Page 107 of The Donor’s Dilemma

No. No! He wouldn’t do this.

Verity heard her mum moving in the kitchen and darted out the front door, not wanting to talk. Debbie called it her mother’s intuition, one look at Verity’s face, and she would want to know what was wrong, and Verity had no idea what she’d say.

Marching to the bus stop, she shoved the letter into her bag and pulled out her phone. It was a mistake. It had to be. And if it wasn’t he could tell her himself. If it wasn’t she’d kill him for getting the Exchange involved.

It was a mistake.

She hit call and waited, listening, heart racing, begging her voice not to break. It rang and rang until she heard his familiar, smooth voice. “This is Theo. Sorry I can’t take your call…” She hung up. Theo always answered his phone. Always.

Arriving at the bus stop, she checked the time; he wouldn’t be at work yet, so no point calling him there. That would also mean talking to Stella, and if she knew what had happened, that would be a whole new level of mortification.

No. Stella wouldn’t know, because it was a mistake. She’d call him again when she got to the cafe and everything would be fine.

Only it wasn’t. He still didn’t answer.

Lights were on at the cafe as she walked up and Verity mentally prepared herself to talk to Cora. Chest tight, hands sweaty. She wasn’t okay but she could pretend, get through the night and… and what? Theo was avoiding her.

The bell rang, announcing her arrival, and the moment Cora looked up from the till Verity burst into tears.

“What the fuck?” Cora said, running over and pulling Verity into a hug. “What’s wrong? Babe, what’s happened?”

Verity shook her head, choking back sobs. This wasn’t the time. Customers would be arriving any second. “It can wait,” she whimpered.

“I don’t think so,” Cora said, dragging her into the back, past a sympathetic looking Kim.

“No, really. Please,” Verity pleaded. “I just…”

“If that Adam’s hurt you…” Cora held her by the shoulders, looking into her glassy eyes, face crinkled in love and worry, and Verity found that she couldn’t lie anymore.

“It wasn’t Adam,” she said, hand reaching for the tender bite mark on her neck. It still wasn’t as stark as most she had seen, but it was far more noticeable than the first one. “It was never Adam.”

The image of Sienna came to mind, her story of the vampire who used her and then cast her aside when he grew bored. Was that what had happened? Had Theo got what he wanted and found her boring now the mystery had gone? Had she been too easy? Too desperate?

The idea made her sick.

“What do you mean?” Cora asked, her eyes following Verity’s hand and going wide at the sight of the bite. “Is that…?”

“Theo,” Verity snivelled.

“Oh gods!” Cora batted Verity’s hand away to get a proper look at the bite. “Did he…? If he made you…”

“No,” Verity cut in. “He didn’t make me do anything.”

“Wait wait wait.” Cora stepped back, jaw dropping as realisation struck and Verity’s heart sank. “It was never Adam?”

Verity shook her head.

“So, when you were late that time, the day after Valentine’s…”

“I was with Theo,” she mumbled, unable to look at her friend. Her heart ached as it was, seeing a look of disgust on Cora’s face would have been too much to bear. “I wasn’t… it was complicated.”

“Sweetheart,” Cora’s voice was as soft as her touch as she carefully wiped the tears from Verity’s cheeks. “I wish you’d told me,” she said, pulling her into another tight hug that melted every ounce of the worry that her friend would shun her.

The door chimed, followed by the chatter of the evening’s first customers, and Verity jumped at the chance to change the subject.

“You mind if I work in the back today?” she asked.

“You do whatever you want, babe. You didn’t have to come in.”