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  The next morning, she got up extra early to walk her brothers to the warehouse for work. She couldn’t count the number of times she had done so in the past. Reyna took a sorrowful look around the apartment, and then followed her brothers down the stairs. It was a nice day despite the fact that she had a heavy heart.

  When they reached the warehouses, her brothers each gave her a hug and promised to see her when they got off work. She watched them walk away with dueling thoughts battling in her mind. On one hand she was so happy to be here with them, and on the other hand she had never felt more alone watching them disappear and having absolutely no options.

  At least before she had always had Visage as a last resort. She knew that after she exhausted her last option on getting a job, she could always become a blood escort. She had hated the idea not because she had anything against vampires, but out of fear of the unknown, her fear of needles, and the thought of becoming a food source wasn’t exactly appealing. Now that unknown had been her reality, and she couldn’t turn back to it. Not now. Not ever.

  With a sigh, she left the warehouse and started toward the road for home. She only made it a few feet before she heard her name called. It was strange being in a place where again everyone knew her. She could have walked anywhere in the city and never had a single person recognize her. She only knew a handful of people in total anyway.

  And in the warehouses this was the last person she wanted to see.

  Steven.

  “Hey,” she said, trying to act casual. After the last time she had seen him, she just wanted to punch his face into the ground and walk away. But he was much bigger than her, and she couldn’t rely on her brothers getting her out of the situation this time.

  “Little Reyna Carpenter!” he said in greeting. “Back from her blood whore days.”

  Reyna rolled her eyes. “What do you want?”

  He smiled at her, and she wondered why she had ever found him attractive. He was nothing compared to Beckham.

  “Vampires get tired of your blood? Or something else?” He eyed her up and down suggestively.

  “I’ve had a really long weekend. I don’t want to deal with you right now,” she told him. None of what he said was true, but it didn’t hurt the sting that Beckham had let her go.

  “Let’s have fun like old times, Reyna.”

  “No thanks. I don’t want any of your fun.”

  She tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm. “You can’t tell me you’d rather have vampire cock than mine.”

  “And if I did?” she spat.

  He was staring at her menacingly, but then his eyes widened and he didn’t respond.

  “What?” she asked, turning to see what he was staring at.

  “Your chariot awaits.”

  Her mouth dropped open as she took in the familiar black Town Car slowing to a stop in front of the warehouse. The car was still rolling when the back door popped open. Beckham jumped out and ran toward Reyna.

  She was pretty sure she was hallucinating. She blinked twice and even contemplated pinching herself. This had to be a dream. Except Steven hadn’t let go of her arm, and her dreams never really got it right how utterly gorgeous Beckham was.

  Chapter 30

  “Beckham, what are you doing here?” she asked.

  “He’s come to reclaim his whore,” Steven spat. He didn’t exactly drop her arm; it was more like he threw it toward Beckham as if he were offering a prize.

  Beckham’s eyes left hers and looked to Steven standing behind her. Steven took one step backward, as he seemed to take in Beckham’s immense size and the fact that he had the strength and speed of a vampire.

  “Is this your ex-boyfriend?” Beckham asked.

  “Yeah,” Reyna said softly.

  Beckham reached out and grabbed Steven by the collar of his shirt. He hoisted Steven off of his feet until he was eye level with Beckham. “If you ever harass her or anyone she knows ever again, I will personally kill you. That’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

  Without waiting to hear if he would say anything back, Beckham threw him as if he weighed nothing at all. Steven landed hard on his back a few feet away. He scrambled to his feet. Fear was written all over his face.

  She knew that Beckham could have done worse. She’d seen his speed and agility in a fight. Steven should just walk away. This wasn’t a fight he could win.

  “Bloodsucking disease on our world!” Steven called. “You’re all the same. One day we will rid the world of your plague.”

  “But not today.”

  Steven glared and then stormed away. Reyna breathed out a sigh of relief. As much as she despised Steven at this point, she didn’t want him to get himself killed for his insolent mouth.

  Once he was gone, Beckham refocused his attention on Reyna.

  “What are you doing here?” she repeated.

  “You left the money,” he said. It was more of a statement than a question, and she didn’t know what he wanted her to say.

  “Yeah.” She shrugged.

  “Why? It was enough to support you, to keep you safe and secure, to have your own life.”

  “Because I don’t need your charity!”

  “It’s not charity,” he insisted.

  “It is. You wanted to buy me out, but I can’t be bought. I’ll work and get a decent wage like the rest of the country. I won’t be indebted to you the rest of my life.”

  Beckham eyed her curiously. “I wasn’t buying you out. You said you wanted to leave. That was what you wanted.”

  “And then you never came back for me. You saved Penny. I get it. She was injured. I understand her being important to you. But you never checked on me again. Honestly, I assumed you wanted me gone.”

  “I thought you wanted space,” he said.

  Reyna cast her gaze away from him. “I was angry. After everything that happened that night, I was angry and scared. I didn’t know what I wanted. Answers mostly. I guess I figured out your answer when you chose her.”

