Keystone stayed out late, enjoying the bounty of good barbecue and beer. I couldn’t explain to Crush how his truck was returned or who the pile of clothes next to it belonged to. I had a feeling, but I didn’t want to invest the time in thinking about it. I followed Crush home, and when we rolled onto the property, Wizard and Switch were repairing the porch as good as new. I handed Switch his dinner, and he followed Crush inside while I stayed on the porch with Wizard.
“Heard there was trouble,” Wizard said, a nail between his teeth.
I watched him hammer in a new plank of wood for a busted step. “Did Switch call you?”
“No. My packmate spotted a bunch of men on the property and got a bad feeling. It took him a minute to find a phone. By the time I got here, the cleaners were done.”
“Thanks for coming. You can probably head out. We’ve got everything under control.”
He hammered in the last nail. “I’ll keep a watch on him just the same.”
“You’ve really done a lot for us. Let me know how much you think is fair for the labor.”
He shook his head with a smile. “You ever send me that kind of money again, I’ll put you in a barrel and throw you into the river.” Wizard stood up and squeezed my shoulder. “I say that outta love.”
I wasn’t much of a hugger, but I was feeling all kinds of love for the loyalty that my father’s friends had shown. I patted his arm as I went for the door. “You’re a good man, Wizard.”
After going inside, I put Crush’s leftovers inside the fridge. The owner had set him up with at least three more meals. Who does that? Crush had earned the respect of many, and I now saw him in a different light from the man I thought I knew. Switch grabbed his sack of food and headed out. Wizard had volunteered to drive him home since Crush was still working on Switch’s bike.
I pulled back all the curtains to watch the snow flurries while Crush made me a cup of cocoa. We talked for a few hours before he finally decided he had room for pie. After brewing him a pot of coffee, I cleaned up the trailer and said goodbye.
But this time goodbye wasn’t forever. I no longer had to sneak over and sit on his roof just to be close to him. I didn’t have to wonder what my life would have been like had I never made bad choices. I could live without tormenting myself over whether or not my father would have been able to accept who I was and the life I’d chosen. Most of all, I’d never have to wonder if I could be the daughter he deserved.
Now I had someone to go home to, no matter which home I chose.
Once I arrived at Keystone, I jogged upstairs and put my necklace inside my jewelry box for safekeeping. Then I went in search of Christian.
Wyatt passed me in the hall, and my eyes steered down to his round tummy. He’d changed into a grey shirt that was too tight and drew attention to his food baby. “You can tell your dad to invite me out anytime. That barbecue was out of sight.”
“Have you seen Christian?”
His eyes twinkled. “When we left, the pitmaster was holding him hostage. I guess he had to walk home.”
“You just left him?”
Wyatt took off his grey beanie long enough to rumple his light-brown hair before putting it back on. “Like he can’t shadow walk. I had to get the Hades out of there anyhow. That freshy was getting a little too clingy.”
“You could use some new friends.”
“I don’t make friends with the dead.”
“Why not? You barely make friends with the living.”
He spun on his heel and headed down the hall. “No one understands the woes of a Gravewalker.”
I headed toward a window that overlooked the courtyard. The latticed shutters opened up to a flat part of the roof I liked to walk across. Frosty air nipped at my nose, but the absence of wind made it enjoyable. Snowflakes were rushing down, desperate to coat the world in a blanket of white. The early-evening temperature was dropping fast, and if the snowfall continued, we might have significant accumulations by morning. With the start of spring only days away, winter wasn’t leaving without a fight.
I stepped onto the roof, and my shoes crunched on the thin sheet of snow. I shuffled toward the middle of the building, leaving a trail of footprints behind me. When I found my favorite spot to perch, I dusted the snow aside and took a seat, my knees drawn up and arms wrapped around them. Down below, steam rose from the heated pool. The blue and green colors beneath the water reflected against the falling snow, and Gem floated like a fallen angel on the surface. I watched her for a long while, wondering what kind of relaxation she got out of submersing herself in water, especially in cold weather. The heated pool must have felt blissful, but floating meant exposing the top half of her body to the wind, snow, and frigid air.
The courtyard lights reflected off the fallen snow, making it brighter than it actually was. I noticed a faded set of footprints on the roof, which the snow was quickly covering up. The roof had always been my private retreat, so it slightly annoyed me to think someone else was hanging around in my sanctuary.
I closed my eyes. Returning home to Crush had been exactly what I needed to figure out that Keystone was where I truly belonged. If only it hadn’t cost Christian a chunk of his fortune. Though he didn’t spend much on himself, an immortal needed wealth to last him through the coming years. Had I robbed him of that comfort?
Then again, maybe it didn’t matter. One day we might slip back into a barbaric way of life where money has no value and we’re trading chickens for blankets.
“Thought I might find you out here,” Christian said. He slipped while treading across the path I’d made, and I stifled a laugh as he regained his balance and sat down beside me. “One of these days, that lass is going to fall asleep and drown in there.”
