Chapter 9

 

I couldn’t stay in New Mexico anymore. The whole idea of checking out my mom’s people was exhausting and, after the Wretched fiasco, my ass was tired, and in need of a good drink and my guitar. I wanted to play so bad my fingers ached.

Silvia caught my eye, offered a reassuring smile and laid a hand on my shoulder. “You have figured out your path. I can see it in your face.”

I nodded. “I think it’s time to head home.”

“Today?”

I shook my head. “Probably tonight. I like night driving. Easier. Less busy.”

Although my gaze was on the tabletop, I felt her staring a hole in my head. She cleared her throat and settled back in her chair. I glanced up at her as I took another sip.

She was looking straight at me. “There’s something about you, Gabriel. A secret.”

I swallowed more of the water than I wanted to, my stomach giving a warning wiggle not to push my luck. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged and brought her teacup to her lips, her dark brown eyes wise over the rim. “If it were meant for me to know, I would tell you.” She sat the cup down on the saucer and smiled gently. She reached out to cover my hand with hers. “It’s not for me to know.” She returned her hand to the teacup.

I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I didn’t. I stuck my finger in the hot water and swirled it around instead in an effort to avoid her watchful gaze. She was such an honest person, and grieving the loss of a sister besides. “Listen,” I started, but she stopped me with a stern look.

“No, Gabriel. It’s not for me to know.” She finished her tea, took the cup and saucer to the sink and washed them. I glared at the red ring around the inside of my own cup. Life just wasn’t fair sometimes. Silvia’s house held a lot of my past and it made me reluctant to leave it, but yeah... I needed to go home.

Pale Rider wasn’t a permanent home, but then again, nothing was permanent. Thinking in that direction really helped me digest the whole living forever crap. Best thing for me to do was to not think that far ahead. Maybe a year in advance, but hell. I couldn’t even imagine how much more shit would change in that short a time.

I stood to take my cup to Silvia while she was standing there washing the other dishes. She took it from me with a nervous smile and I lay a hand on her shoulder. “Hey.”

Her face was filled with a mess of conflicting emotions. At the sound of my voice, grief won. The floodgates opened and tears streamed down her cheeks. I pulled her wet hands away from the sink, wrapped her arms around me and pressed her head to my chest. Slowly, her fingers clutched my shirt tighter and tighter as her quiet sobs broke into a sorrowful wail.

“I know you’re trying to be tough. I get that. But you’ve had a shitty time in all of this.”

She nodded into the damp spot she’d made on the front of my shirt.

“You need to let yourself grieve, Silvia.”

She nodded again. “Giving into mourning is something...I just don’t want to do yet.” She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the heels of her hands.

I took her hands in one of mine and kept her close, rubbing her back in slow, easy circles.

Her body shook against me. “I’ve gotten your shirt all wet.”

“It’s not my shirt.” I smiled at her. “Let it out, Silvia. Just this once while I’m here. Let me be here for you.”

And I was there for her that day as we sat in the den and looked at the old photo albums I’d thumbed through before while she told me about the past twenty-five years. Heather had never married, never had kids and threw herself into studies instead. She and Silvia had a good relationship though, and Heather had visited on a regular basis until Ralph died. To help her sister out with what I learned used to be a farm behind the house, Heather had moved in. Retelling the past brought Silvia to tears on more than one occasion, and each time, I’d set the book aside, take her in my arms, and let her grieve.

I lay down for a nap around four to sleep until dusk. Silvia woke me, just as I’d asked her to, and I got up to get my stuff together and get dressed for the ride back home.

After a long while just standing there holding her, I told Silvia goodbye for the last time. The sky was washed in shades deep violet, deepening to midnight blue in the east. I paused before opening the door, wondering if I’d feel the same again. Life was moving on once more, and now that I’d finished what I’d come here for, and dismissed the idea of getting to know much else about this place, it was something I really couldn’t regret or take back. Once again, shit had changed me, but I wasn’t sure if it was for the better.

Silvia remained inside as I tightened the straps on my backpack and started the bike alone. I guess she didn’t want to see me go.