  “Reyna, I had to take care of her.”

  “I know. I knew she was hurt, but you didn’t have to hammer the nail into the coffin. You said I made it clear that I don’t need you, but you’ve saved me more times than I can count now. I clearly need you in that life, but I don’t need that life. I have another one equally terrifying in its own way where I fight my own battles. But in your world, I can’t fight for you anymore. You won’t let me and it’s breaking my heart, Beckham.”

  He reached out for her hand and took it smoothly into his. She locked eyes with him and saw something swirling around in his she had never seen before. A vulnerability that he had never shown her.

  “Come back.”

  “What?” she asked, flabbergasted.

  “Come back to the city with me. Stay with me.”

  “Why? So you can keep stringing me along?”

  “No, because with me is where you belong.”

  Reyna swallowed and tried to search his face for some form of malice. She couldn’t dare to hope without an answer to her next question.

  “And Penelope?”

  He sighed heavily. “They’re calling me The Saint, and her The Martyr, because in the video footage from the fire she looks dead.” Reyna cringed at the painful memory. “Her face is burned beyond recognition on one side. The rest of her body isn’t in much better shape. She took the brunt of the fires. She might be glad that she is alive, but I can’t tell her how I feel in her unstable state.”

  “And how do you feel?” Reyna asked. She swallowed hard, unable to believe that the words she had craved for so long were so near.

  “That I need you to come back. I need you, Little One.”

  “I don’t know what that means, Beckham. What does that mean?” She needed him to lay it out for her.

  “I thoug
ht you wanted to leave, and I wanted to give you what you wanted. I thought I could keep you separate from my life, but with you gone…I realize I can’t. I can’t live without you. I don’t want Penelope. I’ve never wanted Penelope. I want you, and I want to share all my secrets with you.” His hand cupped her cheek. “I want to be the man you saw on the roof.”

  “Really?” The words were melodic, like hearing the Siren’s song. But doubt crept through even the best words. “Why the change of heart? All of this just because I left the money, because I left you?”

  “Because I can’t live without you. I thought I could, but I was wrong. Come back with me.”

  Beckham’s lips were soft on hers for the briefest of moments. When they broke apart, she looked around at her home.

  Could she ever be happy here again? Or would it always be missing the one thing she had standing right in front of her? Maybe her home wasn’t even her home anymore. Her home was with Beckham and he was finally choosing her.

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  Her heart fluttered in her chest. There were actual butterflies. When she had walked out of Beckham’s apartment, she had never thought in a million years that he would be standing here asking her to come back. She had wished he had stopped her, but wishing for him was like wishing for rain in the desert.

  The sound of feet pounding on the pavement behind them tore her out of her dreamy daze. Beckham stood in a defensive pose, but Reyna placed her hand on his arm when she realized it was only her brothers.

  “It’s okay,” she told him.

  “What the hell are you doing with our sister?” Brian asked. He stared Beckham down like he had any chance of beating the shit out of him.

  “Yeah, back off!” Drew chimed in.

  “Guys, it’s all right.” She put herself between Beckham and her brothers. She didn’t want any fighting. There had been enough of that lately. It was one thing for him to rough up Steven, but it was a different story with Brian and Drew.

  “What are you doing out here?” Reyna asked.

  “We came to check on you. Steven said that there was a guy out here harassing you,” Brian said.

  Reyna shook her head. What an asshole. “Yeah. He was the one harassing me. Beckham, however, is not.”

  The guys sized each other up, and it was completely ridiculous. She wished she could correct male behavior, but instead she just let them have their moment.

  “Beckham, these are my brothers, Brian and Drew,” she said. “Guys, this is Beckham. He was the…person I’ve been staying with in the city.”

  For some reason, she stumbled over the word vampire. It wasn’t as if they didn’t already know Beckham was a vampire if he was who she’d been living with, but it felt weird to call him a vampire. Maybe because he was just Becks to her.

  Beckham extended his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I know Reyna has missed you both very much.”

  Brian gave him a wary look, but then took his hand. She knew he didn’t have anything against vampires, like Steven or even Everett’s friends did. Her brothers weren’t prejudiced in that way. She was sure it was more because of her than anything.

  “I’m Brian and this is Drew.”

  Drew took Beckham’s hand next. He was more welcoming and had a smile on his face. He had always been less reserved than Brian.

  “We’re glad to have Reyna back home,” Drew said.

  “Yeah. She said she had quite a traumatizing experience in the city,” Brian said accusingly.

  “Brian,” she whispered.

  Beckham glanced at her but gave no indication of what he was thinking. “Yes, she has. I hope to change that.”

  She smiled and turned from his gaze. She knew her brothers were going to see what was going on, and she couldn’t even stop herself. He had chosen her! How could she not be giddy?

  “And how exactly do you plan on doing that with her here in the Warehouse District?” Brian asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “What exactly are you doing here anyway?”

  Reyna spit the truth out. “I’m going back with him, guys.”

  “What?” Drew asked. His eyes were wide with hurt. Brian just looked pissed.

