She tensed up, still feeling anger oozing out of her pores, “Sex must’ve been premeditated, though. To give me birth control you knew you’d be having sex with me whether I wanted it or not. Let go.” She tried to pull away. He wouldn’t let her go.
“I won’t let go. Stop. Chill out. Listen to me. I’m sorry that you’re upset with me. I’m sorry that I didn’t give you a choice. I did what I thought I had to do. I’m sorry you’re upset. Okay?”
“Let go!”
“No, Kyla.” He pulled her tight against his chest. The anger turned into tears. She didn’t want to let the anger go but she couldn’t help it, she fought for another minute to get away and then when he wouldn’t relent melted with tears of frustration. He just stood and stroked her back and let her cry it out for a good few minutes. Finally, she pulled back and wiped her eyes with her fingertips.
“So tired of all this messy emotional shit. This isn’t me,” she wiped her hands on her thighs, “I don’t know how you’ve turned me into a blubbering mess. And what about when you figure the mystery out. What then? What happens if my blood suddenly tastes like dirty water to you?”
“All we can do is take one day at a time, baby, but I look into your eyes and I don’t see letting you go. Even if your blood suddenly starts to taste like sour milk.”
He gave her a loud kiss. That was a pretty bold statement and it jolted her. She wasn’t sure she believed it.
“Thank you for all the clothes and stuff,” she mumbled, finally, wiping her eyes with her fingertips again, “but it really wasn’t necessary. Other than the shoes. You owed me shoes.”
“You’re welcome. Just wanted you to be comfortable.”
“How did you know what to get? Experienced at this? ”
He looked horrified and put his hands up in a defensive posture, “Nnnooooo….don’t pick another fight with me, please!” She let out a little giggle and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I called a personal shopper. I told her to imagine everything she’d need for a long vacation if the airline lost her luggage. I got some sizes from your things. A little bird called Daisy told me you liked a little black dress in that boutique down the road from your apartment so that was the only inside info I had. Not experienced at this!”
She was silent, contemplative.
He kissed her forehead, “We okay?”
“Hmm.” she looked at him disapprovingly.
He smirked, “I’ll ply you with chocolate later. And more shoes if necessary. Believe me, I needed to get you on birth control. I’ll explain more later; I’ve gotta run. Lock both doors.” He kissed her swiftly on the lips with a flourish and then left, this time via the bedroom door. She immediately locked it and then locked the balcony door. She felt very uneasy and sat down on the sofa. This was all so surreal.
“Pinch me.” Kyla said aloud to no one.
~~~
That afternoon she ran 5km on his treadmill. It wasn’t as good as being outside but it helped her in a number of ways. It passed the time and running helped her connect with herself, somehow. Where she usually used it to blank her mind when running outdoors being on the treadmill somehow allowed her time and space clear her head a little bit.
Despite knowing she had already developed very strong emotions for him and not knowing if it was just the magical blood bond thing or something more rudimentary, like physical attraction, or just plain old vampire voodoo, as if there was anything plain about vampire voodoo, she knew that there was a big addiction factor. It made things dangerous. Part of her wanted to accept his, ‘Don’t worry; I’ve got this!’ but a little voice told her to keep on her toes anyway.
Kyla resisted the urge to analyze it too deeply because it felt so good now that she wasn’t chained, he wasn’t angry, and neither of them was depriving the other of the physical stuff that neither could seem to get enough of. She thought back to how she’d felt when he’d bared his teeth at Joe from the balcony. She’d felt safe and protected --- a foreign feeling to her after all she’d been through in her life so far. Should she embrace the protection? No one had ever protected her before. And the way he looked at her, the things he’d said about how she made him feel, seemed to be about more than her blood. When he fed, she could feel emotion coming from him, adoration. And not just when he fed, either, whenever he looked at her.
She’d had men interested in her plenty of times in the past and a few times she’d gone down the relationship path but she’d never felt like this. Not close. Never had butterflies like these. She’d had a few relationships, the last serious one ended quite painfully, so she’d shied away from guys since then, but nothing compared to how she felt when Tristan looked at her, touched her, fed from her. She thought back to the pang of pain she’d felt when she’d walked out of the balcony door the other night when she looked back at him sleeping.