After a few minutes he got back in, grabbed a t-shirt out of the bag and put it on, then got out and into the front seat and started to drive. Kyla was still in back, shivering, hiccupping, eyes shut tight.
After a few minutes they were at another hotel. It was another high-end swanky hotel, definitely too high-end for the fact that she was wearing a bloodstained jean skirt and a man’s button down shirt (that was torn) over a bloodstained tank top.
He opened the back door and took her hand and their bags and then they walked in and to the front desk. He checked them into a room under an alias, telling the desk clerk not to ask any questions and telling the clerk not to remember him but to contact him if anyone asked questions about him.
He waved off a bell boy who offered to take the bags, carrying them himself, and then they were in a second floor hotel suite, the bellboy following.
It was big, luxurious. Tristan dropped the bags and then tipped the bell boy who’d opened the door. As he attempted to give them a tour of the room and explain their amenities Tristan said, “Get the fuck out. You’ll have no memory of us,” and then he locked the door.
She sat on a sofa, arms around herself. Tristan went to the bar and poured a big glass of something and downed it. Then he disappeared into the bathroom and she heard water running.
He was back. He picked up his phone and started to dial, “Go wash his stench off,” he bit off.
Kyla jerked in surprise.
His eyes instantly went sorrowful, “I’m sorry. Sorry. Please, baby, go wash your hands really well and then take a bath. I have calls to make. I’ll get food. Are you okay? Are you hurting? Need me to help?”
She shook her head, “I’m okay.”
She wasn’t. Not remotely.
She pulled the plug from the bath he’d started and instead showered. Robotically. She felt dirty. So dirty. So, no bath. No way did she want to sit in water that held any part of him.
Nothing had entered her veins while Liam drank, nothing like emotion. All she’d felt was cold. And with that cold had come immense strength to push him off. But then he’d caught her off guard and fed again and then he was stronger, so strong that she couldn’t fight him off. She’d felt no further cold.
Any woman would find Liam Donavan attractive. Kyla, before falling for Tristan, would’ve thought so, too. But what’d happened was absolutely repulsive. If Sam hadn’t come when he did, Liam probably would’ve drained her. Or, at the very least, he’d have stolen her away with plans to get the most out of her he could before he drained her bone dry out of greed.
What was Sam’s story? And what was with that medieval-looking bejeweled dagger?
After getting as clean as she figured she could get, she found a hotel robe and wrapped it around herself and padded back out to the bed. Tristan was just ending a phone call. He was looking out the window, his back to her. He tossed the phone down and thrust his hands through his hair and let out a big breath.
“Hey,” she whispered.
His shoulders slumped and then he turned around slowly and looked at her. He looked pained, hurt, sad. Really sad.
“Hey. Come here,” he said but then he moved to close the distance and took her into his arms. He was smelling her. He sniffed her throat and then sniffed and examined her hands. He walked her to the bed and they got on it. He held her close. She put her face into his chest and inhaled his sweet scent and closed her eyes. She fell asleep in his arms, his palm on the back of her head and his other arm around her waist.
She woke up, still in his arms, her cheek and her fist on his chest. She looked up at his face. He was staring at the ceiling. His face was like stone. His eyes were still dark. Not black but not quite bright blue. His expression was so hard and so angry.
“I have things to tell you,” he said.
She nodded and sat up.
“There are a lot of things you need to know all outside this Liam shit. And the Liam shit…it’s too fucking much on its own.”
He was quiet a minute, then said, “But I have to kill him before he gets near you again. But right now I need you to tell me what happened.”
“He knocked when it was time for you to come and I didn’t look out, I just…I opened it cuz I thought it was you or room service. I shouldn’t have opened the door.”
“Babe, he killed the security guards. Sam found them dead. Even if you hadn’t opened it, he would’ve gotten in.”