Eternal Hearts (35 page)

Toni stepped into Mutt’s Pub, looking for more people to talk to about the human descriptions of the werewolves. Her questions to the people out on the street hadn’t turned up anything. Not a single person down here had seen or heard anything about them.

As she cast a glance over the fairly light crowd, she straightened when she recognized two very familiar backs. One belonged to Brick, the other to Drake. Her heart immediately fluttered at the sight of Drake, but her brain harpooned the butterfly.

He’d still lied to her, and at this moment, she wasn’t exactly sure what to do or how to feel. She wanted to talk to him, but she didn’t even know what to say. Why are you friends with the guy who killed my only attachments to life before I was cursed? Why’d you lie to me about it before you made me feel better than I have in three years?

How did you ask someone something like that?

She stared between the two men. What were the chances that Drake and Brick were talking about her right now? If they were, maybe something Drake said could help her find a place to start their conversation.

Toni closed her eyes and concentrated as she tried to pick out Drake and Brick’s voices. Slowly, the other chatter in the bar dropped away until she heard only them.

“Wait, I don’t get it. Why do
you
have a contract on Toni?”

Drake shrugged at the question. “I don’t really know why the Boss ordered it, but I got it because I live here. Jake said he wanted a native.”

Brick frowned. “I don’t see why they’d put someone of your skill with her though. Are they just handing out busy work or did she piss off somebody really old?”

“I honestly don’t know. I originally got it back on Friday night. At first I was hoping I could do it from a distance, but the Boss wanted it close quarters. After spending a few hours with her though, I would’ve been happy to do it anyway. I wouldn’t have even needed a contract.”

“Uh oh, that’s not good,” Brick laughed.
“That bad, huh?
I can’t really say I’m surprised though. She has that effect on people, especially men.”

Drake stiffened when a shock of anger, closely followed by an intense amount of pain, exploded in his blood. Toni was upset and he felt like she was close, but he knew better. After what Clint had told her, he’d be lucky if he ever saw her again.

“Drake, I…ah…I think you might wanna turn around.” He eyed Brick’s flailing hand on his shoulder before he realized the Texan was staring at something behind them.
“Now, man.
Now.”

Drake turned to see what Brick was so focused on just as a thousand emotions surged through him. Toni stood a few feet inside the bar’s front door, hatred blazing in her brown eyes. And all of it, every burning ember, was focused directly on him.

He watched as her beautiful lips parted then closed right before she turned around and barreled through the doors. Without so much as a sliver of hesitation, he jumped out of his chair and ran after her.

“How stupid could I be?” Toni yelled as she ran down the alley next to the bar. Her mind was in overdrive, trying to process everything she’d just heard. He had a contract on her? He was going to kill her? How could he?

She slammed her fists against the brick wall lining the right side of the alley as she screamed up at the night sky. Everything she’d felt from him, everything she saw…it was all a lie. And every doubt she’d had, every awful thing she’d thought…it was all true.

She rested her forearms against the wall then pushed her fingers into her hair. She couldn’t believe it. She’d hoped she was wrong, hoped she’d just let her fears get the better of her. But now that she knew the truth…

Toni whirled around when a familiar hand brushed the back of her shoulder. “Get the fuck off me, Drake!” She glared up at him as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Has it all been a lie? Has it? Or was it only Oktober you lied to me about? I know you’re best friends. What did you two do, make a bet on who could fuck me before you killed me?”

He flinched at her last few words. “There was no bet, Toni. I may be friends with Oktober, but I didn’t find out about your family until Clint told me—”

“Oh, and I’m supposed to believe that? I’m supposed to believe you care about me when you took a contract to kill me? So was 8-Ball a part of it all to? What about Brick? You sure were sitting in there all nice and cozy with him. God, I can’t believe this!”

He took a step towards her. “Toni…it’s not what you—”

“No!” Her vision already sparking crimson at the edges, she reached out and shoved him back. It felt like he was everywhere, all around her, crowding her. “Not more than thirty minutes ago I was standing outside what used to be my house. Can you believe I actually felt like I was betraying my family because I cared about you? And what were you doing? You were sitting in a fucking bar, chatting it up with Brick about how you didn’t need a contract to kill me. Talking about how you’d have done it for free. What? Was I a bad lay? Did I not please you? You know what, fuck you! I don’t care what you have to say. You lied to me and there isn’t a damn thing you can say to change that.”

Toni jumped when Drake’s eyes flashed black before he turned and slammed his fists into the brick wall of the warehouse on the other side of the alley. “If you would just shut your mouth for two goddamn seconds, you’d hear me when I say I didn’t take a contract to kill you! I took a contract to protect you.” His voice echoed all around her, nearly washing out the sound of the wall as it cracked and splintered.

Fear tingled down her spine as the shadows in the alley began to warp and twist, writhing in time with Drake’s ragged breaths. Blackness slithered across the ground, its wispy tendrils dancing like charmed snakes at his feet.

She narrowed her eyes on the shadows. Was this what happened when he got mad? Was this his beast rearing its ugly head? Good. Now he knew how she felt.

Ignoring the unease in the pit of her stomach, Toni stood as tall as she could. She wasn’t about to back down now. “Do you really expect me to believe anything you say?
A protection contract?
Please. You must
really
think I’m stupid. You’re an assassin. Last I checked
,
assassins don’t protect people, Drake. Assassin’s fucking kill people.”

