Scorned Read Free Page B

there a while. I
might as well go to the neighbor’s house.” She was joking. It’s an
inside joke, but I can’t remember how it started.
    I laughed. “Come here and let me rub your
belly.”
    “Just don’t push on it,” she warned.
    I rubbed her belly in a circle three times,
my usual little ritual, and she took a seat on the edge of the bed.
I sat up and looked at her. She looked so tired with her droopy
eyes and her hair a little askew.
    “You okay?” I asked, trying to keep my tone
friendly and not concerned.
    “Yeah,” she answered. “I just want to pee,
get something to eat and drink, and go to bed.”
    “Well, we bought a steak,” I told her.
“Pierce is in there fixing it right now. Maybe he’ll share.”
    “Hey, Uncle P. Can I have some of your
steak?” she called.
    “You can have a bite.” Pierce kept his back
to us and continued to fix his steak. I rolled my eyes and Petrice
giggled.
    Gable finally came out of the bathroom and
pulled the door tight. I grinned and, when he left I turned to
Petrice. “You probably don’t want to go in there right now.”
    “I’ve got it,” she said, and disappeared. A
moment later she came waddling back with a bottle of air freshener.
Petrice opened the door and sprayed inside. “Why does he always
have to kill the bathroom,” she complained and I laughed.
    “‘Ey,” Gable said, coming around the corner.
When he saw the air freshener in Petrice’s hand, he stopped.
“Where’d you get that?”
    “It was under the sink in the bathroom,” she
lied and I tried not to smile.
    “I didn’t see it.”
    “You must’a just missed it, Uncle Gable.”
She was too good at playing innocent. She was going to have a hell
of a time when that baby finally got here.
    Gable shrugged. I wasn’t sure if he believed
her or not, but he turned to me and continued his question. “Can I
take your car to the store?”
    No.
    I had to think, did I have enough gas to
make it to Friday? Not if I let everyone use my car. But I did have
some gas money left over. Ten dollars that should cover me until
then. I was too nice.
    “Yeah.” I handed him my keys and he offered
a half-hearted thanks.
    Pierce had the meat marinated and in the
fridge to sit for an hour. That was my least favorite part of him
cooking. He always decided to do it last minute. He kicked his
shoes off and lay down next to me on the bed, wrapped his arms
around me, and turned the TV on. I smiled and snuggled into him. He
smelled of warmth and soap and, underneath all that was the faint
scent of sawdust. I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t question it.
It was that sawdust smell that lulled me into sleep.
     
    Her tousled hair, blonde/black and long,
splayed across the red satin pillow case. There was a look on her
pale, pale face that could only be described as a hungry lust.
    I approached her, my own lust taking over as
I watched her move sensuously in the sheets. I knelt on the bed and
crawled to her slowly on my hands and knees. She smiled at me. The
tips of her porcelain fangs barely showed between her red,
kiss-swollen lips. For one moment, I was on top of her. Then we
were spinning, faster than possible, and I had her on the edge of
the bed, one arm tucked under her chin, the other pressed against
her forehead so her neck was vulnerable. She smiled at me. I licked
the side of her neck and caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror
across the room.
    Though I was darker-skinned, there was a
paleness to me. My short, black hair and eyes stood out starkly. I
was bared to the waist where I was clad in dark leather, nothing
else. I was an attractive man.
    I pressed my nose to my lover’s neck and
took in a deep breath. There was no scent of life like there is
with humans. The scent of blood was light, soft. It hadn’t pumped
through her veins in a long time. I opened my mouth and sank my
fangs into the soft flesh of her neck.
    The sweet, metallic taste of blood ran over
my tongue and filled my