Foreshadowed (2 page)

CHAPTER 3

            After donning a pair of big sunglasses, I climbed into the back of our black BMW. Alex had absolutely
insisted
that I not go anywhere without a member of our security team and after everything that had happened recently, I'd decided to honor his request. Really, it was more of a demand, but I always chose which demands I‘d actually concede to-- which was a fact he knew well and was probably the cause of much anxiety for him. But I did have to give myself credit. I had semi-learned my lesson after seeing where my stubbornness had gotten me in the past. Though I was having a bit of a hard time adjusting to what I, from my meager upbringing, would consider the high life. I was certainly not used to having a driver or security or any of those luxuries. Little had I known that my father was a king and living with every luxury possible while I got by on just enough. That was one of the
many
reasons why I hadn't run into my long lost father's arms when we were finally reunited.

            Alex's most trusted bodyguard, Chaz, was in the driver's seat. He glanced into the rearview mirror. "Where to?"

After giving him the name of the coffee shop where I was meeting Anna, I leaned back in the seat and marveled at the fact that I didn't even have to drive myself anymore.          Honestly, I kind of missed driving my Audi. Unfortunately, it was parked in one of the many garages on Alex's estate with little hope of hitting the road anytime soon. I sighed to myself. There were definitely pros and cons to my new lifestyle.

            Before long, we were pulling up to the curb in front of the coffee shop. Anna was standing outside the door waiting for me. She waved when she saw us pull up and I grabbed my pocketbook and slid out of the seat, hurrying to give her a quick hug. Yes, I was glad I had decided to get out of the house. Seeing Anna and being at our favorite coffee shop had a way of making things feel deceptively normal. And that was okay with me. I’d take any bit of normalcy I could get, whether it was real or not.

            Once inside, we headed to a small table in an empty corner of the shop with our drinks. Anna had ordered a latte and I'd brought my own coffee mug filled with warm blood. Disguising the true contents of my cup made me feel sneaky, but I definitely didn't think the world was ready for me to expose what I was
really
drinking.

            Anna set her phone covered in a pretty blue and white striped case on the table next to her and leaned over to scroll through her messages for the umpteenth time. If my friend radar was correct, Anna had something going on that she wasn't telling me about. I narrowed my eyes studying her. Her stick straight blonde hair was pulled over one shoulder, stunning against the bright peacock blue coat she was wearing. To the average passerby, she looked completely at ease, but I could see the slight furrow between her eyebrows and nervous drumming of her glossy red fingernails on the table. Yep, she was stressing about something and I wasn't letting her leave this coffee shop without spilling the beans.

            I sipped my drink and leaned back in my chair, waiting for her to come up for air.  I cursed silently as I spilt a small amount of the bright red blood on my lap. Luckily. the dark blue skinny jeans I was wearing didn't show the spill at all. I was glad that I'd chosen the off the shoulder kelly green top, jeans and flats from my own wardrobe and not the delicate fabrics that hung in my new closet. Alex had excellent taste, but I was holding onto my former self for dear life, and I was relieved that I had worn my own clothing and not the sophisticated stuff Alex had ordered. There was no way I was walking around in the kind of over the top clothing I'd seen Ophelia and other female vampires wearing. That just wasn't me. Besides, I could imagine the horror of someone seeing me spill blood from my cup onto a pretty linen dress or silk skirt. I shuddered at the thought.

            When Anna finally looked up, disappointment clouded her features. I mentally nodded to myself. Yep, this had to be guy trouble. I decided to test the waters and see if I could get her to open up. I put on my most innocent face. "So, how are things going with Paul?"

            Something that looked suspiciously like guilt passed over her face. She never had been good at hiding her feelings and this just fueled my suspicions that something was going on... and I had a feeling it was juicy, whatever it was.

            Anna sat back in her chair, but her eyes kept flicking back to her phone, like she was dying to check again for whatever it was she was checking for.

            "Well, they're okay, I guess."

