Blood Moon (26 page)

“Do you really think this is necessary,” my
mother argued. It was a wasted effort, though, because they were
bound to use cop-logic on her.

And they did. Dad mentioned that the
date-rape drug, Rohypnol, often showcased the same symptoms of
memory loss that I seemed to be exhibiting, and David was quick to
remind her about the shreds of clothing they found. Again, I
worried she might say something to try and set their minds at ease,
and I knew that if she did, David would be the furthest thing from
calm. He’d be irate.

Without mentioning any of her suspicions,
she finally admitted defeat, and my father agreed to let David take
me alone. I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing,
because David seemed much more apt to prod me for information
without them around.

The front door closed, and I pushed myself
to my feet, deciding to wash the stains from my hands and the dirt
from beneath my nails. I tried to work the tangles in my hair free
with my fingers before giving up and grabbing my brush. I could
feel the dirt and grime that coated every strand, and I craved a
shower.

With my parents gone, I figured I had time
for one. I started to strip, dropping Nick’s clothes to the ground.
I was just about to step beneath the water when the door opened and
I heard David gasp.

“What the hell happened to you?” he asked,
his eyes trained on my body. I didn’t need to look to know he was
talking about the scratches that covered my flesh.

“David—” I started to say as he crossed the
room to get a closer look. “It’s not what you think. They’re just
scratches. I must have fallen on the trails.”

His fingers passed over a few of the fading
marks, and when I looked down at them, I noticed they were almost
completely healed already. This baffled me, but it also made me
extremely happy, because I could actually just play them off as
minor scratches now. They didn’t even hurt anymore.

“I was so worried,” he whispered, letting
his fingers trail down my arm until he captured my hand and lifted
it to his lips. His trembling hands explored the length of my arm,
like he was trying to memorize the way my skin felt, and I noticed
his blue eyes glistening with tears. I’d never known him to cry,
and it made me physically ill to think I caused this.

“Hey,” I replied softly, pushing a smile to
my face. “I’m fine. I promise.”

His breath shuddered as he exhaled,
clenching his eyes shut and forcing the tears from them. Then,
before I even registered the act, he pulled me into his arms, his
hands splayed over my naked back as he pressed me against his
chest. Sighing, I returned the embrace, closing my eyes and winding
my fingers into the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

His warm scent filled my nostrils, the notes
of fear still quite strong, but there, hidden somewhere far beneath
the surface, was relief and something else I glommed onto in the
fraction of a second it presented itself: desire. It was probably
wrong to want to forget my morning by getting lost in a moment of
passion with him, but I refused to find it in myself to stop as I
pressed my lips to his neck. He groaned, and when he tried to pull
away, I held him firm, refusing to deprive us both of what we so
desperately craved.

After everything that happened last night
and this morning, I
needed
him like never before. I also
realized that Nick was a part of my past that I was able to give up
once, and I was pretty sure I could do it again. Why? Because David
was my present—my future—and he was always there for me. Even when
I couldn’t admit to myself how much he truly meant to me. He was
everything I needed when I needed it, and I knew he’d never abandon
me the way Nick did.

This was the kind of man I wanted in my
life…the kind of man I
needed.

Fog filled the bathroom as the hot water
streamed from the showerhead, and I drew David’s lips to mine,
kissing him deeply. He hesitated, but only for a moment before his
mouth moved against mine, both desperate and eager, his need for
solace thick and undeniable. Caught in the haze of our passion, I
pulled him toward the shower, both of us stumbling as we stepped
inside and closed the glass door.

The kiss started out as a perfect
combination of hard yet tender, delightful and frantic. It was
everything I expected from David. It was enough to leave me
breathless, and when I pressed my naked body against him, something
crept into our embrace: an insistency that I,
maybe
, hadn’t
entirely seen coming.

