One Lucky Vampire

Fourteen

“Are you hungry?”

Nicole pulled her gaze from the passing lights going by outside the car window and glanced to Jake as she considered that question. She didn’t have to consider it long. Now that he’d asked, she was suddenly aware that her stomach seemed to be trying to eat itself. “Actually, I am.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jake murmured, his gaze on the road ahead. “We never did get to eat that chocolate cake.”

Nicole bit her lip and turned her head out the window again, trying to hide a blush as she recalled why they’d not eaten the cake. They’d had a snack at the food court when they’d first got there, so whether they’d eaten the cake was irrelevant. He’d only brought it up to tease her, she was sure, and she didn’t want to give him the reaction he was looking for and let him see she was blushing. With the average guy, Nicole wouldn’t have worried he could see her blush in the dark light of dusk, but Jake wasn’t your average guy. He’d said immortals had better night vision. How much better, she didn’t know.

“Want to order pizza when we get back?” Jake asked now and she could hear the smile in his voice and knew from that, that he was aware that he’d succeeded at making her blush.

“Yes, please,” Nicole said sweetly, and when he glanced to her, stuck her tongue out.

Jake burst out laughing at the childish action, and then took one hand off the steering wheel to reach over and squeeze her knee.

“Mmmm,” he murmured, as his fingers closed on naked skin. “Or we could eat out.”

“You already did,” Nicole said, grabbing his hand and removing it when it started to slide up her leg. Damn, just that little touch had fire traveling through her veins. She really shouldn’t have agreed to changing into one of the new skirts when he’d suggested it at the mall. They were never going to make it home without stopping at the side of the road at this rate.

“Ms. Phillips!”

She glanced around with surprise at his scandalized tone. “What?”

“Did you just say what you said?” Jake asked, eyes wide and laughing as he glanced from the road to her.

Nicole frowned, not getting it. She— “Oh!” Her eyes widened incredulously as she suddenly understood his play on words. Flushing a brilliant red now, she protested, “I meant at the food court! You ate out at the food court when we first got there.” Adding a frustrated “Ohhh,” she smacked his arm.

Jake chuckled. “You should have seen your face when you caught on.”

“Yeah?” Nicole asked, eyes narrowing. He really was enjoying this, which made her decide that since he so enjoyed tormenting her, she could do a little tormenting of her own. Smiling, she announced, “Well, I think I want dinner out after all.”

Jake’s eyebrows rose at her change of heart.

“It’s probably the only way to ensure I’ll get fed within the next several hours,” she added dryly.

“Yeah, it is,” Jake admitted, mouth spreading wide in an unapologetic smile. He then shrugged. “Sorry. Can’t seem to help myself. Every time I touch, smell, or—hell, just look at you—I want to do things that would make a prostitute blush.”

Nicole was trying to sort out what those things might be when he asked, “Is there anywhere special you want to go?”

Nicole immediately named a restaurant that she knew had good food, low lighting . . . and booths.

“Okay,” Jake turned down the next road to head for Highway 417 and take it across town.

They’d shopped at Bayshore Shopping Centre, a good twenty-minute drive from the restaurant. The drive would give her time to plot her attack. Nicole intended to use the low lighting and privacy of the restaurant booth to drive the man wild, in public, where he couldn’t do a thing about it. She suspected it would mean she’d find out what it was like to have sex in the backseat of a car on a dark country road on the way home. But heck, that was an experience she’d missed as a teenager, and new experiences were a good thing. Right?

They’d only been on the highway for a couple of minutes when Nicole was distracted from her plotting by a low curse from Jake. She glanced curiously toward him and then had to grab the overhead grip to steady herself as he suddenly swerved sharply into the outside lane to avoid rear-ending the car in front of them.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, noting the frown on his face.

“The brakes aren’t working,” Jake said through his teeth, hands tightening on the steering wheel.

“Are you sure?” Nicole asked, and then realized how stupid that sounded. Of course, he must be sure. It wasn’t like he could be wrong about something like that. Besides, one glance down showed her that he was pumping his foot on the brake, but they weren’t slowing at all.

