Blood Lust Read Free Page B

would be insulted if I took back my acceptance to his invitation?”
    “I don’t think he’d like that at all, plus it’s too late now. You’ll be fine, Darby. Everybody likes you. You’ll win them over; you may not know you’ve done so, but you will.”
    “Wow, you paint such a pretty picture of the next few weeks. I think I’m more depressed than when we started this conversation.”
    She had picked up her plate and started for the sink when Blake said, “You’re not going to throw that away, are you?”
    “I was. Why? Do you want it?”
    “Duh!”
    “Where do you put it all?”
    “You’re very funny this evening. Keep it up; you’ll need it for Connecticut.” She set her plate down in front of him and kissed the top of his head.
    “You’re messing up my hair,” he said. She took both hands and shuffled them rapidly through his hair, making it stand up. “Thanks!” he said. “That was helpful.”
    “Anytime, string bean.”
    “Night, Darby.”
    “Goodnight, Blake.”
     
     

Chapter 3

    Darby woke the next morning to find Devon already out of bed, showered, and packing.
    “Good morning, Sweetheart. Did you sleep okay?”
    “Hmmm,” he answered as he continued to pack. The sadness she had felt the night before hit her again hard. Devon was still ice cold. She got out of bed and stood behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She kissed his back and laid her face on it. He patted her hands the way he might a child or a dog, and said, “You should get into the shower. We have to leave in forty-five minutes.” With that, he spun out of her arms and continued to pack.
    She backed up and sat down on the foot of the bed, watching him. After several minutes of silence, she went to take her shower.
    Afterwards, she finished packing, zipped up her bag, grabbed her long black wool coat from her closet, and laid it on her bag. She went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, staring all the while out the window over the sink. She could hear Devon making trips back and forth to the car with the luggage. Maybe he will warm up and talk to me on the plane. After all, they would be sitting next to one another for almost eight hours. But she couldn’t push away the feeling that this was how it was going to be for a long, long while.
    Hadn’t they been through enough together that he would confide in her? Hadn’t he learned anything from pushing her away during their last argument? Didn’t he understand how scared she was to meet his family? She thought about her conversation with Blake in the darkness the night before, and knew that she was going to miss him very much.
    She continued to stand there, slowly sipping her coffee in silence, wondering what was about to happen to her. Devon entered the kitchen.
    “Are you ready? We need to get going.”
    “Yeah.” She poured the rest of the coffee down the drain and set the cup in the sink. She passed him without making eye contact and headed to the living room, where Rowan was sitting on the couch in her robe and Blake was next to her eating more pie. Darby felt her chest tense up and the hot tears come as she turned to them. She hugged her sister tightly and the tears poured out. She tried not to look at her and turned to Blake, reaching up to hug the handsome vampire. He spoke to her telepathically, obviously blocking Devon from hearing what he was saying. Don’t cry, Darby. Please don’t cry. He’ll come clean with you. He loves you.
    I’m not so sure, Blake, something is terribly wrong.
    It’s just your imagination.
    No, Blake, something very bad is about to happen. Ask Rowan, I’ll bet she’ll be able to see something coming in a runes reading or a tarot card reading.
    Trust me, Darby. There’s nothing in this world that could keep him from you.
    Devon said coldly, “Come on, Darby, the limo is here, we have to go.”
    She let go of Blake, but held his gaze as she wiped her tears away. Something is very wrong, Blake. Trust me.
    He looked at her