Real Vampires Don't Diet by Gerry Bartlett Read Free Book Online Page A

away with that? Come on. Let's shower together. See where it goes. There's plenty of room and look what you've done to me." He pulled me against him.
    Oh, yes, I'd definitely found myself a butt man. But bringing up my boyfriend had been stupid. I do love Jerry and sex to get even with someone isn't my style, though it probably was pretty common in Ray's world.
    All in all, Ray making a move was a nice ego boost. I have a healthy libido and I was definitely attracted, but I also have a little loyalty-to-jerry thing going too.
    I smiled and shook my head. "Sorry, Ray, but it's not happening." I gave him a gentle shove. "Now go rest while I shower."
    "I won't beg." Ray held up his hands and backed up. "I'm not feeling so great, to tell you the truth." Once under the hot shower, I ignored those sexy shower heads, shampooed my hair and took stock. Tonight I'd been abandoned by my lover, collected a one-way ticket to hell and taken care of a wounded rock star. Did Glory St. Clair know how to ring in the New Year or what?

Chapter Four
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    "How is he? Valdez said Ray's not feeling so great."
    "Begging me to stake him and put him out of his misery." It had been tough not saying "I told you so." But seeing Ray laid low had killed any desire I had to gloat. "He's in bad shape, Nate."
    "I thought the vampire healing sleep was supposed to cure everything for you guys." Nathan Burke, Ray's best friend and manager, had arrived during the day.
    "Normally, it does." I'd decided to sleep over, to be here when Ray woke up. Strictly in my capacity as mentor, of course. Good thing, since he was in agony. And I hadn't shared everything with Nate yet.
    "So what's the deal here?" Nate paced around Ray's king-size bed. "I don't care if his head's about to explode. Give him an aspirin or the whole damned bottle. Get up, Ray. We've got to go over your schedule. This is important."
    "Alcohol screws up our systems. Ray drank a boatload of it before I got here and stopped him." I shut the hall door. There were shouts downstairs where a football game played on the big-screen TV. Delicious smells came from the kitchen. Will was cooking chili for the crowd that apparently figured a New Years Eve party included the day and night after. "I haven't told you the worst of it."
    "What?" Nate sat on the edge of the bed. "Ray? Come on, bud. It's not like you to wimp out on me." He tried to pull the sheet down but Ray held on to it and a mortal was no match for a vampire, even one in subpar condition. "Sienna's going to be here tomorrow. You still want her to stay here? Or should we arrange a hotel suite?"
    No response other than a weak foot jiggle.
    "He can't say anything, Nate. His voice is gone."
    "What?" Nate jumped like he'd been goosed by a hot poker. "No. Can't be. That was the single most positive thing to come out of this vampire crap. That his voice would be golden forever." He ran his hand through his close cropped black hair. "Sorry, Glory, but you know blood sucking has complicated the hell out of Ray's life. Then we thought, okay, at least he doesn't have to baby his voice. Watch his throat, like that." Nate grabbed my arm. "This is temporary, right?"
    "Should be. Give it a day, a week at most."
    "No, no, no. Not a week. Sienna Star is here to rehearse. For their big number at the Grammys. On TV. Their duet is nominated. This is huge." Nathan jerked the sheet off Ray. Apparently stress had given him super powers. "Look at him. He should at least be wearing a T-shirt."
    I looked at Ray all right. He'd come out of the shower in a towel, then dropped it to root around in a drawer for about an hour looking for a pair of blue silk boxers. That apparently took the last of his energy and he'd collapsed on the bed, unconscious again. It had been near dawn by then and I'd had a quick conference with Valdez, issued orders and crawled into bed with Ray. We slept like the dead anyway.
    When he woke up this evening, Ray had felt the