Wild and Free (The Three #3)(16)

“No cops?”

Oh man.

“Dad—”

“He an outlaw like your old man?”

I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling he was.

Or he’d turned into one last night, for certain.

“We’ll just say that the proper authorities were not notified,” I stated, then stared as I watched Abel come out from behind the door of the fridge with one thing in each hand.

The first was a packet of bacon.

The second was a plastic bag filled with blood.

I swallowed.

He tossed the bacon on the counter, opened the microwave, and shoved the bag of blood in.

Gluk.

Through this, Dad hooted.

Then he asked, “You okay?”

“Freaked out but healthy,” I answered.

“Am I gonna lose my motherf*cking mind at what happened to you?”

“It wasn’t that bad, Dad. Or, at least, Abel stopped it before it could get that way.”

“Thank f*ck,” he muttered, then louder, “You still at the Bay?”

“Yeah.”

“Right. To gather the boys and be there, take at least two days. He got you covered for that?”

Abel was beeping buttons on the microwave as I said, “Yeah. He’s pretty, um…capable.”

“Ha!” Dad snorted. “Good to know. But you tell him one beautiful, shiny hair on my little girl’s head is f*cked, I’ll have his throat.”

Dad was forty-eight years old and spent his time taking odd jobs that paid cash so he could avoid paying more taxes than he had to in order to keep his house and land. He drank. He caroused. He rode his bike. He got laid. He communed with his brethren. He frequently did things I never knew about because they’d scare me. And he loved me.

He also worked out. Sure, he sometimes lifted weights with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, but he did it.

Abel could still tear him limb from limb.

“That won’t be a problem. I haven’t known him very long, but so far he’s been pretty good at taking care of me.”

Abel turned and aimed his eyes my way.

I felt the look in them in my nipples, at my clit, and curving around my heart.

When Dad spoke again, I tore my eyes away and looked at my lap.

“All right, precious girl, gotta kick Charlene’s ass out, rally the boys, and get on the road. Hang tight. I’ll call you tonight and let you know when to expect us tomorrow.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

“Love you, Lilah.”

“Love you more.”

“Love you most, baby.”

He did.

I tried, I tried hard, but he definitely loved me most.

“’Bye.”

“Later,” he replied and I heard him hang up.

The microwave sounded and I looked that way.

“You drink bagged blood?” I asked.

Abel pulled out the bag and turned to me. “You gonna be squeamish?”

“I, um…well, probably.”

I mean, it was blood.

“Can drink it in the hall,” he offered.

“It’s your house, Abel,” I pointed out, though it wasn’t a house so much as a room.

“Can drink it in the hall, Delilah,” he repeated.

I didn’t repeat like he did. Instead, I told him, “People I care about call me Lilah.”

He gave me that look again that I felt at certain very good parts of me.

“Drink your blood,” I said, wondering how on earth I was saying that in a serious way when it was total insanity. “I’ll start the bacon.”

I pushed up from the chair, avoiding looking at him and moving to the kitchenette.

I found a frying pan in the cupboard and I already knew where the knives were, so I nabbed one and sawed open the package.

I was laying the strips in when I felt him move, so I looked to the side and watched him use the toe of his boot to open a trash can I hadn’t noticed on the other side of the oven. He dropped the empty bag in.

That didn’t take long.

A shiver slid up my spine.

“Blue is blood, Lilah,” he said quietly, and I focused again on him. “White is regular trash. Yeah?”

I leaned back and saw there were two trash bins, one blue, one white. I righted myself, pressed my lips together, and nodded.

He moved my way and stopped close, looking down at the skillet.

“More,” he declared.

“What?” I asked.

He looked to me. “More bacon. You’ve only got four strips in there and I’ll eat four at least.”

I felt my brows shoot up. “You eat human food?”

He stared into my eyes, then reached to me, took the bacon out of my hand, and tugged more out, placing the strips in the pan, all while talking. “Right. Quick education. I day walk. Got no problem with the sun. Sleep at night, though I’m a night person, not a morning person, but that only means I like to sleep in and stay up late, not that I need the night. And when I sleep, I don’t do it in a coffin.”

“Okay,” I said when he stopped, thinking all that was good news, the coffin part especially, because, well…euw.

He tossed the package on the counter and reached for the drawer by my hip. I slid out of the way as he opened it.