Part 4 (2/2)

Bree twisted himself with all his might. Whether Julian let him go or he'd startled the man, he didn't know, but he was free.

Inches separated them, but good enough. He'd gotten back far enough to stare up at Julian's eyes. Those d.a.m.ned eyes that had haunted him from his first sight of them.

No devil fires were to be seen. Julian's gaze was amused, as if he'd proven a point. Gloating just a little, but not meanly. He looked pleased. Happy. Satisfied. Approving, as if Bree had just pa.s.sed some kind of test.

He kept his eyes focused on Bree. Fixed. Eternally patient.

Bree stared back. His mouth worked, words bubbling up and not one of them making it out.

Julian's lips curved into a smile. Very deliberately, he snaked out his tongue and licked away a smear of red. Startled, Bree lifted his hand to his neck and felt a wet spot. Too wet for a messy kiss. f.u.c.k! Still bleeding. How deep had Julian bitten him? And Christ -- why?

”You're sick,” he blurted at last. ”What kind of freak are you?”

Julian tilted back his head and laughed. Not insulted in the least. Bree couldn't take his gaze away. His skin tingled with chills, but his d.a.m.n c.o.c.k reacted like the sound was pure Spanish fly, throbbing for the touch of Julian's cool fingers. Unable to help himself, Bree imagined Julian's teeth nibbling at the length of his erection. It horrified him that the notion didn't horrify him.

He shook his head, feeling suddenly cold. ”Crazy,” he said. ”You're a crazy man. Stay the f.u.c.k away from me, Julian. I have friends here with me.”

”You call them friends?” Julian tipped his head. ”Do you? Are you close to them, then? I would say, no, you are not. By your own choice, of course.”

”Liam!” Bree blurted. He blinked. Why had he chosen that name, of all the others? ”I'm with Liam. Hurt me, and he'll have your b.a.l.l.s for breakfast.”

As if! But d.a.m.ned if that didn't do the trick! Julian raised his eyebrows and stepped back two paces. ”I would not want to displease that one,” he said, thoughtful for the first time. ”Very well. I will wait, then, for you to come to me of your own will.”

”Like h.e.l.l that'll happen.” Bree wiped at a fresh trickle of blood running down his neck. ”You'll pay for that.”

”Oh, I do hope so, Bree.” Julian reached out to him. Bree jumped back, but not before Julian had seized his hand and lifted it to his dangerous mouth for a kiss. ”We'll meet again, very soon, I think.”

With that, he turned and walked away, free and easy, as if nothing had happened. Bree stared after him. He felt frozen as a corpse, scared one-hundred-percent s.h.i.+tless, baffled over why Liam of all people could give a man like Julian a moment's pause, and him, d.a.m.n his loins, hard as a rock and aching to be f.u.c.ked.

He shook himself hard. Got to get out of here. Not safe.

”You can't leave,” a voice whispered from nowhere. ”You chose to walk in these doors, Bree. There is no running. Not any more. Not from yourself ... and not from me, now that I have found you.”

Bree jerked around, eyes wild. ”Julian!”

He heard Julian's soft laugh, but couldn't see him anywhere. ”You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” he swore. ”Leave me alone!”

One more chuckle, then silence. Bree felt himself begin to shake as if he were about to snap from fear or come like he'd never come before. He couldn't tell which, either.

d.a.m.n the no-smoking laws, d.a.m.n Julian, and d.a.m.n Liam for getting him into this. Bree reached into his jeans pocket, where he'd stuffed a half-pack of cigarettes for luck. It'd been years since he quit, but he carried them around for the look of it. Thank f.u.c.k.

Hands shaking, he managed to fish out his smokes and a lighter. He put one to his lips, lit it, and sucked in a deep, burning lungful of smoke. Stared at where Julian had been. He'd come back for Bree. He knew it.

What would happen then? Would he go, no matter if it was to his death?s.h.i.+t. He had the sick feeling that when Julian showed his face again, he wouldn't be able to help himself. He'd gotten lucky once -- no. No, he hadn't. Julian had let him go.

He wouldn't do that a second time.

Bree exhaled the diluted smoke. Looked into the face of his death and what lay beyond, while it looked back, amused by his fear.

Okay. Bring it on, then. Maybe I'll go down tonight. But by G.o.d, I will go down fighting.

Bree lowered his cigarette, staring into the crowd, not seeing anything but Julian's face.

Knowing it was just a matter of time

Chapter Five

All I wanted was one good night. A chance to get out and party. Get my hands on some a.s.s, soak my s.h.i.+rt with sweat, dance until I couldn't lift my feet anymore, and maybe, just maybe, find someone to share a moment with. One moment. I've spent way too f.u.c.king long wearing the Clark Kent persona -- at work, at the apartment. I wanted to go wild and find someone to take with me on the ride.

I wanted to find some peace. There isn't any peace for me, though, is there? The life I fell into, the ways I chose, who I am, it doesn't let anything be simple. Complications. Always so many G.o.d-d.a.m.ned complications.

I just want to be free. Instead, I get bitten by a blood freak, and I'm pretty d.a.m.n sure he's gonna try to kill me. What scares me most is ... touching him, I just about wanted it. No ... I craved it.

f.u.c.k. I gotta get out of here.

”Hey!” A raucous shout jostled Bree out of his frozen reverie. He blinked to clear his eyes and saw a gym bunny with far too dark a tan and way too many muscles standing in front of him, hands on hips.

”What do you want?” Bree snapped back.

”Would you put that death stick out already? Some of us came here to have a good time, not to breathe in your secondhand poison.”

Bree narrowed his eyes. Deliberately, he lifted the cigarette to his mouth and took in a long, sweet drag. He blew the smoke out at Gym Boy's face. ”You mean, this poison?”

Gym Boy spluttered and coughed, not very convincingly. He twisted up his features in as much disgust as if Bree had spit on him. ”p.r.i.c.k!”

”d.a.m.n right. You want to try me out? Want a piece of me?” The guy might have muscles, but Bree would bet anything he didn't know a d.a.m.n bit about street fighting. Playing it dirty. No, he stayed in his nice, safe gym, getting other pumped-up hunks of rock to spot him so he could stare at their c.o.c.ks from below. He wouldn't ever suspect anything like a fist to the throat or a kneecapping.

The image of his aggressor collapsing to the floor, screaming in pain, filled Bree with a sudden blood-l.u.s.t that ought to have been frightening, but ... wasn't. He could just see the man curled around his wounds, screaming -- if Bree left him with enough breath to scream -- and just like when Julian had bitten him, no one taking a d.a.m.n bit of notice.

Bree's breath began to come in quick, sharp pants. His hands itched, curling into fists. ”Come on,” he whispered. ”Try it.

Just try. You know you want to. I'm just a little guy. Think you can take me? Attack. Give me your best f.u.c.king shot, a.s.shole. Do it. Do it. Do it!”

The gym bunny's eyes had begun to fill with confusion, then with fear. ”You're crazy, man,” he said, voice shaking. ”How'd you get in here, anyway?”

Bree took another drag on his smoke. His grin felt too wide, too sharp. ”I got friends.”

”Are they all like you?”

Bree thought briefly of Julian. A shudder of pure, raw l.u.s.t ran through the length of his body. A hunger for blood and s.e.x.

”Some,” he said.

The guy jerked back. ”I'm calling the management,” he said, voice shaking. ”You're so out of here.”

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