David was still fully dressed, and the water
soaked his clothes through, making them stick to his body as he
tried to break us apart long enough to remove them. So blinded by
the lust that consumed us, I pushed him against the tile wall and
placed my hands on his chest, curling my fingers slightly and
gathering the fabric between them. My finger nails cut through the
wet cotton with ease, and before I knew it, I tore his shirt in
half, pulling it down his arms and dropping it to the shower floor
with a heavy
splat!

He looked at me, eyes wide with surprise
without seeming bothered by it. I just smiled up at him wickedly
while I undid his belt and jeans, discarding them as well. Now that
I had him naked, I placed my hand on the side of his neck and
pulled him toward me, turning us both until he sandwiched my body
between his and the cool tile wall.

Despite the heat of the water raining down
on us, goosebumps erupted all over my body as his lips moved over
my neck, and his hands grasped at me with such urgency that it
rendered me incapable of rational thought. Desire surged beneath my
skin, my entire body tingling and humming with anticipation.

Nothing else mattered in this one perfect
moment. Not whatever happened last night. Not whatever happened
this morning. All that mattered was that we were here together.
Yes, our problems were far from solved, but this time together was
essential right now.

The air was thick with shower steam and the
mutual need for our bodies to unite. When David’s hands gripped my
thighs and lifted me off the ground, I gasped with surprise,
reveling in the way he felt as he slid inside me with ease. With my
legs around his waist, we moved together. I coaxed his face to
mine, kissing him so zealously that our teeth hit before we found
our rhythm.

Because I was so sensitive to other people’s
emotions as well as my own, I was easily overwhelmed by
pleasure—his and mine. The heady combination of his fear combined
with his desire and relief only intensified everything, and I
struggled to keep myself from shattering in his arms. My hands
flattened on his water-slickened back, my fingers curling and
slipping against his skin, and I trailed my lips along his jaw and
then his neck, where his natural musk was strongest and most
tempting.

Intoxicated, my lips curled back as the
first wave of my climax threatened to overwhelm me, and I grazed my
teeth over his skin. It was the barest of touches, but it made him
groan, his hips moving with a little more ferocity. It seemed odd,
but I felt the strong urge to bite down.

I barely heard it, but somewhere in the
deepest parts of my mind, that inner voice from earlier told me
that doing this would only have dire consequences, and I managed to
resist it. It was too strong to ignore completely, though.

Instincts drove me, and I prepared to do it,
regardless of the warning signs that blared in my head.

Just before I was able to succeed, David
cried out, throwing his head back and his hips forward as he pushed
me over the precipice. Distracted by the waves of pleasure that
rolled through me, my head fell back, hitting the tile wall with a
dull
thud
, and my legs tightened around him. As the
sensation ebbed, my curled fingers dragged up his back until they
were in his hair again, and I brought his mouth to mine for a soft
kiss. The impulse to bite him disappeared completely as my arms and
legs trembled around him, and David chuckled, lowering my feet to
the floor and pushing me under the water to wash my hair and
body.

He took his time, lathering the shampoo and
working as many of the tangles in my hair as free as he could with
his fingers. Everything was so wonderful that I momentarily forgot
about the drama that led us here…

…until we stepped out of the shower and
David gathered our clothes.

As he stared at the two articles of clothing
I wore moments earlier, I realized that his relief to see me alive
this morning overpowered his attention to minor details. Yes, he
mentioned that
my
clothes had been shredded, but he never
once noticed or questioned the clothes I had on. The only one who’d
noticed was my mother.

So, now, as he stared at them, his eyebrows
pulled together and he raised his questioning gaze to mine.
Nervous, I bit my lower lip and pulled my towel tighter around my
body, waiting for the inquiry to begin.

And begin, it did.

“These are men’s clothes,” he pointed out,
his voice eerily calm and collected. It was unnerving, given the
circumstances. Unsure what to say, I remained silent as he
continued. “Where did you get these?”

