Chapter Twenty-Five
It was becoming painfully obvious there was a rift between Viktor and myself. I had noticed it before, but without Claudia it was much more obvious. It did not help that I was miserable without Claudia.
Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog
“Why did I agree to this? This evening can’t end well. They’ve already sent me to the ATM with you so they can talk about us,” Justin complained as he walked to the ATM with Aiden.
Aiden smirked at Justin. “You agreed because you’re smitten with the lovely, and slightly scary, Caitlin.”
Justin shook his head. “You sound really old when you use words like smitten.”
Aiden entered his pin. “I am old, and you act much older than I do. Now, try to pull that stick out of your ass or Caitlin may decide you’re too old for her.”
Justin let out a long suffering sigh. “Yeah, I guess I need to try harder to meet her halfway. The last time we were at a club together, I tried to drag her out of a mosh pit.”
“How did that turn out for you?” Aiden asked. Based on what he knew about Caitlin, he couldn’t imagine her reacting well.
“She gave me a black eye,” Justin replied. He was smiling at the memory.
“You really are in for a world of trouble with that one,” Aiden muttered.
“Look who’s talking,” Justin said. “I get the impression you still haven’t convinced Tempest you’re the man for her.”
Aiden took his money and frowned. “I’m not sure that’s what I need to convince her of anymore. It’s more a matter of convincing her I won’t get in the way of her work.”
“I always thought if I ever found a woman I wanted as my mate, she’d be more willing,” Justin remarked as they moved a little away from the ATM so someone else could use it. “I’ve got money, a good career, and I’m attractive.”
“And modest,” Aiden added.
Justin shrugged. “Screw modesty. I can also give her eternal life, and vampires are all the rage in books and movies. Caitlin’s roommate, Trish, told me Caitlin loves to read those vampire romances. I can give her romance and she can call me a vampire if she wants. I’ve still got fangs.”
“You do?” Aiden asked in surprise.
“I’m the one who does the surgery to remove them. Who do you think was going to take mine out?”
“Good point,” Aiden agreed. “I would like to point out that until recently, Caitlin wasn’t even aware of your intentions. Until then, you were mostly just stalking her. Maybe she needs time to get used to you being more than her stalker.”
Justin shrugged.
“It couldn’t hurt if you tried to have more fun,” Aiden suggested. “Tonight, try to act young and a little immature. Show her a different side of yourself.”
Justin nodded. “I wish I had advice to give you about Tempest. I really think she’ll come around. She looks happy when she’s with you.”
“I hope you’re right,” Aiden said as he headed back to where Tempest and Caitlin were waiting for them. Tempest was wearing an outfit she’d purchased while out with Caitlin. It consisted of black skinny jeans and a black corset top with red lacing up the front. She’d completed the outfit with black and red shoes that added about four inches to her height. Caitlin was wearing a red corset dress with black lacing, and the same shoes as Tempest. They had definitely coordinated outfits for the evening. They were talking in low voices until they burst into laughter. Caitlin quickly recovered and put her bored mask back in place.
“Can you spare a little change?” asked a scrawny looking man on Aiden’s left. “I haven’t eaten in days.”
Aiden handed him some money. When he looked up, Tempest was scowling at him.
“I do it so they won’t harass me,” he explained. “I really hate this city.”
Justin snorted.
After Aiden had given money to four other people on the way to the club, Tempest stopped.
“Give me your wallet,” she told him with a hand out.
“Why?” he asked.
“You cannot give a twenty to everyone who asks you for money,” she insisted in exasperation. “Seriously, if I’d known you were such a pushover, I would have gotten you a stack of dollar bills before we got here.”
“People can’t buy a meal with a dollar bill,” Aiden argued.
“I’m not saying everyone you’ve given money to was scamming you,” she paused and shook her head. “Yes, I am. The people in this part of the city are scamming you. This is their job.”
“She’s right,” Caitlin agreed. “You are a total sucker.”
“I am not,” Aiden insisted. “I don’t really care if they eat as long as they stop asking me for money. It’s easier to get them to leave me alone if I give them some money.”
“Then we’ll get you those dollar bills next time,” Tempest told him as she stuck his wallet into her purse. “They’ll leave you alone if you give them a dollar.”
“You make it sound like you’re sending him to a strip club,” Justin muttered.
“I bring fives to a strip club.” Aiden flushed when he looked over at Tempest and Caitlin.
Tempest shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me if you want to look at strippers.”
“I’d go with you,” Caitlin added, and Aiden was sure Justin might swallow his own tongue.
“You would go to watch women take off their clothes?” Justin sputtered.
Caitlin rolled her eyes.
Aiden knew she was starting to think about what a stick in the mud Justin was, so he decided to help his cousin. “Don’t you think it would be hot if she got up on stage and started dancing with one of the strippers? She seems like the type who’d do it. I would pay good money to see Tempest get a lap dance from a hot stripper.”
Aiden watched as Justin’s face went from horrified to thoughtful and finally settled on intrigued.
Caitlin saw the transformation too and reached out to grab Justin’s hand as she leaned in close. “Wanna go see strippers?”
