Bad Vampire by Lauren Dawes (read aloud books txt) 📕

“Great. Let’s do it. I hate hospitals.”

Ten

After I proved I could keep a sandwich down, I was discharged from the hospital with my right arm in a complex sling, a fresh set of scrubs to wear home and more pain drugs and instructions than I could keep straight in my head. Reaver had conveniently disappeared without me touching the glyph at all whenever a nurse or doctor came in, and now I had no idea where it was. A cab was waiting for us, and after Sawyer helped me in, I expected him to shut the door and send me on my way.

That didn’t happen.

He jogged around the back of the car and got in the other side.

“What are you doing?” Okay, that sounded accusatory, and I hadn’t meant it that way. I guessed I was just shocked.

“I’m making sure you get home safe.”

I glanced around. “Are you being filmed? Did someone pay you for this? Am I being Punk’d?”

He frowned. “Why would anyone pay me for this? You’re my partner.”

I let his words settle into my psyche. Partner. He wanted me as his partner. Or at least for right now. Maybe the next time I fucked up, he’d jump ship.

“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “How are you? It looked like you didn’t get injured at all in the crash.”

He tugged the neck of his shirt down, revealing a sculptured chest I wanted to lick chocolate off of. He smirked, then pulled it down a little further, revealing a thick red welt across his chest.

“The doc said it’ll be bruised for about two weeks, but I should be fine.”

“Seriously? That’s all that happened to you? I get a dislocated shoulder, and you get a bruise? Is that because you’re a supe?”

“No, it’s because the truck hit us on your side.” He eyed me curiously. “By all accounts, you should be dead. I don’t even know how the side of your truck wasn’t a ball of twisted steel…well, more of a ball of twisted steel.”

“Maybe we got lucky?” I absently ran my fingers over Reaver’s hilt, which was lying across my lap. That was strange. It had disappeared as soon as the orderly had come in with my sandwich, and I didn’t bother to look for it. Somehow, it had just turned up in the taxi. I wasn’t going to think about it too much.

“Maybe,” he murmured. “I’ve been meaning to ask you…”

“Yes?”

“Your necklace, the stone. It’s opal?”

I wrapped my fingers around it protectively. “Yes.”

“Where did you get it from, if you don’t mind me asking.”

I stiffened at his words but shook myself. Sawyer wasn’t the enemy here. “My father gave it to me after my mother died. He said it was for protection.”

“I’m sorry about your mom.”

I shrugged, even though thinking about her still made my heart hurt. “It happened a long time ago.”

“What about your dad? Is he still around?”

“No.” The word was hollow, and it sounded hollow coming from my lips. “He was murdered about five years ago.”

“Shit. Sorry.”

“What for? You didn’t kill him.”

“I don’t mean that,” he said. “I mean, I’m sorry you’ve lost both of your parents. It’s tough being out in the world by yourself.”

“After my mom passed, my dad kind of threw himself into his work with an almost fanatical fervor. I wouldn’t see him for weeks, sometimes months on end. When he did come home, it was only to collect some information before he was off again.”

“What did he do for work?”

“I don’t know exactly. They were both archaeologists, so I assumed he was on digs.”

“Who looked after you then? You couldn’t have been old enough to look after yourself.”

“I wasn’t. Our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Brown, looked after me. She spent more time at my place than she did her own. She ended up moving in for a while, right after my mom died, because my dad just disappeared one night and didn’t come home the next day. In the end, he was gone for about six months, so I was lucky to have her.”

Reaching out, Sawyer stroked his thumb over my knee. “I’m sorry.”

Shaking myself, I said with a cocky lilt, “We’re all a little fucked up, aren’t we?”

I looked out the window to see we were turning onto my street. When the cab stopped, Sawyer paid him, then helped me upstairs to my apartment. He tried to take me to my bedroom, but I shook my head.

“Shower first. I’ve got vampire in my hair.”

He smirked. “I bet you’ve never said that before.”

I grunted and shuffled toward the bathroom. Sawyer followed at my back like a shadow, pushing things out of the way when needed and holding my elbow when I swayed.

“I’m okay,” I said. “Just a little nauseous.”

“The doc did say you might feel like that. It’s all part and parcel of the side effects from the painkillers you’re taking.”

“I never want to be hit by a semi again,” I grumbled, then turned on the shower. I was about to undress, but stopped when I couldn’t get the sling off my right arm.

“Do you mind?” I asked him.

Sawyer approached me, slowly releasing the three clasps that held the sling against my side. I concentrated on his strong fingers as he worked the straps free then gently eased my arm out. When I sucked in a hiss of pain, his eyes shot to me.

“Did I hurt you?”

I shook my head. “I’ll be fine.” Hooking the thumb of my free hand into the waistband of the scrub bottoms I’d been sent home in, I tried to pull them down and soon realized this was not a solo endeavor.

“Will you let me help you?” I eyed Sawyer warily. “You won’t be able to do this by yourself,” he pointed out. “Plus, I’ve seen plenty of women naked before. You don’t have to be shy on my account.”

“I’m not worried about your sensibilities,” I grumbled in reply. But he was right, of course. I couldn’t do this on my own.