* * * *

I left New Mexico and all the craziness behind in relief, but I’d miss Silvia just more than a little bit. Needless to say, I was real glad to see the familiar terrain pop up around me as I rode north. 

I rolled into Pinecliffe around four in the morning. I’d been thinking about where to go first once I got back, and as much as I wanted to just go home and lay it down, I figured the best method was to find Tabby and make sure she was okay. If she wasn’t around, I’d push on into Denver and crash at Scott’s.

Tabby’s windows were dark when I parked the bike in front of her house but her car was there. The air had gotten thinner and colder on the way back from New Mexico, but it was nice. I’d missed it. Instead of going to her door, I walked around the back of the house where her bedroom window was. That light was on, so I tapped on the glass. After a series of thumps and the brushing aside of curtains and blinds, her eyes locked with mine through the window and widened. She called my name and pointed to the general direction of the door. When I reached the door we hugged and then she reached up and slapped my face hard. I recoiled.

“Ow! What the hell, Tab?”

“That’s for leaving me to worry and to trust that you were okay. How would you feel if I just up and disappeared? Do you think I don’t care about you? Do you even give a crap if I do?”

She scowled up at me. “What the hell am I supposed to do with you? You’re like a stray tomcat that keeps showing up at my door just when I think you’re gone for good. Or dead.”

“I’m sorry...” I didn’t know what else to say. Nobody else worried about me like she did. It felt almost like an obligation to have to check in with her. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t just come and go. It’s just how I was. I didn’t schedule my life around anything but my band, and even that was optional. And now, that was no longer necessary either.

“I either have to accept your apology or chase you away for good, don’t I?” She gave me a sad smile. “Fine, Xan. I accept your apology. There’s no other way to keep you in my life.” She opened the screen door to let me in.

Right there in the kitchen our lips met, partially out of habit, mostly out of unspoken wants. I think a part of me loved her, as much as I wanted to never get attached to a human like that again, for obvious reasons. But Tabby was different. She knew my secret, and aside from a few minor setbacks after I confessed my true nature, she had been supportive. We broke the kiss, gasping and horny, and I took a step back while she crossed her arms under her breasts and regarded me with yearning eyes.

“I don’t think we should be together like that anymore. I can’t have casual sex with you and not want more,” she whispered and I nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Xan...”

“It’s okay.”

“I’ve missed you a lot.” Her voice was so heartbreaking I winced like she’d slapped me again.

“I’m sorry. Sometimes I have to take care of things, and I can’t say why, where I’m going, or when I’ll be back.”

Her eyes shined with unshed tears, but she was smiling. “But you came back.”

“Yeah, I did. Not only that, you’re the first person I went to.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and shrugged, staring at the ground. What else could I say? My dad always believed actions spoke louder than words, and well, yeah. I cared about her. Unavoidably, in fact. But she’d made the right decision to end what I didn’t have the nerve to. We made better friends. And somewhere out there was a nice guy that wasn’t a vampire that would love her and the baby.

“Have you been back to Pale Rider?” I was sort of mumbling, mostly because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to risk getting bad news. But she shook her head.

“My sister moved in with me, just to help out since I’m not going to be able to work pretty soon.”

“I thought she kind of already stayed here.”

Tabby smirked. “Not officially, Even now she works nights and isn’t here much. But I gave her the guest room and she comes in at weird hours. I’m telling you because if you’re looking to stay here too, you’ll have to sleep with me.”

I chomped down on my lip and nodded.

“But I can’t really have you coming and going a whole bunch though, Xan. Once the baby gets here, it’s going to be all about him or her, and not you.”

“Sure.” I pulled my hands out of my pockets to tug her close to me again. “The baby’s definitely got first priority.”

She sighed through her nose and disentangled herself from my arms to retreat to the sofa.

“I haven’t heard from Arturo since you went to kick his ass. I’d file for support but he’s in prison for some drug charge.” Swift tears raced down to her chin. “I can’t do this alone.”

“Yeah, you can. You have your sister.”

“And you, right?” She gave a little laugh.

