Night's Promise (3 page)

That made twice in a single night someone had threatened to take a tour of her brain. One little meltdown and suddenly they acted like she was unstable.

“Then you’re going to have to do it because as far as I’m concerned, nothing happened.”

For a moment he looked as though he believed her, and she fought a sigh of relief at her bluff. Without giving her a chance to relax, he spoke. “You never look like this when there’s nothing going on.”

Before she could move, he had her finger in his mouth. Melissa felt his fang pierce the skin and hissed from the slight pain. Her eyes narrowed as he sucked on the digit then closed the wound. Pulling her hand back from him, she had never wanted to slap him so badly.

“That hurt,” Melissa complained. She could feel him looking around inside her brain. She tried to shield the previous night’s events from him, but she placed the walls up too late. He’d already seen what he wanted to know.

Eyes narrowed, Gareth ignored his sister and looked at Mona. “Where the fuck is she? I’m going to kill her with my bare hands,” he growled.

“Who?”

“That bitch Diane.” He began to stand, but Lalita arrived in time to stop him.

“What’s going on?” she asked in a deceptively calm voice. “Leaving me so soon?” One look at Lalita’s closed expression told Melissa all she needed to know. Her brother got the same look on his face when he was angry.

Looking back at Melissa, Gareth opened his mouth to say something. She knew he was going to tell La what was going on.

“No,”
Melissa screamed through their link. When his attention shifted to her, she continued, “
Please don’t. I don’t want everyone looking at me like that. I couldn’t bear it if they knew… Please, Gareth, she’s my friend. I don’t want to see pity in her eyes whenever she looks at me.”

She could feel the tears welling, both in her eyes and in the link that bonded them, but made no move to wipe them away. She held his stare, praying he would understand.

She knew Lalita was his mate now, or close enough that it made no difference. Deceiving her would be wrong, but she just couldn’t stand knowing that the other woman knew the horrible truth about her past.

“Gareth wants to kill Diane.” Mona filled Lalita in while brother and sister stared at each other. “I’m not sure why, though.”

“Why do you want to kill her? Not that I’d actually mind, per say, but I’d still like to know why,” Lalita said, her voice still incredibly calm.

“She, um…” He hesitated. Melissa gave the barest shake of her head. “She insulted Mel last night.”

“She did?” Mona’s expression was stunned. “I’d have thought she would steer clear of her after—” She stopped in mid-sentence, quickly bringing her drink to her lips so she couldn’t continue.

“She uh, met me outside. She didn’t exactly like what I, um,
said
to her inside the club. We’ll leave it at that. She had a right to feel that way, even if I wish she had chosen a different way of expressing it.” Melissa shrugged, hoping they would accept her lie.

“O…K…” Lalita said, allowing the subject to drop. But it was clear from her tone, she wasn’t satisfied with the answers she had gotten. Looking at Gareth she said, “Dance with me?”

“Next dance, I promise, La, baby. I want to have a chat with Mel first. I’ll be out there soon.”

Melissa didn’t look back at her friend but assumed La must have agreed when she heard her working her way toward the floor.

“Mona, would you give us a—” Before he could finish, Mona stood.

“Why don’t I just get us all some drinks.” She looked at the pair and added, “I’ll take my time.”

When the other woman was no longer within hearing distance, Melissa asked, “So, how are things with La? You going to change her? Have you set a date yet? Do I get to be a bridesmaid? But I refuse to wear pink, though I don’t think I have to worry about that with
La.
She seems more a dark purple kind of gal to me.”

“Things are fine with
La.
Or they were until we got here,” he added grumpily, a pointed look at her. “I don’t need to change her. She’s—well, let’s just say we have a lot more in common than I thought we did.”

Her eyes widened. Lalita was vampire? She’d have never suspected it considering the way the woman acted. Shrugging, she decided it didn’t matter. She liked La because of who she was, weird quirks and all, not because the woman was human—or in this case vampire.

“And we haven’t discussed marriage yet. Now, no more changing the subject,” he told her in a no-nonsense tone. “You should have damn well called me the minute that bastard’s name was mentioned.”

“You’d just left with La, you were so happy…”

“I don’t fucking care. Damn it Mel, how can I protect you if you don’t tell me?”

“I don’t need your protection,” she screamed. Closing her eyes, she was thankful for the loud music the club played.

“Your nightmare was about him, wasn’t it?” Gareth growled, eyes narrowing once again.

“You already know the answer to that. Why do you ask me questions when you just go inside my head for the answers anyway? What am I, in high school again? What’s next? Are you going to ground me?”

“Yeah, I know the answer. But I didn’t have to look inside your head to find it. It’s all over you.”

Melissa looked at him and snorted as she rolled her eyes.

“Don’t believe me? Go look in a mirror, sis. There are bags under your eyes, you’re wearing loose fitting clothes, and you’re constantly looking over your shoulder. I remember perfectly, how things were when you first moved in with me. I remember being able to walk past your room at any time of night and schoolbooks were littered around you, the catnaps you took. I should have killed that bastard the night you came to live with me.” His voice was filled with disgust for the man that was her stepfather.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Melissa told him softly, placing her hand over his. If anyone else did this, Gareth would see it as flirting. He’d probably rip their hand off before a word was said. “You were my hero. You
are
my hero. I needed to be rescued from a monster, not think I had traded one demon for another. Though, I’m sure you know I’d have practically sold my soul to get away.” She ignored the tears that began to flow down her face. “I’m going to go. I don’t care what you tell La, as long as you don’t tell her about my past, not yet. Please, just give me time to adjust to her finding out about it first.”

