Unrequited

Chapter Three

I sipped my coffee, watching Mark shovel cherry pie into his mouth, closing his eyes and moaning with each bite.

“You two need a room?” I joked shaking my head. “Seriously, you’re going to choke one of these days.”

He grinned. “Death by pie. Not a bad way to go if you ask me. At least I’d die with a smile on my face.” He looked at the uneaten plate of pie in front of me. “You gonna eat that?”

I pushed the plate towards him. “Have at it. Lost my appetite watching you inhale your slice.” I said smiling.

“Hey, nothing wrong in enjoying the little things in life,” he retorted before shoving another forkful of pie into his mouth, juice dribbling down his chin.

I arched a brow. “Can’t take you anywhere,” I chided, reaching over to wipe the juice of his chin with my finger, absentmindedly bringing it to my mouth and sucking the juice off my finger. Hmm, didn’t taste half bad.

Mark swallowed the pie in his mouth and stared at me, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips as he moved around in his chair, shifting positions as though he was suddenly uncomfortable.

I looked down, inspecting myself to see if I had anything on me then raised my hand to my face, patting it lightly. “What? Do I have something on my face?” I asked, still feeling around my face.

He continued to stare, his emerald eyes as wide as saucers before blinking and shaking his head. “You have no idea…” he muttered to himself.

I frowned. “What? I didn’t hear you Mark…”

He scooped up another forkful of pie. “Did I tell you this pie is delicious?” He blurted before shoving it into his mouth.

My head tilted to the side a little, watching him finish the rest of the pie. I was positive he had said something else. He had looked surprised, almost in shock. But before I could say anything else, the bell above the diner’s door dinged, followed by a girlish giggle. We both looked over to see Dan and what’s her name walk in and make their way over to the booth we were sitting in. Mark moved from opposite me, sliding in next to me, his thigh pressing against mine. My stomach erupted into butterflies as Fan sat directly across from me, Casey or Daisy, whatever, sitting next to him. She giggled again, touching Dan’s arm and he smiled down at her.

Mark reached over under the table and squeezed my thigh reassuringly and I inhaled sharply, very aware of how close his fingers were to the tops of my stockings, the touch sending tingles straight to my core. I looked over at him and he winked at me, moving his hand and bringing it up to rest on the table.

What the f**k was that? I thought, a little dumbstruck at my reaction.

“So, Sheriff?” Mark asked, looking directly at his brother.

Dan shook his head. “Nothing we didn’t already know. Although he thinks it’s some kind of animal attack.”

I scoffed. “Always with the animal attacks.”

“We did scope out the building Stacey thought the vamps were staying,” Dan mentioned as he glanced down at her. “Definitely five vamps we saw, maybe a couple more but we’re not entirely sure.”

She was practically sitting on his knee. She may as well be f*****g him right now in front of the entire diner. I couldn’t help but watch them, the way they were touching each other, the way Dan’s eyes would drop to watch her mouth when she talked or licked her lips.

I felt Mark tense beside me. He was not happy. His eyes narrowed as he looked between them both. “You went to the best? Aren’t we supposed to be a team here? You should have called me, Dan and waited for us to join you.”

“We were in and out of the Sheriff’s office in ten minutes. What were we supposed to do Mark? We only watched, we didn’t leave the car and we weren’t spotted.”

Mark’s whole body was tense and I placed my hand on his arm in an effort to calm him but he shrugged it off.

“You weren’t spotted? You know that for sure, Danny? Just because you want to get Stacey here in the sack doesn’t mean you get to work this case without us!” His voice was low and his jaw set as he stared angrily at his brother. I couldn’t blame him. Dan should have waited for us, especially as we didn’t know exactly how many camps we were dealing with. If they’d have been spotted, they would have been overpowered.

Mark stood up and threw some money on the table. “We go tonight. All of us. I want this case finished.” He turned and walked straight out of the diner.

I was still sat opposite them in the booth, not surprised at Mark’s outburst and a little upset he’d shrugged me off. “You know he’s right Dan.” I agreed, scooting over to get out of the booth. “You should have waited.”

Dan frowned. “I had Stacey with me. I did my job.”

Standing, I looked down at them both. Dan looked embarrassed and a little pissed. “No, you didn’t do your job. You’re part of a team, we are a part of the team. And you decided to scope out the place with a hunter we’ve known for less than a couple of hours.”

Stacey looked at me frowning. “Hey…”

“Look sweetheart,” I smirked, “just ‘cos we agreed to work this job with you, doesn’t mean you get to make decisions without consulting the rest of us. Remember that after this hunt, all you’ll be is another notch on Dan’s bed post.”

“Ada…” Dan warned but I ignored him, still looking at Stacey with a smile on my face.

“I’d advise you listen to Mark and learn how to work as part of a team.” I turned and stormed out of the diner before either of them could say anything. Looking around the parking lot, I couldn’t see the car. Mark had f*****g left me here.

“f**k sake Mark. You could have waited for me.” I muttered to myself as I began to walk towards the motel. It wasn’t that far and within twenty minutes, I was unlocking the door. His beloved car wasn’t at the motel either and I knew that meant he was likely at a bar.

I checked the time on my phone; 4:30pm, so we had plenty of time before we went to kill us some vamps.