A Vampire for Christmas(61)
He passed a gaggle of women in skirts too short for winter and makeup too gaudy for all seasons. A couple guys in suits and smoking clove cigarettes nodded at him. He didn’t care for this scene, but it was the furthest from her he could get.
Until he walked right up to the tour bus with that bastard’s face on it—Parker Troy. The man stood in the bus’s open door, flashing his expensive fake teeth at the crush of screaming women who wanted to touch him, grope him, have his baby. Whatever.
Ramming a fist into his palm, Daniel wondered how easy it would be to circumvent the screaming fans to get inside that bus. Ripping out the guy’s throat played through his brain, and then…
He turned and marched away from the bus.
Idiot,” he admonished. “You don’t rough up a guy because he got the girl and you didn’t.”
He turned sharply and headed for the liquor store, which had become a weekly ritual for him over the past year. His life had changed from suits and business lunches to scamming for blood and late nights watching lovers in Central Park. But all in all? He wouldn’t go back. Because it was the small things that mattered to him now. Like Charity and Mary and Sam.
As usual, Sam was sitting on the broken iron bench out front of the all-night liquor store. He nodded to Daniel.
Saturday Night Sam.” He acknowledged the old man. “How’s life treating you?”
Well enough.” He was a man of few words and even fewer teeth.
As it should. Give me a few minutes. I’ll be right out.”
He entered the store, crowded down the short aisles with doodads and snack foods and alcohol in every flavor, color and proof.
Give me a pack of Marlboro,” Daniel said as he selected a pint of vodka and set that on the counter.
The guy at the register reached for the cigarettes while managing to not take his attention from the TV sitting on the side of the checkout counter.
The service nowadays, Daniel started to think, but then his attention found the screen, as well. She glowed, her face all soft and delicate. She was wearing the white gown she’d worn nights earlier, so the interview must have been previously taped.
Olivia is so hot,” the clerk said as he leaned on an elbow, pushing aside a display of silver snowflake ornaments.
She is,” Daniel agreed, but not with any conviction.
He fingered a snowflake, wondering if it was real silver. Couldn’t be. But the shiny metal couldn’t distract from the bright star shining on the television screen. His heart pounded as her voice burrowed through his flesh and into his soul. But seeing someone else swoon over her cemented for him how unattainable she was.
So you and Parker Troy are an item now?” the television interviewer asked.
Olivia chuckled and looked aside, not answering. Her dark lashes flicked the air.
Daniel gritted his jaw. She used to dust those lashes across his bare skin. Of all the times to walk into this store, he had to pick this one?
And then Olivia straightened and looked directly into the camera. “No, we’re not an item. That was staged on Christmas Eve. You know how the record companies are. Well, if you don’t, they do things like that. It’s a part of the job. Parker and I are going to sing a duet together but that’s it. But…”
She sighed.
Daniel leaned forward, his heart pounding.
I shouldn’t have agreed to the kiss onstage. I hurt someone that I care for deeply. And it wasn’t being honest to my fans. I’m so sorry.”
Daniel whispered that he was sorry, too.
What’s that, dude?”
He swung a look to the clerk, who had put the vodka in a brown paper bag.
Uh…nothing.” He grabbed one of the snowflake ornaments and muttered he’d buy that, too, then shoved it in his pocket. Tossing some bills on the counter, he thanked the clerk. Walking outside, he pressed the bag and pack of grits to Sam’s chest. “Here you go, man. Take it easy.”
Sam called after him, “Merry Christmas, Daniel!”
Yeah, that’s what they tell me,” he said, and for the first time in days, he smiled.
It had all been a performance.
THE RITUAL OF PACKING away everything in the kitchen until next Christmas vacation was never fun. Olivia went through the cupboards, aligning the pots and pans, made sure the dishwasher was empty, and scrubbed the counters and washed the tile floor. She went through the tiny apartment with a vacuum, even though Lisa always suggested she hire a maid to do it.