Dare to Bleed (Emily Sullivan Series) (4 page)

“
You’re thinking of a bird and that if I was faking I would have come up with a good excuse to why I couldn’t guess your number. Are you satisfied now?” He continued to wipe down the counter.

Holy shit, this dude was good. Maybe the bird thing was just a coincidence. Maybe all women think about birds for some reason.

He slammed his hands down on the counter. “Dammit, Emma, What do I have to do to prove this to you?”

“
Ok, ok, I believe you. You don’t have to be so cross. Ha, get it? Cross? Cause ya know vampires don’t like crosses or whatever.”

He actually seemed to calm down and smile.

“
So can you turn into a bat?” I asked him, believing him slightly more but keeping my humor.

“
That’s just retarded. I can’t believe someone would even come up with that,” he answered.

We both started walking to the living room and sat on the couch. Just the other day I was sitting here with Gavin.
Ah, cracker jacks
. I completely forgot about Ezra’s mind reading abilities. This would be an impossible pain in the rear end to have a real relationship with this guy. Plus I wasn’t forgetting about the two dead bodies that were… somewhere

“
Sorry, I uh… never met anyone who could read my mind, so things just kind of come out,” I apologized, embarrassed at the thoughts that kept crossing my mind.

“
I wouldn’t have said anything, Emma. Your private thoughts are none of my business. Just because I can hear them, doesn’t mean I would say anything or care,” he snapped, staring at his hands.

Ouch. I guess I deserved that one.

Never in my life had I ever played a guy, I was always the dumpee, and always seemed to walk in as the cheating was happening. Like with my last boyfriend, who decided he wanted to see other people, he just forgot to mention it to me before he banged a coworker. I happened to be surprising him with lunch one day when I strolled into his office. Seeing them both bent over his desk half naked is an image that is forever burned into my head. Yet here I was with two possible hotties. Unfortunately, the hot one I had at the moment could read minds.

“
I have stuff to do today so what are your plans with me?” I boldly asked. Even if he was a killer, at this point I really didn’t think he would ever hurt me.

“
What kind of things do you have to do?” he asked, staring me straight in the eyes like he was trying to read the answer on my face, even though he could just read my thoughts. This was becoming so complicated. I really didn’t have plans, and now he knew that. But I really just wanted time to myself to think.

“
I don’t have any plans. I just want you to leave,” I admitted. It was Sunday, and my mother was at church. I had already spent my allowance shopping yesterday. I could walk around the mall and spend my next paycheck. I would say I could clean house, but I hate cleaning. I would rather sit here with a murderer than clean.

“
Thanks for being honest. We need to talk first though,” he finally said.

Talking went in the same category as cleaning. I would rather poke myself in the eye with a hot knife. It always starts with talking, then becomes arguing, yelling and then screaming. Not fun, in my opinion.

“
I did kill those men, but you have to understand that I read their minds. They were going to shoot us both. I did what I had to do.” His expression stayed blank.

I wish I could read minds. It would make life so much easier, and probably more interesting. I would so mess with people’s heads, like say things out loud that they thought and swear they had just told me or make them believe they were the mind reader. That would be enjoyable for about a day.

I hadn’t even considered the fact that Ezra had known the robber’s intentions. Not that it made him killing them any easier to digest, but I guess if I had been in his shoes it would have been a tough decision.

“
Ok, then thanks for saving my life, can you leave now?” He was a completely sexy SOB, but I really didn’t feel like company. I had a lot of things to think over. Ezra sitting next to me topless was super distracting.

He got up and headed to my bedroom. He came back a minute later, a shirt now covering those incredible pecks. I had to fight the urge to pout. Guess I had that coming. I didn’t say it out loud, so it didn’t really count. Topless was ok. I wondered if his perky nipples were permanent. Like maybe he was killed when it was cold so now they always stand at attention.

“
What the hell is wrong with you?” he almost yelled at me.

I was so confused I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“
You really don’t know what you want. Your mind is so confusing that even reading it is difficult.”

Gee, thanks. I’m a girl. We are supposed to be difficult. I didn’t know what to say, was he expecting an apology? I felt like making a joke about not being easy in more ways than one, but he seemed slightly heated. He really had a short fuse. I wondered if he was Italian before he was… turned. I think that’s the word they use. I didn’t know if Italians were blond haired, blue eyed beauties. I thought they were usually dark complexted, with brown hair and eyes and usually live in Jersey. Maybe he was from New York—they’re usually yelling and making hand gestures or so I’ve heard.

“
Grrr.” He actually growled as he walked to the front door opened the door and slammed it behind himself. I wondered if I should lose his number. Wait…he never gave it to me.

Even better.

Chapter Four

I wrote down a list of potential things to do and crossed off anything that cost money or had the word clean, rearrange or organize. Which left running. I am not an athletic person. I was really lucky to get a good figure with little effort. Every now and again I get that work out bug and feel like sweating. Sometimes I actually find running therapeutic. I feel like throwing up afterwards, but during a nice run I feel on top of the world.

I got dressed in some workout shorts and a tank top, grabbed my tennis shoes and laced them up. I plugged my ear buds in and stuffed them in my ears. Pressing play on my iPod, I locked up my apartment, walked to the track and threw my keys on the bench. Normally this town was fairly safe so I never had to worry about anyone stealing my keys and breaking into my apartment. I decided I still didn’t care. I had renter’s insurance, and I didn’t own anything too valuable. Although I would be heartbroken if a robber took my vibrator.

I never bothered with warming up or stretching. If I did, I would chicken out and never run. After a few minutes, I was completely calm, my mind was clear and I didn’t have a care in the world. James Morrison was singing to only me, his raspy voice so sexy. Anything going on in my life can be cured by his lyrics.

