Chapter Thirty-Two
Allie
My last clients of the evening didn’t need much in the way of help, other than having me discuss the various types of restraint in their room. That had actually been kind of fun. The demon couple told me they’d been married for more than five centuries, and it was obvious they were still in love. Apparently, they’d been given a gift card for SpellBinders as an anniversary gift and decided to try something a little daring. Helping couples like them set up their perfect fantasy was always fun and rewarding. Too bad they couldn’t all be like that.
Surprisingly, Marcos hadn’t assigned me any disgusting cleanup for the end of my shift. Instead, he’d seemed inexplicably pleased that I was leaving with Nick. The jerk probably thought I’d already let Nick screw me and was hoping this meant I’d be open to servicing other clients. Much as I hated to admit it, Dylan and my dad were right about me needing to find another job. Things hadn’t bothered me so much at first. Then again, I’d just been grateful to avoid having sex with virtual strangers right after my breakup with Chad.
Nick had his own car, so he followed us to Trevor’s. The drive was surprisingly quiet, but not uncomfortably so. Dylan seemed much more relaxed than he had earlier in the evening. Whether that was because we were no longer at SpellBinders or he was just happy I’d agreed to date him, I had no idea.
Trevor met us at the door, likely because he was shocked that I’d convinced Dylan to go to another one of his parties. I wasn’t really a big party person myself.
Wrapping his arms around me, Trevor kissed my cheek and spoke close to my ear. “I was really hoping your cousin would come tonight. I invited her, but she told me she was busy. Do you think you could convince her to come?”
I almost flinched when I realized that Mel was Trevor’s new obsession. This was not good. Trevor wasn’t going to get anywhere with Mel, and she could be pretty mean. I love Mel, but she was probably the bitchiest witch I’d ever met. I figured it was best to discourage Trevor from pursuing her.
“Mel’s not much of a partier, and I can already tell you she’s not going to fall all over herself for you like other witches,” I warned him. “I’m only saying this because I care about you, Trevor. You need to leave Mel alone.”
Trevor pulled away, giving me a pout that almost made me laugh. “Who’s your friend,” he asked, gesturing to Nick with his shoulder.
“This is Nick,” I said, putting a hand on Nick’s arm to pull him forward.
Nick gave him a shy smile, ducking his head in an adorable way. “Allie and Dylan saved me from being thoroughly humiliated in front of my friends tonight, and they said it’d be okay if I came with them to your party.”
Trevor frowned and studied Nick before giving him a curt nod. “Don’t feed on any of my guests,” was all he said.
“Sure,” Nick agreed, looking uncomfortable.
“I need to check on some things,” Trevor said before stalking away from us.
“Why don’t you go mingle,” I suggested to Nick. “I’m going to find out what’s wrong with Trevor, and I’m sure Dylan will want to come with me.”
“No problem.” Nick then headed further into the house.
“What do you think Trevor’s upset about?” I asked Dylan.
He reached down to squeeze my hand. “I’m not sure. He definitely isn’t thrilled about us bringing Nick, but I told him we were bringing a guest.”
“Now, I get it,” I mused. “Trevor must have thought you meant Mel.”
Dylan shook his head. “He asked me if I was bringing Melina, but I told him it was a vampire. Then he just told me to make sure he fed before coming over. It might have nothing to do with Nick at all. Trevor wasn’t happy about you telling him Melina won’t go out with him, so maybe he’s taking his bad mood out on Nick.”
I flinched. “I really didn’t mean to hurt him by saying that.”
Dylan caught my hand and brought my knuckles up to his lips, a move that had my heart beating rapidly. His smile proved he knew the effect that simple gesture had on me. “I know you didn’t say it to hurt him, and so does he. While I don’t know Melina very well, her reputation suggests she’s not going to date Trevor, no matter what he does. It’s best that you’re honest with him.”
“Why did it have to be Mel?” I asked with a sigh.
“Trevor will get over his obsession with Melina,” Dylan assured me. “Actually, I figured he’d be over her by now. It’s been hours since he met her.”
“Trevor isn’t that bad,” I said, but he did usually forget the women who turned him down pretty quickly—not that he got turned down often.
“We probably shouldn’t have come here tonight since Trevor’s not crazy about vampires,” Dylan admitted. “I’m not usually fond of them, but Nick’s a nice guy. That’s why I completely forgot about Trevor not liking them much.”
“You’re right. We shouldn’t have brought Nick here,” I agreed. “If I’d known Trevor felt that way, I wouldn’t have suggested it.”
“Don’t worry too much about it,” Dylan said. “Trevor will get over it, and Nick will find plenty of witches to talk to. Not everyone here has Trevor’s hang-ups.”
We found Trevor in the family room, sprawled out on a sofa with a witch trying her best to get his attention. Seated on the arm of the sofa, she was telling him how excited she was to be in his home, and batting her pretty blue eyes at him. Unfortunately for her, Trevor didn’t seem interested in her attentions.
