Aida toured the gallery with a middle-aged couple looking for a wedding present for their son. She smiled at the couple and answered their questions, but exhaustion adhered to her like a second skin, and she couldn’t figure out why.
She’d slept well last night. Still, she stifled a yawn as the man and woman turned their heads from side to side while inspecting a sculpture. The art piece was supposed to be an abstract, but it looked a lot like a human heart to her.
When the couple gave up on trying to figure out the sculpture, they continued around the gallery until arriving in the main room again. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Aida’s stomach when she discovered the night pressing against the plate glass windows.
Shifting uncomfortably, she dropped her hand to the can of pepper spray in her pocket and breathed a little easier. She had no reason to be nervous, but her stomach felt like a fish was flopping around in there, and the can bolstered her confidence.
Glancing around the room, she didn’t see Nicolette, but she was probably with someone else in the gallery. People laughed or talked on their phones as they passed the windows, and nothing looked out of place.
“I think we’re going to take the pretty watercolor of the ocean,” the woman said. “Lewis will like it.”
“It is a beautiful painting,” Aida agreed and gave a smile she didn’t feel.
After finishing the sale, Aida walked with them to the door and stood, rubbing her arms as she gazed at the night. Turning away from the door, she walked over to stand in the middle of the room and inspected the paintings on the wall. Usually, the artwork calmed her, but she couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right. She was about to set off in search of Nicolette when the door opened and a handsome man stepped inside.
Gerald, she recalled. He smiled when he saw her, and she smiled in return. He really was handsome, and it had been months since she had a date. Why had she turned him down before? She could remember him asking her out to dinner, but for the life of her, she had no idea why she’d turned him down.
Probably because he’s a customer, but her sense of unease grew. Shouldn’t she remember that exchange better? Why was there such a gap in her memory?
The more she thought about it, the more her head felt like a tiny dwarf was in there chipping away at it, so she shoved it aside as she glided across the room to him. “Gerald,” she greeted. “Back so soon?”
“How could I possibly stay away? Not only does this place have the best art, but it also has the most beautiful employee.”
Aida grinned as he clasped her hand and lifted it to kiss her knuckles. No, she definitely wouldn’t turn him away again. “You’re too sweet.”
“Far from sweet; I know what I want, and I go after it.”
Usually, she liked a man with self-confidence, and she really liked handsome men, but a school of fish had joined the first one in her belly. It started to get worse the second his lips touched her skin.
This wasn’t right. He shouldn’t be kissing her, but she couldn’t think of any reason why he shouldn’t. She was single, young, and she always enjoyed flirting.
Still, she couldn’t help feeling like she was doing something horrifically wrong. It made absolutely no sense, but she almost snatched her hand from his. However, he was a great customer, and she couldn’t afford to alienate him because she was having some kind of mental breakdown. As soon as this day was over, she was heading home, crawling into bed, and sleeping until she had to be back here again tomorrow.
“Is there something I can help you with today?” she asked.
“There are many things you can help me with,” he said.
He looped his arm through hers and clasped it against his side. She’d just been questioning why she turned him down, yet her skin crawled at his touch. She tugged at her arm, but he refused to release it, and she couldn’t cause too big of a stink without taking the risk of alienating him.
Still, she felt the inexplicable urge to kick him in the nuts and run for her life. This must be why she turned him down, but why couldn’t she remember it? And why did she feel like this about him when he’d done nothing to warrant it?
He kept her arm in his as he strolled toward the paintings hanging near the door leading into the storage room. “Where is Nicolette?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “She must be giving a tour.”
“I’ll have to catch up with her after we’ve finished with each other.”
His choice of words caused the hair on her nape to rise. If the island taught her anything, it was to trust her instincts, and those instincts were screaming at her to run. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but she shouldn’t be here with him.
“I’ll find her now,” she said. “There’s something I have to discuss with her. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She tried to pull away from him, but he clamped her arm against his side. “Did you accomplish what we talked about yesterday?”
Aida gave her arm a couple of tugs, but when his hand encased hers and the bones ground together, she stopped. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
They’d discussed paintings and decorating his place, but nothing that would warrant this kind of a reaction. And she didn’t care if they had discussed something else, this fucker had no right to restrain her in such a way.
“Don’t play stupid,” he growled. “It’s unbecoming.”
Aida’s mouth went dry as she tried to think of a response that wouldn’t piss him off. The way he had her locked in, he could break her arm and crush her hand before she could put up much of a defense. She kicked herself in the ass for allowing him to hold her in such a way, but how was she supposed to know he was going to turn into a freak?
Taking a deep breath, Aida forced herself to calm down and assess the situation. She couldn’t break free of his hold without injury, and screaming probably wouldn’t go over too well. If she pepper-sprayed him, she would get a face full of it also, but it was an option. She could take out the back of his knee; he might break her arm on his way down, but if it became necessary, she would do whatever it took to survive.
“Did you take care of my little problem?” he asked her.
Aida struggled to understand what he meant. She remembered showing him around the gallery, and he’d purchased a couple of things, but she didn’t recall discussing any problem. She racked her brain in search of an answer, but the harder she tried, the more disoriented she felt.
Had she entered the matrix? Was someone about to offer her a red and blue pill?
Before she could come up with a response, he rested his hand against the door to the storage room and pushed it open.
