Wanton With a Vampire (21 page)

“Hey Isaiah!” she said.

It took him a moment to pull his attention
away from the computer screen. “What are you doing at this end of
the house?” he asked in a distracted voice.

She caught a glimpse of the police report on
his screen and wished she hadn’t. “Oh my God! Why are you looking
that up? Is it for one of your jobs?”

Isaiah shook his head. “This is just some
personal research.”

Trish had to wonder why he was researching a
twenty year old case about a man who’d murdered his wife and tried
to drown his baby in a bathtub, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to
ask.

“I was looking for the kitchen,” she
explained.

“I’ll walk you there,” Isaiah said, closing
the laptop. “You’re pretty far from that end of the house.”

“I went down a different staircase and got
turned around,” she admitted.

Isaiah gave her a shy smile. “That even
happens to people who live here sometimes, so don’t feel bad.”

As they walked down the hallway in silence,
Trish’s curiosity got the better of her. “Why were you researching
that case?” she asked. “It seems really horrible.”

“You didn’t see the worst of it,” he said.
“This is just something I need to do. Promise you won’t mention any
of this to Justin.”

Trish knew many people would use this as an
opportunity to force Isaiah to answer their question, but Trish
wasn’t most people. “Should I be worried about you?”

Isaiah laughed, something he hadn’t done very
often in the time she’d known him. “Most people don’t even need to
ask that question after my breakdown.”

“Is what you’re researching going to make you
have another breakdown?” she clarified.

“No,” he said with a sad shake of his
head.

“As long as you aren’t going to hurt yourself
or anyone else, I won’t tell Justin,” she assured him.

“No innocent people, or me, will be harmed as
a result of my research,” Isaiah said.

“Okay, I won’t tell Justin,” she said.

“This is about Mary, that girl I killed,”
Isaiah admitted.

Trish stopped walking. “Why are you
researching her? What does she even have to do with that case?”

“She was the baby,” he explained. “The one
that almost drowned in the bathtub.”

“That’s why her father was in prison?” Trish
asked.

“He was paroled a little over a year ago,”
Isaiah replied, not really answering her question.

“How long was he in prison?” she asked.

“Ten years,” he said.

“That’s not very long for killing his wife
and trying to kill his daughter,” Trish said.

“That’s not what he went to prison for,”
Isaiah said with a hint of anger. “He was never charged. The police
were sure he did it, but there was no evidence, and he had an
alibi. The alibi was a woman he was having an affair with.”

“So, why was he in prison?” she asked.

“Assault with a deadly weapon,” Isaiah said.
“Second conviction on that charge. The man has a history of
violence, which is why the grandparents got custody of Mary, not
that her father fought them on it.”

“I guess she was lucky he didn’t want her,”
Trish said.

“Yeah, but it makes me mad that he got away
with hurting her and her mom,” Isaiah said.

“Please tell me you aren’t going to kill
him,” Trish said as a sick feeling washed over her.

Isaiah said nothing.

“You said you wouldn’t hurt anyone,” she
reminded him.

“I said I wouldn’t hurt anyone who was
innocent,” he countered.

“You don’t really know he’s guilty,” she
argued.

“That’s easy enough to find out. I can make
him tell me the truth,” Isaiah said, as if it were the easiest
thing in the world. Of course, it probably was an easy matter for
the Draksel men.

“Even if he confesses, you can’t go around
killing people,” she said. “And if you say anything about him being
human, I will smack you. I’m sick of this elitist vampire thing you
guys have going on.”

Isaiah’s lips were twitching. “Actually, I
wasn’t going to say anything of the sort. I’m not as much of an
elitist vampire as the rest of the family.”

“So, you won’t kill him?” she asked.

Isaiah was quiet for a long time, making
Trish wonder if she’d have to talk to Justin about what was going
on— something she didn’t want to do. Justin was grumpy and distant
most of the time, but he loved his brother, and this would make
Justin think Isaiah was on the verge of losing his mind again.

Finally, Isaiah spoke. “I won’t kill
him.”

“Good,” she said with a smile. “I’m glad
you’re going to drop this.”

