The Vampire Playboy - Blood and Lust

Chapter 32

Charlie's POV

I was pissed off and I wasn't even trying to hide it anymore. I took my rage out on the boulder but that only lasted long enough until I saw Liv in my top and was left speechless, but I'd been caught off guard by how hostile she had been towards me both at that moment and then at the fun fair. I could tell she was avoiding me and that kiss to Noah was the final straw.

It took every fiber of my being to not grab her and ask her what the f**k was going on.

She was devastatingly stunning in that outfit and she was kissing my best f*****g friend. This was like torture, or maybe I should take the hint. I saw them last night, and Noah was uncharacteristically coy when I tried to question him about it. Usually, he would sing like a canary about his conquests, the only time he didn't was when he liked them. I'd burrowed my deep trying to deny that he didn't have feelings for her, that this triangle I had created wasn't as complicated as that. The evidence to the contrary was stacking up, but I'm a stubborn i***t who doesn't know when to give up. I needed to hear it from her, that she had chosen Noah, if she has I'd respect it, I'd back off, I'd leave them to be happy and I'd be f*****g miserable watching them but I'd get over it eventually. But f**k that kiss hit deep along with the images of her legs around his waist.

The rain was coming down and I should have paid attention on the drive. There was a risk the river could burst its banks and then it would be problematic to get home. This wasn't like me. I was taught to always be aware of my surroundings no matter where it was or who I was with. It wasn't safe to drop my guard.

I followed the others to an empty table and grunted my order of a bottle of bud to the waitress. Carmella pulled her seat close to me and put her hand on my lap, I swiftly removed it, not bothering about who might have seen it. Sophie was up dancing with Olivia, the two of them jumping around like they had no coordination, with Owen soon joining them.

"Is everything ok?" Noah asked bringing his head in close as Carmella disappeared.

"Fine, just fed up with her clinging to me. She doesn't get the hint."

"Maybe that's because you were happy for her to be all over you yesterday." He said with a raised eyebrow as drinks were placed on the table.

I took a drink and grunted, my eyes seeking out Liv again.

"What's going on Charlie? I can tell you're not yourself. You can talk to me you know."

"I know, nothing is wrong."

"Look dude, you're usually sullen and grumpy like this when Alexandra has swept through, has she been in touch?"

I took a much larger drink and narrowed my eyes.

"No, you would know if she had. Look just drop it"

"OK OK." He held his hands up in surrender. "Look I'm sorry, in hindsight I shouldn't have invited Carmella, it was a dumb move without asking you. But I was honestly trying to get you out of this funk you seek to be in. You keep telling me nothing is going on or nothing wrong but I know you and you haven't been acting like you for months now. You were the biggest asshole to Olivia when she arrived, then you turned that around but you've not been yourself."

"Maybe I'm just tired of f*****g random girls constantly, maybe I'm finally seeing that I've been given a gift and I should take advantage of that and not just sink my d**k into every girl I see?"

Noah's eyes were like saucers and he sat silent for a moment. I hadn't meant for that to come pouring out of me, especially to Noah, I've always been very clear I didn't want relationships, that I was happy to be the playboy for eternity, Peter Pan and I played the role well. I knew he had to be wondering what the hell had happened to change that.

"Look, I'm not saying I'm looking to wife up or mate up but I couldn't continue like I was for hundreds of years, I've been living this way for hundreds of years, and yeah I've enjoyed myself but maybe I just want to try living a different way for a while and I'm just trying to figure out how to do that," I said taking another drink and refusing to meet Noah's eyes.

"You could have told me that Charlie, we've always done everything together even when we've been on different paths we've done it together as brothers do. You know I would support you through anything and any choice you make, hell I'd be happy to see you settle down for however long, you might want to note that the towns severely lack female vamps though" he said laughing, "I won't even suggest a human I know your view" he said laughing further.

Guilt gnawed away at me, now should be the time to tell him that maybe my opinions on humans had changed, that I'd met one that made me want to settle down, that made me want to be better and do better, but how could I do that without telling him it's his girlfriend. This was a mess, I'd created a mess with my own best friend and brother.

"Thank Noah, you know I love you, bro." I said with sincerity.

"Don't go getting soft on me" he chuckled.

"In the interest of honesty, I think I've messed up again and I might need you to cover for me for a few hours." He said sheepishly.

"What do you mean?" I was apprehensive now.