“Yes, honey, I’m sure,” he said grimly.

“Sorry, it was a stupid question,” she muttered, glancing toward the road ahead. It was clear for a bit, but she could see rear lights in all three lanes about a half mile ahead. “I had the car in for its winterization last week. They checked everything then, including the brakes, and said it was fine.”

“Yeah, well they aren’t fine now,” Jake said quietly. “Worse yet, I’ve had my foot off the gas pedal for a full minute now and we aren’t slowing down.”

“Oh, that really isn’t good,” Nicole said faintly, her eyes shifting back to the road ahead again.

Jake didn’t comment. His full attention was apparently on driving . . . or perhaps he was trying to decide what he could do. Sensing movement beside her, she glanced over just in time to see him try the emergency brakes. Nicole instinctively braced herself for an abrupt halt, but nothing happened. Jake didn’t look terribly surprised. In fact, he seemed incredibly calm, if extremely grim. Meanwhile, she was having a major panic attack inside.

“What are we going to do?” she asked nervously.

“Downshift,” Jake answered, and did just that before hitting the hazard lights.

Nicole bit her lip and glanced out the front window again. They were coming up on the cars quickly and it didn’t seem to her that downshifting had worked. Her head swiveled to the window beside her when it started to roll down.

“Wind resistance,” Jake shouted over the sudden roar of air rushing into the SUV. “It might help a little.”

Nicole nodded, noting that he’d opened all the windows . . . and it was damned cold. But better cold than crashed she supposed, doing up her coat. This really hadn’t been the best time to wear a skirt, she decided, regretting changing out of her jeans at the mall.

“I’m going to use the center barrier to try to slow us down,” Jake yelled.

Nicole nodded, but didn’t bother trying to talk over the wind. Nothing seemed to be working yet. At least, it didn’t appear to her that they’d slowed any, but she kept that opinion to herself and let him do what he had to do. Nicole was extremely grateful that Jake was driving though. She’d have tried the emergency brakes, but wouldn’t have thought of downshifting, or windows . . . or scraping the car up against the center barrier to try to slow the vehicle. She added that last thought as the tires hit the bottom of the pear-shaped barrier. Nicole had expected the driver’s side door to scrape along the concrete, but it was just the tires . . . for now.

She started to bite her lip, and then quickly stopped doing that, afraid that if they crashed, she’d bite it off. Instead, she tightened her hold on the overhead grip and grabbed for the car seat with her other hand and waited.

Nicole was sure what followed only took seconds or a minute or two at the most, but it seemed much longer to her. In fact, the wait seemed interminable, and then they were mere feet behind the three lanes of cars with nowhere to go.

Jake tried hitting the horn repeatedly, but the car in front of them had nowhere to go. There were cars in front of and beside it as well. When the driver of the car beside them apparently saw what was happening and hit the brakes, slowing out of the way and forcing those behind him to do so as well, Jake took a chance and swerved into the middle lane, honking the horn the whole way. Much to Nicole’s relief the car in the next lane did the same as the center car had done and slowed quickly.

With a choice between hitting the car in front or veering to the side, Jake was moving into the lane before the car was even fully out of the way. They made it, but barely, and were now in danger of hitting the car in front of them in that lane.

Nicole was panting like a woman in labor as they slid into the opening. If Jake had been a lesser driver, they never would have made it. There was literally a finger’s width between them and the car behind them. But they did make it. However, even as he slid fully into the lane, Jake warned, “Hang on,” and continued steering to the side, sending the car off the highway altogether.

Nicole held on. She also closed her eyes and began to pray so never saw exactly what happened. She felt it though. The vehicle swerved back toward the highway as if Jake was trying to avoid something and, caught by surprise, Nicole slammed into the side window, her temple bouncing off of it just seconds before they crashed into something. The air bags exploded and the vehicle began to roll even as Nicole lost her hold on consciousness.

Jake tore the empty blood bag from his mouth, and struggled to sit up. “I’m going in.”

“No,” Tomasso boomed, and forced him back to the van floor with one hand on his shoulder. “You’re not ready. Two more bags of blood and fifteen minutes and then you should be okay to go into the hospital.”