Justin nodded enthusiastically.
“I’m not sure I do,” Tempest admitted. “Sorry, Aiden, but you’ll have to see strippers on your own.”
“We already have tickets for the show,” Caitlin told them before shocking everyone by leaning in to kiss Justin. “I just liked seeing Justin getting a little hot thinking about something so scandalous.”
They walked the three blocks from the parking garage to the club. Tempest had suggested taking the BART train but Justin refused to set foot on one. Having ridden on one recently, Aiden couldn’t really argue with him. Even if the trains had been clean, the trip through the station was enough to make him shudder in revulsion. Caitlin had called them spoiled rich boys.
By the time they arrived, the line was down the block. Justin walked up to the front and said something to one of the guys taking tickets. The guy motioned them all forward and let them in ahead of the others in line.
“What did you do?” Caitlin asked in an accusing voice.
“I used a bit of compulsion to convince him you were someone famous and he wanted to let you in early,” Justin explained. “There’s nothing wrong with using a compulsion to get a table.”
“Do you see all those angry faces in line?” she hissed. “Do you know what will happen if I go in the mosh pit with them?”
Justin smiled knowingly. “I guess you won’t be going in the mosh pit tonight.”
“Prick,” Caitlin muttered.
“What mosh pit?” Tempest asked. “This is an all acoustic show with some girl in your class singing.”
Justin groaned. “Please tell me it’s not Star Thistle.”
“That’s right!” Tempest said. “Her name is Star Thistle. Even by my family’s standards, that’s a really weird name.”
“She’s a really weird girl,” Justin explained.
“Yes, she’s a little weird, but she’s also very talented,” Caitlin argued.
“I’d offer to get drinks, but someone took my wallet,” Ai
den pointed out and waited for Tempest to return his wallet.
“I’ll go,” Caitlin offered without asking anyone what they wanted.
When she returned she started handing out drinks. “Diet coke for the driver,” she handed it to Tempest, “Guinness for the Irish hottie,” and handed it to Aiden. “Painkiller for me to deal with the headache I’m sure Justin will give me tonight.” She set the drink by her seat, “and Horny Bull for the, well you know.” With a sweet smile, she set Justin’s drink in front of him.
Tempest had just taken a sip of her drink, and she spit it across the table. “Oh my God! I think I got soda pop up my nose.”
Aiden dabbed her chin with a napkin. “Who needs a show?”
The lights went down, and Tempest reached out to hold Aiden’s hand as the music started. Star Thistle was actually a very good singer. She and the members of her band looked like folk singers and talked like hippies. The songs were all either about saving the Earth or lost loves. After an hour, they took a break. The ladies headed off to the restroom while Justin went off to get the next round of drinks. The line at the bar was long, so the ladies beat Justin back to the table.
“Where’s the prick?” Caitlin asked before she and Tempest both giggled. Aiden really wished he knew what they’d talked about in the restroom.
“He went to get drinks,” Aiden replied.
“Damn,” Tempest muttered. “I’d come up with some really good ones. It’s my turn next time.”
“I didn’t realize this had turned into a game,” Aiden admitted.
“I think Caitlin threw down the gauntlet with the Horny Bull,” Tempest explained.
“Try and beat that one,” Caitlin taunted.
Justin returned with a tray of drinks.
“Another diet coke for our driver,” he said as he set a drink in front of Tempest. “Nutty Irishman,” he began as he set the drink in front of Aiden. “Screaming Orgasm, because I know how much you like it when I give you one of those.” He set a drink in front of Caitlin. “Then, of course, we follow that with a Blow Job for me,” he finished as he set down his own drink.
Caitlin’s lips parted, and she just stared at Justin for a long time. After a tense moment, she nodded. “Okay, I still think my drink for you was more clever, but your delivery was better.”
“I resent the nutty part of my drink,” Aiden complained.
“Sane people don’t consider kidnapping part of the normal courtship process,” Justin pointed out.
“That’s right,” Caitlin agreed. “Justin can tell you all about how to get women. First, you have to stalk them for years.”
The evening progressed nicely, and they continued the contest for best drink orders. In the end, Aiden was pretty sure Tempest won with her order of A Long Slow Comfortable Screw Up Against the Wall for Caitlin, Irish Buck for him, and Corpse Reviver for Justin. By that point Aiden had already consumed six drinks, so he was pretty sure he voted for that round because he remembered it best.
“I’ve had a bit too much to drink,” he told Tempest as the show ended and people started to file out of the club.
“You’re Irish,” she reminded him. “How can a few measly drinks get you drunk?”
“I don’t actually drink.” he admitted. “I just hate driving, so I didn’t want to be the designated driver.”
“How did your poor Irish mother feel about you not drinking?” Tempest asked.
“Mam called it a birth defect she was constantly forced to overlook. Obviously, I drank ale. The water was foul when I was younger, but my dislike of whiskey was hard to ignore.” He smiled at the memory.
“Well, let’s get you home,” she told him. “I’m not promising I won’t try to take advantage of you in your drunken state.”
“I’m likely too drunk to resist your advances,” he admitted with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Take me home and have your way with me, witch.”