She shakes her head quickly. “I’ve only been here a half hour myself. Mark hasn’t even stopped by yet to check for deliveries.” When they reach the corner, Evan looks to the left and peers into a room. Seeming satisfied, he continues down the hall to the right.
“Have there been any more incidents of missing blood?” Evan questions casually.
“No, sir,” she replies immediately. “Not since the last incident.” Her eyes dart to me, then return to Evan. “We did another inventory just a few days ago.”
“How many days ago?” Evan tries the knob of a door, and it turns. He pushes it open and flicks on the light. I can’t see into the room well because he’s blocking the door, but he flips the light off a second later, leaving the door slightly ajar as he continues. The woman stops in front of the last door on the right as if she’s trying to prevent Evan from entering or from viewing it altogether.
“Three?” She sounds unsure.
I glance over my shoulder to see if Griffin thinks she’s acting strangely. His eyes are on the woman, and he looks as unassuming as possible—for him. His hands are tucked neatly into his pockets, and he’s standing pretty far back, but he’s still intimidating.
Evan checks the last couple of rooms rather quickly and seems satisfied. The woman starts to wring her hands together as he grows closer to her. “That’s the bank,” he states with a nod behind her.
“Yes,” she replies almost hesitantly.
“Do you have the keycard?” He tips his head to the side.
The woman swallows thickly. “I’ll have to grab it. We keep it in the desk.”
“I’ll wait,” Evan tells her. She scoots past us. When I turn to watch her retreat, I expect Griffin to be right behind me, but he’s farther down the hall near the front where he can keep an eye on her.
When the woman returns, her face is a little flushed. Before she can reach the door, Evan tries the knob but finds it locked.
The woman’s steps falter, like she’s surprised he tried the knob, but she continues to walk closer and taps the small white keycard against the black card reader near the door.
Evan pushes the door open. The light is already on, so he steps inside. Once he’s out of the way, I see two large, commercial-looking refrigerators with glass front doors. The glass is too cloudy to look inside, so I just scan over them. There’s a small desk with a chair set up to the left with a computer much like mine. The glow of the monitor reflects in the glass of the fridges.
Evan turns on his heel and faces the woman. “I’m going to need to take a look at the logs and the inventory you mentioned.”
“I can get those together. Do you want me to have them delivered to your office?” She’s clutching the card tightly in her hand, but the rest of her seems a smidgen more relaxed.
“I can wait while you make copies,” he replies. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but she snaps it closed and just nods her head instead.
The woman hustles out of the room and Evan follows her. When I turn to go with them, Griffin grabs my arm, stopping me. “I want to look around,” he murmurs softly, keeping his voice low.
“Was it me, or was she acting weird?” I trail behind Griffin, making sure I whisper.
“Her heart was beating like a scared rabbit’s,” he says, sliding open one of the doors of the refrigerators. There are rows and rows of milky white bags, each labeled with a barcode.
I peer over at Griffin, wondering if this makes him hungry. He lets the door slide closed and opens the next. It looks the same. “What are we looking for, or are you just trying to find your favorite barcode?”
Griffin turns his head slowly and gives me a droll look. “My favorite doesn’t come with a barcode.”
“I bet you have a special section all to yourself. It’s probably in its own little fridge with warning labels. ‘Headmaster Stone’s personal supply, touch at your own peril.’” I pretend to sound ominous.
Griffin reaches out quickly, snags my waist, and then pulls me firmly against his body so he’s behind me. “I have recently acquired a personal supply. If one were to threaten that source, they would definitely earn themselves an enemy.” His words are a mere whisper against my neck, spoken softly, despite the dire warning he’s delivering.
“Oh you have, have you?” I try to sound unaffected but fail miserably.
He makes a humming sound as his lips skim the side of my throat. “Though she’s not like a fridge, she’s much warmer.”
I swallow and rest my head against his chest. In the back of my mind, I know we shouldn’t be doing this, not right now, but I can’t seem to pull away from him either.
“She’s addicting and intoxicating, and I can’t wait to be back inside her in so many ways.” My knees actually get a little weak. Damnit, Griffin could talk my clothes off. I knew he’d be dangerous.
He kisses the side of my neck reverently and releases his hold around my waist. I take a step away from him just to prove that my legs are still working, then spin to face him. He’s watching me, and he looks just as affected as I feel.
Evan enters the room, and I take a few more hasty steps back from Griffin. There’s no real reason I should have been so close to him, we’re supposed to be looking around, not flirting. “Anything?” Evan asks, looking at Griffin.