He turned around, his eyes brimming with emotions she wasn’t able to place. “The contract on you was for protection, Toni, not to kill you. I do both, it just seems that no one remembers.” He paused then looked around the alley as if searching for something before his eyes finally settled back on her. “As for Oktober, you’re right…I lied to you. He’s my best friend. But he’s also been there with me through the worst fights of my life. He’s taken bullets meant for me, and if it wasn’t for him – the scars on my back would be a hell of a lot worse. I’m sorry he killed your family, but I honestly didn’t know until Clint told me.”

Toni covered her face with her hands. She didn’t know what to believe. Could someone like Oktober even have the capacity for friendship, or was Drake just lying again? His eyes burned with sincerity, but his words…anyone could say those words.

Anyone could pretend to care.

Curling her fingers around her forehead, she pressed her palms against her eyes and tried to suck as much oxygen into her lungs as possible. She needed to breathe, needed to think. His close proximity was crushing her. He was all around her, inside her, overpowering her.

She lowered her hands. “Why do you have a protection contract on me? Who paid for it? When did it start? Is it over yet?”

“I can’t answer your questions, Toni. I’m sorry, but I have rules to follow. One of which I just broke by telling you I had a contract on you. Another one I broke back up in your hotel room, because for some reason I can’t keep my damn hands off of you. Because for some inexplicable reason, you’ve made me completely lose my fucking mind.”

“Why did you lie to me?”

“What was I supposed to say? I’m best friends with Oktober because we both kill people, but I’m sorry he molested you in the bathroom? I’m a killer too, but please, can you find it in your heart to like me anyway?”

Toni kicked at the loose gravel on the ground. “I don’t really care if you kill people. I may not like it, but I don’t like a lot of things about my life right now. I can deal with what you do for a living. But what I can’t deal with is the fact that you lied to me…right before you fucked me!”

He staggered back as if she’d shot him. “You don’t care that I’m a killer?”

“No, I don’t.” She scanned the alley then forced her voice to a quieter level. “We’re vampires, Drake. I’ve killed people, too. And I’ve done my best to accept that it’s a part of this life, but what I refuse to accept…is someone who tells me what I want to hear just so they can use me.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t use you, Toni. You’d been through enough that night. The last thing I wanted to tell you was that I knew Oktober, especially after what he did to you. Trust me, you have no idea how much I want to rip his throat out for killing your family. I wanna do it even more because he put his hands on you. But it wouldn’t do any good because he can’t die!” He raked a hand through his hair. “And I can’t very well beat him for killing people when I do the same fucking thing, now can I?”

Toni could barely breathe as tears spilled from Drake’s blue eyes. He pointed down the alley towards the street. “There are a lot of people in the world who feel the exact same way about me as you do about Oktober. Did you ever think of that? Do you know what the most damning part of this whole situation is?”

“No…”

“For me, the worst part is that I don’t feel bad that he actually
killed
your family, Toni. I feel bad because it was
your
family. I’m pissed because he hurt
you
, not because he hurt them! Do you have any idea what it feels like to know you can’t even find it in yourself to care about the family of the woman you love? And I hate myself because I know exactly what Oktober could have done to you in that bathroom…and I wasn’t there to save you. The thought of his goddamn hands on your body…I’ve seen things that make a battlefield look like a fucking Disney movie, and not once have I flinched. But just the thought of him touching you, the thought of his lips anywhere near yours…it makes my stomach churn.”

Toni heard every word Drake had said, every heartbreaking admission he’d spoken. She felt his anguish wrap around her, his desperation wash over her. But one specific set of words caught in her chest and refused to budge. “You love me?”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “Of course I do. How could I not? You’re the only woman who’s ever made me forget what I am. The only one who’s ever treated me like you actually care about me for who I am, not what I can do for you.” He stepped forward and cradled her face between his warm hands. “I love you.”

Toni stared up into Drake’s dark eyes and realized just how much he was hurting. And as she continued to stare into them, pushing past the curtain to see the man she truly cared for, she also saw something she couldn’t ignore…the truth.

She closed her eyes as a thousand emotions whipped through her. Was it fair to expect him to feel sorry for her family? He didn’t even know them. Was it right to hold his friendship with Oktober against him, even though he hadn’t known her three years ago? How would she feel if he’d done the same to her and Clint?

She struggled for a breath. She knew Drake would never expect her to stop talking to Clint just because Clint didn’t like him.

And Drake was right about something else, too. If he’d told her about Oktober last night it would have only made things worse. He hadn’t lied just to sleep with her, and deep inside she knew it. And even more importantly, she believed it. She believed him.

She should have never jumped to conclusions and thought the worst of him, especially when she hadn’t even tried to talk to him. But now he was so angry, and so sad, she didn’t know what to do. Unable to think of anything else, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Drake leaned down and crushed Toni against him, his anger instantly fading under the soft feel of her in his arms. All he wanted was to keep her there, safe and happy, for as long as she’d have him. When she pulled back to kiss him, he could barely breathe from the torrent of emotions behind it. Sweet and intoxicating, her lips told him something he was almost too afraid to believe…