While I knew the truth would upset him, I
knew that lying to him would be even worse when the truth finally
did surface. So, after taking a deep breath, I said, “They’re
Nick’s.”

His eyes widened, and I picked up on his
growing anger, seeing the subtle tremor in his hands as they
clenched the clothes so tightly his knuckles whitened. When he
didn’t say anything, instead tossing the clothes back onto the
floor and exiting the bathroom, I went after him.

“Nothing happened!” I tried to explain,
grabbing his wrist.

He wrenched it away from me, wheeling around
and staring down at me, hurt and anger fighting for first in his
expression. “If nothing happened, then why did you wait until just
now to say something?” His voice was no longer calm; it was laced
with so much rage, I barely recognized it.

“Because I knew you’d assume the worst and
wouldn’t listen to reason,” I tried to tell him, hoping that my
honesty would get him to stop and allow me to explain. When he fell
silent, I saw my window and jumped through it. “He…he said he found
me after I blacked out and took me back to his place.”

David let this information sink in, and I
sensed his anger fade a little. But only a little.

“So, let me get this straight,” he started,
crossing his arms in front of him. “Nick knew where you were all
night, and he never once thought to call someone? Not even your
parents?”

“I—” Honestly, I had no explanation for
this, because David was absolutely right; Nick should have, at the
very least, called my parents to let them know where I was. “I
don’t know why he didn’t,” I replied honestly, taking a step toward
him and grabbing his hand again. “But I do know that
nothing
happened. Please, you have to trust me,” I pleaded.

“It’s not you I don’t trust,” he muttered
through gritted teeth, his tone indicating that he might not be
telling the truth.

Anger thrummed through my veins, making my
hands shake violently, and I crossed my arms over my towel-covered
body, feeling a bit defensive. “Funny, because that’s not how it
looks from here.”

“I don’t trust
him
,” he clarified,
venom lacing every syllable.

“Nick didn’t
do
anything,” I argued,
deciding to omit the part where I woke up naked in his bed. That
wouldn’t end well—not that this showed much promise, either.

“Are you really that dense, Brooke?”

I stared at him, my eyes widening as I
struggled to keep a leash on my increasing anger, but I was slowly
losing my grip. He had
never
spoken to me like this before,
and the condescension in his tone pissed me off. “Excuse me?”

“You’re a detective, and you can’t seem to
see what’s really going on because you have a past with
him
.” There was so much disdain in his tone, and guilt
consumed me, suddenly snuffing out my burning anger.

Before I could try to tell
him—
again
—that nothing happened, David laid into me some
more. “It seems a little coincidental that Nick would find you
passed out in a city that isn’t even where we live.”

“Do you think I’m lying?”

“Not at all,” David responded, his tone
settling slightly. I sensed he was telling the truth, but his eyes
showed just how upset he still was as he continued. “I think Nick
is the reason you went missing. If I had to hazard a guess, based
on how little you remember, I’d say he’s been following you since
he got back into town.”

“David—” I tried to interject, but he
bulldozed me.

“He followed us from the precinct and to
that shithole club in Phoenix last night. When you left, he saw his
opportunity and sedated you.”

“Sedated me?” I tried to stifle a laugh.
Nick might be crazy with his cock-and-bull story of werewolves, but
I knew him well enough—even after seven years apart—to know he’d
never do that. Even if I accused him of the exact same thing at
first. Deep down, I knew he wasn’t capable of something like
that.

David looked irritated. “He sedated you and
then did god knows what before dragging you off to his house.”

I shook my head, smiling faintly in hopes of
lightening the mood. “You make him sound like some kind of animal,
David.”

“Isn’t he? Tell me I’m wrong.”

I looked him dead in the eye and reinforced
what I’d been saying all along. “You’re wrong. I may not remember
what happened, David, but I know Nick well enough to know he’d
never do that. Besides, if he really did what you’re suggesting, do
you really think he’d just let me go?”

David’s mouth opened and then closed just as
quickly. I had him.