Choices (The Forever series, Book Four) (11 page)

"He's fine. I spoke to him today. You should stop
calling him. He's not going to hold out much longer if you do."

"Isn't that the point? I don't want him to hold out any
longer," I say with a frown.

"But he does. It's what he wants. If he comes back to
you the way he feels now… it's not what is best for him. Why can't you just accept
that?" he says now with his own frown.

"Because I am lost without him," I say sadly.
"I don't know how to be without him."

He pulls me to him, "You are doing just fine. The more
space you give him the sooner he will return."

Deep down I know that makes sense but if history has taught
me anything, it is that I am a stubborn fool. Like sire, like charge. I sigh.

"Fine. I am leaving it alone now."

He smiles. "Good. Now where were we?" he asks as
he leans down to kiss me.

The rest of the night goes by in incredible sex. He might
not have a Vampire's constitution, but fuck me, a Shifter's stamina is nothing
to be sniffed at either!

He needs about as much sleep as I do, so we fall asleep
together, which makes a nice change instead of me conking out on my own, with
him curled up behind me, his strong arms wrapped around me, making me feel safe
and content.

I awake a little before six with Lincoln still wrapped
around me and my sire staring down at me through narrowed eyes with an
unreadable expression.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I whisper loudly at
him and he blinks.

"Watching you sleep."

"That is just over-the-top creepy," I whisper snap
at him as I untangle myself from Lincoln and climb out of bed.

"You don't seem to mind when I do it in my bed,"
he points out.

"That's different. I am sleeping with you. You are
watching me sleep with someone else." I pull on a robe and, picking up my
phone, I head towards the kitchen leaving him to follow.

"Indeed. You should really be with me. You look a lot
more at peace."

I glare at him and say, "You are just beyond weird this
morning. What did you come down here for?"

He chuckles at my comment and says, "I needed to know
you were safe and I wanted to say goodbye before you left for the weekend. I
had hoped for a proper one but you refused me."

"I didn't refuse you. I had other plans and you knew
that. It was unfair of you to ask me to break them."

He shrugs, "Perhaps. But I am a selfish creature."

I hand him a cup of coffee and he accepts with a nod.
"What time do you leave?" he asks, casually taking a sip and stepping
back to the other side of the kitchen island.

"Take off at eight," I say shortly, knowing
exactly why he stepped back from me. It irks him that he can smell Lincoln all
over me.

His eyebrows go up and he says, "That's early. I
thought you weren't going until later?"

"Change of plans."

"When will you be back?" he asks, again with the
casual tone, and I wonder what he is up to.

"Tuesday."

His eyes harden slightly, "What time on Tuesday?"

"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 and 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
wary 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."

And 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 have to leave and I am going to make the
most of them and piss CK off in the process. Not that he knows what I am 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 push 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 and he
chuckles.

"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 ring 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
round," 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." And he hangs up.

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 pretty 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
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 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.

"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."

"Moping about? I am pretty sure
our
sire doesn't
know how to mope," I say with a snort.

"You would have thought, wouldn't you," he says.
"But I know mope when I see it."

"Where is he?" I ask.

"
Ponte
. I am fairly certain he went to go sit in
that shrine of yours he has over there."

"He Teleported to Tuscany? He’s breaking the rules. Oh
Sebastian, go and find him and bring him back."

"I'm not going. He was in a right foul mood when he
left," he sulks and I shake my head at the phone.

"Well, I'm not going. I am currently minutes away from
my destination, which has my husband in it. My husband that I haven't seen in
days," I sigh. "Sebastian, I'm sorry that this hurts him, but there
isn't another way. Not under these circumstances."

"Fine," he says. "You go off and be married
for the weekend. I will go and find him and bring him back, and then maybe I
can find him a substitute for you, take his mind off it," he says wickedly
and hangs up on me as I growl in anger and slam the phone down.

Fortunately we land shortly thereafter or I might have
called him back to yell “no substitutes” at him. I clearly have issue with that
especially since the Polly situation and I am not prepared to sit back and let
that happen again, with any of the men in my life. He may go and fuck and feed
if he so wishes but
not
with a look alike.

I disembark, still a bit pissed off with Sebastian and his
guilt trips, but Grayson greets me on the tarmac and I forget about everything
else, as I get excited to see Cole.

Taking me straight to the studio, I am allowed access due to
my position--well, my faux position. I am the head of this studio but only in
name and funnel rather large investments into it. I have very little to do with
the running of the show and leave that to my second in command, Edward.

I jump out as soon as we come to a stop and go off in search
of Cole. I find him in his trailer and he grins at me as he sees me and pulls
me into a tight hug that I return.

"Christ, it's good to see you," he says. "You
look different? Your hair. I like it." I have left it in the soft curls
from the other night just for a change and it seems to be pleasing the men in
my life so far. He kisses me soundly and pushes me up against the table.
"I'm taking you now. I can't wait until later," he whispers and I
don't stop him. I want him desperately as I look into his blue-grey eyes. He
lifts me onto the table and pulls my legs around him, pushing his hands up
under my dress. He pulls off my knickers and he strokes me lightly, enjoying
just touching me for a minute. He then plunges his fingers into me as I work to
undo his jeans and get him free. Within seconds he is inside me and I cry out
as he hits the spot. Claiming his mouth with mine I pull on the neckline of his
t-shirt and drop my fangs. Suckling deeply on his neck, we both come together
at the same time. I release the bite and he clamps down on me taking his fill
with soft little moans as he suckles slowly.

A loud knock on his door causes him to pull back and retract
his fangs, as well as pull out of me, and we arrange ourselves into a more
decent state.

He clears his throat. "Yes?" he calls out.

Dawn enters and sees me still on the table and says,
"Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?"

"No, it's fine. Hello, Dawn," I say.

"Hi Liv. It's good to see you again."

"You too." Dawn is on my payroll and is Cole's
Feeder, but also his personal assistant. It worked out quite well, really. She
is a petite, curvy blonde with bright blue eyes and looks nothing like me,
which eases my issue.

"Cole, they need you now. Sorry, Liv, it's going to
take a few hours."

"No worries," I say. "Baby, I'll head to the
hotel and we'll catch up later. I still have work to do."

"Okay," he says and kisses me. "I don't want
to leave you, now that you are here," he whispers.

"I know, but go now. I will see you later. Not too much
later though," I frown at him and he chuckles.

"I'll try to be as quick as I can," he kisses me
again and with a last longing look back at me he follows Dawn out of the
trailer.

Alone again, I sigh. Oh well, might as well go get some work
done. I go off to find Grayson and he takes me back to the Shangri-La hotel. I
wanted to buy Cole an apartment here to stay in but with the hours he keeps he
prefers the hotel and all the services it provides. He has a point, but I would
have preferred total privacy. Still, he is the one who has to live here so it's
up to him. I check in and ask for a few things to be brought up, knowing he
won't have thought about certain things. Grayson takes my bags up--it is so
ridiculous that I have to pack anything at all--but it would look odd, me
turning up with no baggage for a weekend stay.

Thanking Grayson and then dismissing him, I pull out my
laptop and start to work, only getting up to let the housekeeper in with the
bits I asked for.