“Am I late to the party or was I not invited?” Joe snickered and shut the door.
She saw Tristan’s jaw tighten from the corner of her eye and saw Joe’s eyes land on Tristan’s hands on her shoulders. Tristan moved his hands through his hair and then folded his arms across his chest. Kyla looked to Julia and tried to mirror the girl’s blank expression.
“Thought you were back tomorrow but I need to talk to you actually, bro,” Sam rose and motioned for Joe to follow him out of the room. Joe glanced back at Julia and then at Kyla. When his eyes landed on Kyla, she felt her blood run cold. There was something more sinister about him than Sam, for sure. Maybe just because she was on his shit list for getting him in trouble with Tristan. She tried not to show it, just stood as tall as she could beside Tristan and avoided his gaze. His eyes didn’t land on her for more than an instant and she suspected it had something to do with his fear of Tristan.
When Joe and Sam were out of earshot Tristan kissed her temple, “Let’s go to bed. I’ll find an errand for Joe tomorrow to get him outta here. I don’t like how he looks at you and I feel how much he stresses you out.”
Kyla nodded. As they walked away she looked back at Julia, who just sat patiently on the sofa in her underwear.
“What about her? Do we just leave her there?”
Tristan waved his hand dismissively, “She’s fine.”
~~~
“I don’t like how flippant you are about the whole entrancing thing and the way Julia is being treated,” she commented when they were back in the bedroom. Kyla felt like she could finally fully exhale.
“Flippant? Mindset shift in progress, baby. Habits take time to form and to break. But seriously, she’s fine. She won’t remember any of this.”
“Why do you want to even change those habits?” she sat on the edge of the bed.
“For you. I told you, it’s you. Feeling you. It makes me feel. I haven’t felt things like this in a decade. Some of it, ever.”
She was thoughtful for a beat, “But people only really change when they do it for themselves.”
“Then let me rephrase. For us. For possibilities.”
She was quiet for a minute and then decided to change the subject, “Things were odd with Joe. You don’t trust him and that was pretty obvious.”
“Yeah, I have to work on my own poker face, too. After you put a man down and exert dominance the energy changes. It’ll probably never be the same again,” Tristan shrugged.
“Because I hit him over the head with the vase.”
“Because he’s suspicious about our relationship and curious about your blood and because he crossed a line so I had to deal with that. His attitude toward me has shifted. The fact that he came in through that door instead of the front door was even shifty. I still see reverence but I know how vamps think and if I’m not controlling you I’ll be seen as weak. In my position I can’t be seen that way. Talk about me keeping you had to have come from Joe but he doesn’t have a direct line to Claudio so he’s talking to someone that does. It’s being talked about because it’s not something I’ve done so far and when I branded you by marking your throat in front of him it spoke volumes. And after having put him down I’m just not sure I have his loyalty.”
“I’m sorry if because of me that you lost a friend…”
“It was never a friendship. I don’t do friendship. I’m their boss, Kyla.”
“Everyone needs friends.”
“Like you? How many friends do you have?”
“Touché.”
He pulled her close and unclasped her coverall straps and let them fall. He pulled her onto the bed and cuddled with her. “I’ve said that I’m busier than ever and keeping one pet is easier than constantly bringing in new ones.”
“That’s what you did before?”
He nodded.
“Three or four a day.”
“Sometimes. I never found anyone I wanted to spend more than an hour or two with. The guys thought it was odd when you wouldn’t willingly leave with them from the bar but were sure you’d comply for me. When you didn’t, I assured Joe I was workin’ on you and made light of it, said it was a fun distraction. Like I was a cat with a mouse and instead of killing it, I was playing with it. I said that I’d heard of an herbal supplement that blocks persuasion and said it takes a few days to a few weeks to work its way out of someone’s system. But you going on a hunger strike probably didn’t help matters.”
“That’s not what that was.”
“I know that,” he caressed her face, “but he doesn’t.”