Vampire in Geek's Clothing (Psy-Vamp Book 6) (2 page)

There was no getting around it; Isaiah was stalking a woman.
That was the only explanation for his presence in this little coffee shop when
it would be much smarter to work out of the busier mainstream coffee shop down
the street. There was also the fact that he’d finished the daytime surveillance
he needed to do on the building well over a week ago, and he was still showing
up at this coffee shop nearly every day.

His problem had started three weeks ago when, instead of
doing the smart thing with the large chain coffee shop, he’d picked the one
where a beautiful woman by the name of Nikki brought coffee and a pastry to his
table each morning. Some days, he even stayed long enough for her to bring him
another coffee and a sandwich at lunch time. The coffee made her even more
attractive to him, no matter how strange that might seem to most people. It was
phenomenal coffee, and since he’d given his cousin his favorite espresso
machine, he’d been missing good coffee.

The biggest reason it was stupid coming here was that he’d
lost his anonymity by becoming a regular who awkwardly flirted with Nikki.
Luckily, no one was likely to recognize him with his hair dyed black and the
brown contact lenses. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, he could easily pass as your
average college student. Since he’d developed a reputation in corporate
security over the last decade, he needed to go unrecognized. His fake ID
claimed he was Jordan Isaac Drake, age twenty-five. He had plenty of experience
assuming false identities, and he’d never made a mistake. That is, until the
day Nikki had asked him his name, and he’d automatically replied Isaiah. He’d
told himself he couldn’t come back to this shop, but he’d been back the next
morning, forcing him to admit that he was both an idiot and a stalker.

“How’s that Master’s thesis of yours coming along?” Nikki
asked when she set his latte and pastry on the table. It didn’t matter how many
times he saw her; he still couldn’t stop himself from drinking her in each
time. Her caramel skin was clear and free of makeup, and her eyes were a pretty
shade of green, ringed with gold. Today, her rich brown hair was secured in a
high ponytail with a few escaped strands framing her face. As for her body, she
had a deliciously curvy frame, with full breasts, shapely hips, and a round
backside. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Isaiah reminded
himself that he could not get involved with this woman, not even for a night.
Just thinking about a night with Nikki brought images of tangled sheets and his
hands gripping her round ass as he slammed into her body.

Clearing his throat and shifting uncomfortably in his chair,
Isaiah gave her a friendly smile. “It’s coming along nicely. How are you today,
Nikki?”

“Great!” she responded a little too cheerfully, and much
like always, he got the impression she was lying to him. “You dropped something
yesterday.” She handed him the driver’s license that must have fallen out of
his wallet the last time he’d been here—the one that said his name was Jordan Drake.
“I thought you said your name is Isaiah. You aren’t casing my coffee shop for
some big heist, are you?”

Fuck! First he’d told her his real name, and now this?
Isaiah
was never this careless, which was one of the reasons he was so good at what he
did.

The easiest way to handle things would be to use a
compulsion to make her forget all his slip-ups, but he couldn’t bring himself
to do it. Under normal circumstances, he didn’t like manipulating people’s
minds, but it was worse with Nikki because he genuinely liked her.

“I hate the name Jordan, so I go by Isaiah,” he lied
seamlessly. “It sounds better than Isaac.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I figured that out on my own. I was just
teasing about you robbing the coffee shop. You’ve seen the kind of business we
do here.”

Damn, she was even prettier when she laughed.

Today, the shop was pretty empty, so she was lingering at
his table, making him so hard he was uncomfortable sitting. He decided right
then to say screw it all and ask her out. This job would be over soon, meaning
he’d have no excuse to come out here. Bad idea or not, he really wanted to
spend a little more time with her. They could just have dinner after she got
off work and see where things went from there. She was human, so things
couldn’t go on very long. Reaching up to push his glasses back in place, Isaiah
froze when he realized he didn’t have them on.

“When did you get your contact lenses?” she asked.

“Contact lenses?” he repeated, feeling like an idiot for
being unable to just answer her question.

Her finger tapped the bridge of his nose. “When you’re
thinking about something, you reach up to push your glasses back in place, so
you must have gotten contact lenses or had laser surgery.”

“You’re very observant,” he remarked, neither confirming nor
denying her suspicions.

“It’s useful in my job,” she told him.

“As a barista?” he asked.

“It’s just like being a bartender,” she explained with a
laugh that sounded somewhat nervous this time. “I’d better get back to work,”
she said. “Let me know if you need anything else, Isaiah.”