“You’re not supposed to be back here,” she said, which might have been the dumbest thing she ever said. He didn’t care that he was crushing her hand, so she doubted he gave a shit about Nicolette’s rule of no customers in the storeroom.
“The rules don’t apply to me.”
She was starting to hate this arrogant prick. She wouldn’t mind taking some pepper spray to the face if it had him crying like a little bitch afterward.
Before she could reply, a blur coming from her right caught her attention a millisecond before a fist crashed into the side of Gerald’s face. His head jerked toward her, and she bit back a scream when the warm blood flying from his mouth splattered her face. She didn’t have a chance to wipe it away before Gerald jerked her forward and threw her to the floor.
Her hand smacked off the concrete, and her bruised hipbone protested movement as she dragged herself forward, but she was free of his grasp. The inhuman sounds coming from behind her propelled her faster.
Ignoring the agony flaring from her hip and up her side, she staggered to her feet and limped forward as fast as she could. She didn’t dare look back until she believed she had enough distance between herself and Gerald.
Ducking behind a crate, she poked her head out as someone hit Gerald. The blow lifted him off his feet and flung him backward. When he hit the brick wall, his arms and legs flew out before he crashed to the floor.
Aida stared at the bearded face, red eyes, and elongated fangs of her savior as she tried to figure out who it was. And then it hit her like a hammer between the eyes.
“Julian.”
His name was barely a whisper, but his head turned toward her, and for a second, the rage in his eyes lessened as something she didn’t quite understand surged forth. She hadn’t seen him in four and a half years; why was he looking at her with so much love?
His expression was as baffling to her as his sudden arrival and Gerald’s bizarre behavior. What was he doing here? And why did he look so hell-bent on killing Gerald as he turned away from her to stalk the man?
She’d always known Julian was a vampire, but he was so sweet to her that she never could have imagined this brutal side of him existed. Now, as he hunted Gerald, every inch of him exuded violence.
Her eyes widened when she spotted the strange black and red color swirling up the tips of his fingers and across his hands. His reddened eyes burned so bright they illuminated the shadows around him.
A shiver of unease raced up her spine; what had happened to Julian since she last saw him? What had made him this strange cross between a man and a monster? And why was he here after all this time?
Gerald staggered to his feet, and Aida’s jaw fell open when his red eyes swung toward her. He was a vampire too!
This day kept getting crazier, and if she didn’t hurt so bad, she might believe she was trapped in a bizarre and extremely vivid nightmare. She’d dreamed of Julian countless times over the years; none of them were as messed up as this, but there was a first time for everything.
Her brain felt like it was bouncing around her skull as she tried to understand what was happening. The more she tried to grasp the answers, the more they evaded her, but she believed that somehow, she did know them. However, she felt like an actor who’d walked into the middle of a play and was expected to recite all the lines.
Primed for the kill, Julian was more than ready to take this bastard out, but he couldn’t kill him without learning why he was here first. As he stalked toward Gerald, he couldn’t look at Aida again. He’d seen and heard her shock when she first saw him; he couldn’t stand the confusion and uncertainty in eyes so full of love yesterday. His blood had healed her wounds, so no outward sign of what happened remained.
It was torture to leave her this morning before she woke and to stay away from her all day, but he did what was necessary. He comforted himself by being so close he could smell her peach scent and occasionally hear her voice.
He hoped he hadn’t changed her memories so effectively she would never recall the time they spent together, but he did what was necessary. Not knowing about their relationship kept her calm as she wasn’t torn between Gerald’s command to kill and her love for him.
It seemed to have worked as she woke this morning and acted like nothing happened when she saw Cassidy and Kyle. Cassidy reported Aida was tired but in a good mood. From the stairwell leading to the fourth floor, Julian watched her leave her apartment and walk down the stairs. Once she was gone, he rejoined his siblings, and they enacted the plan they came up with last night.
Cassidy left soon after Aida and stayed a discreet distance away while trailing her to work. She spent the day stationed at a coffee shop diagonally across from the gallery where she sipped lattes, flirted with the waiter, and pretended to write a book. The whole time she kept him and Kyle on an open phone call where they heard everything she said.
After Cassidy left, Julian and Kyle remained in the apartment while he disabled the security system and cameras at the gallery before moving on to disable the cameras from the nearby buildings. He also shut down any cameras around Aida’s building in case Gerald was somehow using them to watch her here. He couldn’t take the chance Gerald would see him leave this building or go into the gallery.
Once he finished with that, Kyle left to take up a position in the alley next to the gallery where he would wait until Cassidy spotted Gerald. Julian called a taxi, put on some glasses, and a Celtics hat before meeting the car outside. He had the driver take the long way before pulling into the service alley behind the gallery. He handed the driver some cash and changed his memory of what happened.
They weren’t expecting Gerald to make a move until nightfall, but just in case, they would be close so they could keep an eye on everyone who entered the gallery. While Julian and Kyle remained hidden, Cassidy was their eyes. She would recognize another vamp in case Gerald decided to use someone else for his dirty work again.
When night fell, in anticipation of Gerald’s arrival, Kyle slipped inside the gallery and took Nicolette somewhere she would be out of the way. Julian knew his siblings were coming, but they wouldn’t be a part of this battle. This piece of shit was all his.