Wanton With a Vampire (16 page)

“Trish,” he said, waiting until she looked at
him. “You have nothing to be jealous of. What I had with Helena was
a long time ago, and I’ve changed a lot since then. She’s no longer
the woman I want.”

Trish tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let
her. “You don’t have to explain yourself. Like I said before, we’re
not in a relationship.”

“The hell we aren’t,” he growled before
kissing her until she was panting and clinging to his shirt. “You
are mine,” he said as he stared into her eyes so she would see his
sincerity. Maybe he couldn’t give her what she deserved, but what
they had was more than just sex.

Trish looked like she wasn’t sure what to
say. She stepped back, looking aroused and confused.

“Go pack,” he said, and then amended.
“Please, go pack so I can keep you safe, because I would never
forgive myself if anything happened to you.”

Trish nodded and headed toward her room.

Watching her walk away, Alek knew one thing.
He was in really big trouble.

Carlos’ life had been strange since the day
he’d met Ivy St. James nearly five years ago. One thing that made
him a good cop was his innate ability to sense when things were
wrong. A lieutenant had even joked that he was psychic. Carlos had
laughed at the suggestion, refusing to tell the lieutenant how
close to the truth that statement was. It was one reason he knew
Ivy and her family had abilities normal humans didn’t possess, and
the reason he knew the Draksel men were even further off the human
spectrum.

It was also the reason he wasn’t convinced
that everything was wrapped up with Detective Michael Williams’
death. Life would be much easier if it was as simple as they
thought, because then he wouldn’t have to explain how he’d come up
with such a far-out lead to a presumed suicide that had happened
more than twenty years ago. The smart thing would be to let it go.
What the hell could he do about all of this anyway? Mikey was dead,
and nothing could bring him back. Maybe Carlos could accept that if
he wasn’t convinced there was another person involved in Mikey’s
death.

Isaiah Draksel had been surprisingly
accommodating when he’d asked him to hack into a few databases.
He’d also added a few other useful things to Carlos’ computer. From
his research, he knew Isaiah Draksel ran a well-respected security
company and was rumored to be able to get into any computer and any
building. For whatever reason, he also thought Carlos needed access
to nearly every law enforcement database in the country, which was
definitely useful at the moment. No matter how far he dug, Carlos
couldn’t make any sense out of Mikey’s murder. The killers had all
been members of a local street gang Mikey had been investigating
for years. That was why Carlos had been able to locate the men so
easily. It was also why the gang killing angle made sense, or at
least it had at first. The problem he had with that theory came
when he started investigating other deaths associated with this
gang. Gangs, especially the one Mikey had been investigating,
tended to take credit for killings, not try to make them look like
suicides. One could theorize that they were afraid the police would
come down harder on them if they killed a police officer. That
theory only worked if one didn’t dig into the gang’s history of
violence against the police. Everything led Carlos to the
conclusion that this was a hired killing.

After dialing the number he’d just illegally
obtained, Carlos listened to it ring several times. In fact, it
rang so many times he expected the call to go to voicemail.

“Hello,” answered a man with the voice of a
lifelong chain smoker.

“Hey, Pat, it’s Carlos,” he said, sounding
much like the street punk he’d once been.

“Carlos Ramirez?” the man asked. “Or should I
say, Detective Ramirez?” It was a surprise that the man didn’t want
to know how Carlos had gotten his unlisted number.

“That’s me,” he said. “Although, I’m not sure
how much longer I’ll be a detective.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve lost your love for the
law,” the older man said with a chuckle. “That I’ll never
believe.”

“Nah,” Carlos said. “I’ve just lost my belief
that I’m making a difference.”

“That’s too bad. Mikey always thought you’d
go far.”

“Actually, I called to talk to you about
Mikey,” Carlos said.

“Shame what happened,” the man said on a
sigh. “Pressure just got to be too much. Not thinking about jumping
in front of a train, are you?”

“No,” Carlos said. “I’m also not sure Mikey
jumped in front of a train. Scratch that. I know he didn’t jump in
front of a train. Someone pushed him and then killed a runaway who
witnessed it. I found out who was there, but I’ve got this nagging
suspicion there’s someone else involved.”