            I tilted my head to the side and gave her a disbelieving look. "Okay? You sure don't sound like things are okay. You don't sound like someone who is very happy at all, actually. What happened while I was gone? You both seemed really content with each other before I left." I backtracked a little. "Or when I was forced to leave, anyway." A chill ran through me as I recalled how Lucien had kidnapped me from the grocery store parking lot, taking me to Romania for a forced visit with the Regency.

            She nodded in agreement. "They were...but things change." She let her sentence trail off and my eyes lit with a realization. "You're seeing someone else, aren't you?!”

            She was quick to answer back. "No! I mean, Paul and I are just dating, and not exclusively, so it wouldn't be wrong or anything, but, no I'm not." She paused as if trying to decide how much to say. "But, there's someone else I'm interested in. I just don't know how interested that person is in me. Well, I'm pretty sure he's
interested
, just not in the way I would want him to be, if you know what I mean." And again, her eyes flicked to her phone, as if she was waiting for something.

            "Is that why you've been glued to your phone since we arrived here? Are you expecting a text or something?"

            She chewed on her bottom lip. "I ran into this person a couple of nights ago, when I stopped by to see my brother, Kyle, at the bar. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was outside backed up against the side of the bar in a, well, let‘s just say a passionate embrace. Not my usual style, but this guy seems to bring out
that
side of me. Anyway, I haven't heard from him since. But for some reason I can't stop thinking about him. I finally gave in and sent him a text this morning, but I haven't heard anything back." She blew out a short burst of air and I could tell this guy, whoever he was, was really getting to her.

            I raised my eyebrows. I had known something was going on, and I’d been right. Now, to figure out who this mystery guy was. My eyes widened as a thought occurred to me. I was suddenly remembering the weird vibes I'd gotten from Anna and Ethan at the bar the night we arrived back in the States, not to mention the visions I had seen of the two of them together. I sucked in a breath. If that was the case, Anna was surely in for heartbreak. Ethan was strictly a wam- bam- thank you- ma'am kind of guy and Anna was
so
not that way. Okay, with the exception of the other night. I made a mental note to warn Ethan that I would be taking it very personally if he was thinking to play with her feelings. I knew though, that warning Anna off would do little good and potentially put a strain on our friendship. Things could get complicated. Not to mention the fact that, even though there was absolutely nothing between Ethan and I, we had a strange relationship that had grown pretty strong since he'd helped me escape from Lucien and the Regency. Even though we'd had our moments in the past, I now thought of him in more of a brotherly way. Sometimes, I just wasn't so sure if Ethan thought of me the same. Regardless, I was with Alex, and that was the one person he would never infringe on.

            I formed my next sentence very carefully. "Anna, are we by any chance talking about Ethan?" What I wanted to say was,
Puh-lease tell me we aren't talking about Ethan
.

            She took a deep breath and looked at me sheepishly. "How'd you know?"

           
Damn!

            I kept my face neutral. "Just a feeling I had. The tension between you two was practically snapping the night we flew back from London and then met you at Kyle's bar."

            Our attention was diverted as her phone vibrated against the table. Her hand shot out, grabbing it and scrolling quickly through her messages. When she placed her phone back on the table, she was barely suppressing a grin.

            "Let me guess. Ethan?"

            She was grinning from ear to ear now. "Yep. He said he'd meet up with me this week sometime."

CHAPTER 4

            Later that afternoon I was back at the house organizing the things that had been sent from Anna's apartment. Alex was still at Chase, but we had plans to meet for dinner later. I stood in the middle of my large walk-in closet feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the clothes already hanging there. I was jarred out of the tedious chore of hanging clothes by the loud ringing of my phone. I hurried over to the nightstand to grab it. Without even looking to see who it was, I slid the bar over and answered.

            "Hello?"

            My stomach dropped when I heard whose voice was at the other end.

            "Hello, Brooke."

            It was my ex, Brad, but I noticed immediately that his voice had a harder, more distant edge to it. Definitely not the same warm tone I was used to from him.

            "Uh, Brad! I'm glad to hear from you. I haven't heard anything since you left the bar the other night and I was a little worried."

