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He just smiled.
Kristen and Julian walked her up to her apartment then she just stood there.
“Well?” Julian asked with his hands in his pocket.
“Um, I left my keys in my car,” she told them.
They just looked at her.
“My car that is in the parking lot of Eternal. I’ll just go down and get the key from my
super,” she said, sighing.
They nodded, but when she started down the hall, they followed her.
“Are you going to follow me everywhere?”
Neither answered.
“Unbelievable. It’s not like I’m going to make a run for it,” she mumbled under her
breath, knowing they would still hear her.
After getting the key and returning to her door, Jo unlocked it and stood at the
threshold. “So if I don’t invite you in, do you have to stay out here?”
Julian smiled, reached and turned the handle before stepping inside.
“Figures,” Jo said, following him in. Kristen closed the door behind her as she entered
last.
Jo looked around her small apartment. “What should I get?”
Julian walked around while Kristen stared at the coffee table the sisters had shared in
the condo. They had inherited it from their grandmother. It was the only thing they had left
of their family. Jo hadn’t been able to part with it and now she was glad. Having her sister
again filled a hole she had felt for so long now.
Julian answered, “Whatever you want or think you’ll need.”
“Fine. I’ll be in my bedroom. Just give me a little minute. I want to shower and change
into my own clothes too.”
ETERNAL
Crissy Smith
Kristen finally looked up from the coffee table. “Need help? I can pack while you’re
showering,” she offered.
Jo shook her head. “I need some time alone.”
Once inside, she closed and locked the door. Picking up the cordless phone, she took it
in the bathroom with her. She needed to get a hold of Roger. She was mildly surprised he
hadn’t been at her apartment waiting on her. He must know she hadn’t accomplished what
he’d sent her to do. He would be pissed. But he would be worried too. They’d become more
than lovers the last couple of months. Now, with everything she had learnt, she didn’t trust
him completely, but he was all she had left of her old world. She turned on the shower, then
punched in Roger’s phone number. She would just tell him she was okay. She needed time to
figure out what to do about Nic, but no matter what, she would protect her sister.
He answered on the first ring. “Who’s with you?” he asked with no hello.
“Um.” She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to put her sister in danger. “Some
people I met.”
“You were caught?” He said it like he already knew.
“Roger…”
“You need to get out of there and away from them.”
“How?” Jo asked, then caught herself smelling Nic’s shirt. She yanked it over her head,
fumbling to keep the phone to her ear.
“Tell them you want to go out to dinner.”
She slipped off Nic’s sweat pants and kicked them into the corner with his shirt.
“Where?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll find you.”
“Where are you?”
“Focus, Jo. This is serious. You let yourself get caught, and now I’ve got to get you out
of this mess,” he snapped at her.
“Hey! I didn’t want—”
He cut her off. “Jo. Do as you’re told.”
Her back went straight and she saw herself scowl in the mirror. “Roger I…I—”
“Thirty minutes, Jo.” And he hung up on her.
Jo stepped in the shower and thought about her options.
45
ETERNAL
Crissy Smith
Twenty-five minutes later, Jo, Kristen, and Julian walked into a Mexican food restaurant
five blocks from her apartment. It had taken some doing, but she’d finally convinced them to
take her out to eat. They had just wanted to order in or have Kristen go pick something up,
but they caved when Jo told them she had been locked up for two days and she wanted out.
Jo sat at the table between Julian and Kristen and tried not to look around for Roger. He
said he’d be there, so she knew he would. After ordering, they sat eating chips and salsa.
Well, Jo ate chips and salsa while Julian and Kristen picked at the appetizers.
“Jo? Have you thought about what you’re going to do?” Kristen asked softly.
“How about go home?”
Kristen shook her head. “I just got you back. I’m not letting you go again.”
Jo felt the same way. Wasn’t that what was important? Not losing her sister again. She
was just so confused about everything that had happened the last few days. Jo shrugged. “I
don’t know.”
Julian and Kristen exchanged a look.
“What?”
“He’ll take good care of you,” Kristen told her, still speaking quietly.
“Hmm, really?” Jo leant back and brought her glass of water to her lips.
“What Kristen is trying to say without saying is that if you were meant to bond with
Nic being away from him could be uncomfortable,” Julian told her bluntly.
“I’ll live.”
“Jo, the connection you have to Nic won’t be severed. The…attraction you feel towards
him will only intensify now that you’ve exchanged blood.”
Jo narrowed her eyes at her sister. “How’d you know about that?”
Kristen reached over and laid a hand on Jo’s arm. “He’d have to exchange blood with
you to chance letting you go. Otherwise, he’d go insane with jealousy.”
“Jealousy?”
Kristen nodded. “The bond…”
“Stop,” Jo demanded. “I don’t want to hear that damn word one more time.” She
slammed her water down.
Kristen jumped and pulled her hand back. “I’m just trying to make you understand that
it could be painful being away from Nic.”
46
ETERNAL
Crissy Smith
“Painful?”
“Yes. When…”
Jo stood, not wanting to hear more. “I’m going to the restroom.” She stomped away but
could feel Julian and Kristen watching her.
Once inside the bathroom, Jo bent over the sink and washed her face with cold water.
Everything was such a mess. Straightening, she grabbed a handful of paper towels and
blotted her face. When she looked up into the mirror, she yelped at the man standing behind
her.
“Roger,” Jo whispered, spinning around.
He didn’t say anything right away. He just wrapped his hand around her neck and
lifted her chin with his thumb. He stared into her eyes, but she wasn’t sure what he was
looking for.
She watched him and took in the cold expression on his face that she had never seen
before. Alarm bells started to go off in her head. In one moment of clarity, she knew she
didn’t want to be with him any longer. With or without vampires—Roger was not the one for
her.
“Are you okay?” he asked her quietly. When she nodded and relaxed against his hold,
he smiled. “Well, let’s go.”
Then the lights went out in her mind and she felt herself falling forward.
* * * *
For the second time in as many days, Jo awoke tied down in a strange place. She lay
naked on a cold cement floor, but when she tried to move, she realised her hands were
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