There was a long pause. “How’d you come up
with this information? I thought no one saw Mikey jump in front of
that train.”

Carlos hesitated because Pat was going to
think he was crazy if he told him the truth. Then again, he needed
the man’s help. Pat had been Mikey’s partner for years, and even
though they’d no longer been working together at the time of
Mikey’s death, Pat still might know what cases could have led to
Mikey’s death. Decision made, he began to tell Pat a story most
people wouldn’t believe. “His daughter was hit by a car a few days
ago, and now she has some strange ability to see the past.”

“Must be the head injury,” Pat said, but he
didn’t sound convinced.

“I thought so too, at first,” Carlos said.
“That is, until I realized Trish knows too much about what
happened. She was able to pick the guys out. The ones involved are
dead or already serving life without parole. I’d like to interview
the lifers, but I can’t come up with an angle to justify it.”

“If they’re dead or in prison, I don’t see
the need to bring all this up now,” Pat said in frustration.
“Assuming she’s not crazy, the guys she claims did it are already
off the street.”

“I’m missing something in all this,” Carlos
admitted. “It seems like someone else was calling the shots. This
has to be related to one of Mikey’s cases, but I don’t have any
idea what he was working on that could have got him killed. I was
hoping you’d know.”

“Sure,” Pat said in a much too bright voice.
“I’ll think back to what Mikey had going at the time and let you
know if I can think of anything important. We weren’t working
together anymore, but we still talked.”

After some small talk, Carlos ended the call.
The suspicion that Pat wasn’t telling him everything wouldn’t go
away, and he felt a little guilty for doubting a man who’d helped
mentor him as a youth. Something about Pat’s reaction was off, but
Carlos couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

All she had to do was play it cool when she
walked into the house. Caitlin would probably know she’d had sex
with Alek right away. It was difficult keeping secrets from someone
who could sense your emotions and read your mind, not that Caitlin
tried to read her mind often. Nope, Caitlin tried to give Trish
privacy, unless she really wanted to know something. Since Trish
had told Caitlin she planned to sleep with Alek, it’s not like it
would be a big surprise. Plus, it was none of Caitlin’s business.
Trish didn’t always have to be the responsible one in their
group.

So, why did she feel like she was doing the
walk of shame as soon as she stepped in the front door? The heels
of Caitlin’s shoes echoed across the foyer, and Trish looked up to
give her friend a shy smile. “Hi! I guess we’re roommates for a
little while.”

Caitlin crossed her arms in front of her
chest and glared. “We are not making small talk after you had sex
with the ultimate man-whore. I want details.”

Alek cringed, and Trish was relieved when
Justin and his younger brother, Isaiah, joined them. Despite their
similar features, no one could mistake one for the other. While
Justin was always perfectly groomed, Isaiah often went long periods
of time between haircuts. At the moment, Isaiah’s hair was just
past his ears. Isaiah also wore glasses, even though he had perfect
vision.

Isaiah pushed his glasses up on his nose and
gave Trish a shy smile. “Hey, Trish,” he said warmly and came over
to hug her, which annoyed Alek.

She hugged him back. “You look great!” It was
true. Isaiah’d had a major mental breakdown less than a year ago
and had been more than a little crazy for quite awhile. Ivy had
been helping him deal with whatever it was that caused him to lose
his mind, and each time Trish saw him, he looked better than the
last.

“Thanks,” he said and ducked his head. “I
checked out the security system, and you should be safe. I’m
staying here to help protect you and make sure no one tries to hack
my system. As far as I know, Phoebe’s not good with computers, but
she might have learned something since the last time I saw her. No
need to take any chances.”

“Nathaniel’s tying things up with his job,
and he’ll be on his way back soon,” Justin said while glaring at
Alek.

She moved closer to Alek and lowered her
voice so she wouldn’t be heard by the others in the room. “Is
Justin upset about you being here at the same time as his mother
because the two of you were involved before he was born?”

“What the fuck?” Justin shouted.

“Well, he is now,” Alek muttered. “We hadn’t
actually mentioned that to him or Isaiah.”