            "Oh? Well, you know how to pick up a phone too, right?"

            I cringed at the very good point he’d made. To be honest, I'd been weary of calling him and giving him the wrong idea. Besides, Kyle had confirmed that Brad and the female vampire he'd met at the bar the night he had confronted me, had left separately. So I had been pretty confident that he was okay, but still... I hated that it had become so hostile between us. I had really hoped to remain comfortable friends. The unfamiliar sound of his voice was making that seem further and further from a possibility.

            I was careful to answer him in a way that I hoped would ease the tension between us. "You're completely right. I should have just picked the phone up and called to check on you. Things have just been weird between us, you know?"

            Ignoring my question completely, he said, "I was hoping we could meet up to talk."

            "Brad, if this is about
us
, I told you everything there was to say the other night. What more do we possibly need to talk about?" I mean, jeez, let it go already.

            "It's not about us. But it's really important that I speak to you, and soon."

            "Why? What's going on?"

            The strange tone in his voice was starting to worry me.

            "Nothing I can talk to you about over the phone." His voice was now taking on the old warmth that I was used to from him and it reminded me of how much history we had together. I felt awful for brushing him off so much lately. I was sure it had a lot to do with the way things had become between us.

            "Okay, Brad. If you say there is something important that we need to talk about," and I stressed my next words, "
that
doesn't have anything to do with us,
then okay, I'll meet you to talk. When?"

            "How about now?"

            "Uh, I can't. I'm meeting Alex for dinner soon. He's heading back to work after, so I'll swing by and meet you somewhere on the way home. I just need to run it by him first."

            "That's kind of sad, you know. That you have to ask your husband to stop and see a friend."

            "
Brad.
You're not
just
a friend. You're my ex. He needs to know if I'm going to be meeting you. It's only right."

            "Oh? Do you think he would be so thoughtful if he was meeting up with Ophelia somewhere?"

            "
What?!
Brad, you're crossing the line. And anyway, how do you even know who Ophelia is?"

            "Just never mind. I'll meet you at Golden Park downtown around nine o’clock tonight." He hung up abruptly without waiting for me to confirm. I stared at the phone for a long moment, shocked over the turn our conversation had taken. It had been really strange. Not only the odd sound of his voice, but his insistence to meet and then bringing Ophelia up, who he had no business even knowing existed. Strange. I shook the feeling off, figuring I’d find out in person soon enough, and headed back into my closet to finish the monumental task of organizing it.

            Several hours later I was in the backseat of one of Alex's sleek black cars with Chaz at the wheel, driving me to meet Alex at one of the best Italian restaurants in the city. Dressed in a short, mint colored dress and knee-high tan boots, I slipped out of the car and walked inside the posh restaurant. I was immediately led to a quiet table on the patio. Alex, who was already seated, stood when he saw me, and gave me the devilishly sexy smile that always melted me on the spot. His wavy dark hair was slightly tousled in a way I was pretty sure only he could pull off and still look completely put together. He was still wearing the grey suit he had worn to work and I instantly regretted that I wasn't working at Chase anymore. I was missing out on catching glimpses of him all day, looking so sinfully handsome, in charge, and in his element. My stomach flipped and I tried to get a grip on myself. There was certainly no reason to let him know, any more than he already did, his effect on me. Surely, it would wear off a little with the passage of time?

            Right now, I didn't think that was even in the realm of possibility.

            Once we were seated and eating, I decided that a good time to broach the topic of Brad and the so-called
important things
he needed to discuss with me, would probably never present itself. I gathered my nerves and decided I might as well suck it up and tell Alex about it. I couldn't possibly imagine anything urgent that Brad and I would have to discuss. But I had to admit-- he had my curiosity up.

            I took a deep breath out of habit and put my fork down. Alex, noticing how antsy I had become, and seeing that I was trying to get up the nerve to say something, slowly lowered his fork to the table, his clear blue eyes never releasing their hold on mine. Oh boy, he knew something was up and he's wasn't going to make this easy.