My apartment is right next to a lake, which has a walking trail that hugs the lake. It’s a beautiful area, and it wasn’t that hot outside, perfect day for a run. The humidity was also bearable. I got almost all the way around, I am pretty sure it was a mile and a half.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped. I ripped out my ear buds and stumbled to turn around. Galvin was laughing as he jogged in place behind me.

“
Don’t you ever learn your lesson?” I joked. I started walking on the trail. He slowed to a walk and kept up.

“
I guess not. How’s it going?” He was wearing running shorts and a tank. He wasn’t even sweating and made it look like this was a warm up. I knew my face was blood red, I was drenched in sweat and I was still trying to catch my breath.

“
Ah, you know. It’s going. You run here often?” I was so embarrassed. I knew I looked so horrible, thankfully I had reapplied some deodorant before my run so I didn’t have to worry about smelling too.

I was happy to see him. After everything that had happened with Ezra, I didn’t realize how badly I just needed to be around a normal human. And it didn’t hurt that he was also smoking hot.

“
Every day,” he replied as he fiddled with his iPod.

“
You want to make another round with me?” he asked.

I really wanted to say yes so I could keep talking to him, but a mile and a half was a mile and a quarter too much for me as it was. I didn’t think I could make it a few more steps to my apartment.

“
Nah, you go ahead. I’ve already done my two laps,” I lied. I don’t know why I said it, guess I was just happy he couldn’t reach in my head, pull out the truth and call my bluff.

“
Brutal, ok see ya.” He gave me a wink and ran off.

I have never been happier to see my apartment building. I struggled up the stairs, wrapping my ear bud cords around my iPod. I smelled cigarette smoke and heard knocking as I climbed the last set of stairs. When I got to my door, I noticed a chick at Galvin’s door.

She was tall and very slender. I felt like I should really offer her a sandwich she was so skinny. She had four inch zebra print stilettos on, with black skinny jeans. Her black top had three buttons down the front. Her enormous boobs made her look like she might just topple over.

I was just jealous. She was actually very attractive, probably a model. She continued to knock as I slowly put my key in the lock. I really wanted to say something but figured it wasn’t really my place.

“
Uh, excuse me,” she snapped.

I turned around and looked at her. Was she really talking to me? She spoke as if I was her server at a restaurant and she was in need of a refill. She had a hand on one hip and the other on her cigarette. She was definitely talking to me. I couldn’t decide if I should be nice or walk over and slap her across her beautiful face. I settled on being nice, only because I was so tired from running I didn’t have the energy to walk over to her.

“
Can I help you?” I asked in the most bored voice I could come up with.

She held her position. “Have you seen the guy who lives here lately?”

I could really mess with her and say he’d finally left my apartment this morning after an amazing night of mind blowing sex, but then what if this was his sister? That would be awkward, plus can’t make a bad first impression on family. If this was his girlfriend she really did need to know that she was dating scum.

“
He’s running around the lake.” I decided I should just mind my own business.

I unlocked my door and went inside, shaking my head. In one weekend, I had met two amazingly hot men and within the same weekend I had lost them both. I took a shower for the second time in one day to try and clear my head. I even cleaned up my bathroom, as a punishment for being so stupid. I gave up men for a reason, but the first attractive man to give me attention and I was ready to throw my ambition to the wind.

I got dressed and grabbed my keys and purse. I walked down the stairs on a mission. Only one thing could heal my broken heart—shopping. I ran straight into Galvin and his whatever she was. He had his arm around her shoulders and she had a look of pride in her eyes, confirming my fears. I wanted her to trip on her heels and roll down the three sets of stairs. I didn’t know if I was mad at the fact that he had kissed me while he was in a relationship or because he didn’t even look like he had just run three miles. He looked embarrassed as I squeezed by them in the stairwell. I walked as fast as I could to my car and beeped it unlocked.

Gavin called my name just as I opened my door. I could either ignore him and attempt a quick getaway or I could endure more punishment. He was already halfway to my car before I could decide.

“
Emma, I just wanted to explain.”

“
It really doesn’t matter, Gavin,” I interrupted. “You don’t owe me any kind of explanation. We just met yesterday, it’s not like we’re dating.” I closed my door and started the car.

He was still standing there, staring at me with a blank look. I had to admit I was disappointed. I felt like it could have worked between the two of us.

I drove straight to the mall. I spent my entire paycheck on new clothes and new shoes. After I had shopped away my problems, I drove to the 7-eleven. I grabbed a paper and two tubs of Ben and Jerry’s Double Fudge Brownie ice cream. Now there are pair of men who truly understand women! I bet they are gay, that’s the only explanation.

As my luck would have it, Ezra was in line. I needed to move, or at least change gas stations. He checked out and left without even glancing in my direction. I didn’t care. I had been through enough. I quietly paid for my things and left. Billy must have noticed my ice cream and decided today was not a good day to talk.

I opened the door to my car and almost sat down on a perfectly good Snickers candy bar. I looked around, but the parking lot was empty. I thought Ezra hated me. Why was he leaving chocolate in my car? After everything that had happened today, I didn’t have a care at that moment. I smiled and put my things in the front seat.

I drove to my mom’s house. She was sitting in the same position I had left her in the night before. I would have to talk to her about getting out more. Thankfully, she was asleep so I dropped the paper on the table and left.

When I got home, I ate an entire tub of ice cream for dinner as I watched
PS I love you.
I cried through the entire movie, and it felt great. After the movie, I crawled in the bed and fell asleep quickly.