“Don’t worry, I don’t eat babies.” I said. It was supposed to be a joke, but for a minute her eyes widened.

“That’s right. The whole vampire thing.” The way she said that made it sound like I had a choice in the matter.

I smirked and nodded. “Yeah. That whole vampire thing.”

“Well you’re not the typical vampire,” she said then surprised at herself, laughed. It was a good sound to hear. “Like I know many vampires to compare you to.”

I smiled. “I can thankfully say that to my knowledge, Pinecliffe only has one vampire, and you’re looking at him.”

She shook her head in amazement and laughed again. “Do I really want to know how many of you are out there? I don’t think I do.”

“Good, because I can’t tell you anyway. You’re not even supposed to know I’m one in the first place, but I like to think I can trust you.”

“Why so secretive?” She asked me and then shook her head with a smile. “I know that’s a dumb question, but if they were as nice as you...”

“They aren’t. That’s the problem. Do you really think the world would take kindly to knowing real vampires are walking around? It’d be a bloodbath. Either the world would accept us and we’d take advantage of them, or we’d be hunted down and wiped out. Or experimented on. I don’t even want to fucking think about it.”

She nodded. “So, there are a lot of you out there.”

I laughed a little, but didn’t confirm or deny the sneaky question. “Think of any baby names yet?”

Her face changed with the subject. She’d definitely grown into the idea of becoming a mother, and looked angelic for those few moments.

“Just girl names. I’m not even showing yet.”

“Yeah well, you’re tiny. Maybe it’ll be a boy?”

“That might be cool.”

She walked toward her room, pausing with a hand on the doorknob. “You’re not allergic to animals are you?”

“Why?”

She opened the door and out rushed a tiny pointy-eared dog, snarling and barking its fool head off. I said a bunch of nasty things in my head about little fucking yappy dogs and forced a smile.

“You got a dog...uh, that’s great.”

Me and that thing were busy having a stare down. With it standing still, shivering like crazy, I could tell it was a Chihuahua. Jesus those things were ugly. This one looked like Yoda on four legs, only brown instead of green.

“I’m not allergic.” I was trying to keep my voice low in order to not upset the thing anymore than it was. Its little heart hammered and it shook so much the quiver was embedded in its growl. “But vampires and most house pets just don’t mesh.”

Tabby approached the dog and went to pick it up but I held my hand up. “Don’t. It’s so damn scared right now it’d probably bite you.”

“Alano,” Tabby said firmly and the dog turned around to the sound of her voice and whined. I stepped back a little bit to give it room.

“Is he afraid of you just because you’re a vampire, you think?”

I raised my eyebrow at her. “Wouldn’t you be?”

“Good point.” The dog trotted to her and sat at her feet. “It’s okay,” she said softly and scooped him up in her arms.

“I just have to keep my distance.”

“He sleeps with me.”

I sighed. “Maybe I should go on to Scott’s...”

“No, it’s okay. He’ll get used to you, I guess.” She licked her lips and let the dog down. We watched as he scurried back into the safety of her bedroom with his tail between his legs. I snorted a laugh.

“You realize his name means ‘handsome’ in Spanish, right?”

She smirked. “It’s what the shelter named him.”

“I see.” I dropped into one of her chairs and patted my thigh. “Come here. I missed my Tabby.”

“I’m all pregnant, Xan.” She scrunched her nose.

“Goddammit girl, I don’t give a shit.”

She eased onto my leg and I pulled her head against my shoulder and kissed her forehead.

“I’m really sorry I left without telling you goodbye.”

“I was just worried.” She sniffled, and I felt bad making her cry yet again. It was becoming a bad habit. “I seriously figured you’d just gone for good, or dead. I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”

“But I’m here now.”

“I know. It’s fine. I’m not your problem. This baby isn’t your problem either.”

“True,” I said and squeezed her. “But I care about you. And, consequently, that care transfers to Junior here.” I rubbed her still-flat belly gently. She closed her eyes and smiled. “I’ll be here as much and for as long as I can.”