“I didn’t say I was dropping it, just that I
won’t kill him. Before you ask about hurting him, I promise not to
commit any acts of physical violence against this man,” Isaiah
assured her.

“I guess that’s the best I can hope for,” she
mumbled.

As they neared the foyer, Trish was relieved
to recognize her surroundings.

“You can make it the rest of the way on your
own, right?” Isaiah asked.

“Yes, thank you for walking me over,” she
said.

“No problem,” he said before leaving her.

Trish wasn’t sure what they had in the
kitchen, but she figured if she rummaged around, she’d find
something to eat. Sure enough, there was leftover pizza in the back
of the fridge. Now, she just had to figure out where they kept the
plates.

“Forget it,” she said, giving up her search
of the massive kitchen. “I’ll just eat it cold from the box.”

That’s how Alek found her, sitting at the
breakfast bar, eating cold pizza from the box.

“I could have fixed you something for lunch,”
he said.

“Ha!” she said after swallowing her bite of
barely edible pizza. Seriously, the owners of the pizza place
should be jailed for making pizza this bad. “I might have spent
hours trying to find you in this place.”

“You could have called me,” he said.

“I refuse to become one of those people who
calls or texts people in the same house. It’s just plain
ridiculous,” she said.

“In most cases, I would agree with you,” he
said as he grabbed a slice of cold pizza from the box. “But this
house is so big, it only makes sense to find out where someone is
before setting off in search of them.”

Alek took a bite of the pizza, and Trish
couldn’t help but giggle at his disgusted expression. Still, he
finished chewing and swallowing before setting the piece back in
the box. “This is truly awful!”

“I totally agree,” Trish said. “There are so
many good places to get pizza, yet they chose this one.”

“Maybe they were trying something new,” he
suggested. “That would explain the leftovers. Drop that piece back
in the box, and I’ll fix omelets.”

He didn’t need to tell her twice. “I love a
man who can cook.”

“That’s why I cook for you. It’s all part of
my diabolical scheme to make you fall in love with me so you’ll let
me do whatever I want to your body.”

Trish laughed, but she was far from amused.
Falling in love with Alek was such a bad idea, but the man was just
too tempting. Frowning, she tried to remind herself of all the
reasons to avoid getting too attached to Alek, but it was hard
staying focused on those reasons while Alek worked in the kitchen.
No joke, it was a huge turn-on watching him cook, especially when
she was this hungry.

“If you don’t stop staring at me like that,
I’ll burn your omelet while I fuck you on the breakfast bar,” Alek
warned in a guttural tone.

Trish blushed. “There are people in the
house.”

He gave her a playful grin. “They’re all busy
with the babies.”

“No sex in the kitchen,” Trish said.

“Any kitchen? Or are we just talking about
this kitchen?” he asked as he scooped the omelets onto plates.

“This kitchen,” she said. “I suppose this
kitchen might be okay if we knew no one was home.”

Alek chuckled and set the plates down. “I
really enjoy your naughty side,” he said. “Are you sure I can’t
interest you in just a little fooling around on the breakfast
bar.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Justin said as
he walked into the room. “People eat on there.”

Alek snorted. “I’m sure you and Caitlin have
had your share of fun in this room.”

“Behave, Alek,” Trish warned.

He let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, I’ll
stop picking on my uptight nephew.”

“Does that mean you’ll offer to feed your
nephew?” Justin asked.

“There’s leftover pizza,” Alek said,
gesturing to the box.

“I can’t believe we didn’t throw that out the
other night,” Justin said with a shudder. “Worst pizza I’ve ever
had.”

“Yet you left it there for me to eat,” Trish
grumbled.

Justin shrugged like he didn’t care, and he
probably didn’t.

“I should let Alek do naughty things to me on
the breakfast bar, just to get even with you for that,” Trish
grumbled.

Justin laughed, and Alek just shook his
head.

“You’re very hard to resist when you talk
dirty like that,” Alek said.

“I shudder to think what would happen if she
said
fuck
,” Justin said under his breath.

“Did I just hear my uptight husband using
profanity?” Caitlin asked from the entrance to the kitchen.

“Why do people keep calling me uptight?”
Justin asked. “I’m not that uptight.”

