Page 42 of The Vampire Oracle
Sighing, I turned to her. My dick wasn’t hard anymore, not after getting her pissed at me. “I’m not saying that.”
“You are though. You think I’m insane or something?”
“Stop putting words in my mouth,” I snapped.
Her parted lips closed as she glared at me. “You have changed.”
“So have you.”
“No, you are crueler. You don’t believe me. What happened to the Cozen that I knew growing up, that took this for me?” Her fingers were back on the brand on my lower back. The smell of burning flesh filled my nose as I thought about the brand that the foster guy burned into me.
A growl rumbled in my throat as I gripped her wrist and pulled her to me. Her palm against my chest stopped her body from hitting it hard. “Stop touching me there.”
She rolled her eyes.
I gripped her chin to draw her attention. “Are you listening to me, Psalm?” I had to treat her like a fucking child or else she would have ignored me.
Her eyes darkened with something as she looked down. I swallowed hard. “I’m listening. If you don’t want to be touched by me, stop touching me.”
I didn’t listen. Impulse took over as I grabbed her waist and pulled her all the way into my chest, our faces close to each other. Her heavy breast brushed my fucking chest. I wanted to kiss her, take her right here, but the rage she made me feel was indescribable. “You bring back memories, Psalm.”
She swallowed. “That’s because you never knew how to get over things.”
Get over things? Get over her? Get over what we had that she forgot about, all the stolen kisses and late-night cuddling.
“Why am I here?” I muttered, feeling hot all of a sudden.
“Because you’d do anything for me, right, Cozen?”
My cock stirred as my eyes dropped to her lips for a long time. Looking back into her eyes, I realized she saw that. “I leave tonight,” I muttered, pulling back.
Her body sagged a bit. It was like she was waiting for me to do something. If I did, the person behind the cameras would ring my fucking neck. She was with two or three… or four other men. And she still wanted me to kiss her?
I wasn’t going to take any more beating for her. That would make me fucking insane.
And I wasn’t going to be someone’s fifth choice, not hers. She moved on from me quickly, gathering more men that succumbed to her beauty.
Psalm looked down. “So, just like that. You’re dead again?”
“Better than being alive,” I muttered. “It’s peaceful at home, no vampires, no fighting, no drugs, no—”
“Sounds like you’re trying to get me to go with you…”
I paused. Would that be a bad thing? Her and I together again?
“I can’t, Cozen.”
“Yeah, whatever. You have a million boyfriends to tend to.”
She rolled her eyes. “I am not done here. It’s not the men who actually tend to me more than I do them.”
I let a noise escape me. I didn’t want to hear about anyone tending to anyone. After the way Briar—the one who claimed he didn’t want her—gave in to her, I quickly realized they were all going to be sharing her.
Kier and his brother wanted her, which made me want to punch them. Kier saw me as a threat because I guess he noticed my feelings before Sal could.
“What is your problem? Your emotions are everywhere,” Psalm told me.
I knew that. Don’t you think I know this? I couldn’t help it. I come back, seeing how she changed, and I see all three men taking her attention from me. I left. I decided I wanted to be dead. If I had stayed, my cock would have been buried in Psalm, not these men. “Just forget it, Psalm. I just can’t wait to get out of here. To get away from you.”