I watched as he scrubbed his hand down his face and chewed the inside of his cheek.

"I f****d up. I didn't bring any blood with me."

"What the f**k Noah! Why?" This was twice now, it wasn't like Noah, he preferred to feed on human donor blood, whereas I preferred animal, each to their own, but it meant that he had to plan to make sure he could order in enough stock and always have somewhere to store it to keep it cool. But he knew I had concealed fridges in the basement exactly for this reason.

"I know I know" he held his hands up and sighed. "I've let my d**k do the thinking. I hoped Olivia would share a room with me and then I was worried once I invited Carmella that she would go snooping and would find it, it was dumb of me I know."

"s**t! I could have had a supply here waiting for you if you had told me."

"I planned to go hunting last night, and then got distracted when Olivia ended up in my bedroom."

My blood ran cold, I didn't want to hear anymore. I couldn't, I felt sick at the thought of him touching her, just seeing them last night had pushed me to my limit, and the pain of it still weighed heavy on my chest.

"Glad you finally got some," I said, forcing the words out, they felt acid on my tongue.

He laughed, "That's the worst part, I didn't, I thought I was going to, well actually no I didn't, initially I thought we would watch a movie then I'd go hunting when she went to bed, but we didn't even make it to the movie."

"I don't need the gory details" I forced a laugh.

"Charlie" he laughed, "normally you want everything right down to the position"

Not when it involved Liv I didn't.

"Anyway Olivia was feeling a bit dizzy from the wine, and went to get a glass of water, she was gone for a while so I went to find her, I was worried maybe she had taken unwell but then I hadn't heard you or Carmella go to bed so thought maybe she was talking to you guys" I could feel bile rising in my throat as he continued, "she came from upstairs without the water but practically launched herself onto me and well it got hot and heavy and we ended up in my bed, before it could get anywhere she stopped it and went back to her room. I ended up being left ….Well you know, so I spent the night taking care of myself several times" he laughed again and I immediately calmed down.

Nothing happened between them but, if she had been downstairs then, f**k she might have seen Carmella and me, but I didn't hear someone come down, though I could have missed them as I was focused on what was happening. s**t, that would explain her behaviour towards me, she hadn't decided she was staying with Noah, she had seen us. I swallowed hard. I needed to talk to her to set her straight on what she thought she saw. I looked up to see her still dancing with Owen and Sophie, she was doing moves like she was swimming whilst Owen and Sophie were doing the chicken. I laughed looking at them, Noah looked and laughed top.

I had no idea where Carmella had gone and I didn't care, she had probably found some other guy to drape herself over.

"I wouldn't hurt her, you know that, but I put you and us all and her at risk last time I pushed it too far, and I can't take that risk again," Noah said solemnly.

"I'll cover for you, say you've got some urgent business matters to deal with or something, and I'll come up with a cover story. You know Owen will lend weight to it whatever it is." I added.

Noah nodded, just as Olivia and the others came over to the table, Olivia took a sip of a large glass of wine as Noah pulled her onto his knee and nuzzled into her neck. I looked away.

"I'm sorry darling, I'm going to need to go out for a couple of hours or so, something urgent has come up with work that I need to take care of, I'll try not to be long, but I've got access to an office in town to resolve it," Noah said to her, his voice as smooth as silk.

Olivia smiled, and took another sip, "Duty calls" she replied with a smile and a shrug of her shoulders, "I will continue to drink and dance" she said with a laugh as she moved to get it.

"Thanks for being so understanding, you're the most amazing girlfriend," Noah said as he rose from the chair and kissed her lips, letting his linger for a moment before Olivia pulled away.

She motioned for Sophie to join her on the dance floor and did a little sidestep as she went.

"Everything ok?" Owen asked seriously as Noah put on his jacket.

"Yeah man, just need to feed," Noah replied.

Owen nodded, "see you soon then" Noah waved as he left. "Are you coming to dance?"

I laughed, "I'm going to need more to drink if I'm going to dance" I replied laughing deeply, though dancing with Liv caused all sorts to stir inside me.

I made my way to the bar and waited to be served. I heard giggling to my right and turned to see Liv sitting a few seats away chatting with a guy I didn't know. She was laughing and touching his arm, he had a broad smile on, his eyes rarely lifting from her breasts. Rage bubbled up inside of me and I moved beside Liv, she didn't seem to notice, too entranced in whatever this creep was saying.

"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked her.