“Sure,” he agreed, getting ready to work up the nerve to ask
her out when his phone rang.

“Hello,” he answered without checking his Caller ID because
he was too busy ogling Nikki’s ass like a perverted stalker.

“Isaiah, it’s Drew.”

This was why he needed to look at who was calling before
answering his phone. Calls from his psychotic cousin should definitely be
screened—especially when Isaiah was working.

“What is it?” he asked, trying not to sound annoyed. It
wasn’t for Drew’s benefit so much as his desire to avoid drawing attention to
himself.

“I need you to help me find Molly,” Drew said.

“Who?” Isaiah asked, not recognizing the name.

“Hunter’s mom,” Drew explained.

“Can we talk about this later?” Isaiah asked. “I’m busy at
the moment.”

“No. We need to talk about this now,” Drew insisted. “I need
to find her.”

“Why do you need to find her?” Isaiah asked quietly. “And
why is this suddenly so urgent?”

A man walked into the coffee shop dressed in torn jeans and
a faded black t-shirt. The rest of his muscular arms were covered with tattoos.
Fists clenched at his sides, the guy walked right up to the counter, looking
ready to do battle. It wasn’t so much his appearance that set Isaiah on high
alert as the aggression radiating from him.

“Nikki!” the guy shouted.

“I’ll call you back later.” Isaiah ended the call without
giving his cousin time to argue.

“Keep your voice down, Mitch,” Nikki implored in a calm
voice.

“Fuck you!” he spat out. “I am not going to keep my voice
down. Some people came into my brother’s shop asking about you. I warned you
about bringing your shit to our door. My brother should have sent you away the
minute he saw you.”

“Mitch, please don’t make a scene.” Nikki looked around
nervously.

“I’ll make a scene if I want,” Mitch nearly shouted. “You
think you can put my family in danger and expect me to be nice to you? Fuck
that!”

“She asked you to keep your voice down,” Isaiah said when he
moved up to Mitch’s side.

“I’ll handle this, Isaiah,” Nikki told him, sounding
embarrassed that he was witnessing this scene.

“That’s right.” Mitch sneered. “Tell your little college
prick to mind his own fucking business. Close the fucking shop and come with
me, now.”

Isaiah had always been the type to avoid confrontation, and
this was definitely a time when he should mind his own business. He was on a
job, so he needed to sit back down and stay out of this. Still, when Mitch’s
hand wrapped around Nikki’s arm, causing her to flinch, Isaiah saw red. He
reached out and grabbed Mitch by the back of his hair before slamming his face
into the counter, which had the desired result of forcing Mitch to release
Nikki’s arm.

It also resulted in Nikki screaming at him. “No! Stop!”

Nikki’s order wasn’t what stopped him from smashing Mitch’s
face into the counter a few more times. The laughter coming from his pocket
stopped him. In his haste to rush to Nikki’s aid, he hadn’t hung up on Drew.
Releasing Mitch’s hair, Isaiah took a step back.

“What the fuck?” Mitch demanded, but he sounded much less
angry and slightly dazed from having his head slammed into the counter.

“If you so much as touch her, I will make sure you need to
be carried out of here,” he warned Mitch. “Leave here and don’t come near Nikki
again.” Isaiah felt no guilt about adding a mental push to his words.

“This doesn’t concern you, college boy,” Mitch spat out.

“Yes, it does,” Isaiah practically growled, surprised the
compulsion hadn’t worked on Mitch. That meant Mitch had some sort of psychic
ability. For whatever reason, vampires couldn’t use any sort of mind control
with psychic humans.

“Fuck him up, cuz,” came from his pocket, making Isaiah sigh
in frustration.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, Isaiah ended the call,
not surprised when his phone started ringing again right away. Drew would
definitely want details on what had just happened. He supposed he should be
glad Drew probably wouldn’t share this with anyone else in the family, mostly
because the family did so much to avoid Drew.

“I think you should work on your paper somewhere else,”
Nikki told him, and he cringed at her dismissal. “Just for today,” she added
quickly.

Isaiah just stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “You
want me to leave? I’m not the one threatening you.”

“Mitch won’t really hurt me,” Nikki assured him. “Right, Mitch?”

“Right,” Mitch agreed, rubbing his forehead. “My brother
would have my balls if I hurt Nikki. Are you Nikki’s boyfriend?”

