Chapter Twenty-Four
“I don’t want to leave you,” I told her.
“I know,” Claudia said, already dozing off again, “but you need to do this for Viktor.”
She was right.
“Fine, I’ll travel with him part of the way.” When she opened her mouth to argue, I interrupted. “You’ll need me to help you. This isn’t a human pregnancy, and you need one of our kind with you.”
She nodded her agreement, most likely because she was just too tired to argue.
Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog
Tempest was glad Ivy had thought to pack her tablet. It had actually been a joke. Ivy had attached a little note telling her she could always read if she got bored. Today, she had about eight hours to herself. The company Aiden had accepted a contract with needed him to do some preliminary sketches and be on a two hour conference call. She’d started the day in the gym. Drew had been disappointed when he’d made it down too late to work out with her. She’d declined when he’d offered to help her shower.
Now, she was in the main sitting room, reading a trashy romance novel on her table. It had been a free book she’d had for weeks, and she was already thinking about buying the next book. It had a terrible storyline, but great sex.
“What are you reading?” Drew asked from directly behind her.
At that moment, she was glad she’d settled into a chair instead of the sofa where Drew could try to sit next to her. That relief was short lived when he settled onto the arm of her chair. Tempest stifled her groan, remembering what Aiden had said about Drew being immature. She decided to treat him like a fourteen-year-old human.
“It’s a romance novel,” she replied patiently.
He plopped down on the sofa closest to her and held up his tablet. “What’s it called?”
Tempest gave him the title and two hours later, he was still reading intently.
“This is fucking awesome!” Drew said out of the blue.
Tempest had been so involved in her own book, she’d forgotten Drew was there. “I’m surprised you’re enjoying it,” she admitted. The book was pretty cheesy with very little plot and a lot of sex.
“It’s like watching, only in my own head, and this girl sounds totally hot!” he added with great enthusiasm.
Tempest made the mistake of looking at Drew’s shorts and sure enough, he was really enjoying the book. It surprised her that Drew found the main character so attractive. She was described as a full figured woman who wore a size eighteen. Drew struck her as the shallow type who considered women in a size eight overweight.
He seemed uncomfortable when he looked up at Tempest. “You’re beautiful, but you’d look even more beautiful if you put on a little weight.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Another forty pounds would really round things out in all the right places. A woman shouldn’t be all bony. I don’t mind watching the really skinny ones. It’s hard to get porn with really hot women.”
Tempest wondered idly if Drew had any sort of internal filter.
“I’m getting even harder thinking about how great your ass would look with an extra forty pounds,” Drew admitted.
“Oookay,” she said as she started reading again.
“Did you want me to get you something to eat? I could pick up a pizza or some ice cream?” he offered.
“I’m not really hungry,” she assured him.
“That’s the problem,” he told her. “You don’t eat enough.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied.
He shrugged and read for another fifteen minutes before he started talking again. “I should write books like this.”
That was enough to make her put her tablet down. “You want to write romance novels?”
He nodded. “My dad says I need to start doing something. I think I’d like writing books like this.”
“Writing a book isn’t easy,” Tempest pointed out, not sure why she was giving him advice.
“It would give me an excuse for thinking about sex most of the time,” he added.
“I think all men your age think about sex most of the time,” she assured him.
“I don’t always think about sex,” he continued. “Sometimes, I think about killing people. I could use that in the books, too.”
“How often do you think about killing people?” Tempest asked cautiously.
“About three or four times a day,” he admitted after some thought. “I’d never do it on purpose, but I still think about it. My mom likes to kill people. It’s like a hobby. She tried to talk me into becoming a professional killer, but I don’t really like doing the clean up or getting rid of bodies. That’s why I just think about it.”
Tempest stared at him with her mouth open, wondering how many bodies he’d cleaned up after.
Drew didn’t seem to notice her distress. “I could write those romances with vampires. People like those kinds of stories, and people are supposed to get killed in those books. I could pick a different name to write under. Probably a girl name would be best.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Tempest agreed. “I’m going to see if Aiden is done working.”
“He’s still on the call,” Justin told her as he walked into the room. “I came to make sure Drew wasn’t annoying you too much.”
“We were reading,” Drew explained.
“I didn’t know you could read,” Justin remarked. “Did the book inspire you to try green eggs and ham? Or were the words too big for you?”
Drew flipped him off. “I’m going to become a writer. Tempest thinks I should write romance novels with vampires.”
Justin looked at Tempest, and she shrugged.
“What do you think of the pen name Candy Bright?” he asked.
Justin laughed. “That’s stripper name, not a pen name. No one is going to buy books written by someone named Candy Bright.”
“I’ll come up with something,” Drew muttered irritably.
“How about Annemarie Drake?” Tempest suggested, not sure why she was encouraging him.
Drew thought for a moment. “I like that. I’m going to start my book now.” Looking pleased with himself, he swaggered out of the room.
“Sorry you got stuck with him for so long,” Justin told her. “I had to run out to see a patient and Isaiah got an email offering him a contract, so he went down to talk to the company. I’m guessing Aiden thought one of us was here to keep Drew away from you.”
“It’s okay,” Tempest assured him. “Most of the time, he was quiet. Do you know he thinks about killing people a few times a day?”
Justin looked thoughtful. “That’s a big improvement. Of course, he may have been trying to convince you he’s not a complete psycho.”
“He didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with it,” she pointed out. “He did at least say he wouldn’t kill people on purpose.”
“Hopefully, that means he’s improving,” Justin remarked. “Aiden wanted me to make sure you’ve eaten.”
She nodded. “I had a snack earlier. What does Isaiah do?”
“He breaks into things,” Justin replied. “Companies pay him to test their security. Most of the time they pay him to either hack into their systems or break into their facilities and tell them what’s wrong with their current security. Sometimes, they pay him to find out how someone broke into their systems or find out who did it.”
Tempest was impressed. “I thought he just did programming or something like that.”
“He does that, too,” Justin told her.
“So, you all have careers?” Tempest asked. “I don’t mean that to sound like you’re all lazy. I think books have skewed my view of vampires, so I picture you all living a life of leisure and debauchery.”
“We didn’t always have careers,” Justin explained. “Roman decided we would stay out of trouble if we all had things to occupy our time. Personally, I think he got tired of taking care of everyone and trying t
o fix their messes. I always wanted to be a doctor, so I was already working. For some of us, it was harder. Isaiah didn’t really find his calling until after the invention of computers. Drew is still young, so he has time. If he becomes a romance writer, I might need you to perform CPR on me.”
“Not gonna happen,” Aiden said as he entered the room. “There is no way she is putting her mouth on yours.”
“Are you done working?” Tempest asked.
Aiden nodded. “Sorry for leaving you alone all day.”
“I don’t need someone to entertain me,” she assured him.
“What are you two planning for the rest of the day?” Justin asked.
“Nothing that I know of,” Aiden replied.
“Caitlin wants to know if we can all go out tonight,” Justin explained. “I still can’t believe she texted me and wants to go out. I gave her my number three years ago, and this is the first time she’s used it.”
“Would this be your first date?” Tempest asked.
“Caitlin says it’s not a date. She said you wouldn’t want to leave Aiden, and she wants to go out in the new outfits you bought.”
“Sounds like a date to me,” Aiden assured him. “We can’t tell them no,” he said to Tempest. “Look at poor Justin. He may never get laid again if we don’t help him.”
Tempest smiled. “I can’t have that on my conscience.”