  “No, you’re not. You’ve cried yourself to sleep the last two nights. Going back with him is a recipe for disaster. This is your home,” Brian said.

  “You don’t get to make that choice for me,” Reyna said. “As much as I want to be here with you, I need to be with Beckham.”

  “So…there was a part of the story you left out,” Drew accused.

  She blushed. “Yes.”

  Beckham cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m going to give you a few minutes. I’ll be by the car.”

  She nodded with a sigh. “Sorry.”

  Beckham walked away, leaving her alone with her brothers. She whirled on them. “That was rude!”

  “Rude?” Brian asked. “You’re in love with a vampire. We don’t have anything against their kind, but are you out of your mind?”

  “I’m not in love with him,” she said, hoping he couldn’t hear this conversation. She hadn’t figured out how she felt about him yet. She hadn’t wanted to dive too far into it when her heart was at risk.

  Brian scowled further. “Have you thought this through at all, or are you rushing back into it because he’s here to collect you?”

  “I know that this whole thing freaks you out, but it’s exactly how you would have reacted if I’d told you I was going to Visage in the first place. The same reason I never told you. I’m not a kid anymore. You can’t keep treating me like one. I am capable of making good decisions, and Beckham is one.”

  “So, long term, what does this look like?” Brian asked. “He feeds off of you, fucks you, then what? Do you want to become immortal? Are you going to become a vampire and leave your family behind? What is it, Reyna?”

  Reyna paled and avoided his gaze. “I don’t know. Okay? I don’t know. Does it have to be one or the other?”

  “In case you aren’t aware, vampires live forever. You turn fifty, they stay the same age. You turn eighty, they stay the same age. You die. They live. There’s no getting around it.”

  “Okay. Okay. I get it. I know, Brian,” she snapped. “I just don’t see why I have to decide that today. You’ve been dating Laura for five years and still haven’t even proposed. I’ve known Beckham less than a month. Maybe I can wait a couple years like other normal people and see if it still works out.”

  Drew sighed and reached for her hand. She saw he was really upset with the whole thing, and she hated hurting him most of all. “You left us once already, Rey. Don’t do it again,” he pleaded.

  “I know,” she said. “I don’t want to leave you. I’ll come visit. I think I can make it work this time. It will definitely not be forever. But if I don’t go with him, I’ll always, always wonder what if. You might be willing to do that, but I can’t.”

  “Reyna,” Beckham called.

  “Just a minute,” she said, holding up her hand. She looked at her brothers imploringly. “Tell me you love me and want me to be happy. You don’t have to approve of him, but respect my choice.”

  Drew sighed and pulled her into a hug. “We’re going to miss you so much.”

  “I’m going to miss you too.”

  “Come on, Brian,” Drew said. Brian joined in on the hug.

  When they pulled away, she could tell Brian was still upset, but he managed a smile for her. “You always have a home here if it doesn’t work out. Promise to come back.”

  “I will. As often as I can.”

  They followed her over to Beckham’s Town Car. They each shook his hand. “Take care of our sister,” Brian said.

  “I fully intend to,” Beckham said.

  They nodded in some unspoken agreement. Then she and Beckham got into the car and drove
away. She swiveled in her seat and watched her brothers as she left the Warehouse District behind all over again.

  Chapter 31

  When her brothers were finally out of her line of vision, she plopped back down in her seat and tugged her baseball cap off of her head. “How much of that did you hear?” she asked.

  He gave her a pointed look and she nodded.

  “Right. All of it.”

  “They love you,” Beckham said.

  “Yes, they do. Very much so.”

  “You could have stayed.”

  She shook her head. “You and I both know that isn’t true.”

  “They wanted you to.”

  “And a part of me still wants to be with them,” she admitted. “But I want to see where this goes, Becks. It’s not an easy road, but it’s one that I’m willing to travel…with you.”

  He reached for her hand, and they laced their fingers together. It was nice and made her sigh. She knew everything wasn’t right with the world, but the here and now was too wonderful not to relish in.

  Beckham was just staring at her, not saying anything. He wasn’t even looking at his phone. She had become so accustomed to the thing glued to his face that she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

  “Nothing urgent or pressing?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “No text messages you need to send? Emails you need to reply to? Charts you need to look at?”

  He smirked. “No.”

  “I thought it would be a busy day after what happened.”

  “It might be,” he acknowledged.

  “I’m not complaining, but normally you’re kind of attached to your phone.” It was almost a little bit disconcerting to have the full weight of his gaze on her.

  “Did you never ascertain that you were the reason I was always plugged in?”

  Reyna cleared her throat and looked anywhere but at his penetrating gaze. “I mean…I didn’t think that was the sole reason,” she volunteered. “I figured you were…busy?”

  He laughed and it had a lightness she had never heard before. “Sure. I’m busy. All the time. But when you’re in the car with me, I can’t concentrate. I get nothing done. All I could think about was this,” he said, grasping the back of her head and pulling her in for a fierce kiss.