“I want to see Nicole,” Jake growled.

“Dante is with her. She’s fine. You need more blood,” Tomasso insisted, picking up a full bag. When Jake opened his mouth to argue, he popped the bag on Jake’s still extended fangs.

Jake scowled at the large man over the bag at his mouth. It had been seven hours since the accident and he had spent most of that time stuck here in the back of the van, in the hospital parking lot, being fed blood and healing.

Jake hadn’t come out of the accident in good shape, although he hadn’t known that right away. He’d passed out when the front driver’s side had caved in around him, crushing and damned near amputating his left leg. He’d only woken up as Dante and Tomasso were tearing the buckled car door off to get him out of what would have been a metal casket had he been mortal. They’d already got Nicole out and had assured him that other than a head wound she seemed fine. She was lying unconscious in the snow while they worked on getting him out of the crumpled driver’s side.

They’d barely managed to get him into their van before the police and ambulance had arrived and had to leave him there while they handled the emergency responders and the gawkers who had stopped. Apparently, they’d smeared some of Jake’s blood on Dante’s forehead and a little on his clothes and claimed Dante was driving the car, but was fine other than a couple cuts and bruises. Obviously, they’d performed some mind control and memory altering to ensure that tale was believed, because one look at the driver’s side of the car would have immediately brought that story into question.

The twins probably would have just wiped memories and sent everybody on their way were it not for the fact that this was obviously another attempt on Nicole’s life and they wanted to be sure the police knew about it. She was mortal, and so was her ex-husband. It was better in this instance for the mortal legal system to handle the situation than to step in and take care of it themselves.

Once the police had been seen to, and Nicole was in an ambulance and on her way to the hospital, Dante and Tomasso had returned to their van and followed the ambulance to the hospital. Dante had driven while Tomasso knelt in the back, feeding Jake bag after bag of blood from the van cooler.

At the hospital, Dante had left Tomasso to tend to Jake and went in to answer more police questions and keep tabs on Nicole and how she was doing. She’d hit her head on the side window when Jake had swerved to avoid a head-on collision with a tree. However, his swerving to avoid the one tree had steered the driver’s side into another. Jake was okay with that. Better he take the brunt of it than Nicole. But he’d been going so fast the SUV had crumpled on that side, the back end had swung to the right where the land suddenly sloped, and they’d begun to roll just before he passed out from the leg wound.

“That’s good enough,” Jake said, tearing the latest empty bag away and sitting up. “I want to check on Nicole.”

“Dante texted less than ten minutes ago and said she was still resting comfortably,” Tomasso pointed out, but didn’t force him back to the floor as he had the first time. Instead, he simply reached for another bag.

“But she hasn’t regained consciousness yet,” Jake said worriedly. “It’s been seven hours. I want to see her, make sure she’s all right.”

“There’s nothing you can do for her,” Tomasso said with a shrug and held out another bag. When Jake merely scowled at it, Tomasso gave a long-suffering sigh, and then bargained, “One more bag and you can go in.”

Jake took the bag and popped it on his fangs, waiting impatiently for it to empty. It didn’t take long, but felt like forever to him.

“You can’t go like that,” Tomasso said as Jake ripped the bag from his mouth and started to scoot along the floor toward the back doors.

Jake glanced down and grimaced at the state of his clothes. The left leg of his jeans was sliced through and hanging from the inside seam, and they were now black all the way through with his blood. His shirt was pretty bloody as well, although Jake suspected that was just transference. The air bags had cocooned his upper body from serious injury.

“Here.” Tomasso pulled a shopping bag from the front of the van. “Dante and I did some shopping while we followed you around the mall. There are joggers in there you can borrow.”

Jake accepted the bag with relief and quickly sorted through the contents until he found a jogging suit. The twins were built like linebackers and he had no doubt he would be swimming in them, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

He’d thought the worst of his healing was over, but as Jake stripped his jeans and pulled on the jogging pants, it became clear that wasn’t the case. While his leg had reknitted where it had been almost amputated, and there was a large healing scab no doubt most of the way around his upper leg, it hurt like the devil to move it. The muscles and tendons and bones were no doubt still reknitting inside the leg. But Jake merely ground his teeth together and kept moving. He had to see Nicole. She should have regained consciousness by now.

