Page 8 of Just the Pool Boy at Vampire Mansion

I frowned. “No, uhm. He uh . . . We were going to look at the neighbors’ pool.” No way was I going to mention payment. If I did, he’d definitely think I’d whored myself out behind the bushes. Honestly, that would have been better and less traumatic than whatever was happening now.

“That’s some bullshit, pool boy. You think I’m a fucking idiot? Huh? Just because I’m blond? Huh? You think I’m a himbo like mother says I am?”

What? “No, I just . . . that was . . .” I trailed off, because as we neared the bush I’d stashed Theo under, it was plain to see he wasn’t there. No legs sticking out. No sign of him anywhere. “Oh.”

“Oh, what?”

“He uh . . . he was right there. Under that bush.”

Bentley looked around us, then his gaze settled on the neighbors’ house and his hand fell to my shoulder again. A shiver trembled through his whole body, into the hand on my shoulder and down, into me.

Bentley cut his glare to me, and his pale blue eyes turned an angry violet. “My brother wasn’t here, was he? You lured me out here in my best slippers to give me a wretched headache. You think this is amusing? Drag the vampire into the sun? Are you fucking with me?”

“No, I swear it, he was right there!”

Bentley bared his fangs in a hiss, and whatever sense of self-preservation I had left finally kicked in. I bolted, legs pumping, across the yard, through the side-gate, flung open my car door, dropped in, started it, gunned the engine, and I was out of there, tires squealing.

I didn’t slow until I was a mile from the Witherborne mansion and deep into Miami’s bay area.

Through the window, it was all picture-postcard reality. Palms stood in tidy rows, and the bay threw back the sun, flooding pastel buildings with bright daylight. A convertible worth more than everything I’d ever owned slid past me at the lights, top down, the driver’s sunglasses catching the glare.

My AC wheezed, but at least my heart had slowed.

This was the same city I’d gone to work in this morning, but after everything I’d just seen, it felt as though I’d just left a whole other planet.

“Holy macaroni.” Okay. It was fine. Whatever all of that was, it had nothing to do with me. A few days would pass, and by the next time I went back to check the filter, they would probably have forgotten all about it and I could just do my job. No more sexy vampire playboys, no more bodies in the neighbors’ pool, no more vicious brothers. Just a pool and my job.

My phone rang.

I jumped—swerved. Caught the wheel again and glanced down at the phone in the cup holder. Unknown number. What if it was the black-robe guy? Why had I given him my number? Hey, Mr. Murderer, call me.

“Stupid!” I thumped the wheel, then ran a hand through my hair. “So stupid. Every time. I just gotta open my mouth. Here’s my card,” I mocked myself. “Murder me next, creepy next-door man. Stupid mouth.”

“I like that mouth,” Theo said from the back seat.

I yelped and stomped on the brake. The wheels locked, the tires screamed again, and we came to a sudden stop at the roadside to a hail of angry car horns. I didn’t care. My nerves were shot. I was done with Witherbornes. I twisted in the seat and looked at him, sprawled in the back. Relaxed, loose, half smiling. Cool as a cucumber. A sexy, smirking, toxic cucumber in a pink and green flower shirt.

“Get out.”

He frowned. “Is that any way to treat a friend?”

“We are not friends. We just met.” I flung open my door, marched to the back of the car, and yanked that door open. “Out.”

Sunlight flooded over him. He flinched and turned his face away. “Another hundred to sleep at yours.”

“Ugh.” This man. But also . . . a hundred bucks? Hm.

He lifted his tired gaze. “My family won’t come after me, if that’s what you’re worried about. Nobody is going to think I’d be at your shithole apartment.”

I hadn’t been worried about that, but now I’d add it to the list. “How do you know my apartment’s a shithole?”

A quick grin. “You just confirmed it.”

I opened my mouth to tell him to get lost again.

He showed me two fingers. “Two hundred.”

He wasn’t going to get out of my car, that much was obvious. I’d picked up a stray and now it wouldn’t leave. “You’ll be gone tonight, right? Just today. No funny business. All of this goes away with you.”