Free The Vampire's Lover by Kayleen Knight Page A

doing anything he could not to look in her eye.
    As the silence matured she found herself caught in a reverie. She was half-aware of the room, but her mind was somewhere else. She remembered all the times Jack had ever held her and kissed her and told her that she was beautiful. She remembered his big strong arms as he lifted her over a massive puddle so her shoes wouldn’t get wet. She remembered laughter and smiles beyond count. All of this she was thinking of when he said, ‘I’ve been seeing someone else.’
    She almost fell back – instead she stared at him, her mouth agape, not knowing what to say. He was staring back at her and his eyes were steady. He should’ve been more remorseful, she thought. He was looking like someone who had just announced something completely harmless and acceptable. She felt like something harmful and unacceptable had just reached into her chest and crushed her heart.
    ‘Who?’ she cried. It was the only thing she could think to say.
    ‘ Does it matter?’ he said. He got up and walked the length of the room to the window, where the sun was reaching its midday zenith. He stared at it pointlessly for a few seconds and then turned back to her. ‘Her name is Zoey. You don’t know her. I work with her at the lumberyard. She does administration and things like that. We met when I had to stay behind about my pay schedule one day – and we’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now.’
    Suddenly his gaze lingered on her thigh and she remembered what she was wearing. Wordlessly she stood and went into her bedroom and changed, and felt like a silly little girl for ever wearing such clothes. When she got back she told herself that she was going to be strong – but somewhere between putting on a baggy t-shirt and sitting down on the sofa her resolve dissipated and she burst into tears.
    Jack made a move to put his arms around her, but she moved away and shot him a reproachful look. ‘How could you?’ she sobbed.
    He looked around uncomfortably. ‘We’ve only been together for three months, you know,’ he said as if talking to a child. ‘I didn’t know we were that close. I’m sorry if I misunderstood – but I had only expected to just come round and end this relationship civilly and without unnecessary waterworks. Apparently I was wrong – you’re crying like a fucking child.’
    She looked at him. She was incredulous – there was a bitter edge to his words that she had never heard before. He went on, and his tone was darker and meaner and icier: ‘I mean, you’re twenty five years old, and you haven’t ever had sex. All you ever let me do was finger you, and you would just lie there and not even touch me. What do you expect me to do when you’re such a frigid fucking bitch? Just take it? No way. You were not a good girlfriend, Abby. I’m sorry about that – but it’s true.’
    She stood up, walked to the other end of the room, flung herself into a chair, and sobbed more. Jack had metamorphosed before her eyes from her affectionate boyfriend into a sadistic monster. She glanced up at him and saw that he was sneering at her, the ridge of his eyebrows shadowing his eyes and making them look dark and ghoulish. He stood up and walked over to her and knelt down by the chair.
    He stroked her hair. ‘You’re a loser, Abby,’ he said. ‘You’re a goddamn loser, and now I’m going to take what is mine.’
    He reached down and grabbed her thigh. She grabbed at his hand but it was a vice and would not budge. He was leering at her, and he moved his hand up and roughly rubbed her pussy over the top of her sweatpants. She slapped at his face but he just laughed and backhanded her across the jaw. Her head snapped to the side and blinding white pain captured her – she bit down on her tongue and her mouth filled with blood.
    He pulled her by her legs across the room and opened them and lay on top of her. She could feel the hardness of him as he pressed himself onto her. He was