She didn’t know, and the more she pondered it, the worse she felt. There were things she required from her home. Even if she could never get her life back, there was no way she could walk away without her most cherished possessions.
She didn’t know how much time passed before the door opened and Lucien stepped onto the sidewalk beside her. Unable to look at him, she kept her attention on the stars.
Lucien studied Callie while she stared resolutely into the distance. He sensed a distance from her that wasn’t there before as her eyes were icy. He had no idea what made her withdraw in such a way, but he hated the gulf he sensed between them.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes.”
However, her clipped tone and determination not to look at him said she was the exact opposite of okay. “I didn’t harm her.”
“I know.”
Instead, the sound the woman released made it clear she’d enjoyed what he did to her. Just like Callie, that woman enjoyed being in his arms, and Callie wished it was her that he’d held so close.
What is wrong with you? All you got from his bite was pain—no, not pain, excruciating agony.
When she was younger, a pissed-off mare kicked her in the knee. She recalled the stabbing pain of that blow and the unnatural way her leg bent back. She’d walked away from the incident with a knee sprain, but that pain couldn’t compare to what Lucien did to her. Yet, she would have changed places with that woman in a heartbeat.
Yes, she definitely had to get away from him.
“Come on, let’s go to our room,” he said.
Lucien studied her bent head as they walked. She refused to look at him as they made their way to their room near the end of the motel. His thoughts tumbled over each other as he tried to figure out what he’d done to cause this change.
Was it because he fed in front of her again? Was the constant reminder of what he was pushing her away?
But he didn’t have any other choice. If he was going to keep her safe, he had to be strong, and she’d seen him feed before without withdrawing like this. Lucien was so busy trying to figure out what was wrong, he walked right by their room.
When he touched her arm to get her attention, she stiffened beneath his fingers. It was a far different reaction from the one she had earlier when she hugged him as he held her supple body close.
Lucien longed for that moment back. How did he fix this? Was she gone for good?
He had little experience in how to deal with women in his life. Plenty had flitted in and out of his life over the years, but he usually only spent a couple of hours with them. With no experience on how to talk with them, he was scared that if he said or did the wrong thing here, it would drive her away for good.
Apprehension churned inside him as he stopped outside room fifteen and slid the card into the little slot beside the door. The light went from red to green, and he twisted the knob before pushing it open. He held the door while she slipped inside.
Chapter Twenty
“I’m going to get the supplies from the Jeep,” he said.
Callie didn’t look at him as she kicked off her sneakers and headed for the bathroom. Lucien watched as she closed the bathroom door before he stepped outside, shut the door, and jogged across the parking lot to the Jeep.
He kept his senses honed to the night as he scented the air and searched for any hint of a threat. The only thing he detected was the feral scent of wild animals and the crisp, mountain air.
He removed the cooler from the Jeep before checking the one strapped to the rack on the back. Inside were a couple of six-packs of beers. He pulled out one of the six-packs and shoved them into Callie’s cooler before returning to the room.
He opened the door again and slipped inside. The sound of the shower greeted him as the door clicked shut behind him, and he froze. His heart raced, and though he just fed, his fangs elongated as saliva filled his mouth.
She was in that shower, she was naked, and he ached to watch the water sliding down her body, between the valley of her breasts, along her stomach, and between her legs. He’d never drank water before, but he longed to lick the stream from her in leisurely, tantalizing strokes. He became so hard, so fast, he almost groaned when his dick strained against his jeans.
A bang from the shower pulled him from his imaginings of fucking her. He hurried to the door as fast as he could in his current condition.
“Everything okay?” he called through the door.
“Yes!” she shouted back and bent to retrieve the soap she’d dropped.
He contemplated going in there to check on her, but he could only imagine how she’d react if he walked in on her. No, despite his concern, he couldn’t invade her privacy in such a way.
Lucien retreated to sit on the edge of the bed. He fell back to stare at the ceiling while listening to the shower and attempting to not imagine her naked form as she ran the soap over her lush body. He tried to will his erection away, but he was still as hard as a rock when the shower shut off fifteen minutes later.
Lucien sat up and listened to her moving about in the room. Another ten minutes passed before she emerged. A cloud of steam billowed out the door behind her. She was fully dressed again, and her wet hair spilled around her shoulders.
She briefly met his gaze before she walked over to the cooler, opened it, and pulled out some of the supplies they took earlier. Retreating to the bathroom, she closed the door and spent the next five minutes scrubbing her teeth before turning her attention to working out the knots in her hair.
She left the toiletries next to the sink, along with his unopened toothbrush, and returned to the room. She didn’t say a word as she walked past him, sat on the edge of the bed as far from him as she could get, lifted the remote, and turned on the TV.
Lucien struggled to find something to break the tension between them, but words failed him. He’d never been one for conversation, and he certainly hadn’t done much conversing with the women in his past. However, he found himself desperate to break this friction so she would smile at him again.
Unfortunately, he came up with nothing. Pushing himself off the bed, he rose and walked into the bathroom to shower. Frustration mounting, he kicked the door shut behind him.
It felt as if a hand split open her chest and gripped her heart when the bathroom door banged shut. She stared at it for a minute before flipping through the channels until she found a rerun of The Office.
She’d seen the episode a dozen times already, but she couldn’t handle the news, and she needed some laughs. However, despite her love of the show, she didn’t think she would laugh much right now.
They were finally somewhere safe, her adrenaline was ebbing, and all she had left was reality. And that reality told her she had nothing left.
She closed her eyes against a wave of grief. She couldn’t give in to her despair now; if she did, she would start crying and never stop.
And she would not let Lucien see her cry. Looking to distract herself, she scooted back on the large, queen-size bed and rested against the wooden headboard.
Unlike the motel office, this room was far more modern. The pale peach of the walls emphasized the bright colors in the landscape paintings on the wall. Mounted to the wall above a new, oak dresser hung a flat-screen TV. A small refrigerator sat to the left of the dresser.
She listened to Lucien as he finished brushing his teeth, and when the shower turned on, she rose and walked over to the cooler. She was surprised to discover the beer on top, but she slid it into the fridge along with a couple of waters. Another sandwich was tucked inside, along with a couple of bags of chips. It had been a while since she ate, but the idea of food made her stomach churn, and not in a good way.