Bitten in Two by Jennifer Rardin Read Free Book Online Page B

sorry, what’d I miss?”
    “I was just wondering why you think he’s different now.”
    “He’s kind of… living in the past. I real y lo—like him.
    But this is starting to get to me. What if, you know, what if he never—”
    “Everybody changes, Jaz. Every day. Al the time. How important is this relationship to you?”
    I cleared my throat. “It’s up there.”
    “Wel , I’d tel you to be patient, but I’m not sure you ever learned that one.” We both laughed. “In which case, just don’t kick his ass so hard you put him in the hospital, okay?”
    I visualized me attempting to do just that. It ended up with me on the ground. Bleeding. “I can pretty much guarantee that’s not gonna happen.”
    “Wel , I hope you hang in there with this guy, then. He’s the first one you’ve told me about since Matt. And I have to think that’s a good thing. Real y, real y good.” I heard the hope in her voice and felt warmed that it was al for me. I knew some people had crowds of relatives cheering them on al through their lives. I had two. Maybe three, but I stil hadn’t decided about Albert. Which was when Evie said,
    “Dad cal ed today.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Now that you’ve told me about your new boyfriend, I think I understand why.”
    “Real y.”
    She paused. “Um, he wanted to know, theoretical y speaking, how I’d have reacted if he had forbidden me from marrying Tim. So, of course, I asked him what was wrong with Tim, and he said nothing, it wasn’t about him. It was you. Which must mean he’s met this guy you’re dating. And he disapproves.”
    I thought back to our mission in Scotland, the one he’d dropped in on unexpectedly. Though we’d tried to hide Vayl’s true identity, we couldn’t have fooled Albert during that last battle, when he’d caused sleet to fal from a clear sky and blown a hole the size of an elevator in the side of a burial cairn. So the old fart didn’t like it that I’d hooked up with a vampire. I’d worried about the ramifications of that for a while. But the fact that he’d cal ed Evie first? I felt a smile slide onto my face. “Cool.”
    “Yeah, I figured that would make you happy. You can have the rest of your present when you get back home.
    Party at my house next weekend. Be there.”
    “Okay.” I hope. “Love you.”
    “Same here. Buy me something extravagant while you’re in Morocco.”
    “It’s my frigging birthday!”
    “Okay, buy yourself something too.”
    She was stil laughing when we hung up.

CHAPTER FIVE
    I’d heard from Dave earlier in the day, a short text reminding me that although I’d been born a few minutes before him, he was stil bigger and therefore deserved more gifts. Also Cassandra had confessed that she’d let their engagement news slip, and because he knew I’d bul ied the information from her, I owed them dinner. That he’d left Kyphas out of the message meant Cassandra stil hadn’t told him the rest of the story—that the demon had come after her because the holy contract she and Dave had entered nul ified al the protections she’d used to successful y duck their deal for over five hundred years. At least he knew about that. But she should know that any guy who’l marry somebody who once traded her soul for the death of the slaver who raped her wil also rol with the fol ow-up punches.
    I wondered if Albert would approve of her if he knew what she’d done. And then I decided it didn’t matter, because I sure as hel wasn’t going to tel him. And if he was pissed at me , that meant he wouldn’t cal at al , so I’d never even have the chance. It also meant I could leave the cool, dark corner of the gazebo and rejoin my crew in the lounge.
    The room was dominated by a brown wicker couch upholstered with the same dark green palm-dotted material as Kyphas’s chair. In front of it sat matching square coffee tables that usual y held vases of fresh roses. Fat forest-green floor pil ows sat at their bases. Overlooking the