"I don't know yet," I say, getting a bit annoyed at this inquisition.
"Hm." He pulls out his phone and taps into it, ignoring me for a moment as I scowl at his rudeness. He pockets his phone and takes a sip of coffee as my phone buzzes to alert me to an email. I narrow my eyes as I look at it and my mouth drops open in undisguised shock.
"How dare you?" I snap at him. However, he just looks at me in that mildly infuriating way of his.
"Now you know what time you have to be back," he says. "I require you bright and early Tuesday morning so may I suggest that you come back Monday night." It's not a suggestion, more of an order.
I want to throw my coffee at him, but I refrain as I am still war
y of his ever-present threat and I know he wouldn't hesitate to see it through if I gave him a reason. My grip tightens on the mug so much so, that I snap the handle off it, and it falls to the countertop to smash into little bits, splashing coffee everywhere in the process.
He looks faintly amused at my anger and moves around to stand in front of me. He leans down to kiss me quickly and says, "I will leave you to clear that up, my sweet. Take care, Aefre. I will see you on Tuesday at 6 AM."
Off he stalks without a care in the world and I am left here covered in coffee and humiliation, as he has once again emailed me his schedule. I had hoped we were past that, but he clearly isn't above making me feel like crap to suit his own needs. Thoroughly pissed off now, I march back to the bedroom, leaving the mess in the kitchen and crawl back into bed with Lincoln. I have a few minutes to spare before I should leave. I am going to make the most of them and piss CK off in the process. Not that he knows what I’m doing, but I like to think on some level he can feel the spike in my emotions, even from his apartment, as I climb on top of Lincoln and kiss him until he is awake enough to shove himself inside me and fuck me senseless, making me forget.
I make it to LaGuardia with minutes to spare, damn traffic, and Captain Jim tuts at me as I race up the stairs.
"Sorry. It's mayhem out there," I apologize.
"No worries. Buckle straight up, we need to fly.” He makes a joke and I roll my eyes at him.
Grabbing the onboard phone, I call Cole. He answers on the second ring. "Yeah?"
"Hey, baby."
"Hey. Are you on your way?"
"We are just about to take off. I will be with you in two hours, tops."
"Okay, we're in the studio today so I'll get Grayson to bring you straight here."
"Okay, my love. I can't wait to see you."
"Me either. I have missed you a lot this time around," he says quietly, and I know it's because of CK and I sorting out our issues.
"I will be there soon. I love you."
"I love you. Bye."
I left Grayson with Cole so at least he had something to do. We don't drive around New York, well not much anyway, so it made more sense for him to be with Cole. Also, I left Grayson to look out for him. He may only be a Lesser Immortal, but he is six feet, six inches tall and as wide as a house, plus he is over six hundred years old and therefore is capable of taking care of himself and my husband should the need arise. He is one of Eloise's descendants but fortunately for me, he didn't take offense when he found out I’d killed her, as he had never even met her. It was quite rare for any of the Greater Immortals and certainly the Lesser Immortals and below to ever even see – let alone meet – the Initial Vampires. Our situation is unusual as we were building a family unit before it all got shot to hell and back and now of course, Eloise and Gregor are dead anyway. In fact, not many of her charges or theirs were too heartbroken and neither were Gregor's when they found out, which has made this a whole lot easier. I was afraid that civil war would break out, but everyone just took it in their stride – with a few exceptions, like James of course. He tried again to take me out after we got back to L.A., but after some convincing with my trusty sword, he left well enough alone and slunk back off to wherever it was he came from. A stake would have sufficed but why settle when you can have the best?
Thinking about the sword, it annoys me that it isn't really mine. It seems to fall under the purview of Xane Draconis. I haven't had much chance to think about him since our encounter the other night. After Toronto, after Constantine, I am going to have to go to Vegas to see him next week. I don't particularly feel like angering him by ignoring him as he wields some pretty impressive power. That whole stopping time thing was beyond awesome and, well, Demon Overlord…kind of terrifying. Although, I have to say I didn't get that vibe from him. He seemed pretty regular, well, once he lost the cape and sword. I am itching to find out more about him and his kind. I have never come across any Demons before, at least not to my knowledge. If he is anything to go off, they look like regular people, as we all do before we Shift, but I wonder what lurks beneath the surface.
The onboard phone ringing interrupts my thoughts and I pick it up with a brusque, "Yes?"
"So, you really just fucked off on your jet and left him?" Sebastian says to me harshly.
"I beg your pardon? How did you even get this number?" I say in no mood to be talked down to.
"I thought our little chat the other night might have made you see sense by now."
"I thought our little chat the other night left you with no doubts about how I feel about my husband."
"Humph," he says rudely. "This is a mistake. You shouldn't have left."
"It's nothing to do with you!" Christ, I am so sick of everyone sticking their oar in.
"It does when my sire is left moping about because you aren't here."