“How was your barbecue?”
“Just grand.”
I chuckled softly. “I thought you’d refuse and the pitmaster would throw you into the flames.”
“A cause for celebration?”
“I would have come back for you.”
“Aye. To put my remains in a doggie bag.”
“I don’t think Vampire was on their menu. But if it gives you any comfort, I would have sprinkled your ashes in the new hot tub to christen it.”
Christian put his arm around me as the snow quietly fell. We watched the team pour into the courtyard in their swimsuits. Wyatt had on long shorts and ran ahead of them to jump into the hot tub first. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, only laughter and chatter before someone turned on music and “A Whiter Shade of Pale” reverberated off the walls. Niko briefly looked in our direction and raised a hand before rejoining the group. He could see my energy from this distance, but it also made me aware that the others might see us too. On most nights, I would blend in against the night sky. But snow removed the thin veil of privacy.
“I’m thinking of buying Crush a red couch,” I said, breaking the silence.
“Make it purple.”
“His buddies would never let him live it down.”
“Aye. That’s the idea.”
I sighed, a white cloud of breath escaping my lips. “I miss all the time lost. I wish I had my life to do over again.”
“And what would you do differently? Everything you’ve been through has brought you right here, to this moment, in my arms. Any small change, and you’d be somewhere else, in someone else’s arms.”
“Maybe I’d do it all the same, but I’d just appreciate the moments more than I did.”
“And what moments are those?”
“The ones that mattered most. Having my father take care of me. All the little things he did, things that both of us have probably forgotten. But I still remember the ones that count.”
“Such as him filling your tormenter’s car with bags of shite?”
I smiled. “Such as putting my clothes in the dryer on winter mornings so I wouldn’t be cold. Such as peeking out the window, watching me walk to the bus stop even though he promised not to. Such as carrying me to bed when I fell asleep on the couch.”
Christian stood up and suddenly lifted me into his arms.
My eyes widened as I hovered over the edge of the roof. “If you throw me off, I’m taking you with me.”
He gave me a crooked smile and walked toward the window. “If carrying you to bed is all you’ve missed, I can assist with that.”
I glanced down at the footprints on a higher ledge. “Were you out here earlier?”
“Afraid not. I was busy picking cow flesh out of my teeth.”
Once inside, he carried me to his bedroom. When he swung open the door, my eyes widened at the romantic ambiance. A fire crackled in the hearth, the flames blushing with heat. Red satin sheets covered his bed, and the fragrant smell of roses filled the air from a bouquet on the bedside table.
Christian placed me on the bed.
“I don’t want to get your sheets wet with snow,” I said.
“That’s something we’ll have to remedy.” He slowly removed every article of clothing, starting with my shoes and ending with my bra. Once I was completely naked, he stood at the foot of the bed and admired me. “Is there anything you want? Wine? Cheese?”
“You. All I want is you.”
Christian did a slow striptease, revealing the finely carved shape of his body from the canvas of muscle down his arms and abs to the dusting of black hair on his thighs. Whiskers grew haphazardly around his lower jaw and neck, and some strands of his hair were still wet from the melted snow. I never imagined I’d find the most imperfect things about him so sexy.
I couldn’t stop staring at the raven tattoo that blemished his beautiful skin. For reasons I couldn’t articulate, that ink meant everything to me. Over the course of my life, I’d watched my father make his body a canvas to honor everything he valued in life: his woman, his daughter, his service, brotherhood, and freedom. Christian had always scoffed at the idea of tattoos, so knowing that he’d permanently inked himself to show his devotion had touched me in a way that words never would. No matter what happened between us, I would always be a part of him.
He prowled over the bed and kissed me from my ankles to my hips to my neck. Instead of letting our desire consume us the way it always had, he pulled the sheet up to my waist and lay next to me.
When I turned away from him, he scooted closer behind me. Christian tenderly brushed my hair away from my nape and placed soft kisses against my skin. When I felt the sharp nip of his fangs, I flipped around to face him, my own fangs extended.
Christian gazed down at me, his black eyes like two bottomless pits.
“What do you want to do?” I asked.
“Watch you sleep.”
I kissed his bottom lip. “I’m not sleepy.”
“Neither am I.”
I playfully ran my fangs along his neck, his pulse ticking against my lips. He did the same, and we teased each other with this innocuous act that came as naturally to me as kissing. Christian released a ragged breath and finally settled his head against the pillow.
I clutched his hand and held it to my heart. “Promise me it’ll always be like this.”
Christian Poe rolled on top of me, and our noses touched as he gazed deep into my eyes. “I will run from you nevermore, Precious. I claim your heart. I can’t promise to be a good man and I can’t promise to be perfect. All I can do is give you my heart and hope that it’s enough.”
“It’s enough, Christian. It’s enough.”
