AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His lips curved. “I know.”
I felt concerned, since he still looked troubled. “What’s really wrong, Declan?”
He shook his head. “If he’d forced himself on you any further, I would have ripped his head off. As it is, he took a simple fuck off as an answer. He’s very popular with women. Your rejection must have come as a shock considering his track record.”
“Do you think I was tempted?”
He blinked. “Were you?”
“No. Were you jealous?”
He gripp
ed the edge of the table, his knuckles whitening. “I don’t know. With the serum, all—all I feel is this emptiness inside of me. Where there should be emotion, there’s . . . nothing, just an empty black hole. I know that’s where all the shit I should be feeling belongs. I never felt it before—never noticed it, anyway—but I do now.”
“Emptiness.”
“Yeah.”
I bit my bottom lip as my throat began to tighten. “I know how you feel. I have that, too.”
“You do?”
I nodded. “It’s hard to deal with that empty feeling, but sometimes we don’t have any choice.”
His expression darkened. “Jackson gave you a choice.”
I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes at that. “Yeah, he did. Since I can’t be with you, he was more than willing to serve as a replacement. Really big of him.”
His brows drew together. “Is that why you feel empty? Because we can’t be together?”
We were treading on dangerous territory. I wasn’t really prepared for this conversation about emotions and empty black holes with a man I couldn’t really have. It felt like trouble, and I already had enough of that to begin with. “Look, Declan, let’s just eat. It’s been a long day. Maybe tomorrow Dr. Reynolds will get back to us.”
“He will. I don’t doubt it. He’s a serious dick, but I really think he can help you. Then you won’t have to deal with all of this, deal with me, with horny assholes like Jackson sniffing around you. You can go back to your regular life and normal men who can be with you when they want to be.”
I reached across the table and grabbed his hand. It was currently clenched into a fist. “Normal guys are completely overrated, just so you know.”
His hand relaxed in my grip. “I’m about as abnormal as they get.”
“Feeling sorry for yourself tonight?”
He gave me a humorless smile. “That’s just the problem. I’m not feeling anything. And yet . . .”
“What?”
“The thought of you with Jackson . . . I wouldn’t call it jealousy, exactly. But it bothered me. I didn’t like it.”
That was interesting. Not jealousy, but something that triggered some sort of reaction in the emotion-free dhampyr.
I intertwined my fingers with his. “I’m not having a luxurious fast-food dinner like this with him, am I?”
“No.” He leaned back in his chair, pulling his hand away from mine. I tried not to take it personally. “He was right about one thing.”
“Which is?”
“That you’re a woman of passion. You deserve more than this.”
I glanced around the small room. “More than . . . burgers and fries at a seedy motel?”
