Once Bitten, No Longer Shy by Julie Steimle (chrome ebook reader txt) 📕

you want to punch something, punch me.”

Troy turned a dark eye on him, knowing he’d probably knock himself out. “Funny.”

Yet Bobo still stood between him and the wall, eying the gaping concrete. “Troy, your eyes have gone red. Calm down.”

Troy stepped away. His heart would be pounding if he had a beat still. For some reason he continued to feel angry. It had finally settled into his brain, the shock over. The woman he spent intimate, passionate time with, the one he had practically sold his heart to in its broken entirety, had sold herself to Marcus for money.

And Marcus had blackmail porn on her.

“I need to call Tom,” Troy said, digging out his phone again. That conversation with Jandra along with that vampire attack had distracted him.

“What for?” Bobo asked, eying him.

“Revenge,” Troy said through his teeth.

Bobo raised his eyebrows. “Against her?”

“Him,” Troy ground out, finishing the text he had started to Tom earlier.

*Tom. I need your help.*

“Him as in the guy she is cheating with?” Bobo inched to the kitchen looking for something. Troy hoped it wasn’t garlic in a plastic zipper bag. It could be a tranquilizer gun, though. Silvia had told the story about Audry tranking a witch from her coven. For all he knew, they had bought one just for him.

*What up?*

Troy was impressed. Tom was awake. Troy wondered where he was. He texted back as he said to Bobo, “The jerk not only knows she was dating me while he screwing her so she could get money, but is blackmailing her with—I don’t know what—revenge porn or something.”

Bobo halted for a second, hand in a drawer. “What? Who?” He looked like he wanted to punch the wall too now.

Troy sent the message to Tom:

*A guy has got revenge porn on my girlfriend. His name is Marcus Williams. Can you have imps tear his apartment apart and destroy all the stuff he has on her?*

“No way.” Bobo walked back to Troy. “Tell me who?”

“I’m sending Tom after him,” Troy said, hoping Tom would bite. He was also hoping Tom would not want to collect the porn. He was never sure what Tom would do with the way his impish brain worked.

Bobo nodded in approval. “Ok. But who? I like Nicole.”

“So do I,” Troy said. Then he broke down and cried. “So do I.”

Going back to the kitchen, Bobo dug back into the drawer and got out the container of valerian root powder, the submersible blender, and the cookpot. Troy did not know why, but he sobbed, leaning against the kitchen counter. He was feeling it all. He did care about her. It wasn’t just a crazy vampire libido that was driving him. She meant a lot to him—nearly everything, come to think of it—and he did not want to let go.  But she had lied to him.

He barely regained control of himself when Bobo pushed a warm mug into his hands, one full of that familiar drink.

“Take this and go to bed,” Bobo said, patting Troy on the back. “You are emotionally drained and you need to rest. We’ll discuss this tomorrow. I’ll call Randon.”

“Randon’s got Silvia,” Troy murmured, shuffling to the stairs, his eyes puffy. “What do I have now?”

“A good night sleep.” Bobo pushed him along. “And perspective in the morning.”

Troy had left his phone downstairs on the counter. But Tom had texted back.

*Can I send a friend to deal with him? Piranha loves to destroy all kinds of porn. She’d enjoy it.*

Bobo was the only one to see it. But he texted back for Troy: *Do it.*

 

Troy woke late. He could see patterns of sunlight dancing along the edge of the window sill and reflecting onto the far wall. He stared up at the ceiling, feeling lonely. With no Nicole in his arms, he wondered how in the world he had lived before it all. When he could muster the strength to get up, feeling so drained, he went downstairs for breakfast—where he saw Randon and Silvia talking with Bobo.

“What? Did you drive all night to get here?” Troy shook his head at them.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Randon said, then beckoned to Troy as an old friend. “Come here.”

Troy dragged his feet over.

Randon met him halfway, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. They were never quite in a hugging relationship, but Troy needed one now. And from him.

“Tell me about it,” Randon said.

Nodding, Troy let him lead him to the couch where Silvia was sitting, watching them. Then, after a deep breath, Troy recounted everything that had happened the day before, including his visit with Miranda. Bobo listened while making—not breakfast, but lunch. Troy had no idea until halfway through that he had slept until noon. When he recounted his walk home after confronting her, Troy hesitated and finally fessed up he had bumped into Jandra—recused by her really.

Bobo nearly fell over, almost dropping the plate of grilled cheese sandwiches he was carrying.

“I tried to put in a good word for you,” Troy said with what he hoped was a reassuring no.

“But she tazed a vampire?” Bobo gaped, impressed while also scared for her.

Nodding, then chuckling, Troy soon openly laughed. “Yeah. Saved my hide. I wasn’t even looking. But I also told her the truth that I was one.”

Everyone stared at him.

“Did she believe you?” Randon asked, peeking to Bobo out the corner of his eye.

Troy nodded. “I’ve got great proof. No heartbeat. Sharp teeth. And she always thought I looked like one.”

Bobo nodded. But he appeared winded. His mind looked like it was whirling with questions and possibilities, equally weighing, measuring and dismissing a good number of them.