The leg buckled under him when Jake opened the van’s back door and started to get out. Fortunately, Tomasso immediately grabbed his arm to support him, keeping him from falling. He kept that hold on his arm as he got out behind him, and closed the van door. He then walked him into the hospital, half holding him up. Once inside, Tomasso grabbed a wheelchair, urged Jake into it and wheeled him into the elevators and up to Nicole’s room.

Dante was seated in a chair next to the hospital bed when Tomasso wheeled Jake in. Since Dante’s chair was on the side closest to the door, Tomasso wheeled Jake around to the far side so that he could get him as close to Nicole’s face as possible.

“How is she doing?” Jake asked worriedly, leaning forward to peer at Nicole’s pale face as Tomasso moved back around the bed to Dante’s side.

Dante hesitated and then simply said, “The nurse keeps coming in and flashing a light in her eyes, but she hasn’t stirred yet.”

Jake frowned and brushed the hair off of Nicole’s forehead. She had an ugly bump and bruise on her right temple and he eyed it unhappily, thinking of about a million things he could have done differently to have avoided her getting hurt.

“You did the best you could,” Dante said quietly. “She’ll come around.”

Jake didn’t respond and after several moments of silence had passed, Dante stood up. “I’m going to go find the food court and see what’s available. Do you two want anything?”

“I’ll come with you,” Tomasso said as Jake shook his head.

“We’ll be back,” Dante assured him and Jake nodded without glancing around as they left.

He seemed to have sat there, repeatedly brushing his fingers over Nicole’s cheek for a long time when someone entered the hospital room. Expecting it to be Dante and Tomasso, or the nurse, Jake glanced toward the door and froze briefly, shock rippling through him when he saw who it was.

“Neil.” The name slipped from his lips, barely a breath of sound.

“Why so surprised?” His younger brother smiled crookedly. “You should have known Dante and Tomasso would call and let us know about the accident. We’re family.”

A breathless laugh slipped from Jake now, some of the tension that had claimed him slipping out with it. “Yeah. I guess I should have known.”

Neil nodded and moved forward. “How are you?”

Jake shrugged. “Okay now, but I got banged up pretty good. My side of the SUV was crushed like a stomped-on pop can. I lost a lot of blood and I was trapped, but Dante and Tomasso weren’t far behind us and pulled me out.” He smiled crookedly. “They peeled the metal away as easily as peeling an orange. My leg was sliced pretty much straight through, but they managed to get me out without it coming off completely, and then they put me in their van while they handled the scene. Fortunately, they’ve been keeping their blood in the back of their van since arriving at Nicole’s, and they started feeding it to me the minute they could get away from the police.”

Neil’s eyebrows rose. “Hell, I didn’t know the accident was that bad. I’m glad you didn’t lose the leg.”

Now it was Jake’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t it have grown back? I’d think the nanos would feel that two legs were necessary to be at peak condition.”

Neil looked surprised at the question. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of an immortal losing a limb. I know a couple who have suffered a bad enough wound the limb was hanging by a bare thread of skin and it healed. But I don’t know if the nanos are capable of actually replacing a whole limb.” He smiled wryly, and added, “And since the only way to find out is to cut off a limb and wait, I don’t think I really want to know.”

“No,” Jake agreed.

Neil hesitated, and then said, “Actually, when I asked how you are, I didn’t mean physically. I can see you’re recovered from the accident.”

“Oh,” Jake flushed. Neil meant was he over the snit he’d been in since waking up to find he was an immortal . . . or really since he was eighteen and found out about immortals. Had he accepted the turn and emotionally adjusted to it? Was he willing to be welcomed back into the fold of the family and stop shunning them like lepers?

“I’m sorry,” Jake said finally. “I realize now that I acted like an ass and you guys deserve better.”

Neil tilted his head slightly. “So you’re okay with everything?”