“I’ll take that,” she whispered and lifted her head to look me in the eyes. Her arms wound around my neck and I just held her for a little while, enjoying her warmth and closeness.

Since Tabby didn’t sleep days and slept really hard at night, I was left with a bunch of time on my hands to think about stuff. I needed to do something, but it was nice just hanging out and being invisible for once. Plus, she found me to be a handy jar-opener ladder. But I was way more active and restless doing nothing. And that goddamn dog was getting on my nerves. I think I reached my limit while Tab was at one of her ob-gyn appointments, and it was just me and him left in the house.

We kept our distance from one another pretty much. He’d lie on the far end of the sofa and I’d sit in the recliner to watch TV. Tabby had an older house, the kind with the really tall windows. In those windows, she had the sort of blinds that roll down, instead of the usual modern miniblinds. Roll-down blinds made me nervous because they had a tendency to pop back up the minute I wasn’t expecting them to. Now for humans, this means they had the shit scared out of them, or in worst-case scenario, their naked ass exposed to all the neighbors. With vampires there’s a much more perilous risk. That would be what happened to me.

* * * *

Tabby liked to leave her windows open with the blinds pulled down to about four inches away from the windowsill. The result was fresh air, along with the darkness I needed. I didn’t sleep well and I never did, so generally I sat up and watched a little TV and waited for night to fall so I could go about my vampire business. I was leaned back in her recliner, snoozing peacefully when I guess a strong breeze disturbed the blind behind me just so that it popped clear up to the top of the window, bathing the room–and me–in pure sunlight.

My arms got the worst of it because I had them thrown back behind my head. I woke to ball-clenching pain and screamed as I threw myself out of harm’s way. I was smoking, and my arms were blistered a little, but holy hell it hurt. Not much else hurt like sunlight. It was the equivalent of peeling my skin off then dunking in a vat of lemon juice. I mean my flesh started to cook like a good brisket and it was only by virtue of moving my ass like a lightning bolt out of the light that I didn’t set on fucking fire.

To add insult to my injury, Alano was barking his damn head off while I retreated to the kitchen sink on an immediate-need basis to cool my burnt ass. Faucet water had never felt so good. I wasn’t too worried about the burns because I could heal. That vampire ability came in handy. The problem with healing is it took energy from somewhere. I’m not sure where, but it made me very cranky, and on top of that, absolutely starving for blood.

So, while I was fighting this new wave of hunger, the dog got brave and decided to bite me, through my jeans, on my ankle. That little pinprick of pain was the final straw. I plucked the little bastard up by his collar and growled at him, suppressing the urge to either tear his head off with my teeth or introduce him to the nearest wall. We regarded one another, he all curled up in traumatized doggie fetal position and me baring fangs that would bite straight through him, when he lost control of his bladder. A fine fountain of dog piss sprayed the front of my shirt as he stared at me with those bulging eyes, making me drop him in fury and disgust. He fled the kitchen in terror with his tail tucked firmly between his legs as I shouted a string of four-letter words, some I’d made up on the spot.

What the fuck was I doing there? Living among the living? Fighting with a fucking house pet?

I pulled my shirt off and headed for the shower.

When I got out of the shower I wasn’t alone. I froze, towel in hand as I listened to the stealthy noises of whoever was in the house. Two someones, from the sounds dividing after a few moments. I reached down and quietly put my jeans back on, wincing as the zipper sounded magnified in that small space. Part of me worried, but the part that happened to be hungry was exhilarated. Punk-delivery? Why, thank you.

The door opened soundlessly for me and I peeked out into the hall. Rustling sounds. A clink of hangers to my right let me know one of them was in Tabby’s room, and the creak of the floorboards told me someone was fucking around in the den. I went to the right. Tabby’s door was open, but her closet was out of view. I leaned in just enough to see his back. He was wearing a ski mask. I grinned, slipped into the room and closed the door without alerting him. He was cursing. In Spanish. I grabbed him from behind and locked my arm around his neck. He squeaked in response and I growled into his ear.

“You’ve got ten seconds to tell me why you’re here before I fucking kill you.”