“I don’t want you out there all alone. What if you see him?”

“You bit me remember? If I think I see so much as his shadow jump out at me, I’ll be screaming for you,” she said, a small smile on her face.

“No, you won’t.” He smiled sadly. “I know you’re more stubborn than that. I know you can take care of yourself it’s just, with him…”

“I know. But you can’t protect me all the time. I promise, Gareth, if I need you, I’ll yell.”

“You won’t worry about interrupting anything?”

“As long as you promise to be at least halfway dressed when you get there, I won’t,” she teased. Her voice sobered. “If I really need you, I’ll call.”

Gareth nodded. She knew him well enough to know he wasn’t comfortable with allowing her to simply walk off into the dark night alone. He, more than any other, knew what hid in the darkness, in the shadows, waiting for her.

Leaving the table before he could change his mind, she took a detour through the club, pulling Lalita to the side.

“It’s my fault Gareth can’t answer all of your questions tonight. I promise, you’ll get the answers, but not now, not yet. It’s something I have to work through. He cares about you, please understand that he’s only trying to protect me if he refuses to answer you.” Melissa hated the vulnerability she knew shined in her eyes tonight. But she’d caused enough problems for her brother for one night. She could easily swallow her pride for him. There wasn’t a single thing she would not do for him, if he asked it, and practically nothing she wouldn’t do even if he didn’t.

Lalita stared at her for a moment than accepted her explanation with a hug. “I trust you, Mel. I’ll try to be patient.”

“Thank you.”

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t still make him sweat for it.”

Walking away from her brother’s mate, confident everything would be fine between the lovers, Melissa slowly left the club. Sticking to well lit streets, she walked through the entire night, alone but for her memories. As the sun rose on a bright new day, Melissa was grateful she had once again survived the darkness.

Chapter Two

“Damn, I’m horny,”
Duncan grumbled as he sat down in front of the monitors. After her little show in the back room, the busty bartender had begun to change in the bathroom. Not even Gareth and Lalita went into the back room to fuck anymore.

If not for a few video files he’d grabbed from the security discs and kept for his own personal use, he’d be ready to strangle someone. As it was, he was more than ready to feel a pair of warm legs wrapped around his waist as he thrust into some woman.

Calling one of the other bouncers up into the room to keep an eye on things,
Duncan decided to scout things out in the club.

Passing through the crowd, his eyes scanned in every direction for that blonde Melissa had tried to knock unconscious. There’d been no sign of her since the incident, just over a week and a half ago. He continued surveying the room, looking for someone who could help him out for the night. He did not want another case of blue balls.

“Okay, this was definitely a mistake,” he said, half under his breath, watching Gareth and Lalita grinding on the floor right in front of him. Of course, it didn’t help that he knew exactly what it looked like when the two began to really fuck.

Lalita was hot, but not at all his type. She was just too—
Duncan shook his head, unable to place his finger on what it was that made him only look at her as a friend.

A hand touched his arm, forcing him to stop watching the two vampires in heat.
Duncan turned his head to the left when he felt a touch on his forearm. His gaze started at the small hand on his forearm and traveled up the peaches and cream arm to an angelic face.

Melissa. And damn she looks good enough to eat.

He wanted to feel her in his arms again. Hopefully this time she wouldn’t be struggling to get out of his embrace to rip someone’s hair out.

“Evening, Mel. How’s tricks?”

She rolled her eyes but tilted her head to the side, indicating she wanted him to follow her off the floor. Cock flexing slightly inside his pants, he nodded.

“I wanted to thank you, for the other night. I would have done something I regretted if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“You’re welcome.” Taking a closer look, he noticed the bags under her eyes, smudges that not even her expertly applied makeup could conceal. Noticing his scrutiny, she looked away. “Are you sure—”

“Shit.” Her eyes darted back to him. “I gotta leave.”

Holding her arm before she could move away from him,
Duncan followed her line of vision and saw the woman she attacked the previous week striding into the club.

“Why?” He was certain he knew the answer, but wanted to see if she’d admit the truth to him. Melissa had to leave because of her.

“Because, if I stay I’m going to hit her. I promised Gareth I wouldn’t cause anymore trouble.”

“So, where are we going then?”

“
We
aren’t going anywhere, I’m leaving.”

Duncan
gave an easy smile. “We were in the middle of a conversation. Come on, I’ll make sure you stay out of trouble. I’ll buy you some lunch and we can finish our conversation.”

“Our conversation was finished. I wanted to thank you. I did. See, end of conversation.”

“I’m not letting go of your arm until you agree to let me take you to lunch.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Fine, tomorrow is perfect for me. Of course, since lunch happens at noon, I’d love to see how you manage that.”

Leaning down to her ear he inhaled deeply, his eyes closing at the pleasant smell of soap and only a hint of makeup. No perfumes or sprays masked her scent.

“Then I guess you’re just going to stay in this club until we finish talking.”

“That’s blackmail.” She glared at him.

“Angel, I’ve been accused of much worse things. So, what’s it going to be?”

Looking back and forth between him and the blonde, she finally agreed, through her teeth, “Lunch it is.”

Guiding her to the door, making sure he didn’t bruise her flesh with his grip, he nodded at Bram before exiting the club. They were a few yards down the street when Melissa spoke again.

“You know, you can let me go now. I’ll keep my word.”

Even though he didn’t want to lose the minor contact with her,
Duncan obeyed. He stopped and watched Melissa look behind them, as though she were afraid they were being followed. For a moment he wondered if Gareth would come kick the shit out of him for leaving with her.