"She has a boyfriend" I cut in with a growl not giving Liv the chance to answer.

"Oh sorry dude, didn't mean to step on your toes" he replied taking a step backward.

"He is not my boyfriend." Liv said, her tone ice cold as the barman placed another glass of wine in front of her, "just f**k off Charlie"

That hit me square in the chest. Not only had she told me to f**k off but she called me Charlie, not Charles. What the f**k. "Liv, can we talk?" I asked gently once I'd composed myself.

"No, just stay the hell away from me," she said pointedly as she jumped down from the seat and walked away with purpose. The guy she had been talking to scurried away fast with his head down.

I took a moment to consider going after her and decided against it. I'd let her cool down a bit before trying again, but I didn't want to leave it like this, I knew I couldn't leave it like this.

I watched as Liv walked over to the table and took a seat with her back to me. She raised her glass to her lips taking a sip whilst watching Sophie be twirled around on the dance floor by Owen.

"Are you being served?" A fruity voice disturbed my observation.

"A bottle of bud please " I replied, turning to see the tall blonde who had asked. She shot me a smile, this wasn't unusual once someone got a look at me and was drawn in. I watched her walk away and bend down at the fridge, retrieving the bottle. Her tiny black skirt showed the bottom of her ass cheeks in the process. She turned slightly catching me looking, this seemed to elicit a sly smile, rather than the scowl I was expecting. She took her time with the drink, bending further down and giving me a full show. When she finally straightened up and turned back to me her top had moved down exposing a lot of her breasts and bra. I swallowed hard, normally I'd be drooling at this display and turning on the charm.

"I've not seen you here before," she said as she handed me the bottle.

"Keep the change," I said, handing her a ten, "just a flying visit".

"Staying local?" She asked while slowly licking her lips.

"I have a house a few miles out of town, I'm here with some friends" I tilted my head in the direction of the others hoping she might get the hint.

She leaned over the bar exposing her breast even further. I could smell her flowery overpowering perfume as she pushed across closer to me.

"I get off about midnight" she added suggestively with a wink.

"Sorry, you seem like a nice girl, and I don't mean to be offensive but I'm not looking for anything. She looked startled, made a throaty noise then turned abruptly away.

I took a drink and turned back to look for Liv, she was at the table, but wasn't alone, Carmella was there, she had a determined and satisfied look on her face, a smirk firmly fixed whilst engaged in what seemed to be an animated discussion with Liv. The music was too loud and I couldn't hear what they were saying even with my enhanced range. There was no way Carmella would put Liv straight on what happened or didn't happen last night, in fact, she had picked up on my attraction to Liv and my changed behaviour and had guessed my feelings correctly so she was more likely to drip some poison. I took a step forward to intervene, but paused when I saw Liv rise from her chair and throw her glass of wine in Carmella's face.

I rushed to the table not caring who saw my speed might be faster than normal. Liv knocked into me as she rushed past. "Liv" I called out, she didn't stop she carried on going out of the door, Sophie must have noticed as she ran after her.

"What the f**k did you say to her?" I demanded of Carmella who was dabbing napkins to her face. "Nothing much, just that you would always pick Noah over her" a smirk went from ear to ear.

"You f*****g b***h" I hissed at her, this just caused the smirk to deepen.

"Deep down you're as big a player as me, we both enjoy games, but that girl, she's not like you and I Charlie, it's not my issue if she doesn't know how to fight dirty"

Rage was pulsating through me, right now I wanted to rip out Carmella's throat and watch her blood paint the walls crimson. I'd happily watch her bleed to death right now and feel not an ounce of guilt for it. Sophie's reappearance grounded me. I clenched my fist and ground my teeth together as I walked to meet her. Her face was fixed in a hard line.

"She's jumped in a taxi and gone back to the cabin," she said as Owen appeared at her side.

"I'm going after her" I stated without hesitation.

Sophie sucked in a breath. "Charlie, she likes you a lot, she's told me everything that's been going on. Don't you f*****g hurt her, she's had enough hurt in her life already." She grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving as she said it.

"I'm not trying to hurt her, I know this is messy and I've caused it, I've messed up and I'm trying to fix it. I promise I won't hurt her." I sighed, "her heart is safe with me"

Both Sophie and Owen seemed surprised by that revelation.

"Then go," Sophie said while nodding.

I went to the door, there wasn't any time for a taxi, I'd be faster running.