The man clawed at my arm around his neck but didn’t say anything. I loosened my grip on him a little. He gasped for breath. “Fuck you, pendejo.”

“You’re a dumb motherfucker,” I replied. “Unless you’re here to get your balls kicked out your ass.”

“Not going to hurt the bitch,” he rasped, “Just looking for what’s mine.”

I spun him around and ripped off his mask. “Fucking Arturo? Aren’t you supposed to be in prison, bitch?”

“I got out.” He raised a pistol at me.

I let out a snort. “Hell, I was just taking a wild guess. Although Tab did mention you were in.” I lunged forward to catch his wrist and relieved him of his weapon. “And haven’t we gone through the fact that you’re retarded as far as guns go?” I threw it aside, where it landed on the floor with a loud thunk.

Someone called his name from the doorway, interrupting us: another fool with a ski mask on and wide eyes.

“Who the fuck is this? You said she would be gone for a while!”

Arturo glared at his partner then at me. “Yeah, who the fuck are you man? Fucking Xan Marcelles,” he said, gaining a little confidence now that his buddy had his back. “Wasted guitarist. Fucking drunk piece of shit.”

I grinned. “I told you it’s a bass. You got it right last time we met. And you and your little bitch jockey have no goddamn business being here.”

His companion had a gun too. I nearly rolled my eyes at how ballsy dumbasses got behind a firearm. It was deceptive, especially against a blood-lusting vamp like me. I could hear their hearts thundering in their chests. I grabbed Arturo and pulled him into a chokehold, craning his neck to the side so fast his friend had no time to react, but finally he did and fired at me. The bullet went wide and planted into the wall next to my head.

“I think he shoots better than you.” I said in Arturo’s ear. “At least he gets to the trigger-pulling part.”

“Shoot him, Julio, you asshole!” Arturo screamed and his buddy raised the gun again.

I maneuvered Arturo in front of me to act as a human shield. “Yeah. Go ahead and shoot. I guarantee you’ll hit your boy before you get me.”

Julio stood there and looked confused until Arturo shouted at him again. He fired, and I felt Arturo’s body jerk. Sure enough, the dumbass had shot his friend. But Arturo had kind of asked for it. 

I looked over Arturo’s shoulder at his hands clutched to  his gut, and the blood that trickled out over his fingers. Arturo stared down at the same spot I did. Julio’s eyes grew large before rolling back in his head as he slumped to the floor like a wet rag. I guess he wasn’t much for the sight of blood.

“Jesus.” I spun him around and pulled his shirt up to reveal the wound. “You fucking idiots.”

The shot had attracted the fucking dog from the other side of the house but he knew better than to bark. I growled at him anyway and he slunk over to the either side of the room, with big eyes and tail between his legs.

Arturo was probably a goner if I didn’t do something, and fast. The hole was about five inches diagonal to his navel. The bullet was still in him. He had no exit wound. He shivered and his eyes rolled back in his head like Julio’s had, before he lost consciousness. Shock. Fuck. I dug my finger into the hole and he came right around and screamed again, but I clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Shut the hell up, Arturo. You’re gonna die if I don’t do this.” He nodded weakly, his eyes as wide as the dog’s over there in the corner. The bullet had burrowed deep, and there was a lot of blood. I let him down gently to lie on the floor and stood to look around for something to dig in him and spotted Tabby’s tweezers on the dresser. After fishing around for a minute or so, the bullet came out, all misshapen. Arturo’d passed out again. I slapped his face a couple of times.

“Wake up, you fuck.”

His eyes fluttered, slowly focused on me and he licked his dry lips.

“I don’t have much time, but I can help you. If I do, you get what you came for, and you never come back to bother Tabby again, you got that? If you don’t keep your promise, I’ll put a bullet in you myself.”

He nodded.

“Promise me.”

“I promise,” he mumbled around a mouthful of blood, docile as a kitten.

I ripped into my own wrist with my teeth, just like they did in the movies, and let the blood drip on the wound. He bucked under me like it hurt, but I held him still. I didn’t know if it’d work, but I knew that if I put blood on bite marks they went away, so why not bullet wounds?

