Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
His hands went to my hips, and I shivered.
Chen thrashed on the table.
Pavlov cursed, and Constantine offered me his wrist again.
I took one tiny lick, and a memory from a long, long time ago assaulted my senses.
I’d tasted something very similar to this before… and it tasted good.
“Take him to the holding room at the basement level. I’ll get him as I leave later.”
Then, as the two men took Chen away to some holding cell below us, I took a healthy suck on Constantine’s wrist.
The moment I did, my whole body seemed to catch fire.
My heartbeat started to pound its usual uneven staccato, and I started to breathe heavily.
It lasted only a matter of seconds, but when Constantine disengaged his wrist from my grasp, I was practically humping his leg.
“So… you’re sick.”
His simple words had my eyes widening.
My heart started to thump erratically once again.
“Yes and no,” I hedged.
“You have an irregular heartbeat.”
I nodded. “I do.”
We’d already talked about this.
“And?”
“And I’ve had one since I was a baby, remember?” I shrugged. “Then it was discovered when I was in an accident that nearly killed me years ago that it had gotten worse. I’ve lived a fine life,” I snapped.
He didn’t reply.
I sighed.
“I’m supposed to take it easy, but I find myself unable to do so,” I finally muttered darkly.
“Why?”
I bit my lip for a few long seconds, then released it.
“Having an irregular heartbeat means that every once in a while, my heart skips a beat,” I explained. “Say right now, for example. It’s beating normally, and then all of a sudden skips a beat. No big deal. Now, if I’m working out, my heart skips a beat every three beats. Normally, where that wouldn’t be that big of a deal, suddenly it is. Most of the time, no problem. But it only takes that one time for it to get out of whack at just the right time, and in an erratic rhythm. At that point, I would need to be shocked back into a regular rhythm again, or it could deteriorate. Maybe even fall into cardiac arrest if it goes on long enough.”
He just looked at me.
“So, you continue to work out, running miles and miles at a time with your heart at a continuously higher level, and see nothing wrong with that?” he asked carefully.
I shrugged.
“I did not save you, pull you out of that car, and give you my blood just to see you throw your life away.”
My eyes widened at the ferocity in his voice, and I finally made the connection.
The little thing that’d been nagging at me for days upon days since I’d first met him.
“It was you!”
His mouth tightened.
“Knew the moment I tasted you on my lips again.”
I blinked. “How would you have tasted me?”
His mouth was a hard line.
“Blood is blood, no matter if it came from the source or not. That night, after saving you by giving you my blood, I brought my fingers to my lips and licked them clean like one would barbeque sauce. And that taste has stuck with me for years, taunting me, until about twenty minutes ago when you freely gave it to me again.” He sounded like those words were ripped from the bottom of his soul.
“How… why?”
My mind went blank as I went back to that night. Not wanting to remember but the memories taking me under regardless of what I wanted.
• • •
“Cadia, seriously,” Milly snapped. “It’s not that bad.”
I looked down at the hole that I’d ripped into my brand new, hundred-dollar pair of jeans, and winced.
Again.
“Not that bad, my ass. I can see my freakin’ underwear for crying out loud!” I cried. “My father is going to have a conniption!”
She snorted. “It’ll be okay. Don’t worry your pretty little face.”
I grumbled under my breath.
“What was that?” my friend asked in exasperation. “I didn’t hear you over your inability to speak your sentences out loud.”
I bit my lip as I tried not to scream at her.
And had been succeeding at not doing so when lights filled the windshield.
One second, I was staring out the window at darkness, and the next I was screaming.
Glass shattered. Metal crunched. Screams filled the air.
Far off an explosion rent the air, and before long I was having a hard time breathing.
Something felt heavy in my chest, and I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t see.
That’s when the throbbing in my leg and arm started, followed shortly by the heaviness in my chest becoming an ache that I could no longer ignore.
Seconds passed. Minutes turned into hours.
I didn’t know how long it was. Possibly only milliseconds.
Whatever it was, it was too long.
“Milly?” I rasped.
My friend didn’t answer.
“Milly? Tonny? Carrie?” I moaned. “Please answer. Oh, God, I hurt.”
“Shhh,” a male said quietly. “You’ll be okay.”
“My friends!” I cried out.
The man didn’t answer.