“You can go to the bathroom and take a shower,” he muttered, looking away, not wanting to see her nod vacantly at him.
There was a knock on the bedroom door.
“Wait Kyla,” he told her without looking at her. She’d swung her feet so they were dangling off the bed. She waited.
He got up and opened the door. Sam stood there, looking pensive.
“What?”
Sam took a step back, clearly reading Tristan’s body language.
“Sorry. You didn’t answer the door. Adrian gave me a key. Can we talk? I need some direction.”
“Talk.”
“Can I step in?”
“No.”
“Downstairs, then?”
“Negative.”
He wasn’t leaving her. Every time he took his eyes off her something bad’d happened. Fuck, it’d happened right under his nose back in that lab. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight right now.
“Alright, well update, then. Liam: still daggered. What’ll we do? Want any moves made yet?”
“Not yet.”
Tristan’s lip curled. That fucker would be history; shredded into ribbons by the time Tristan was done with him. He wasn’t ready. He needed to get his head together first or else the bloodshed might not stop there. It might go far; it might go way fuckin’ wide. That might happen anyway, but for now he needed a minute to think.
“Alright. He’s still secure. He’ll stay that way. What can I do? Need food? Booze? Blood? Anything? She manageable?”
“Where the fuck were you when everything went down?”
“Liam must’ve snuck up on me and knocked me out. From what we can tell he used my print while I was unconscious along with someone else to get into the lab. He left me in the hall.”
Tristan let out a long breath but assessed Sam, looked for signs of whether or not he was telling lies.
“Need anything?
“Blood bags. Jack Daniels. Gimme that key.”
“More O-neg for her, too?” He handed over the key.
“AB-neg for me, or whatever, doesn’t matter.”
“AB-neg and O-neg.” He moved to go.
“Just AB for me.”
“She’s fed, then? I heard you’d carried her here so I assumed she hadn’t woken but the feeder was untouched and most of the bags were still on the---”
“She woke.”
“And she’s been manageable? She’s had enough?”
“The bags are for me.”
“Pardon?”
“Not now. Haven’t slept. Haven’t fed. Blood bags. Jack. Alright?”
“Yeah, ‘course. Be back soon as I can. But…”
“Not now.”
“You want a feeder instead of a bag?” Sam asked.
Tristan shook his head, “Bags.”~~~When Sam returned with an armful of blood bags and a bottle of JD he followed Tristan upstairs. Tristan stopped at the top step and sat, blocking Sam from following further.
Sam took two steps back and started,
“Adrian wants to know if---”
“Keep him the fuck away from me or he’s done.”
Sam raised his hands defensively.
Tristan thrust both hands into his hair; he needed to think. Right now he wanted to rip Adrian’s guts out with his bare hands.
If he did he’d have a lot of people to answer to. He almost didn’t give a fuck. Almost. Something miniscule somewhere deep stopped him from ending the fucker. But it was only for now, only until he could get his head straight and make some decisions.
“I mean it,” he glared at Sam, “He gets near me or her, especially her, I’ll won’t be able to stop myself. I don’t even fuckin’ know if I can stop myself. I might get a wild hair and decide I need to hunt him down.”
It was the truth. His self-control was hanging on by a thread.
He lifted a bag from the step beside him, cracked it open and then took a swig and grimaced, “Tell him he doesn’t leave this property. I want him here, close. In case I decide to gut him. Watch him.”
“Tri---” Sam started.
“Go,” Tristan grunted, “and keep Taryn away from me, too. Everyone needs to stay the FUCK away from me. If you can’t handle it and wanna fuck off, feel free. Tell me now and I’ll find someone else to---”
“Naw, Tris. I’m still with you. That hasn’t changed. You tell me what you need and I’ll backflip to make it happen, man. Truth.”
“Fine. Then watch Constantin. He leaves, you’ll answer to me, too.”
Tristan didn’t waver, just kept his eyes on Sam. Sam shifted uncomfortably, then continued,
“Taryn’s just said she’s heading down here soon. I managed to ward her off. I’ll try…” Sam winced, looking like he’d tasted something unpleasant.
Attempting to stop Taryn from doing anything would definitely be unpleasant.
“I’ll come back in a few hours and see if you need anything. And if you need me, call or text. I called Leonard and Jeff when things went down last night. They caught a red eye and they’re here, on duty. I had them hit your condo first and bring more clothes for you both, as well as your other laptop. Some Kovac shit needs your attention. Check your emails when you can. They got a locksmith and I’ll get new keys for you. They’re both outside, watching this house.”