Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
I look beyond her and see Leo and Antonio, standing sheepishly in the doorway. Their eyes meet mine and then they look at the man I’m sitting next to. Unlike the waitress, they know right away that Xavier is a vampire.
I lean back, taking Gia’s hands in mine. “I missed you, too,” I tell her. “I just saw your text.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t reply,” she says with the same amount of sass as usual. “You always text me back and Mom still won’t let me get a phone. It’s so lame. All my friends have phones.” She turns, noticing Xavier. “Who is this?”
“This,” I start, looking at him. “This is Xavier Malus. My husband.”
“You got married?” Gia’s eyes go wide and she looks at me blinking, waiting for me to laugh and tell her I’m joking.
“Yep. We didn’t have a wedding though, so don’t worry that you missed out on any planning.”
“Good because I would have been mad. You said I could plan the whole thing.”
I laugh, fighting back emotion that’s biting at the corners of my eyes. Gia and I would sometimes sit at night and look at my Pinterest boards. She had one too, and it was full of “normal things” she wanted in life but were too scared to tell Vivian and Marco.
It’s so fucked up.
“This is Gia,” I tell Xavier.
He holds out her hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Gia.”
“Your skin is cold,” Gia replies when she takes his hand. Both my brothers come over, not liking that Gia is talking to a vampire. But what did they expect? They knew my situation and it’s not like I’d come back home to Asheville just to go to my favorite restaurant on my own.
“I take it this is Leo and Antonio,” Xavier says, standing up and buttoning his suit jacket as he gets to his feet. I didn’t even notice that he had undone the button when he sat down. “I am Xavier Malus. Your new brother in law.” If he were still sitting, I’d kick him under the table. “Please, join us.”
“We were…we…” Antonio starts and looks at me, face pleading for me to tell him that he shouldn’t be here.
“Can we?” Gia asks, already taking a seat next to me. “I miss Wren and no one has told me what’s going on, but she will and it’s really suss no one will talk about it and come on, guys, she’s freaking married.”
Xavier laughs. “What do you want to know?”
“Are you really a vampire?” she asks him, leaving Leo and Antonio sputtering. The girl was raised in the Order and knows about monsters. It may have given her a bit of false confidence, thinking her family can beat and kill anything that comes across her path.
“I am,” Xavier answers.
“How old are you?”
“Around seven hundred years old. Well, I’ve been undead for that long, I should say.”
“Wow.” Gia blinks rapidly and shakes her head. “That’s so weird. Can I see your fangs?”
Xavier draws his fangs and opens his mouth for Gia to see. There’s something about the way he’s interacting with her that is making me feel all stupid and mushy inside. He’s not treating her like some dumb kid, but instead knows how much she means to me.
“Oh, hi,” the waitress says, coming back to the table. “Are you joining them?”
“I don’t know, are you?” I ask pointedly and cross my arms over my chest. Is it fair to be mad at my brothers? After seeing how little they tried to contact me and make things right, all I’m feeling right now is a whole lot of rage.
“Yes,” Antonio replies, trying to regain his composure. He’s the oldest of us Russo siblings, though it feels wrong to even consider myself one anymore. “As long as you don’t mind us crashing your date night.”
“Not at all,” Xavier answers for me. “I’m quite curious to know about the people who supposedly considered themselves Wren’s family.”
“Okay, I’ll get more water,” the waitress says and hurries away.
Leo pulls a chair away from a table next to us and joins in, sitting at the end of the table. Antonio takes the seat next to Xavier, and I almost want to laugh at how hard he’s trying to act like he’s not bothered.
He’s right to be cautious. Xavier is old. Powerful. And clearly becoming possessive of me.
“I’m sorry,” I start, pushing the bowl of chips into the center of the table again. “Why are you here?”
“It’s not every day a fancy-ass G-wagon comes driving down this way,” Leo starts, trying to cover up for the fact that Ryder is the one who outed me. “And you’re kind of known around here.” He looks at Xavier. “Wren is a good hunter. Can kill just about anything.”
“I’m well aware,” he replies, looking back at me with a half-smirk. “She’s quite skilled in many areas and the fact that she has the ability and know-how to stake me in my sleep is not lost on me. Rather, I find it quite exhilarating to have finally met my match.”