Shiver (Night Roamers) (16 page)

Duncan’s look was stoic
. “What’s up?”

Nathan leaned forward. “First of all, what the hell is going on with you?”

Duncan rubbed a hand over his chin and smiled bitterly. “Had a rough week, man.”

“So I hear,” replied Nathan.

“Tell him,” I prodded Duncan. “Tell Nathan, because he doesn’t believe me.”

“Tell him what
, exactly?” he asked, turning towards me.

My jaw dropped. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Let’s start with Celeste,” said Nathan. “What’s going on between you two?”

Before Duncan could respond, Ethan walked into the restaurant with a blond
woman. With his long, black leather jacket, sunglasses, and lazy grin, he reminded me of a musician who’d just gotten done pulling an all-nighter. If that wasn’t shocking enough, when the woman turned around, my blood turned to ice. It was the nasty woman from the other day, Faye Dunbar.

“Oh
, my God,” I whispered, as Ethan removed his sunglasses and led the woman over to the other side of the diner. They sat down in a booth together, face to face. She had a flirtatious grin on her face, and from the sensual smile on his face, he also appeared to be enjoying her company. Then, when I saw him grab her hand and place it in his, I wanted to throw up.

“What the hell?”
I hissed, clenching my fists as Faye leaned forward and kissed Ethan’s lips; the same ones that had been all over my body only hours before.

Nathan turned to see who I was staring at and almost choked on his water. “Holy shit.”

“Let me out, Duncan,” I demanded, my blood boiling.

“Don’t,” he said
, holding my arm. “You don’t want to disturb them. In fact, that woman isn’t who she appears to be.”

I stared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His face darkened. “I met her yesterday.”

“Yeah, well, I met her a few days ago. She’s an arrogant bitch,” I said.

And
now she was with Ethan! What the hell was going on?

Duncan’s eyes moved to Nathan and then back to me. “She’s a
very powerful shape-shifter. Don’t fuck with her.”

“A what
?” I whispered.

“A s
hape-whater?” asked Nathan.

Duncan sighed. “Her name is Faye and from what I’ve been told, she is not someone you want to mess with.”

“First of all,” smiled Nathan. “You’re both insane; seriously, insane. Second of all,” he said, turning towards me. “Nikki, it’s obvious that Ethan and this woman have something going. So, just get over whatever it is that you feel for him and grow the fuck up. He’s a no-good asshole who obviously, likes a variety of women. He’s a little too old for you, anyway.”

I shook my head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I agree,” said Duncan. “Stay away from him. You’re just a toy to that guy and Faye, well, you need to avoid her at all costs. She’ll kill you without a second thought if you make her mad.”

I looked back over to Ethan’s table and our eyes met.
The shock registered on his face was priceless. He quickly turned away.

“He
just saw you, obviously,” said Duncan.

“I want to go ove
r there,” I mumbled. “Duncan, move please.”

He
sighed and got out of the booth. “You’re making a mistake by interrupting them. I can tell you that right now.”

I took a deep breath and let it out
. “Listen, I just don’t want him to think that I’m bothered by them being here,” I said, although I was mad as all hell. “I’m just going to go over and say hello, that’s all.” Then I reached up and gave Duncan a kiss on the mouth, hoping that Ethan had witnessed it. I knew it wasn’t fair to Duncan, especially since everything that had happened, but I wanted Ethan to know that I wasn’t anyone’s play toy.

Dun
can stared hard at me for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. Just be careful.”

I turned away and began moving towards Ethan, whose face darkened
considerably when he saw me coming.

I gave him the coldest smile I could muster and his eyes narrowed.

“Well hello, there,” I said, approaching their table. 

Ethan stared at me like I was a
complete stranger and said hello ever so politely.

“Oh, are
you
working today?” asked Faye, an irritated look on her face. “How lovely.”

Th
en, as clear as day I heard her voice in my head.

Not this
little irritating bitch, again. Fuck!

“Excuse me?”
I said. “Did you just say something? Because I could have sworn you just called me an irritating bitch.”

Faye loo
ked at me in surprise and then flashed an angry scowl at Ethan. “You did not touch this girl, did you?”

Ethan licked his lips but didn’t say anything
. He picked up the menu and started to examine it.

Her hand snaked out and grabbed his wrist.
“Ethan?” she hissed. “Did you?”

He
glanced at me and then turned back to her. “She’s nothing, Faye; just needed to regroup one night when I was weak. It was obviously a mistake.”

I stared at him in
horror. I felt like he’d just kicked me in the heart.

“B
astard,” I whispered hoarsely, my eyes filling with tears.

“Leave us,” said Faye
with a bored look on her face. “Before I call the manager over and place a complaint against you.”