“Hey, Trev,” I said as I came into the room. “Sorry about assuming we could bring Nick. It was my idea because he was having a rough night.”
He sat up and shrugged. “No big deal. Dylan told me you were bringing a guest, so I already knew the vampire was coming.”
“You’re disappointed Allie’s cousin didn’t show up tonight,” Dylan said.
Trevor looked like he was going to tell Dylan his assumption was wrong, but he just let his head drop back and closed his eyes. “Yeah, well, I should have known Melina wouldn’t be seen at something this juvenile,” he stated bitterly.
The way he said it led me to believe Trevor had talked to Mel more after the meeting with the council. “Did you find a way to get my cousin’s number and call her?”
Trevor flushed. “I didn’t call her,” he replied, looking guilty and embarrassed.
Dylan laughed and sat beside Trevor. “So, you showed up at her house?”
“The studio while she was there,” he mumbled. “She had security escort me off the property.”
“Poor Trevor,” I said, clutching his arm and resting my head on his shoulder. “Even if Mel had wanted to come tonight, she would have needed to find a sitter for Mr. Whiskers. Plus, most of the episodes for Night High are filmed around this time.”
I decided not to add the fact that Mel wasn’t going to date Trevor because I’d already said that, and there was no reason to keep reminding him.
“Who’s Mr. Whiskers?” Dylan asked.
“Her familiar,” I explained, surprised he didn’t already know that. It was one of those stories that had a way of getting around.
“I thought her familiar was a bird,” Dylan said, still looking confused.
“He is,” Trevor said. “I met him at the studio, and he likes me more than Melina does. I asked about his name, but Melina just gave me a pissed off glare.”
“Don’t take it personally,” I told Trevor. “Mel usually looks mad, even when she’s not.”
“She also hates me,” Trevor said with a defeated sigh. “Women never hate me, so why does Melina hate me?”
“Stop being such a whiney little pussy,” Dylan said. “Go get laid and you’ll feel better. There are plenty of witches here dying to help you forget Melina.”
“Sure, I might just do that,” Trevor said, but I could tell he was lying just to get Dylan to stop pushing him. “What’s the deal with the vampire?”
“Poor guy got ditched tonight at SpellBinders,” I explained. “I
was supposed to be setting up a scene for him, but I found him alone. Naturally, I figured he was going to ask me to fill in, but he didn’t. We talked for a while, and then Dylan and I made it look like we’d all had a great time in the room so his friends wouldn’t make fun of him. We couldn’t just leave him there broken-hearted.”
“So, you decided to keep him,” Trevor finished for me.
“He’s not a pet I’m adopting,” I insisted.
Both Trevor and Dylan laughed, proving they thought I adopted everyone in need, which wasn’t true. Okay, maybe it was a little true.
“You wanna tell me why you don’t like Nick?” Dylan asked Trevor. “Is it just him being a vampire?”
“It’s not that,” Trevor insisted.
“Then what is it?” Dylan pushed. “Your reaction to him surprised me, and I’m your best friend.”
Trevor shrugged the shoulder I wasn’t leaning on. “No reason really. Maybe I’m just having a bad night.”
“Go have some fun. Dylan’s right about you needing to take your mind off Mel turning you down,” I said, squeezing his arm.
“I guess you might be right,” Trevor admitted, but he didn’t sound convinced.
“Let’s go have some fun,” I said, standing and tugging on Trevor’s arm.
“You go ahead,” he said. “I need to go upstairs and check on a few things related to a filing next week.”
Dylan raised an eyebrow. “Are you abandoning your own party?”
“Nah,” Trevor said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll be back down soon, and then I’ll find a hot little witch to help me forget Melina.”
With that, Trevor stood and walked out of the room.
“Do you believe him?” I asked Dylan.
“Nope,” Dylan said with a shake of his head. “Don’t worry too much about Trevor. He’ll be over Melina in no time and back to his old self.”
“You’re probably right,” I agreed. “Let’s go make sure Nick is having fun.”
Dylan chuckled. “Yep, we’d better make sure your newest pet is behaving.”
“Stop calling him that!”
“It’s not an insult,” Dylan said, rubbing a thumb across my lower lip. “Near as I can tell, it’s pretty nice being one of your pets. Your werewolf doesn’t seem to mind, despite all of his complaining. Trevor doesn’t mind it much, either.”
“How about you?” I asked. “Are you saying you’re my lap dog?”
Rather than taking offense, Dylan chuckled. “I’d be happy being your favorite pet.”
“Let’s go find Nick before you say something even more ridiculous.” I laughed. “I want to exchange numbers with him before we leave so we can hang out again.”
Dylan just laughed and shook his head. “I figured you’d want to, so I exchanged numbers with him at SpellBinders.”
My eyes widened with shock at Dylan’s admission. It never ceased to amaze, and scare me, how much Dylan understood me after just a short time.