I think I knew when Haven came back. Not that I saw him or heard rumors or anything. It was that Andreas got stiff and humorless like he was when I first met him. He also went all possessive on me, wanting to parade through his club with me on his arm like I was a trophy to be looked at but not handled.
"You should stay at my place for a while," he suggested.
I was busy shuffling through my closet in the basement, wondering if I should have it remodeled for more space to add more clothes and shoes. To be honest I hated being in the basement, but I hadn't figured out why light was still coming into my house above ground level. I had heavy curtains and everything. Still, if I happened to wake up too early, I strolled along and was singed on the arm in the hallway. That knowledge had made Andreas insist I move in too. The man wouldn't give up.
"Why should I do that? This place is fine."
In that arrogant way he sometimes had, which I had tried to beat out of him, he glanced around and shuddered. "This? A basement? Ree, you should have better."
Throwing my hands up on my hips, I rolled my eyes at him. "Whether I do or don't is not your concern. I live where I want to. Besides, I like living next to Chelle. You don't see her moving out to the 'burbs or something just because her new boyfriend has deep pockets."
He frowned. "She is not like you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He moved in a flash across the room and pulled me into his arms. His fingers tangled into my hair giving the slightest of tugs until I put my head back. With his eyes glowing in that way he had when he was sexually excited or about to feed, he lowered his mouth to my neck and bit down. I moaned.
I still only fed from Andreas, and he fed wherever I didn't see because I had no desire to know if he was feeding from beautiful women--or from men, which would have been slightly less disturbing. But sometimes, he would nip my neck and draw on my blood. It was the most erotic move and had made me come plenty of times just from the experience. He was a skilled lover who knew how to make my body sing.
"Your friend," he whispered, "is on a mission to prove how independent she can be while barely able to support herself and her son. You understand that your man is here to take care of you, and you accept that."
That pissed me off. I struggled in his arms as hard as I could. As a vampire, I could toss men on their ass with my new strength, but Andreas was a whole other ball game. I said it before, the man is made of stone. While his hardness turned me on, it was also messed up that I couldn't make him sway if he didn't want me to.
"Let me go, Andreas!" I shouted. "You are not here to take care of me. I pay my own bills, thank you. And I'm keeping my house. You're just for the luxuries and great sex. That's it!"
His eyebrows went up. He always did that when I went at him, and it reminded me that he was the one in control, while I flew off the handle.
"Don't look at me like that. You don't know anything about Chelle either." He finally let me go, and I moved as far away from him as I could. I shuffled through bags of clothing he had just spent the weekend buying me. If I could have sighed, I would have. Maybe I was a kept woman, his paid for mistress. "Chelle just started working as a bounty hunter, if you can believe that. A werewolf bounty hunter. She puts food on her table just like she needs to. And I'm not going to move away from her now that she's quit Wicky-Mart or I would never see her. All just because you're scared now that Haven is back in town."
He went still, if that was possible. "How do you know about that? Did he contact you? Ree, I said he's off limits to you!" Well, that riled him.
"Excuse me?"
He countenance turned dark and dangerous. At that moment, I wondered if he would kill me or Haven if ever I thought of going back to his brother. "You heard me. He's off limits. You belong to me."
"I resent you treating me like property, Andreas. It was sexy when we were in the jacuzzi and your dick was in me, but now it's old. No man owns Ree. If I decide to kick it with Haven, that's my business. I won't cheat on you. I'll tell you to your face that you and I are over, but still that's my call. Got it?"
Did I think I was bad or what? Like I was going to tell this man who was something like four hundred years old what he could and couldn't deal with, like it or not. I had to remember Andreas had been dealing in this world his way. He and his brother had made up their own rules, allowable because of their money. Andreas wasn't about to take stuff off this scrawny behind girl from the hood.
Like I said, I had moved on the other side of the room, I was so mad. He put his arm out and compelled me to come to him. He had taught me a lot of cool stuff, like hypnotizing humans to make them forget and how to read minds. The jerk had never mentioned a power to move people against their will.
I tried to resist, pulling away with all my amped up strength. It did not a lick of good. My feet skimmed the floor, and before I knew it, I was right up on him. This time, he didn't tangle his hands in my hair. He just lifted his hand beside me face. My head went back without a touch or me willing it.
With the tip of his tongue teasing my skin, he kissed his way down across my cheek to my chin on to my neck. Tremors rocked my body. After a few nips at my throat, he glided back to my ear. "I won't force you to be with me if you don't want to." The man was rock hard on my belly. Would any forcing be involved at all? Not! "But you will not, under any circumstances, be with Haven if I can't have you. No, let me rephrase. You will not be with Haven, period!"
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