Arturo shrieked. The wound was closing, little by little. I bit myself again and let a little more blood drip on it. He drummed his heels on the floor, waking Julio up. I pushed Arturo away from me, hiding my wrist.

“You shot your friend,” I said.

“Oh shit.” He sat up slowly. 

I put on my best innocent face. “Good thing you missed.”

Julio crawled toward us. “I know I shot you, there was blood. Are you okay, Arturo?”

Arturo blinked and stared at the ceiling. “Shut up, Julio. Just get the fucking money.”

“I hit you, right?” Julio knelt at his side.

Arturo rolled over far enough to smack him. “You missed, pendejo. Get the fucking money.”

I smirked as Arturo picked himself up off the floor and stood on wavering feet. I picked his little ski mask up and held it out to him. He stared at it for a long few moments until Julio snapped him out of his fugue.

“It’s all still here,” he said, having loosened a plank in the floor of Tabby’s closet. Arturo snatched the mask out of my hand and turned to his buddy. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“I’d say that’s a great idea.”

Tabby was in the doorway, a twelve-gauge shotgun aimed at Arturo’s head. Her eyes widened a little when he turned around and she saw the blood on his shirt but she held steady. Her eyes were the same shade of cold blue as Sabrina’s at that moment.

“Oh fuck.” Arturo held his hands out in a neutral gesture. “Baby–”

“Don’t. You. Ever! Fucking ‘baby’ me again.” She had a cute snarl and, without meaning to, I grinned, damned proud of her. After the shit he’d put her through, he was lucky she didn’t pull the trigger on at least a kneecap or worse.

Arturo took a step toward her and she closed the distance by jabbing the barrel right against his chest.

“Get out.”

“Okay...”

“Now!”

Her voice jolted both men into motion and they fled the room. Moments later, we heard them exit the house. Tabby let the barrel drop to the floor. She looked exhausted. I took her arm and sat with her on the bed, but she wouldn’t let go of the shotgun.

“I’ve had it, Xan. I’m tired. And now that I’ve seen Art again, I am even sicker than I was after that Jack in the Box.”

I just sat there and held her little hand in mine and she leaned her head on my shoulder.

“You can let go of the gun now.”

“I know.”

I laughed a little and patted her head. She looked like she needed to take a nap. “Good thing you didn’t need to fire this.” I took the shotgun from her hand, unloaded it, and eased it on its butt in the corner. I laid the shells on her dresser.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, that thing has one hell of a kick.”

“You mean it’d hurt the baby?”

“Well, that is probably a slim possibility but Tabby...”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I want to ask about the blood and then again, I don’t.” She snuggled against my shoulder again and I put an arm around her.

“You’re weird, Tab.”

“You’re not exactly normal yourself, oh fanged-one.”

I laughed. “Point.” I patted her arm. “Why don’t you lie down?”

“Because I’m mad.”

I kissed her forehead. “About what? Arturo coming in your house?”

She snorted. “More like that he hid his drug money in my house then figured he could just stop by at his convenience while I’m not here and retrieve it.” She looked up at me. “I’m glad you were here, Xan. Maybe now he’ll finally stay out of my life completely.”

After I lay down with Tabby, long enough for her to finally doze off, I took off her shoes and socks, and covered her up. I grabbed a shirt from my pile of clothes and got the rest of the way dressed. I’d been back a few days–which felt like weeks–and needed to start taking care of other shit I’d left undone last time around. Scott answered on the second ring and I let him know I was back in Pinecliffe. Of course he was glad to hear that and wanted to know what all’d happened in New Mexico, so I decided I’d go ahead and drop by to get my stuff. I wasn’t ready to get back to Pale Rider yet. Not sure why, because the place should’ve been fixed up, or at least close to it.

To kill some time before dark, I did a load of laundry and made a quick dinner for Tabby to wake up to. I was okay doing shit like that. Domestic normal chores kept me feeling a little more in line with the rest of the world. She rose an hour before dusk and wolfed the food down like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“I’m going to be huge,” she said when I asked her if she was going to eat any more.

