Hard Bitten - Chloe Neill [21]
“Hi, blondie.”
“Merit. I like those duds.” She cast an appraising glance at my ILLINOIS IS FOR LOVERS! tank top and shamrock-patterned Cubs shorts.
“Off-duty Cadogan Sentinel at your service. Come on in.”
She hit the bed. I shut the door behind her.
One of our earliest dates as new friends had been a night in her room with pizza and reality television. It wasn’t exactly cerebral, but it gave us a chance to be silly for a little while, to be concerned with which celebutante was dating which rock star or who was winning this week’s crazy challenge . . . instead of worrying about which groups of people were trying to kill us. The latter was exhausting after a while.
I flipped on my tiny television (my Sentinel stipend at work) and changed the channel to tonight’s reality opera, which involved male contestants solving puzzles so they could escape from an island of ex-girlfriends.
It was high-quality stuff. Classy stuff.
I joined Linds on the bed and pulled a pillow behind my head.
“How was the meeting with Tate?” she asked.
“Drama, drama, drama. Luc will fill you in. Suffice it to say, Ethan could be in Cook County lockup next week.”
“Sullivan may have a heart of coal, but I bet he looks really good in orange. And stripes. Rawr,” she said, curling her fingers like a cat.
Lindsey was even less convinced that Ethan had had a legitimate post-breakup change of heart. But that didn’t make him any less pretty.
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate your compliments when he’s climbing into that jumpsuit,” I said. “Although Luc might get jealous.”
As a guard, Luc was Lindsey’s boss. He was tall and touslehaired, his dark blond locks sun streaked from years, I imagined, as a boots-wearing cowboy on some high-plains ranch where cattle and horses outnumbered humans and vampires. Luc kept the boots after becoming a vampire, and he’d developed a monumental crush on Lindsey. Long story short, nothing had come of it until the attack on the House. Then they started spending more time together.
I didn’t think it was überserious—more like a movie night here, a snack at sunset there. But it did seem like he’d finally managed to push through the emotional barriers she’d erected to keep him at a distance. I completely approved of that development. Luc had pined pretty hard; it was about time he tasted victory.
“Luc can take care of himself,” Lindsey said, her voice dry.
“He’d enjoy it more if you were doing the caring.”
Lindsey held up a hand. “Enough boy talk. If you keep harping about Luc, I’m going to hit you with a Sullivan one-two combination, in which case I’ll be quizzing you about his hot bod and emotional iciness for the rest of the evening.”
“Spoilsport.” I pouted, but let it go. I knew she wasn’t completely convinced about Luc, even if she was spending more time with him, and I didn’t want to push her too far too fast. And to be fair, just because I thought they’d be good together didn’t mean she was obligated to date him. It was her life, and I could respect that.
So I let it go and settled into a comfy position beside her, and then let my mind drift on the waves of prerecorded, trashy television. As relaxation went, it didn’t exactly rank up there with a hotrock massage and mud bath, but a vampire took what a vampire could get.
CHAPTER FIVE
DOWN BY THE RIVER
When I awoke again, I dressed in my personal uniform—jeans and a tank top over high-heeled boots, my Cadogan medal, my sword, and my beeper—and headed out.
I stopped at the House gate, intending to get a sense of the gauntlet I’d have to walk to get to my car. One of the two fairies at the gate guessed my game.
“They are quiet tonight,” he said. “Ethan planned ahead.”
I glanced over at him. “He planned ahead?”
The fairy pointed down the street. I peeked outside the gate, smiling when