The Original Sin (Skye Morrison Vampire Series, #3) (10 page)

“Do you think you’ll be able to dance today?” I asked skeptically.  Even though she wasn’t balling, Rachel still had silent tears sliding down her cheeks every few minutes.

“No,” she shook her head sadly.  “Not without crying.”

“Sad dancers don’t make for very sexy dancers, so why don’t you hang out with me tonight instead?  We’ll keep each other company.”

“I’d like that, Skye; thank you,” she smiled for the first time tonight. 

“Why don’t you go change into your gear and I’ll meet you by the bar.”

“Okay.  Thank you for this, Skye.  I’m sorry to just dump this on you.”

“Never apologize for a broken heart, love,” I smiled sadly.  “We all get them.  We girls have to stick together in tough times like these.” 

Rachel hopped up, hugged me tightly, and then went to go change.

I sighed as I took another big swig from the bottle and prepared myself to go talk to Archer.  I needed to get tonight’s black access bracelets for the VIP/PVIP dancers and I was dreading facing him again.

I gingerly stood and made my way across the club floor to Quinn.  “Is Archer in his office?” I asked, the bottle of Jack still clutched in my hand.

“Yes,” Quinn said, eyeing the bottle as I made my way past him and up the wide metal steps to the second floor. 

I ignored looks from Aoife and Lochlan as I opened the door to Archer’s private stairwell and went up.  I knocked a few times and waited for permission to enter.

“Come in,” Archer yelled after a few seconds and I pushed the door open.  He wasn’t in his office, so I walked over to the apartment door.

“It’s Skye.  I’m just grabbing the dancer’s VIP wristbands from your desk drawer,” I called out as I walked back to his desk.  I dug around in his drawer and pulled out the five that I’d need for tonight.  As I turned back around to leave, I was shocked to find him standing a few feet behind me.

“Oh!” I jumped and clutched my hands to my chest, dropping the wristbands and my bottle of Jack.  “I-I uh, didn’t expect you to come out.”

Archer was standing there wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist.  It appeared that he had just gotten out of the shower and I had to swallow hard at the sight of the beads of water slowly sliding down his chiseled chest. 

I quickly looked away and bent down to retrieve the bracelets and bottle off the floor; my heart pounding with the surprise of seeing him there, the fear I felt at being around him now that I didn’t trust him, and most surprisingly, the desire I still felt when I saw his magnificent, sculpted naked body.

I started to edge my way around the desk, and his imposing form, when he spoke up.  “I can’t stand that you’re mad at me,” he whispered as my backside accidentally brushed up against him.

I shrugged my shoulders indifferently as I looked back at him.  “We all have to deal with things we can’t stand right now.  By the way, I’ll be working exclusively with the humans for the remainder of my two weeks here.  I thought you should know so that you can make arrangements for another first floor bartender.  Also, I’d like to speak with Ruarc if you can arrange it.  I want to know how the search for Amun is going.  I’m going home in a few days and I need to be able to live in my house without fear of him kidnapping me again.  If he isn’t caught by then, I think it’s only fair that I am provided with someone from The Faithful for security purposes until he is.  After all, I would have never been kidnapped by Amun or had him visiting and controlling my dreams if it had not been for y’all.”

“You are not moving out of my house until Amun is killed or captured,” Archer said firmly.  “This is not open for discussion.”

“I’m not staying, Archer,” I said heatedly.  “I can’t trust you not to hurt me again if it serves whatever purposes you decide to come up with that day.  I want nothing more to do with you…with any of you.  I’m done with vampires.  You all have done nothing but bring me pain since I met you.”

 Archer’s face registered agony at my words.  He ran both of his hands through his still wet hair and sighed dejectedly.  “I’m sorry.  I am so sorry I hurt you, but I had to be sure that Amun wasn’t controlling you.  You could have given up our location or potentially killed us if he had been.  I was just protecting my family.”

I uncapped the bottle of Jack and took two long swallows.  I was painfully sober and needed to remedy that if I was going to have any chance of making it through tonight’s shift without bolting or killing someone.  I put the cap back on when I was done and hugged the bottle to my chest.  Archer eyed me warily as I took a step toward him. 

