“Cole, we had a fight before I went off to find my father. A big one. He owes me and he knows it. Don’t worry about it.”
“What did you fight about?” he asks.
“The Fae thing and Sebastian. He said some pretty hurtful things.” No way am I telling him about the spelling. It will send him on a suicide mission.
“Oh,” he says flatly. “Yes, I can imagine he wasn’t very pleased with that news.”
Understatement of the year. “Let’s go,” I say brightly, wanting to change the subject.
He knows I don’t want to talk about it, so he stands up and takes my hand. “Thank you,” he says. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“I do, my love, and don’t thank me. It’s not a favor.”
“I know,” he says, “but I am grateful anyway.”
Chapter 17
Buckinghamshire, England, March 2013 - Liv
We make our way down to the garage and I ask, “You driving?”
He nods eagerly and grabs the keys to the McLaren. I slide in and he follows, roaring the engine to life. We are silent for a few moments and then he says, “I like going on an adventure with you.”
“What, even though it’s to get your one-nighter to keep her trap shut?” I ask with a slight smirk.
“Well, not that part specifically. More that it is just the two of us,” he admits with a shy look.
“Yeah, I like it too,” I say, and run my hand up and down his thigh. We fall back into a silence and I am staring out of the window wondering what I am going to say to this woman, when Cole blurts out, “Liv, please stop touching me.”
I look back at him and snatch my hand away, holding it to my mouth.
“No, don’t stop touching me,” he says taking my hand back and placing it on his thigh. “Just please stop touching me,” he adds knowingly.
Oh, I hadn’t realized my hand had drifted so far up. “Sorry,” I mumble and feel bad. This is, after all, my embargo. I can’t go around teasing him. It’s not fair to him.
He changes the subject and we chit-chat the rest of the way about my Power boost and Finn’s new role. He is not happy about just how close Finn and I are going to become, but he tries to accept it as best he can. When we pull up to the hotel where she is staying, he changes his mind. “Let’s just go home,” he pleads.
“No, we are here now, and she needs dealing with, Cole. Come on.” I get out and he follows after a minute. I wait for him to take my hand and lead me to the bank of elevators and he anxiously punches the button. Moments later we are facing Tanya’s door and he looks at me.
“I have no idea…” he says.
“Allow me,” I say and bang loudly on the door. I know only three things about this woman: that she is a Vampire, that she is named Tanya, and that she is around three hundred years old. Still a baby compared to me, even without my Power increase. We wait and she opens the door with a big smile, which freezes in place when she sees me. I have no doubt now that she does know who I am, as she grips the folds of her skimpy satin robe closer together to hide her nudity. She clearly assumed nookie was on the agenda when Cole messaged her earlier.
“Cole,” she says in a confused tone. “I thought you were coming to agree to my request?”
“Your blackmail, you mean?” I say to her and put my hand up to her chest to push her back. She goes flying across the room, crashing painfully into the opposite wall and sliding down in a dazed heap. Cole and I look at each other in astonishment. I had only meant to give her a gentle nudge so we could enter the room and close the door on this unsavory discussion. I think Cole knows I barely touched her, which explains his wide-eyed awe. I recover quickly though and march over to her, dragging her up by her robe until she is facing me. Her terrified look pleases the Dragon in me, and before I have said a word a stake pops into my hand out of the armory. Her eyes start to pool with tears, and I hear Cole say my name, gently.
“I’m sorry,” she stammers.
“Sorry?” I snarl at her. “Sorry for blackmailing my husband into coming back to you when he doesn’t want you? Sorry for threatening his reputation?”
“He does want me,” she says boldly. “He was here fucking me the other night instead of you.”
She has balls, I’ll give her that. She probably knows that I won’t stake her. Or at least, had we been in this situation a couple of days ago, she would be right in assuming that. Right now, though, the Dragon Queen has come to the forefront and She is pissed.
“Want you?” I sneer, “He doesn’t want you. He can’t stand the sight of you.” I slam her back into the wall and her eyes go to Cole’s. I know he isn’t looking back at her, as I can feel his eyes on me. I can sense his disgust at her and himself for being with her and also his worry over what I am going to do, but he makes no move whatsoever to stop me. Not only because he couldn’t even if he wanted to, but he is leaving me to do this my way.
“I promise, I won’t say anything,” she says when she sees I am right. “I love him, I just wanted us to be together.”