Isaiah looked mildly curious, while Justin
looked ready to kill someone.

Caitlin glared at Justin. “Are you seriously
going to get pissy because your mom had a boyfriend more than
two-hundred years ago?”

“A boyfriend?” Justin sputtered. “You are the
one who calls Alek
the ultimate man-whore
. I think that
indicates he wasn’t her boyfriend. The man took advantage of my
mother.”

“Calm down,” Helena said from the top of the
stairs leading to the foyer.

“I will not calm down,” Justin replied
angrily.

“Calm the fuck down and apologize to your
mother,” Caitlin snapped.

Justin smiled at Caitlin, and as always,
Trish was amazed at the hold her friend had over this man. He
looked like he wanted to do anything but calm down, but he worked
hard to get his temper under control.

“Perhaps we should talk somewhere other than
the entrance to the house,” Alek suggested.

“I agree,” Helena said, carefully keeping her
gaze from Alek. She led them to a small sitting room. Alek walked
behind Justin, and Trish didn’t blame him. Justin’s temper was
hanging by a thread— a very frayed thread.

“Sorry,” Trish said quietly. “I keep
forgetting all of you hear so well.”

Helena stopped to give Trish a sympathetic
look. “This isn’t your fault. I can’t believe Alek even told you
about what happened all those years ago.” Then she headed into the
sitting room and sat, crossing her legs and adjusting her skirt
like the perfect lady she was.

Alek pulled Trish onto the loveseat beside
him before draping a possessive arm around her.

Isaiah sat on the arm of the overstuffed
chair Helena was in.

Caitlin sat down on the sofa, but Justin
remained standing, glaring at Alek.

“Sit down,” Caitlin snapped at Justin, and
Trish watched as Justin’s eyes darkened with something other than
anger. She was never sure if she was embarrassed or aroused
watching Justin and Caitlin together, but it was probably a little
of both. They could be more than a little intense.

After Justin was seated, Helena spoke. “It
was before I was involved with your father, and it’s none of your
business.”

Justin snorted. “That’s all we get? Just you
telling us it’s none of our business when we find out you slept
with our uncle.”

“Don’t you dare talk to your mother that
way,” Alek growled. “I never slept with her. I wanted to marry her,
but she chose your father over me.”

Justin stared at him for a long time before
nodding. “Okay, I may have overreacted.”

“I’m sorry about bringing that up,” Trish
said. “I always forget about the super hearing thing, but I also
assumed you knew since Alek told me.”

Helena gave her a sweet smile. “You obviously
matter a great deal to Alek or he wouldn’t have told you.”

“We’ve been through a lot lately,” Trish said
with a blush. “I mean, Alek was there when I died, and he’s been
there for some other stuff.” Trish wondered if she could sound like
a bigger idiot, and decided she would do her best to keep her mouth
shut for the next few minutes.

“I set up a room for you,” Caitlin said to
Trish before giving Alek a sweet smile. “Your room is still
ready.”

So much for her decision to keep her mouth
closed. “I’ll stay with Alek,” Trish said.

Caitlin’s lips twitched, and Trish knew her
friend suspected as much.

“No,” Justin said with his glare back in
place.

Alek looked like he was going to get up and
have a word with Justin, but Trish beat him to it. Standing with
her hands on her hips, she glared at Justin. “No? Did you just tell
me no?”

“I did,” Justin said with an annoying amount
of arrogance. “When I talked to Nathaniel earlier, he was very
clear about me making sure Alek keeps his distance from you in this
house. Caitlin had a nice room prepared for you, far away from
Alek’s room.”

“Listen to me very carefully,” she said and
saw Caitlin’s lips curl into a slight smile. “I will not take
orders from anyone in this family. What I do with Alek is none of
your business. If I want to let him enjoy my lady parts, then
that’s my choice.”

“You were doing great until you got to the
lady parts thing,” Caitlin said with a snort.

“Alek calls them other things, and I like
that, but I still can’t use the words he does,” Trish admitted,
much to everyone’s astonishment. She’d never realized how much fun
it could be to shock everyone in the room and suddenly understood
why Lydia did it so often.