“Yeah,” Jake said slowly, “I think I am.” Smiling apologetically, he admitted, “Having to explain everything to Nicole helped me see things more clearly.”

Neil glanced to Nicole at the mention of her name and Jake did as well.

Reaching out, he brushed her cheek. “I’ve been running around thinking you all were monsters and that I was too now that I was immortal. But telling Nicole that I hadn’t changed inside and that I was still the man I used to be before the change, with the same beliefs and feelings as I had before . . . Well, I realized that was true . . . and that it was probably true for all immortals. I mean, Mom was still a great mom, and Roberto was a good father to us both and you were a good brother. The only thing that changed when I found out about immortals, and that you were all members of that select group, was me. You didn’t change in your attitude to me, but my perspective and how I treated you guys changed. Explaining it to Nicole made me realize that immortals are just people, but with some extraordinary gifts.”

“Then thank God for Nicole,” Neil said with feeling.

Jake chuckled and reached out to take her hand where it lay on top of the sheets and hospital blanket. “Yeah. Thank God for Nicole.”

Neil moved closer to the bed and peered down at her face silently for a moment, and then announced, “She’s pretty.”

“She’s fricking beautiful,” Jake corrected and added softly, “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”

“Yeah, you’re in love,” Neil said with amusement and when Jake glanced to him with surprise, he shrugged and said, “She’s pretty bro, but I’ve seen prettier . . . and so have you. So it must be love that is making her the most beautiful woman you’ve ever met.”

“Love,” Jake murmured with a frown as he peered back at Nicole. He liked and cared about her. Nicole was a good person, with a big heart and an almost naïve trust in the goodness of people. She was also creative, talented, and funny. Jake found he was often smiling or laughing with her. He had fun with Nicole. Hell, he’d even had fun shopping with her today and Jake wasn’t a fan of shopping. But in love?

In lust, maybe. He would accept that. The woman was hot. She smiled and he got a semi erection. She touched him, even just a brush of her fingers on his arm, and that semi turned into a full-on nuclear erection. But when she kissed him? Forget about it. His blood immediately went south leaving his brain a bloodless blob incapable of functioning.

“Isn’t the combination of all of that what makes up love?” Neil asked quietly, obviously reading his mind.

“Maybe,” Jake allowed, and then argued, “But we’ve only known each other a matter of days. It can’t be love already.”

“Man,” Neil said with disbelief. “You’ve spent most of your life around immortals, have even been one yourself for seven years now, and yet still think like a mortal.”

“I’m not sure—” Jake began.

“Time means little to immortals and absolutely nothing when it comes to life mates,” Neil said, interrupting him.

“Ah.” Jake smiled crookedly. “So Dante and Tomasso told you about that too?”

“About Nicole being your life mate? Yes.” He peered at her and then said quietly, “I’m happy for you . . . envious too,” he added with a small smile. “But mostly happy for you. Especially since her arrival appears to have helped you deal with things.”

“Do I need to apologize again?” Jake asked wryly. “I probably should. I haven’t been fair with you and Mother, or Roberto and the others.”

“We understood you were struggling with it,” Neil said quietly. “We wished we could help more, and were sorry you felt you needed to be alone to handle it, but we understood.”

“Thank you,” Jake said quietly.

“Mind you, you’ll pay for it where Mom is concerned,” Neil added dryly.

“How?” Jake asked warily.

“Well, after seven years of your absence, she’s going to want to spend time with you . . . a lot of it. I suspect she’ll show up and plant herself for a while until she’s reassured everything is okay and her oldest baby boy is her baby again.”

Jake managed not to wince. He loved his mother, always had, even while being afraid of her. But he knew her well enough to know Neil was right. The woman would no doubt head out here from whichever home base—

“Are they coming from Italy?” he asked.

Neil shook his head. “California.”

That made Jake’s eyebrows rise. “Then I’m surprised she didn’t fly out with you.”

“I was in Toronto. Business,” Neil added. “I would have been here sooner, but I was in the middle of a business meeting when Dante called and didn’t call back to find out what was happening until it ended. Then I had to arrange for a flight.”

