Free Undead and Unreturnable by MaryJanice Davidson Page B

telegraph?"
     
    He chased me up the stairs, and I made a mental note to have someone take a look at that couch later in the week.
     
     
     
     
Chapter 15
     
     
    It was about five A.M., and I was getting ready for bed (finally! what a long, weird day) when there was a brisk rap-rap at my bedroom door.
     
    "Come on in," I called, buttoning the last button on my new jammies . Aw, they were so soft, so sweet to the touch…
     
    Jessica opened the door and stuck her head in and then groaned when she saw me. "Jeez, Betsy! I'll buy you frig-gin' decent pajamas, okay? You don't have to wear those pieces of shit."
     
    "What?" I cried. "These are brand-new."
     
    "Yeah? What's Sinclair say about them?"
     
    "What part of 'brand-new' aren't you getting? He hasn't seen them yet."
     
    "He sees those, the wedding's off."
     
    "Oh, shut the hell up." I stepped to the mirror and admired the navy blue flannel and red polka dots. They were too long in the pants and arms (I'd found them in the men's section, where I frequently shopped because I was so fucking tall), but a few washings should take care of that. And they were
warm
. "You didn't come up here to critique my nightwear. At least I hope you didn't. Because, really, how lame would that be?"
     
    "No, I sure didn't. But I could sure spend half the night doing it."
     
    "This from someone who wears football jerseys to bed."
     
    "Totally different thing."
     
    "I think I liked it better when you weren't talking to me."
     
    "Too late now. Listen, I wanted to catch you before you guys went to bed—where
is
Sinclair?"
     
    "He made a beeline for the computer after ole Long in the Tooth and ' Tude left."
     
    "Huh. He used to practically count the seconds before you went to bed so you guys could do it."
     
    "We already did," I admitted, "after Maggie left."
     
    "Yet another room you defiled. And Maggie would be the vampire he didn't want me to meet?"
     
    I shuddered. "Don't bitch, J. He was right. She's creepy. She's got eyes like a doll's."
     
    "Barbie Doll or American Girl?"
     
    "Blank." I gestured to my face, trying to convey in five words or less how creepy the woman had been. "Shiny."
     
    "Shiny?" I could see Jess was trying not to laugh. She'd never met Nostro . In fact, I was the baddest vampire she'd ever met, after I'd read the Book of the Dead and gone evil. Which was to say, she'd never met a really bad vampire.
     
    "She almost chomped Marc, and not only did he let her grab him, he didn't remember that she grabbed him. Stay the fuck away, I'm serious."
     
    "Well, if Sinclair's worried about her, that's good enough for me. I've got enough creepy vampires to worry about." She plopped herself into what I always thought of as Marie's Chair. "Listen, are you okay with me going out with Detective Nick?"
     
    "If you're gonna date him, you should probably
get
in the habit of referring to him just by his first name."
     
    She waved that away. "Yeah, yeah. Are you?"
     
    "Sure. Yeah. It was just a surprise, that's all. A good surprise," I added hastily. "Sinclair's right, somebody should have snatched you up ages ago."
     
    She smiled thinly. "Yeah, well. Nobody's gotten around to it yet."
     
    "I was just thinking that it had been a while for you… wasn't dave the last guy you were with?"
     
    She nodded, fiddling with the neckline of her shirt. "Lowercase dave , yup, I remember."
     
    "Okay, then. Look, we know Nick's nice, he's great at his job, he
looks
… yum. Go for it. But…"
     
    I trailed off because I was torn. Did I warn my best friend that my fiancé was going to do everything in his power to make that relationship work because he was sneaky and that's how he operated? Nick might like Jessica for herself (or not; we hadn't established that yet), but Sinclair liked Nick for his badge.
     
    Or did I keep quiet out of loyalty to my fiancé, the vampire king?
     
    "But… ?" Jessica prompted.
     
    "But… you… should… wear clean underwear."
     
    She gave