Chapter 22: Chapter 22

Drake

“Did you smell what I smelled on her?” I asked my brother as the little maid ran away as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Allister shifted next to me, his nose sniffing the air. “There’s something different about her, yes.”

I scratched my chin. “She ran out of here pretty fast. Think we should be worried?”

My brother laughed. “You think too much.”

Shoving his shoulder, I picked up the book Piper had been looking at. “And you don’t worry enough.”

Though we joked, there was something different about her, something that wasn’t there before. I couldn’t think of what could have made her scent change. It was subtle, barely noticeable if you weren’t taking in lungfuls of her scent like I had been doing.

What could I say?

I was a creeper. I liked the taste of her on my lips and since I couldn’t actually kiss her, not without freaking her out again, I would take what I could get.

“So, do you think Wynn will actually get her first?” Allister asked, flipping through a cook book. We rarely ate since our diet didn’t require it, but for some reason, he was obsessed with food. If he had half a brain in his head, he’d use that to seduce the pretty maid.

Shrugging a shoulder, I shoved the book back on the shelf. “I don’t know. Probably. He obviously has an advantage.”

“I wonder if we should even be doing this.” Allister sighed, he tucked the book he had and a few more under his arm. “Antoine already warned us to leave her alone, and then you go and fuck up. Isn’t this pushing our luck?”

I snorted, heading for the library door. “When are we not pushing our luck?”

“Ha. Let’s see you say that when you’re begging to come home.” Allister walked beside me, our footsteps echoing loudly as we make our way down the stairs. “I haven’t heard him use that threat for a least a decade.”

I waved him off. “Antoine just wants to fuck her, or he wouldn’t be such a baby about us scaring her away.”

“Oh, do I?”

Freezing in my steps, I winced. Me and my big mouth.

Slowly turning to the vampire in question, I offered a lazy grin. “Antoine, there you are. We were just talking about you.”

“I heard.” Antoine slid a hand through his long white hair, his pale eyes narrowing on me. I didn’t let him know how fucking scared I was to go to our sire’s. No one in their right mind would want to be with that lunatic. It was bad enough the first five years of my undead life. The further we got away from him, the better our lives had been.

“We were just discussing ways to make Miss Billings more comfortable here.” Allister, ever the kiss ass, showed Antoine his books. “I thought maybe we could make her something to eat? Humans like food almost as much as sex,” Allister ducked his eyes, and muttered, “or so I remember.”

I smacked him on the back and laughed. “Look at him, all flustered about a girl.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment,” Antoine pursed his lips, giving me a warning look, “I think more distance from Miss Billings might be a better solution. However, we have another matter to discuss.” He turned on his heel and walked into the dining room without waiting to see if we followed.

Arrogant bastard.

“What happened here?” I frowned at the mirror shattered on the ground.

Darren had a broom in his hand sweeping up the pieces. He glanced up from the ground to meet my gaze, a grim expression on his face. “Another gift from your favorite little maid. First the Qing, now the Lalique. I think she might be doing it on purpose now.”

“Why would she do that?” Allister asked, putting a bit of power into his voice, making Darren’s shoulders scrunch up like a turtle trying to pull his head back into his shell.

No one liked to fuck with Darren as much as Allister did. He was a nice guy for the most part, but besides Antoine, Darren treated the rest of us like naughty children who needed to listen to their parents. I didn’t know if he meant him or Antoine, but either way, it only put a target on his back for our mischief.

Antoine snapped his finger, knocking Darren out of Allister’s trance before shooting us a glare. Sliding into his chair at the head of the dining room table, he sighed. “Perhaps she has found a reason to stay and the only way she can think to make sure she won’t be fired is to owe us more?”

I snorted.

“You find this funny?” Antoine angled his head toward me.

Flopping down in my chair a few seats away from him, I shrugged. “I just think you give Piper too much credit.”

“Miss Billings,” he corrected me.

Waving him off, I leaned forward and cupped my hands in front of me. “It’s less likely that she actually thinks that and more likely that she’s a klutz. She almost killed herself in the library a few minutes ago getting a book.”

Antoine’s brow shot up to his hair line and then turned his gaze to Allister. “Is this true?”

Allister sat next to me, his shoulders stiff. He didn’t put the books on the table but sat them on the floor next to him. “I caught her.”

“Hmm.” Antoine watched us for a moment before moving his gaze to Darren. “Which do you think it is? An unfortunate mishap or a calculated move?”

Darren let out a rude sound. “If you spent more than five minutes in a room with Miss Billings, you’ll know she doesn’t have a calculating bone in her body. No, if anything, she broke it simply to spite me than to stay here longer. I actually have the feeling she’d rather get a different job but is unable to for some reason.”

The butler’s assessment made me frown. That couldn’t be right. She was a gorgeous woman with plenty of going for her. There’s no way she has to be a maid. I guess if she didn’t have any other skills to fall back on, that would be a problem, but if I were her, I’d have found me a rich husband and never work a day in my life.

Women these days.

“Any other comments?” Antoine asked Darren and then glanced back my way.

I grinned and shifted in my seat. “Yeah, she’s giving me a perpetual case of blue balls. Can we do something about that?”

Antoine’s lip curled up in disgust. “Yes, be an adult and go take care of it yourself.”

“What? You’re not offering up your servant for the job?” I let my eyes linger on Darren who had an unreadable expression on his face.

It wasn’t a secret the two of them dallied with each other from time to time. I didn’t know if they actually cared for one another or it if was simply because their blood bond required it. Either way, it gave me great pleasure to poke at the otherwise serious pair.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” Antoine calmly stated, tapping his finger on the top of the table. “Now, Darren, what’s for dinner?”

The butler’s shoulders sagged. The movement was so slight if you hadn’t been looking for it, you wouldn’t have noticed. I was watching and I did notice. I repressed a grin.

Another point for me.