The Vampire Playboy - Blood and Lust

Chapter 23

Charlie's POV

I was nervous. More nervous than I had been in my life, I couldn't get Liv off of my mind. I understood why she had reacted the way she did, I'd given her no reason to trust me. To her, I was a playboy who had chosen her as his new plaything. It wasn't an unfair description of me under usual circumstances. I'd lay awake until it finally became a reasonable enough hour to call her.

And here I was sitting at the Cafe at the Boathouse waiting for her 30 minutes before I was supposed to be. I didn't even know what I was going to say to her. I wanted to tell her that she had me all wrong, that yes I'd been the biggest d*ckhead to her, and beg her to forgive me, but what then? She was with Noah, my best friend. No matter how much I wanted to be with her. I couldn't, she was Noah's and there was no way around that. But I couldn't forget how she had kissed me back, how she had initiated kissing, and how I could smell her arousal. I put my head in my hands and shook it, cursing every move I'd made since Liv came to this town. I'd never messed up so badly in my life and I had messed up spectacularly before many times.

I was on edge waiting for her, I'd gotten up and began pacing around whilst glancing at my watch every few minutes. I didn't want her to see me like this. Eventually, I went to the window ordered myself a coffee, and took a seat. I had 10 minutes to go, I could finish this before she got here, I took a sip of the hot liquid and let my shoulders relax as I slumped back into the chair and rubbed my temples with my hand.

"You're early," the sultry Scottish voice said, causing me to nearly jump out of my seat.

"Sorry, I didn't think you would be or I'd have ordered you a drink too. Do you want one?"

She cooked her head and then pulled out the seat across from me, plonking herself in it. Her light brown hair was in loose waves around her face, she had her work uniform on which surprised me. She looked tired and I felt a guilty knot in my stomach.

"What are you drinking?" She asked.

"Just a coffee, do you want one?"

She raised her eyebrow and the tip of her mouth curled slightly before she reached out taking my cup in her hands. She brought it to her mouth and took a sip, paused for a moment, and took another sip before placing it back in front of me. I was dumbstruck, that might just have been the sexiest non-s****l thing a woman had ever done in front of me.

"I'll have the same as you."

I nodded, words still couldn't form in my mouth. I rose to go get her coffee, putting in a small amount of milk and one sugar just as I had to my own.

"You know, I'd never had coffee until I came here, I haven't found a way I like it yet, but that I liked."

I smiled and looked at her, she took a sip of her coffee and smiled again.

"I like it when you smile," I blurted out.

Liv laughed.

"Full charm offensive right away I see"

I felt myself blushing. I wasn't used to being this open about my feelings and she was being brutal.

"I see you're not immune to blushing either," she said, taking another sip.

I laughed.

"It seems whatever I say doesn't sound like I mean it to. You've got me all flustered, and believe me, Liv, that takes a lot"

"Oh come now Charles, I'm sure there are lots of girls who have got you flustered and left you all hot and bothered."

"Not as much as you think" I replied, I knew she was teasing me, but I wasn't sure if I was enjoying the banter exchange or should be wounded at how she thought of me. But hell if this girl wasn't a match competitor for me, she could meet me toe to toe and would be my equal.

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm breaking up with Noah, it's not because of last night, well it sort of is but it isn't. It's not for you and it's not because of you. I realised that I'm just not into him in that way as much as I should be."

That took me by surprise again. I took a calculated sip of my coffee giving me time to compose a reply.

"I like you. I've tried to push you away, I've been deliberately awful to you to keep you away from me, I've pretended you don't bother me but it's all been a lie. I'm not a good person and I'm not good for you but I don't think I have the strength to stay away anymore. Last night, I've never felt like that ever when I kissed someone. You do something to me. I'm drawn to you." I took a deep breath. "But the reality is you are with Noah and I betrayed him last night. He likes you a lot. But I'm too selfish to ask you not to break up with him because I think you like me too."

I watched as she looked down and chewed the inside of her lip.

"Liv, I don't do relationships, I've never wanted relationships, but you, you make me want to have one with you. I've given you no need to trust me, but I promise I'll show you the real me, the man that you deserve. I'll earn your trust and your heart."

