Don't Rush Me (Nora Jacobs #1)(8)

Parker’s still gripping my hand, not ready to let me leave. He’s frustrated. He doesn’t understand how I know about his world—if I even do. He thinks I do, but he’s not positive. He intends to get answers, but he’s not sure how to go about it.

It’s hard not to get lost in his eyes. They’re beautiful—piercingly blue and hooded by mile-long thick, dark lashes. The rest of him is just as gorgeous.

His pupils dilate, and his grip tightens the tiniest bit. He senses my attraction to him, and it’s driving him mad. Watching me stand up to Terrance—who I assume is the troll—and ditch my psycho neighbor is the most amazing thing he’s ever seen a human do. If I weren’t a suspect in his case, he would take me somewhere right now and have his way with me until the sun comes up.

But there’s another desire growing in him as well. Thirst. I smell mouthwatering. He’s trying to convince himself that I’m not involved with Nadine’s disappearance and to let me go. I’m too tempting. With his current state of excitement, he’s afraid he might lose control. He doesn’t want to hurt me.

When I realize what he is, I tear myself out of his grip, unable to stop the horrified gasp that escapes me. He’s the worst of all monsters. I loathe his kind above any other. They’re ruthless, bloodsucking, twisted killers. Parker is one of the same soulless abominations that killed my mother.

Vampires can smell fear—this I do know for a fact—but I can’t help the terror that surges through me. It’s suffocating. Paralyzing. My entire body trembles as I back away from him. I need more distance between us—not that it would matter, if he decides to attack. He can move inhumanly fast. I’ll never escape him.

A deep crease forms in Parker’s brow. “Nora? What’s wrong?”

I’m unable to make more than a whisper of a sound. “Stay away from me.”

He jerks with a start as realization sweeps over him. My heart skips a beat or two. He knows I know. I’m so dead. “You know what I am,” he says.

I shake my head frantically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I take another step back, and he grabs me again, gracing me with his thoughts once more. He’s beyond frustrated now. He knows he should hand me over to Henry, but he wants me for himself, and he’s afraid Henry would claim me. Or destroy me.

That’s enough of that. I yank myself out of his grip.

Parker’s eyes flash red, and in a blink he’s holding me painfully tight against his chest. “Don’t lie to me. You know the secrets of the underworld, don’t you? How?”

I keep up with my lie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His fangs haven’t descended, but I know they’re there. The hideous creature makes my skin crawl. I don’t want him touching me. I don’t want to be inside his head. I’m so afraid I can’t breathe, and my eyes prick with unwelcome tears.

Parker sees the revulsion in my eyes, hears my unsteady heart, smells my fear. He’s confused by it, and angry, but he’s also hurt. He doesn’t like my instant rejection of him or his kind. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I don’t believe him. He’s going to kill me.

He keeps me pinned to him. I try to fight him off, even though it’s futile. He’s too strong. I can’t escape. “Let go of me!”

“Nora, calm down. I won’t hurt you.”

“Liar!” I try again in vain to break free. “If you don’t want to hurt me, why won’t you let me go? I didn’t do anything to you. I don’t even know you.”

“But you know other things. You’re involved in things you shouldn’t be, aren’t you? You took Xavier to that club knowing what waited for him there. What were you doing, tying up loose ends?”

“Are you delusional? I was escaping him, not trying to get rid of him.”

“Harsh way to ditch someone. Do you have any idea what that woman was? What she will do to him?”

My fear vanishes. It’s pushed out of my body by my hatred. I glare into Parker’s eyes—eyes that I hate for being so mesmerizing. “Do you have any idea what he intended to do to me? What he’s been trying to do to me for months? I hope that she-demon sucks every last ounce of life from him until there’s nothing left. I hope she tortures him the way he wanted to hurt me—the way I know he’s tormented others. I hope she kills him. Then he won’t be able to hurt me, or anyone else, ever again.”

I feel Parker’s sympathy for me in his thoughts, and his repulsion for Xavier, but I’ve admitted outright my knowledge of the underworld now, and that Xavier has been hurting women. Parker thinks I must know more about Nadine than I’m telling him, even if I don’t know who Nadine is specifically. He thinks I can give him answers that I honestly don’t have.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Xavier is involved in the disappearance of Parker’s friend—the prick dragged me off tonight at knifepoint—but I don’t know anything about it. “I can’t help you. I don’t know what Xavier’s up to. I’m just his neighbor. He forced me to come with you guys tonight. I was probably just the next girl on his list. I don’t know anything about your missing friend.”

Parker’s frustration turns to shock. “How did you—what are you?”