“You said I was your family once,” I said quietly.  “And, you said that you loved me.  When you love someone, you don’t hurt them…no matter what.”

“I didn’t know what else to do!” Archer pleaded as he held his hands out beseechingly at his sides.  “I was panicked, terrified for everyone’s safety.  I am their leader, their father, and their brother.  It is my duty to protect my children.  And I do love you Skye; I love you more than you can even imagine.  It kills me that I hurt you, but I had to do what I felt was right at the time.”

“You were panicked?!” I asked, raising my voice.  “What about me, Archer?!  You almost killed me!  The worst part was I had no idea what was going on.  I was terrified!  I was the one that was panicked!”  I shook my head, closed my eyes, and sighed as I tried to calm down.  I felt murderous right now; and I felt hurt.  So many emotions were coursing through me all at once and I didn’t like how it felt.

When I opened them, Archer was standing just a few feet from me.  He looked so sad and hopeless but his emotions no longer affected me.  I just didn’t care anymore.  I turned and walked to the office door, stopping briefly to speak to him over my shoulder. 

“I was actually falling in love with you, Archer,” I admitted quietly.  “I think that’s what makes this so much harder for me.  I was betrayed by someone I was in love with.” I sighed, fighting the sting of tears, and squared my shoulders before continuing.  “Get ahold of Ruarc.  I want to talk to him.”  With that, I exited the office and made my way back downstairs.  

I ran smack into Jameson’s chest as I was exiting Archer’s stairwell.  “Skye, I’m so sorry,” Jameson said immediately, grabbing on to my shoulders to steady me, “I didn’t see you.  Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, rolling my shoulders back and away from his touch.  A look of hurt crossed his face as he moved aside to let me pass.  I gripped the bottle of Jack tighter as I squeezed past him and hurriedly made my way downstairs to the first floor.

As I passed the main bar, Hunter called out to me.  “Are you going to help with prep tonight or not, Skye?”  He sounded kind of frustrated and I looked over in his direction.

“Not,” I frowned as I continued to walk.  “Archer is supposed to find you another bartender.   I’m working with the dancers for the next two weeks.”  He mumbled something in Irish-Gaelic but I just ignored him. 

I made my way down the hall and into the employee lounge.  All the dancers were getting ready for their shift and a few were comforting a still crying Rachel.

I walked over to her, put my arm around her shoulders and passed her the bottle of Jack Daniels.  “Drink, honey,” I smiled sadly.  “It’ll help.”

Rachel gratefully accepted the bottle and took a long pull from it.  She passed it back to me and I passed it on to Courtney who had been keeping her company.

“Wow, free drinks?  Thanks, Skye,” she said happily. 

“Don’t mention it,” I winked.

I waited patiently for everyone to finish getting dressed before I called out to line up for the nightly powwow.  Rachel huddled awkwardly beside me as I started the meeting.

“First thing’s first, you guys look awesome, as always.  Thanks for making my job super easy.  If you will turn your attention to Courtney, she has a nice bottle of gently-used Jack.”  Courtney smiled happily as she held the bottle above her head by the neck.  “Feel free to have a drink or two before you go out on the floor.  Rachel and I have had a rough day, so drinks are on us.”  A chorus of cheers and whistles went up and few ‘thank you’s’ were passed our way.  “Don’t get sloshed or we’ll all get in trouble,” I added quickly as I saw the bottle being passed down.  “I’ve decided not to help out behind the bar for right now, so I’ll be working exclusively with you guys.  I’d like to take a moment to thank Brian and Eden for helping me these past few weeks.  You guys did a great job managing the dancers,” I said, turning to them.  “I really appreciate all your hard work.  I know Mr. Rhys does too.”