“Good proof.” Silvia nodded. She then said. “So… how do you feel, now that you’ve split with her? Your girl…”

Troy looked at the ground between his feet, shrugging as his sorrow remained. “Temporarily separated,” he corrected her. “But I feel like crap. I am also furious that she lied to me. But that guy… I absolutely hate that guy.”

“Tom will make short work of him,” Randon said, nodding firmly. “You can count on that.”

Troy nodded. But he still wanted to rip Marcus’s head off. The more he had thought about it, the more he had decided that Marcus had preyed on Nicole. Though Hanz was right in that she was not emotionally stable and was seeking attention in the wrong ways—she was vulnerable to the likes of Marcus Williams who saw an opportunity and didn’t think anything wrong with exploiting a nymphomaniac. And not only that, one who wanted to continue to do so through blackmail. And though he was disappointed in her for lying to him, Troy realized she had to have been afraid that he would reject her if he found out. And he had… if only briefly. What right did he have to judge her? He hardly resisted her advances and he had enjoyed her passion just as much as any other man she had been with. He was no better. .

“I still want her,” he finally said.

Silvia raised her eyebrows. So did Randon. It was eerie how they were now in synch. In fact, they had grown quite alike.

“But she needs to stop making deals with creeps like Marcus,” he said. “She needs to move in with me. I want her to move in with me.”

“After lying to you?” Randon said, exasperated.

Groaning, Troy rested his face in his hands. “I understand why she lied.”

Silvia and Randon exchanged looks.

“Why?” Randon asked, not sounding happy.

Troy heaved a sigh and lifted his gaze to him. “She didn’t want me to know about the deal she had with Marcus. She was mortified. I could see it in her face when he gave her the money. I heard their entire conversation. He was bullying her. He was blackmailing her. And I bet they started that whole deal of sleeping with him for money before she and I seriously hooked up. I bet she had been trying to get out of it. He turned her into his hooker. She wasn’t one before.”

Randon straightened up. “Do you want me to check it out to make certain?”

“What?” Troy straightened up also. “Do you mean spy on her as a cat?”

“I spied on Rick and Daisy,” Randon said. “It was all I could do until we could help him.”

Troy paled. “You spied on Rick while he was… uh, with his she-wolf?”

Randon and Silvia both nodded.

“She was dead set on getting pregnant,” Randon explained. “And Rick was totally whipped.”

“I stopped that.” Silvia raised a hand.

Troy pulled back. But then, thinking about Nicole, he shook his head. “No. Don’t spy on her. I knew what I was getting into when I continued to date her. Matt told me already. I just need time to think.” And he mentally added, to give Tom some time to torment Marcus.

“To think?” Bobo said. “It looks like you’ve made up your mind.”

Troy rose. “You’re right. I have. I love her. I want her to move in with me. Is that bad?”

They exchanged looks. Obviously they were not sure. But they could see he felt strongly about this.

“Text her,” Bobo said, lifting up Troy’s cell phone. It was where Troy had left it.

Troy went over and picked it up. As he pulled up his texts, he paused. “What should I say?”

“Think on it,” Randon said with a look to Sylvia. But then glancing at his wife longer, he added, “Invite her here for lunch. I’d like to meet her.”

“We’d like to meet her,” Silvia amended.

Nodding, Troy opened his texts. He tapped in a message.

*I’m sorry about yesterday. I want to see you. Please text me back.*

He set down his phone.

“How soon will she text back, do you think?” Randon asked.

Troy shrugged. “I don’t know. We didn’t exactly part well. I was in a bad state and I pushed her onto the subway to send her home.”

Silvia nodded. “If it were me, I’d be angry.”

They looked to her.

“She might not answer for a while,” Silvia explained. “Especially… if you knew she was with other guys before.”

Troy closed his eyes, nodding. He had to give her time.

That being the case, in the meantime Randon suggested Troy take him and Silvia to the café where Miranda worked. They wanted to say hi and also try out what food they had. Bobo had work and could not join them.

As they went out onto the street, a police car pulled up. Quickly, out of the car came two policemen who showed their badges and said, “Troy Meecham?”

“Yes?” Troy pulled back nearer to Randon and Silvia.

“You are under arrest for suspicion of murder,” one officer said.

Randon looked to Silvia. Bobo came then out with his car keys, preparing to leave also. He had also heard and looked to Troy who stared, trembling. “Who?”

“We are not at liberty to say,” the policeman said, gesturing for Troy to submit to arrest. “But there was another death in the city, last night clearly done by a vampire—and he is the prime suspect.”

“A vampire attacked him last night,” Bobo said. “Was the victim a black woman? Was it Jandra Washington?”

The policeman looked to him, but shook his head. “No. It wasn’t a black woman.”

“This has to be some mistake,” Troy said, yet did not fight the police as they cuffed him. “I’d never harm a soul.”

“Not even out of jealousy?” one of the policeman said.

A shudder went through Troy. Was Marcus dead? Did Tom go too far? Or had that other vampire overheard them and targeted Marcus, killing him so he would be blamed?

“Who could I possibly be jealous of?” Troy said through white lips.

 “The suns up.” Randon pointed to the sky. “If he was the vampire who did it, he would be burning up right now.”

“Yeah, well we think he figured a way around that,” the other cop said.

One of them started to read Troy his Miranda rights. The cuffs around his wrists were nothing, Troy realized. He could easily bust them and get out. But what would be the point