“Isaiah is a regular customer here,” Nikki explained, giving
his real name out to yet another person. It would be a miracle if he didn’t get
fired from this job. Her attention turned back to Isaiah. “Please, leave for
now.”

“I’ll go,” Isaiah relented and went over to pack up his
stuff, taking his time to eavesdrop on Nikki’s conversation with Mitch.
Something told him Nikki was in trouble. If he were human, he wouldn’t be able
to hear them talking in hushed tones near the back room, but being a vampire
had its advantages.

“Who was harassing Brian?” Nikki asked urgently.

“Three guys, but Brian’s most worried about the one who did
the talking,” Mitch answered with a shrug. “When Brian told him he’d never seen
you, the guy called him a liar and threatened him. Brian got pissed and told
him that shit wouldn’t work, but then the asshole mentioned Brian’s woman and
kid, so now Brian’s freaking the fuck out.”

“I’m so sorry, Mitch,” she breathed out. “I didn’t mean to
bring trouble to you guys.”

“Yeah, I know. Fuck, I know you tried to take off before,
but Brian convinced you to stay. You need to go talk to Brian and tell him what
this is really about.”

Nikki nodded. “Brian knows, but he didn’t want to put you at
risk by telling you. I’ll go by the shop after I get off tonight to talk to
him.”

“You need to understand that no matter how much I like you,
my responsibility is to my family.” Mitch’s words sounded like a warning.

“I get it, Mitch,” she assured him.

“No,” Mitch began in a softer voice, “I don’t think you
understand. I will do anything to keep them safe.”

“Are you threatening me?” she asked.

“No, but I am making sure you realize that no matter how
much I like you, I won’t let Brian be hurt to protect you.”

Isaiah had lingered as long as he could without attracting
attention. Since today was obviously going to be a bad day for work, he decided
to head home and try to figure out what kind of trouble Nikki was in. He had
every intention of following her when she went to meet with Brian after her
shift, but he’d need to do a little planning first.

Phoenix’s heart was pounding against her rib cage as she
watched Isaiah gather his belongings and walk out of the coffee shop. Even
while she’d been talking to Mitch, she hadn’t been able to stop sneaking peeks
at Isaiah. That was nothing new since she’d been sneaking peeks at him and
finding excuses to go over to his table to talk for the last three weeks. She’d
even played it off like she always delivered coffee and pastries to people’s
tables, when really, she’d just been trying to get close to him. He was sweet
and awkward in a way that made her pulse quicken just being near him. Never
would she have pegged him for the type to jump in when Mitch had grabbed her
arm. It was shocking, and kind of sexy at the same time.

Shaking her head, Phoenix reminded herself she needed to end
her fascination with Isaiah now. Everything she’d told Isaiah about herself was
a lie, and Mitch’s visit came as a much needed reminder of the danger she
brought to those around her.

“Are you done ogling the college boy?” Mitch asked her.

“I was not ogling him!” she insisted.

“College boy seems pretty capable of taking care of
himself,” Mitch observed. “It might be smart for you to keep him around.”

“He’s a regular customer, so I’m sure he’ll be in again
tomorrow,” she replied.

“From what I can tell, he’d like to be a hell of a lot more
than your customer,” Mitch pointed out.

“That can’t happen,” Phoenix argued, not sure if she was
trying to convince Mitch or herself.

“What could it hurt to let him in?” Mitch continued to push.

That question just proved to Phoenix that Mitch was a
complete fool.

“I let you and Brian in, and now Brian’s whole family is in
danger,” she snapped before letting out a frustrated sigh. “Sorry for jumping
down your throat.”

Mitch laughed. “Considering how I acted when I came in here,
I don’t blame you. Can I give you some advice?”

“You can try,” she told him, even knowing she probably
wouldn’t listen to any advice from Mitch.

“Stick close to someone who can protect you,” he warned.
“Brian would rather die than sell you out.”

“I know,” she said, meeting his eyes. “You don’t share that
sentiment, do you?”

Mitch stared at her for a long moment without replying,
likely considering what his brother would say if he admitted the truth. While
Mitch was mostly a self-serving ass, he loved his brother and didn’t like it
when Brian was disappointed in his actions, something Phoenix had heard was a
common occurrence. Mitch looked away. “Just make sure you get to the shop to
talk to Brian by five.”

On those words, Mitch stormed out of the coffee shop.

It had taken less than thirty minutes for the carefully
crafted lie that was her life to start to unravel.