“It’s not like you can help it. Pregnant women are supposed to get all round and stuff.”

She laughed. “Oh, I eat a lot.”

“How much longer do you have?”

“Ugh, forever,” she grumbled and shuffled to the den. I started doing dishes. Her sister came in. Her lips were painted with some silvery pink stuff. Sometimes Sabrina dressed so weird it was hard to tell which one of the sisters was the older one.

“Tabitha! How did you get Crooked Fang’s bassist to do your dishes?” She gave me a strange look, which melted into appreciation as she took me in. “I guess you’re all moved in, huh?”

I chose to remain discreetly silent.

“What was that?” Tabby called from the den.

“Nothing.” She sat two plastic sacks of groceries on the table. “So how long are you planning to be here?”

I gave her a tense smile. “I’m just hanging out.”

“Well you look great in those suds.” That coy smile again. “I’m Sabrina. Don’t know if you remember me.”

“Yeah, I remember you. Frigid Bitches.”

“Oh, that was just for Halloween season.” She untied the bags. “Mind helping me put these up? I’m done for today.” She jerked the fridge open, found a beer, screwed off the cap and chunked it in the empty side of the sink where it came to a stop just before it fell into the garbage disposal. I gritted my teeth.

Without waiting for my agreement, she stalked into the living room to ask Tabby about her doctor’s visit. Tabby didn’t mention finding Arturo and Julio in a tangle with me in the bedroom after. Sabrina was louder than Tabby, and I was pretty sure I didn’t care for her. Also–what was with the names? Mom must’ve had some kind of witch fetish. I was just waiting for a “Samantha” in the family to pop up, and wasn’t disappointed to find out that was their mother’s name. Of course it was. I guess people had to do that cutesy thing of matching names to a theme.

After we all watched some really bad reality show together, I let Tabby know I was going out for the night and it might be a couple of days before I came back. She pressed her lips together in that tight way she did when displeased, but gave no objection. Sabrina blinked at me.

“So I finally come home, and chase off my sister’s boyfriend? You don’t have to leave on my account.”

“Sabrina,” Tabby interjected, rolling her eyes, “It’s not like that.”

“What do you mean? You have this guy living with you, Tabby, and you’re trying to tell me you and him aren’t a thing?”

I kept a smile pasted on, though inside I was screaming and throttling the blond bitch.

“Sabrina!” Tabby waved a hand at me absently. “Go, Xan. Ignore my sister. She has no clue on what’s going on.”

I shrugged into my jacket, pulled out my gloves to put on and grabbed my backpack. I’d come back for the clothes I’d left on the floor in the bathroom later. Tabby stayed in the den, so I peeked in to tell her goodbye. Sabrina caught up with me when I went outside to start the bike.

“Hey.” She laid a hand on the seat. “Sorry about earlier.”

“Okay.” I revved the engine in hopes of warming it up faster.

“I just thought maybe you and my sister were...”

I cursed under my breath at the rough idle.

“So you’re just friends?”

“Yes.”

“Are you involved with anyone else?”

I wrapped an elastic band around my hair and tucked it in the collar of my jacket. She stood there, waiting for an answer. It was obvious she was looking for an opening, and I just wasn’t into her type. It wasn’t that she was a bad woman, just that she was a little flaky and unconcerned with other people’s needs unless it fit her agenda. That was something I really couldn’t handle, no matter how hot she was. And she was. She had pretty, shiny champagne blonde hair and ice-blue eyes that ordinarily would attract me. But not her. Aside from the fact that she was Tabby’s sister. And if I remembered correctly, she’d been away for days with some dude. I sighed through my nose. “Sabrina, I’m staying here for a little while. I’m not the baby’s daddy, or your sister’s boyfriend and no, sweetheart, I’m not interested in fucking you.”

“I know it’s Arturo’s. Tabby told me.” She scowled. “You’re an asshole, Xan Marcelles.”

“I get that all the time. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” I swung my leg over the seat, pulled the bike upright and put up the kickstand before I rode away.