrowing. Beginning to sweat a little, Cecilia cleared her throat. “So, um?—”
“What’s going on?” her best friend demanded.
“Nothing!”
Dahlia had many, many talents. She possessed an incredibly sharp business mind, and her confidence could carry her through any room. Cecilia had watched her go from a child of a broken home to a fierce boss bitch of the highest rungs of the vampire syndicate with great pride.
But that also meant that Dahlia was not one to beat around the bush. If anything, she’d only gotten more blunt since she became a queen of the vampire underworld — and that was saying something, because she’d never pulled punches before.
“Bullshit. I can hear it in your voice. And what do you think you’re doing, calling me from an unknown number and saying it’s afriend’sphone but not telling me his name? Cece, you’re about as subtle as a brick to the head. What’s going on?”
Cecilia gently probed the swollen and bruised flesh around her split cheek. “All right, all right, put the claws away, boss. First of all, I’m fine. That’s the most important thing.”
