A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 55: Islands in the Stream

Walking from the bus stop, though the sun was still in its slow process of setting, it had painted the sky a beautiful array color; everything was golden and pink and purple and there was a soft breeze rustling through the trees and my hair. It was a nice moment of quiet after a long day of work.

Until I got close to my building and saw a man sitting on the steps, blocking my only way in.  I clutched my keys in my hand, each key sandwiched between my fingers like claws, my other hand circling my pepper spray, just in case, because Lexi's paranoia had wormed its way into my brain and refused to leave.

His head was bowed, with arms wrapped around his knees, and I couldn't see his face, could barely make out more than his hunched form. Clutching my keys a little tighter, I walked more quietly toward him, debating the risk of passing him or continuing down the sidewalk and waiting for him to leave or even calling Katie to come down. He didn't stir, didn't twitch once, and only once I was close enough to recognize him did I come to a full stop.

"Ace?"

His head snapped up immediately, like I had surprised him.

"Hey," he said with a smile, arms still around his knees.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, relaxing my death grip on my keys and pepper spray.

"Oh I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd drop by," he said, eyes sliding to my hand. "Are you auditioning for the role of Wolverine?"

"Ha, no," I said, dropping all the keys from my fingers except the one I needed, the rest coming to swing together, clinking cheerfully. "I thought I needed protection from the strange man sitting on my stoop." 

His face dropped immediately. "Shit. I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about that, I didn't mean to scare you."

"You? Scary?" I swung my keys around my finger. "Definitely not. But a random guy? Yes."

"Next time I'll give you fair warning," he said, sinking his chin to his knees, gaze sliding to the ground.

I frowned, swatting a mosquito hovering near my face. "You know I'm always happy to see you, you can come by whenever, even as a surprise."

He shrugged and said nothing.

"Hey..." I said gently, coming to sit next to him. "What's wrong?"

"Just had a bad day, that's all."

"Did Lexi get to you already?"

The slightest twitch of his lips as he shook his head.

I lifted the strap if my bag over my head, placing it next to me before I slid an arm around him, resting my head on his shoulder. "Tell me about it?"

"No, it's okay. You don't want to hear it, trust me. I just needed to get away for a bit and I just...didn't want to be alone tonight."

"What ever you want to tell me, I'll listen. But if you don't want to talk, we can just sit here. Hopefully the mosquitoes wont eat us alive while we're at it; vampires are the only blood suckers I like after all."

We lapsed into silence, sitting on the steps as the sun sank lower, the street lights flickering to life to cast an orange glow in the growing darkness.

"It's about blood feasts," he said softly after a moment of quiet.

I stiffened.

It had been over a year ago, but the memories came screaming back to me. Being kidnapped, held prisoner, Blade saving me and us getting bonded...if he had been a few seconds later, if he hadn't shown up at all...