“It was a lot more than a drop, dude.” I realize I’m tugging at my hair in frustration, one of my beautiful golden locks coming away in my palm. “Oh great, now I’m fucking losing my hair!”
“You’re not losing your hair. I literally just watched you pull it out. Stop being dramatic.”
I wrap my arms around my body, fighting another bout of shivers. “Now my clothes are soaked in blood, Tys. It’s already f-fucking freezing in here.”
Tyson walks over, picking up a bag I didn’t see before, and shoving it through the cell’s bars. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.”
Tearing into the bag, I find a clean pair of sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a small throw blanket. At this point, I don’t even care if Tyson sees my man bits. Let him watch. I quickly strip out of my destroyed, and smelly, clothes and pull on my new cozy duds. “Fucckk, that’s so muchbetter! Thank you. Although, you coulda given me a blanket right away instead of letting me almost freeze to death.”
“I got tired of your whining.” He takes the bag full of my ruined clothes. “I’m burning these, by the way. Hope they aren’t your favorite or anything.”
“I’m cool with never seeing those again, to be honest.” I grab the throw blanket and wrap it around my shoulders, burying my nose in the soft fabric. “You gotta help me get out of here Tys. I’m tired of playing the blame game with you, and running around in circles. It really doesn’t matter whose fault any of this is anymore. Either way, I’m locked in here, and you’re stuck helping me. We might as well work together and get this over with, so we can both be free. Not to mention, I’m worried for Charlie. He knows about vampires now. What if someone comes after him for it?”
Tyson sighs, resting his forehead on the bars in front of him. “You’re right. I don’t want to be stuck down here, anymore than you do.”
“Hey, at least you get to leave. I’m literally trapped until some unknown council deems me fit to be released.”
“Yeah, I’d hate to be you.” Tyson cringes.
“Rude.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Charlie
Without You
It’s been a few days since I visited Blood Rose and found Kip. The bond inside of me calls to me, wanting me to go to him again, but it doesn’t tug me like it did before. I wish I could go be with him.
All I want to know is that he’s okay.
But, I haven’t heard a single thing from him or Tyson. I’ve swung by Pump Palace and their apartment, and yet I haven’t managed to run into Tyson.
I wonder if Kip has talked to him, asking him to give me updates. If he has, Tyson isn’t doing a very good job of keeping me in the loop.
All I know is that this fucking blows. Here I am, with nothing to do but go about my mundane life, worrying constantly about Kip. I used to be content with the way things in my life were, before all of this. Sure, I’ve never really liked my job all that much, but everything else was exactly as I liked it. Now, I can’t imagine going back. Every day that I wait for Kip to come back is day spent in boredom and sadness.
My friends can tell something is up with me, claiming that I’ve been ‘broodier’ than usual. I guess they’re probably right.
And that’s why I’ve been forced out into the real world, well, sort of. If going from my apartment to Lukas’s ten minutes away counts as venturing out into the real world. This will probably be good for me, even though I don’t really want to do anything but wallow.
I first met Tommy when I happened to find his board game store after I first moved to the city. I was really into Magic the Gathering at the time, and his store ‘The Board Room’, had the largest stock.We got to talking about different cards and games, and he invited me back to play in a tournament they had for the following week. That’s where I ended up meeting his girlfriend, Fae, and their friend Lukas.
Going to the shop was the only social connection I had after moving here, and we all clicked. It’s been a few years since then, and they’re still the only people I choose to socialize with. Until Kip.
“Dude, what is with you lately?” Tommy slides into the seat next to me at the table.
“Yeah, you’re dark-ier and moodier than usual.” Fae quips, munching on a tortilla chip.
“Did your date the other night not go smooth?” Lukas slides me a freshly uncapped cider.
“Ooooohhhh you went on a dateeeee?” Tommy & Fae sing at the same time, then burst out laughing.
“Well, he ditched us on discord the other night, and when I called it sounded like he was at a club.” Lukas supplies, throwing me under the bus.
“So what? I’m young. I can’t go out to a club for once instead of holing up in my room on discord with you nerds?” I cross my arms, closing myself off.
“Uh, first of all, you’re the nerdiest out of all of us.” Fae chimes.