Jake nodded. It was now two o’clock in the morning. The accident had taken place around five. It was only an hour and a half from Toronto to Ottawa by flight so it must have been an important meeting. That or it had taken quite a while to arrange a plane to bring him here. Either way, Jake had no doubt his brother had got here as quickly as he could.

“I called Mom after I got off the phone with Dante, that was about three hours ago,” Neil said, hesitated, and then added, “She and Dad are on a plane right now, headed this way.”

Jake stiffened at that news, his eyes shooting to his brother. “No.”

Neil nodded, looking almost apologetic.

“Damn,” Jake muttered, glancing to Nicole and worrying about what that might mean. He wasn’t sure she was ready to meet his parents. Good Lord, they’d only met themselves days ago.

“Look on the bright side, you’ll have extra help keeping her safe,” Neil pointed out.

Jake nodded. That would be good, he supposed. Once their flight landed, he’d have his parents and Neil there as well as Dante and Tomasso to help keep Nicole safe and they obviously needed the help. Her soon to be ex would be desperate when he knew this latest attempt had failed.

Thoughts halting, Jake glanced at Neil. “Dante told you about Nicole’s ex?”

“Marguerite did. I’ve been in Toronto for almost a week. I was there when the hot tub incident happened. I was going to drop everything and come out here then, but she cautioned against it. She thought it would be better if Dante and Tomasso came alone.”

Jake smiled crookedly. “She was probably right. I wasn’t really ready to be pulled back into the fold yet, but those two are . . .” He shook his head helplessly. The twins were not generally the talkative sorts to start with, so hadn’t bombarded him with arguments for why he was being an ass. They’d just stood by, strong, silent support while he’d figured it out for himself. Neil would have tried to talk him around and Jake hadn’t been ready for that.

Marguerite was apparently a brilliant strategist, Jake thought, and then glanced to the door as Dante and Tomasso entered.

“We brought you a coffee,” Dante announced, crossing the room and moving around the bed to offer Jake a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, even as he glanced over to take note of Neil’s presence.

“Sorry, Neil. We didn’t bring you one,” Tomasso said. “Didn’t know you were here.”

“That’s all right. I don’t drink coffee,” Neil said.

“Caffeine makes him bounce off the walls,” Jake told them. Some immortals simply couldn’t handle coffee. Neil was one of those and that was why Jake had avoided coffee since being turned. He’d been afraid he might react the same way. They were half brothers after all. However, it seemed that sensitivity to caffeine came from Neil’s father, because Jake had been drinking coffee since meeting Nicole and hadn’t noticed it affecting him much at all.

Dante nodded and then glanced to Nicole. “How’s she doing? Any change?”

Jake opened the tab of his coffee lid and shook his head. “She hasn’t stirred at all.”

“It’s probably for the best. She’s going to have one hell of a headache when she wakes up. Better to sleep through it,” Dante said.

Jake grunted as he sipped at his coffee. He didn’t mind her sleeping through the headache . . . so long as she woke up. He was very aware that Nicole was a fragile mortal, and mortals had been known to die from head wounds. That thought had him peering at her worriedly. “Maybe I should turn her.”

“She’s fine,” Neil said quietly.

“You can’t turn her,” Tomasso rumbled. “She needs to give permission.”

“What if she doesn’t wake up to give that permission?” Jake asked grimly.

The twins exchanged a glance and it was Neil who said, “Why don’t we just wait and see what happens? You remember how you reacted to being turned without giving permission. You don’t want that with Nicole.”

Jake grimaced as he realized he was thinking of doing exactly what Vincent had done and which he’d resented so much. He was just so worried that she wasn’t waking up . . . that she might never wake up.

“We’ll wait and see what the doctors say. If it doesn’t look like she’s going to come around, then we’ll consider turning her,” Neil said patiently.

“Do I smell coffee?”

Jake stilled at that weak question, and then turned his head sharply to Nicole. This time her eyes were open. Her nose was also working, sniffing the air with interest, but then she frowned and asked, “Why does my head hurt so much?”