Page 13 of The Donor’s Dilemma

“Verity!” Adam called, rushing forward and grabbing her in a hug.

A little of the tightness in her chest eased at knowing she wasn’t alone. She’d messaged him about the support group last night, wondering if his invitation had been missed too, but he hadn’t replied.

“How’s it going? You donated again yesterday, right?” he asked, dragging her over to a group gathered by a table of refreshments.

“Yeah. It’s good…” she started as Adam pushed her forward, as if showing off a new toy.

“Everyone, this is Verity. We did induction together,” he declared, and started rattling off names that she immediately forgot.

Georgie, Sienna, Preston…

The group stopped talking, a few frowning at each other before giving Verity a not so subtle once over. It struck Verity that, of all the donors in the room, these were the youngest, the prettiest. Gods, there was seriously a cool group? Verity couldn’t be doing with that crap, she’d thought high school politics was over.

“Who’s your client, Verity?” asked a gorgeous brunette, Sienna, maybe, with a venomous smile. Mid-twenties, button nose and legs longer than a super model.

“Theo Chapel,” Verity said, holding her cold stare.

“Lord Mayor Theodor Chapel?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s the one.”

“Half an hour late for their first appointment, wasn’t he?” Adam exclaimed.

Verity couldn’t be sure if he was trying to break the apparent tension, or if he was truly oblivious to the way the brunette’s gaze hollowed out as she watched the newcomer. Before Verity could reply, Maybe-Sienna smirked and shook her head. The group immediately disbanded, needing no more instruction before wandering off, sniggering to each other in hushed tones.

“Come on, Adam,” she said, walking away, fully expecting her pup would follow.

To Adam’s credit, he looked as shocked as she felt, turning between Verity and the cool kids who were taking seats in the large circle of chairs.

“Go, it’s fine,” Verity said.

“No, I…” Adam started, as the group watched, waiting for him to join them.

“Go,” Verity said again with a tight smile. “We can catch up later.”

Adam nodded, mouthing an apology before running off to take the chair next to the Queen-Bee.

Verity didn’t care; she wasn’t there to make friends and hadn’t expected to see Adam. Although with a clique like that in the room, her list of questions suddenly seemed a lot shorter. Not in all the hells was she going to ask about getting turned on in front of them.

Verity found herself a cup of tea and took a seat as the vampire from the stairs called for everyone to sit.

“Welcome everyone, and a special welcome to our new donors this evening. For those who don’t know me, I’m David and as you can see, we have a special guest visiting tonight,” he gestured to a tall blonde vampire wearing a white trouser suit and a killer smile. “This is Vivienne Green. She’s visiting from Highhaven and wanted to meet some donors while she’s in town.”

Vivienne smiled. “It is always so very important to me to meet the people who keep our great county working. We would be nothing without our donors.”

She glanced around the circle as she spoke, the sincerity of her words making Verity wonder if Vivienne was the vampire equivalent of the honourable donor. Maybe for her first meeting she should just listen.

“Why don’t we meet our newbies?” David said, turning to Verity.

Fucking wonderful.

The whole group turned as one to look at her. Waiting.

“Er, hi. I’m Verity,” she said, with an awkward wave. She wasn’t a shy person, but the weight of the room pressed down on her.

“How long have you been donating and who’s your client?” David asked when she didn’t go on.

“Wednesday was my first donation, and my client is Theodor Chapel.”