Kiss of Crimson Samantha Coville (best short books to read .TXT) 📖

was missing a piece of myself. I was grateful that he never broke contact with my skin as he shifted me to make room for him to climb into the bed with me. He held me from behind, my bottom fitting against his bottom half like two pieces of a puzzle, his member still erect against me. His arm held me tight as he kissed my shoulder and I closed my eyes, no energy in me to move.

We could worry about what was outside of that bedroom tomorrow. For that night, nothing mattered except the feeling of him next to me.

Eighteen

Arden

I laid awake in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Eloise was sound asleep in the crook of my arm, snoring lightly. The silk pillowcases and the fluffy duvet felt luxurious as I found it impossible to fall asleep.

What we’d just shared? Amazing. It was unlike anything I’d experienced with anyone else before.

Maybe it was all the pent-up emotions and the adrenaline of the events of the night.

Maybe it was more than that.

Whatever it was, my mind was now free to focus on what to do next. Jardin wanted my head. That much was clear. Madame Leona was more than willing to let me hide in the mansion for a good long while.

But I knew otherwise.

I had to settle this. I couldn’t draw out this fantasy Eloise and I were living in. I didn’t want her to think it could be like forever, only for me to end up dead the second I stepped foot off the property.

No, the time for action was now. And I didn’t have much choice other than to face the music. Take my punishment.

And hope I didn’t die.

Hope that I could come back to her.

I placed a gentle kiss on Eloise’s forehead, careful not to knick her with my fangs. Then I slowly and carefully untangled myself from her sleeping embrace and gathered my clothes from the floor.

Getting quietly dressed, I slipped out of her bedroom, reluctantly closing the door behind me.

Step one done. It only got harder from here on out.

I tread the steps of the staircase carefully as I headed to the door. A guard opened the door for me without hesitation or question. He’d probably been ordered by Madame Leona to do just that. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that she expected this of me all along.

Somehow that woman always seemed two steps ahead with everyone but her own daughter.

Go figure.

The cold night greeted me like a slap in the face. Just another reason to turn back and return to Eloise. I could still slip into the bed without her ever knowing I’d left.

But I couldn’t do that with a clear conscience.

I had to leave now while I still had the nerve. And I couldn’t give Eloise a chance to pout and beg and change my mind.

Time to face my master.

Ex-master.

I pulled the car up to Jardin’s mansion and base of operations and internally groaned. His guards looked menacing and definitely ready to bash my skull in.

Hopefully, they weren’t ordered to kill on sight.

I stopped the car reluctantly and stepped out with my hands above my head.

“I’m unarmed and alone. I need to speak with Jardin,” I shouted to the two guards who were already making their way toward me. One flashed his fangs at me.

“Stand down, boys,” I heard a familiar voice call out. A chill went down my spine. It was Jardin himself, standing on his balcony a couple of floors above, watching me with obvious disdain.

He wore a suit, a bejeweled cane resting on the marble railing next to him. He smirked devilishly.

“The prodigal son returns, eh, Arden? I thought I was going to have to bargain with Leona and that would have put me in such a sour mood.”

If this was his idea of not being in a sour mood, I was screwed.

Then again, I’d seen Jardin when he was pissed. I’d worked for him long enough to see people fall out of his favor. It was never a pretty sight.

“I want out, Jardin!” I yelled up to him. His vampire hearing could probably have heard me just fine in a normal tone, but I only had the courage to say it once, so I did it with gusto. “I’m out of this business.”

He hissed and rolled his eyes. “Over a girl? And a human one at that? I thought you were better than that. I was offering you the chance to be a true blood trader yourself. That’s how much confidence I had in you!”

I shook my head. “I don’t want that anymore. I have someone else to think of and look after now. I trust I’ve worked long enough to repay whatever debt you thought I owed you.”

Jardin slammed his fist on the railing, sending a hairline crack through the marble.

“I thought you had more brains in that pretty head of yours. But, alas, you are correct to a point. You’ve worked off your debt to me. Almost.”

I raised a questioning brow.

Jardin put his fingers to his mouth and let out a high-pitched whistle. The front door of the mansion opened and a myriad of my vampire coworkers spilled out. Most all of them were dressed in black and looking at me like I was a new toy at a playground.

Crap.

“You killed two of my men,” Jardin crooned. He looked like he rather bemused with the situation. “In penance, I’m going to give these loyal workers of mine the chance to use you as a punching bag for a little while, and then...you can have the freedom you so daftly crave.”

I looked up at him with an open mouth. He was really letting me go. He was going to let me live.

Or, at least, he wasn’t pulling a trigger himself.

I glanced back at the growing crowd that I was going to have to survive. These were all vampires that stuck to a strict workout and strength-building