I cleared my throat. “Maybe you’re right.”
I was homeless. Still twitching from watching the sum total of my twenty-eight years go up in flames. The twitching could also have a lot to do with the morning phone call to my parents to tell them that I was okay. Just a little gas leak, is all. They took it like good parents should, and freaked out—long-distance style. Offered to come and get me and bring me back to my hometown for an extended stay. After I declined, my mother gave me a fifteen-minute lecture about how I needed to be more careful.
I could just imagine the lecture I’d get if I ever got around to telling them I was a vampire.
Now I was on the streets of Toronto on a brisk January day with Thierry’s Platinum American Express card in my preapproved clutches. The last thing I felt like doing today was shopping—and that’s saying something—but I’d decided to go along with the “plan” as best I could.
Some plan.
Stupid hunters.
Amy’d also freaked out when I called her earlier and told her what happened. She’d brought over some clothes for me to borrow so I wouldn’t have to go shopping in slippers and nightwear. I told her about the bodyguards. She decided that it would be worth putting our lives at risk in order to acquire some new threads. It’s all about priorities.
I wondered if the hunters in general even knew what I looked like? Did they just know me by name?Chad hadn’t recognized me until he found out my name.
It was an odd feeling knowing people wanted to kill me. “Edgy” didn’t begin to cover it. Sure, Peter had wanted to kill me. Before I turned the tables on him. He wanted to kill mebadly . And if it wasn’t for the golden horseshoe of luck I obviously had jammed up my butt that night, then I really shouldn’t have gotten out of that in one piece, nickname or no nickname.
But I did.
And here I am.
With bodyguards in tow.
I’d spotted one large hulking beast about ten paces behind us. I would have thought it was a coincidence, but he had followed us into the lingerie department of Sears just a half hour ago.
He was either my brand-new bodyguard, following us on a crowded downtown sidewalk near the Eaton
Centre, or a huge man who enjoyed the feel of silk against his skin.
Or maybe both. I’m not here to judge.
Plus, I’d seen him tackle a guy who’d asked me for the time as I passed a bus stop a block back.
“Why didn’t he wake you up?” Amy inquired.
“Thierry?” I glanced over my shoulder nervously, then back at Amy. “I’m thinking he knew I was exhausted. He was trying to be a gentleman. I did wake up with his credit card on the pillow next to me.
It was veryPretty Woman .” I froze as a large man who was eating a mustard-drenched hot dog bumped into me. “Maybe we should get off the streets for a while. It’s kind of crowded around here.”
“Speaking of Richard Gere, I have to admit that Thierry is definitely gorgeous.”
I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “And your point?”
She shrugged. Just one shoulder clad in fake white fur. “No point. Just . . . ”
“Oh,God . What is it? You’re doing that half-shrug thing. And that’s never good.”
She shrugged the other shoulder this time. “It’s just . . . other than the fact he’s nice to look at, what exactly do you see in him?”
I stopped walking. With a quick glance, I noticed the hulk also stopped walking. I faced my shrugging best friend. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t get defensive. And don’t get me wrong. Thierry’s great. He’s generous and . . . um . . .tall . . . and, uh . . . wait, I’m sure there’s something else . . . ”
“Not you, too.” I shook my head, feeling a wave of anxiety fill me.
“Not me, too, what?”
“You,of all people , are not going to tell me that me and Thierry aren’t going to work out.”
“I’m not saying that.”
“Yes, you obviously are. Besides, I believe you’re the one who’s about to turn thirty. The day after tomorrow. You should be more concerned with yourself. And you know,getting old . That’s almost worse than losing all your worldly belongings.”
When in doubt, change the subject. Always a good rule of thumb.
“Sure, rub it in.” She pouted. “But I’m a vampire. I’ll never look any older than I do right now.”
“But you’re still turning thirty. Ha.”
She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do you know who you were great with?”
Oh, God. Please make it stop. Doesn’t she know I’m mentally fragile today?
“Quinn,” she continued, despite my giving her the evil eye. “He was so hot and he really liked you, didn’t he? Where’d he go, anyhow?”
My head.Throbbing . “He’s actually back. Just returned last night.”
She actually clapped her hands together and smiled brightly at me. “Oh, good!”
I shook my head. Vigorously. “What part of ‘I’m with Thierry’ don’t you understand?”
She looked thoughtful. “You know, I bet he could have protected you last night. He wouldn’t have just left you all alone with that dumb dog.”
“Amy, you don’t know what you’re talking about. And Barkley’s a werewolf.”
She sighed. “I just want you to be as happy as I am. With Barry.” She gazed down at her tiny diamond ring.
“So everything’s cool between you two? I know you said last week you were a little . . . how did you put it?”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Insanely jealous and paranoid. Yeah, I was a little concerned for a while. I thought he was going to be another man who treated me like crap, but so far so good. I just need to be more confident.” She grinned. “Being married to a wonderful man like Barry is everything I ever thought it would be.”
“So you thought being married would be the first sign of the short man apocalypse?” I paused. “Wait, I can think of a better one. Just give me a minute. My brain is seriously fried.”
“Sarah! Barry likes you now, you know. I thought you two were friends now?”
I glanced around the busy street. The bodyguard was keeping his distance. Trying to look all incognito even though it must have been obvious I’d already spotted him. “He doesn’t like me. Your husband rubs me the wrong way. There’s just something about him. He’s just so—”