They nodded and smiled as I continued.  “Now for tonight’s VIP dancers.  I’ll need Peyton, Courtney, Stacy and Alex to work up there tonight.  Peyton and Stacy will take first shift.”  They came forward and I quickly attached the wristbands as I continued speaking.  “I want you guys to be safe tonight.  Remember to lock your cages.  Don’t be scared to speak up if you have a rowdy customer bothering you.  We had an incident a few nights ago, I won’t name names, but someone should have spoken up sooner in regards to the customer that was bothering them.  If you feel scared at any time, raise your hand so I can come to you and take care of the issue.  Your safety and happiness is my top priority, guys.  No issue is too small, no asshole is too large.  I’ve got your back, dolls.”

I looked up and down the line and met everyone’s eyes.  “I mean it, okay?  I’m here for you.  Now, get your sexy asses to those cages.  I’ll see you all out there.”

I smiled and gladly accepted a few hugs as everyone made their way out the door.  Brian returned the bottle of Jack Daniels to Rachel with his thanks as he walked passed us.

“God, he’s so cute,” she sighed as he closed the door. 

I laughed and slung my arm around her neck.  “He definitely is.  Now that you’re single, why don’t you ask him out?”

“We’ll see,” she said with a shrug.  “I’m a little pissed at the male species at the moment.”

“Don’t let the mistakes of one man ruin you for the others, honey,” I said gently as I took the bottle from her.  “There are always a few bad apples in the bunch but that doesn’t mean you have to throw out the entire bushel.  Now, come on girl.  Let’s get us a real drink.”

I sat the bottle down on the glass table for the dancers to enjoy later and Rachel and I made our way out to the main floor.  Quinn had the house laptop up and was selecting tonight’s playlist in the DJ booth.  As the music started pumping, I took a moment to watch as everyone climbed up into their designated cages and began warming up. 

“How about that drink?” I smiled over at Rachel.  She nodded solemnly and followed me over to the first floor bar.

I was surprised to find Jameson assisting Hunter tonight.  He looked up from his prep work, surprised as well to see me standing there, and immediately dropped what he was doing.

“Did you need something, love?” he asked sweetly.

“Rachel and I are in dire need of alcohol,” I explained quickly.  “What do you say you pour us up something strong?  We’ve both had a pretty shitty day.”

Jameson looked back and forth between us a few times but ultimately agreed.  Rachel and I took a seat at the end of the bar and made ourselves comfortable.  In no time, Jameson sat down two tall glasses of Vampire’s Kiss in front of us and I pursed my lips at him, unamused.

“What?” he asked with a small grin.  “I know how much you like those.”

I returned his smile tightly and thanked him before clinking glasses with Rachel in a silent toast.  She took a long draw from her straw and smiled instantly. 

“Wow!  This is awesome.”

I took a long sip from mine and nodded my head in agreement.  Jameson’s Vampire’s Kiss’ were always delicious.

Rachel and I chatted about random things as the nightly crowd started to pour in.  The music got louder as the club quickly increased to capacity.  Before long, it was time to relieve dancers and have them switch cages, so Rachel accompanied me around the floor.  We quickly did our duties, had a quick dance, and returned back to the bar for another drink.  We happily repeated this routine for most of the night and by the end of it, we were both giggly and well inebriated.  I was glad to have helped take her mind off her cheating boyfriend and I was glad she helped me take my mind off of all my recent vampire troubles. 

As the crowd dispersed for the night and the dancers exited their cages, I snagged Brian as he came out of his.

“Awesome dancing tonight, Bri,” I smiled.  I did a quick check behind me to make sure that Rachel was still sitting at the bar before I continued.  “You know, Rachel has had a pretty tough day and I kind of got her drunk.  I was wondering, if you didn’t have any plans, could you maybe drive her home tonight?  I know she’s well past being able to drive.”

Brian smiled and looked over at Rachel.  “Of course I’ll take her home.  I’d be glad to.”

I smiled brightly at the potential love connection and told him to go get her.  He happily complied and I watched the look of surprise and excitement on her face as he took her hand and lead her to the back.  I winked at her and waved as I watched them go.

With Rachel taken care of and the club pretty much empty, I made my way back over to the bar and had Jameson fix me one more drink before we hit the road.  I had just sat down on one of the swivel stools when the bar phone rang.  Jameson immediately answered it, spoke in Gaelic for a few seconds, and then hung up.