"I don't want to hurt Noah, and you're right I don't trust you. I'm still not convinced you're not playing some sort of game, so no, I won't just jump from Noah to you. I'm not even sure how or what I feel about you, but I won't lie and say there isn't an attraction."

Now we were getting somewhere, she admitted that there was an attraction. That was good enough for me for the moment.

"What do we tell Noah about last night?" She asked quietly.

"Nothing. Neither of us wanted to hurt him. I don't regret kissing you last night, I just regret the circumstances of it. So we tell him nothing, I prove to you that this isn't a game and I genuinely like you, no matter how long it takes, and hopefully by that time Noah might give me consent to ask you out."

"You didn't tell me about Owen’s birthday weekend," she said.

Oh s**t. I'd forgotten about that.

"Well we didn't exactly do much talking last night and to be honest it was the furthest thing from my mind. I just wanted things to be OK with us"

"Sophie told me when I got home. She knows about the kiss."

I nodded. I should have guessed she would have gone to Sophie for advice and to be consoled. Sophie and David were all she had in this world, I couldn't grudge her that comfort.

Liv sucked in a breath before looking at me directly. "Soph thinks, that maybe I should wait until after that weekend before breaking up with Noah"

I could feel my eyebrows meet in the middle, I didn't like that suggestion but understood why it made sense. Liv wouldn't want to ruin Owen’s birthday or make it awkward for anyone.

"I won't pretend it's not going to be difficult for me to see you with Noah but I get why you would want to wait until then. The house is big enough for separate bedrooms if that would help make you more comfortable."

"Buddy, you don't get a say in it." Liv threw her head back laughing.

I loved seeing her like this, she seemed carefree, and she wasn't weighed down by her past or what might come. She was a complete enigma to me, I'd known people who had faced less in their life crumble whilst she stood tall.

"I've got to get to work, Carmella has asked me to go in early" Liv groaned.

My heart sank a little at the thought of her leaving but I also knew I needed to go hunt. I'd not slept last night and hadn't fed for a few days, it didn't make for a good combination.

"I'll come by and see you later at the bar if that's OK?"

She smiled and got up without saying anything.

Instinctively I reached out and grabbed her hand.

"I meant everything that I said Liv"

"We'll see," she said as she turned to walk away, giving me a fantastic view of her arse in those tight jeans.

I waited until she was completely out of sight before starting around the pond towards one of the wooded areas. I sniffed the air to scent any humans, there were none, just the odd small animal. One last look behind me and I took off, everything became a blur as it moved past me. My heightened hearing, sight, and smell meant I could do this easily. I could close my eyes while running at a speed not visible to the human eye and still never lose my footing or bump into something. I could detect subtle disruptions in the atmosphere when an object was in my path and could adjust my course accordingly. It had taken me years to get this good. In the first few years as a newborn, I'd run into many objects and caused many injuries to myself, the objects, and others. I laughed to myself thinking of it. I'd covered around 60 miles in 30 minutes running and stopped when I reached my destination.

I was high in the hills now. The air was thick and cold around me, it clung to my clothes and my hair. I crouched low on the ground letting the wind brush the air past me so I'd be downwind from my intended prey. I listened carefully to the sounds of the hills, birds, leaves dropping and heather bristling. I inhaled deeply as I closed my eyes, concentration focused on only one goal as the familiar earthy and mineral-gamey smell coated my nostrils, and my throat ached to know that relief would be close by.

I unleashed the natural-born killer inside of me. I felt my eyes shift so that they would resemble cats' eyes, my teeth sharpened into deadly weapons as my body uncoiled and leaped through the air. I was upon the deer before it even knew what had happened, my strong hands around its neck-snapping it in one swift movement as though it was a twig. I'd grown revolted by any sort of suffering my kind could cause over the years and regardless if my prey was animal or human, I vowed to make it swift and sure, they wouldn't know what I intended to do. I sunk my teeth into the animal's neck, I felt its vein pulsating beneath my teeth as I drew in the warm metallic liquid, the nourishment that my body needed to sustain me, I let it wash down my throat, the warmth coating my insides, healing me on a molecular level, the deer's heartbeat slowed as I drank down deeper until eventually there was no beat anymore and I was satiated once again. A life for a life.