“Yes, you are,” Trish argued. “You shouldn’t
use profanity, because it sounds weird when you do. It’s cute when
I use it.”

“Loathe as I am to admit it, she’s right,”
Caitlin said. “It’s not like when Hannah uses profanity and it’s
prissified to the point of being funny. When Trish does it, it’s
like when a little boy is trying to say peanuts, but just can’t
seem to get the ‘t’ sound in there.”

“Only you would think of that,” Trish
said.

“Not true,” Caitlin insisted.

“You’re right,” Trish said. “Only Lydia would
think of that. You’d just repeat it.”

“I pretty much stole it word for word from a
conversation I had with Lyd,” Caitlin admitted.

“Figures,” Trish said.

“Did you finish working on your pictures?”
Alek asked as he polished off the last of his omelet.

“Yes,” Trish said before taking another bite.
At this rate, her food would be cold before she was halfway done.
“Now, I have no idea what to do with my time.”

“There’s plenty to do here. Do you ride?”
Alek asked.

“Like horses?” she asked.

Caitlin snorted. “No one can say that head
injury affected your intellect.”

Trish chose to ignore Caitlin.

“Yes,” Alek said. “Nathaniel has four.”

“I know,” Trish said. “He’s been trying to
teach me how to ride, but it seems to be a skill that doesn’t come
easily to me.”

“So, you don’t enjoy riding?” he asked.

“No, I enjoy it. Trust me when I say there
are a lot of things I’m not good at but still enjoy,” Trish
said.

“It’s true,” Caitlin agreed. “You should see
her line dance.”

“I’m good at that!” Trish argued.

Caitlin snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“Whatever,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“I think I’ll pass on trying to ride a horse today. Something tells
me the bouncing won’t be good for my head.”

“We can keep the horses at a walk,” Alek
insisted.

“I suppose that wouldn’t be too bad,” Trish
said.

“I guess, since you’ve ridden with Nathaniel,
there’s a helmet that fits you,” Alek said.

“Mine is in the supply room by the stables,”
Trish told him.

“You have your own helmet?” Alek asked in
surprise.

“Nathaniel bought it for me when he decided
to teach me how to ride,” Trish explained.

“It’s things like this that made people
believe the two of you were a couple,” Caitlin said.

“They’re not,” Alek stated a little too
forcefully.

“Yeah, we all figured that out already,”
Justin said.

Normally, Trish would do more to intervene in
their argument, but she was hungry and this was the longest
uninterrupted eating stretch she’d had. So, she let them continue
to bicker about the stuff Nathaniel did for her.

“I’m surprised he didn’t get her a credit
card to use,” Justin said.

“He tried to give her one to use on days she
has Hope,” Caitlin added. “It’s not like Trish has her all the
time, but Nathaniel was worried she might run out of diapers.”

“A credit card?” Alek asked. “That’s the kind
of thing a man gets for his mistress.”

Alek was standing now, and close enough for
Trish to reach back and smack his thigh. “I didn’t mean to imply
that you’re his mistress,” he hastily added.

Since Trish was done eating, she decided to
put an end to the ongoing family discussion about her friendship
with Nathaniel. “Let’s go before you say something really stupid,”
she said.

Caitlin snorted. “That girl is definitely
getting an attitude.”

Alek had a hard time not laughing at Trish as
she sat nervously on Bella’s back. The horse was the gentlest horse
Alek had ever seen, and he was sure this was the horse Nathaniel
usually put Trish on. Still, Trish looked like it was her first
time on a horse’s back.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Just dandy,” she said with a strained smile.
“I really wish there were shorter horses.”

“Bella’s not that tall,” he said. Okay, she
was fairly tall, as were the rest of Nathaniel’s horses, because a
man Nathaniel’s size didn’t have short horses. Still, Bella was at
least two hands shorter than any of the others.

“Horses aren’t my thing,” Trish admitted.
“Even as a child, I had no desire to have a pony.”

“You’re doing fine,” Alek assured her as he
guided his horse in front of Bella and set the pace for their ride.
Surprisingly, Bella took a nip at Moe as they passed.

“Bella doesn’t normally bite the other
horses,” Alek said thoughtfully.