            He raised an eyebrow, cocking his head slightly to the side. "Do you have something you want to tell me, Brooke?" What I wanted was to look away; break eye contact long enough to gather my thoughts, but his eyes continued to hold mine and like a deer in headlights, I couldn't tear them away.

            I swallowed. It was a little unfair, him using his well practiced intimidation techniques on me. Really, after hundreds and hundreds of years of practice, we were
not
on a fair playing ground.

           
All's fair in love and war, beautiful.

           
My eyes widened when I realized he’d been reading my thoughts. I seethed and said aloud, "Alex, we had a deal. You stay out of my head. Don't you know how wrong that is-- invading my privacy?"

            He reached across the table covering my hand with his, tracing unknown patterns with his fingertips. Little tingles ran up and down my spine. "Aleeexx," I said through clenched teeth. "You're
really
not playing fair."

            He smirked knowingly, reminding me of the Alex I had first met. “I rarely do."

            I rolled my eyes. Might as well go on and get this over with. "So, Brad called me today." I stopped and waited for some sort of reaction, but all I got was his poker face. I continued on. "He says he has something urgent to discuss with me and insists that I meet with him face to face to discuss it."

            Alex laughed out loud, as if the idea of my meeting with Brad was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard, and then turned abruptly serious. "Yeah. That's not happening."

            I kept my voice even and calm, thinking that would be more effective on him than arguing. "He's harmless, Alex. And I've been hard on him. We use to be really close friends even before we ever started dating. The very least I can do is find out what's so important to him. And to be honest, I'm a little worried about Brad. He just doesn‘t sound like himself."

            Seeing Alex's face still hard and unrelenting, I tried another tactic. "Please Alex. Don't give me a hard time about this. I'm not the same vulnerable human I use to be. I think I've proven that several times over. Brad really is harmless. I'll just find out what it is he wants and go straight home. Chaz will be waiting in the car and I'll call you as soon as I leave. Promise."

            Alex stared at me for a moment and I found myself staring straight back into his almost glowing blue eyes and sinking unwillingly into their depths. It reminded me of quicksand. The way I got lost so quickly and could barely pull myself away. I bit my lip and cursed the fact that I couldn't even hold a conversation without him doing this to me. The worse part was that he knew it-- and used it to his advantage whenever it suited him. Unfortunately, the hypnotizing effect he had on me had not dulled just because I’d been turned. I‘d say the effect had worsened.

            Completely losing track of what we were talking about and desperately wishing that we weren't in a public place, I tried to pull my focus back on the conversation we were having. My mind had different ideas though, because it was conjuring up all kinds of inappropriate scenarios.

            A smile tugged at the corner of his lips and he leaned forward, saying just loud enough for me to hear, "A public place, Brooke? I'm shocked. At least have the decency to wait until we get to the car."

            I narrowed my eyes. "You're shameless."

            He laughed. "No gorgeous. From what I just witnessed in your thoughts, you're the shameless one-- and I think I'm going to enjoy that side of you."

           
Damn him and his deliciousness.
I mentally shook myself, trying once again to refocus on getting Alex to agree with my meeting Brad. I had already committed to the meeting and the last thing I wanted to do was stand Brad up. Talk about rubbing salt in already fresh wounds.

            "Alright, Brooke. Something tells me you're going to do this no matter what I say. So, if you absolutely feel you must, then go meet him. But something strikes me as odd about the whole thing. My only request is that you take Chaz with you. He doesn't need to be right there listening to your every word, but I think he should be closer than sitting in the car."

            Realizing
that
scenario was about as much of a compromise as I was going to get out of him, I nodded in agreement. "Okay. It's a deal." I smiled, happy to have that business out of the way and be able to enjoy our dinner together.

            He smiled back, shaking his head.

            "What?" I asked.

            He broke into a heart wrenchingly gorgeous smile. "Oh nothing. Just thinking about what a dirty mind you have."

            I glared back at him teasingly. It was going to be a long eternity with him sneaking peaks in my head all the time. "Can't a girl get a little privacy in her own thoughts?"