“I can understand why you might like him,” he said before I could respond to his question. “But you have to see that all he wants is to use you.”
“Max -”
“He’d drop you straight after it easier than a bad habit.”
“Max -”
“Did you know he never screws the same woman twice unless it’s one of his consorts?”
“Max, will you just stop with the ranting.” I might have been annoyed with Jared for what he’d said to Max but he’d only spoken the truth and it wasn’t like Max and I were together or anything. And I had to wonder if Max had ranted at Jared and that’s why Jared had then disclosed the info. I would’ve wanted to shut him up as well.
“So what he said was true,” said Max.
“Jared and I have kissed, yes.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“You didn’t ask until now. I never had any intention of hiding it but I’ve got no reason to go round jabbering on about it either, have I? Now can we stop talking about inconsequential crap and just order the food, please.” Before the hand even appeared on my elbow seconds later, I knew he was there. My senses had screamed it at me. Such a simple thing to have someone gently hold your elbow, and yet every nerve ending in my body was now extremely alert.
“What the hell are you doing here?” spat Max.
Jared shrugged. “I’m going to have to take her, sorry.” He looked down at me, his alluring hazel eyes glinting slightly with humour. “Antonio wants me to show you the file containing the information on all the High Master vampires who’ll be at the gathering tomorrow night.”
“What gathering?” demanded Max.
Jared smiled at him. “Oh we’re going to a gathering together of one the High Master Vampires tomorrow night.”
“And looking at this file just couldn’t wait until tomorrow night?” Max sneered at Jared.
“You aren’t suggesting I’d interrupt your meal unless I had a really important reason, are you?”
“The things I said really got to you, did they?”
Yes, I’d been right; Max must have ranted at Jared not so long ago and now he was getting a little payback. I wouldn’t have let the game continue except that it was a fantastic excuse to get me out of here. Before they started pounding on their chests like gorillas I pushed out my chair and rose. “Sorry about this, Max. Another night.”
Jared shot me a curious glance. I thought you were going to be difficult.
Let’s just go.
Max cursed and scowled. “Sam, wait, will you just -”
Jared held onto my lower arms and smiled triumphantly at Max. “Sorry to leave you stranded.”
Chapter Eleven
(Sam)
The second that the queasy feeling in my stomach, courtesy of teleporting, eased and we arrived at Jared’s apartment I ripped my arms from his grasp. He was already laughing, rather pleased with himself. I wasn’t sure what I felt most strongly: annoyed at him for thinking he had the right to interfere with my plans, or flattered that he was so affected by the idea of me having plans with someone else. It was always nice to have a little power over someone who tended to consider themselves to be all big and bad.
“Next time you feel like winding up some bloke I’m about to go out with, you might want to warn me in advance.”
“I wound him up?” He snorted. “I wasn’t the one who turned up at someone else’s apartment threatening them to stay away from you.”
I gaped. “He did that?”
“Must be love in its purest form.”
I went to slap his arm but in a blurred motion he was out of my sight. That’s when I took notice of the apartment. It was like double the size of mine. And incredible. The colour scheme was a perfect mixture of warm gold, cream and ivory. Dark oak flooring seemed to be a feature throughout. His living area was bigger than my bedroom and en-suite bathroom combined. He had one of those leather corner sofas that seated like eight people and were so bulky that when you sat on it your feet just about touched the floor. The rectangular coffee table had pillar-like legs and matched the oak flooring so perfectly that I wondered if the table was made out of the same wood as the flooring. Typical of blokes, his platinum T.V. was unnecessarily wide. And wow he had a fish-tank somehow built into the wall. Posh bugger.
Past the living room was a large space with a conference table in the centre, and following on from that was the kitchen. Even from here, the beginning of the living area, I could tell that the large square kitchen was extremely modern; rich woods, chrome appliances, and marble counters.
I suddenly became conscious that Jared was stood at the outer edge of the kitchen staring at me as he tackled an NST. He raised an eyebrow. “Like it?”
Oh so this was usually all it took to have women on their backs with their legs spread. I casually shrugged one shoulder. “It’s alright.”
He laughed. The gruff sound of it was alluring. God, he was alluring. Even more so when he wore those black Armani jeans and that very complimentary white Armani t-shirt, the best feature of course being that knee-length leather jacket. I was starting to suspect that he hadn’t removed it because he knew how much I liked it on him.
Raising both brows now, he used his thumb to gesture behind them. “The bedroom’s that way, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
I gestured to behind me. “And the front door’s that way, and unless you want me to walk right on out of it you can behave yourself.”
He smiled. “I’ll try to behave.”
“On a more serious note, doesn’t it get weird having all this space to yourself?”
The humour in his eyes dimmed a little for a split second. Then he shot me a roguish smile. “I need all the space for my big swollen ego.”
“I never thought of that.”
He nodded toward the kitchen. “Want anything? I take it you haven’t eaten.” His mouth twitched. Clearly he was delighted about the situation he had created.
“Got any alcohol flavoured NSTs?”
“I might have Budweiser flavoured ones.”
“They’ll do.”
“You like Budweiser?”
I gave him an impatient look. “Let me guess, you find that so surprising because I’m a girl and we girls generally drink spirits and cocktails.”
He held his hands up in an apologetic gesture. “I’ll take my sexist ass to the refrigerator and bring you back some Bud flavoured NSTs.”
“Yeah, you do that.”
He laughed again and nodded toward the conference table before then disappearing into the kitchen. On the surface of the long, glass table was a thick file. So he was telling the truth about there being information for me to look at, he wasn’t just trying to get me away from Max. A small part of me was stupidly disappointed that he hadn’t simply acted on a need to end my night with Max.
Placing my small white handbag on the table, I called out, “What is this gathering anyway? And who’s Connelly?”
Jared swiftly appeared beside me with a handful of NSTs that he plonked on the table, making them noisily clink against the glass surface. “Connelly is a High Master vampire. He’s about three centuries old and he’s got a rod stuck up his ass, but he’s devoted to Antonio.”
“So then why invite you to the gathering and not Antonio?”
“Antonio never leaves The Hollow. Ever. By going to the gathering, I’m kind of his representative.”
“And this gathering is an annual thing?” I took the opened NST he was offering and took a swig. Not bad.