I turned away and stormed towards the bathroom, n
eeding to “regroup” myself. I was on the verge of having a major crying attack and wasn’t about to do it around everyone in the restaurant.

“You okay, Nikki?” asked Rosie as I rushed by
her.

“
Something in my eye,” I mumbled.

When I reached the bathroom, I
hurried into the stall and only then allowed myself to cry.

I was a mistake
, he’d said.

I cried
rivers of tears, flushing the toilet several times to drown out the sound of my sobs. Fortunately, nobody else walked in.

I was a mistake…

I’d never felt so betrayed and heartbroken in my life. Before we’d had sex, he’d told me that he loved me. Now that he’d gotten what he’d wanted – sex – he was being cruel and heartless. Although he was a vampire, his actions were so…strangely human. I now realized that he was just a cold bastard and I vowed to never let him confuse me or control my desires again. If he showed himself to me again, I was prepared to tell him to where he could stick his teeth along with something else.

A knock at the door
stopped my ranting.

“Nikki?” called Duncan. “Are you okay?”

I let out a ragged sigh. “I’ll be out in a second, Duncan!” I called.

“Okay. I’ll
be out here waiting for you.”

I moved to the sink and washed my face with cold water. Unfortunately, my eyes were puffy and I knew there was no way I could hide the fact that I’d been crying. I frowned in the mirror and dried my face.

“Duncan,” I said, stepping out of the bathroom. “Can I borrow your sunglasses?”

He reached over and touched my cheek with his fingertips. “Are you okay?” he asked.

I tried to smile, but I’m sure it came out sour. “I’m fine,” I lied.

He lifted my chin. “Don’t let him do this to you. He’s not worth it.
Okay?”

I nodded.

Duncan grabbed my hand. “Come on.”

We walked back to the table and there were three plates of food already sitting there.

“I ordered for you,” said Nathan, stuffing his face with mouthfuls of hash browns. “Hope you don’t mind. I’ll eat whatever you can’t.”

“Thanks,” I said, glancing towards Ethan’s table. Fortunately, they were
now gone.

“Yeah, they left,” said D
uncan, noticing my interest.

I slid into the booth and began picking at the omelet Nathan had ordered for me.
I wasn’t hungry and the thought of food at that particular moment actually made me ill.

“Okay, spill it,” said Nathan, his mouth full of food. “Both of you have a lot of explaining to do. Give me all you got, include whatever vampire fantasy you have in your head
, too, just in case I’m wrong.”

I smiled. “Just in case?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t seen any proof of vampires at all. Or shape-shifters. By the way, that’s even more unbelievable, I have to say.”

Duncan put a hand over the one Nathan had resting on the table. “
Fine, Nathan,” he nodded. “You want proof? I’ll give you proof.”

Then,
Nathan and I stared at Duncan as he opened his mouth.

“What the fuck?” whispered Nathan, snaking his hand away from Duncan’s grasp. “What the fuck is wrong with your teeth?”

“I’m one of them now,” answered Duncan. “And believe me, it wasn’t by choice.”

“You had those implant
ed,” smiled Nathan. “That’s a little weird, dude.”

Duncan looked at me and shook his head. “
Hey, I tried. He’s just too stubborn to open his mind to other possibilities.”

I bit the side of my lip
and smiled. “There’s another way to show him.”

Duncan nodded.
“I know, but we’re not outside and I’m not very good at it, yet.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,
” I said. Then, I grabbed the back of Duncan’s head and pulled him towards me, kissing his lips. He answered me hungrily, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me in closer.

“Oh
, for the love of God,” grumbled Nathan. “This isn’t the time or place for you to start making up. Get a room or something.”

Duncan was practically groaning as I kissed him
in the booth and the noise in the diner seemed to quiet down considerably. Soon there was an uncomfortable silence.

“Stop it,” snapped my brother. “This is
fucking embarrassing.”

I
pulled away. “Look at his eyes,” I breathed. “Nathan, look at them.”

Duncan’s
eyes were smoldering and burning yellowish-red with the familiar fire of vampire lust. There was nothing human about it.

“Holy shit,” whispered
Nathan.

“That’s not all,” I told my brother. “He can probably
fly like the wind and he’s fast… so… fast, Nathan. He even took on Ethan yesterday.”

Duncan grinned. “Yeah, I held my own
pretty good. Of course, Ethan is hundreds of years old, and obviously, I have a lot to learn about being a vampire.”

“You mean a Roamer?” I said.

Duncan shrugged. “Whatever the hell I am now.”

Nathan put his fork down and stared at u
s, unhappily. “Okay. You’ve got my attention, now. What else you got?”