The Vampire Diaries: Trust In Betrayal (Kindle Worlds) (In Time We Trust Trilogy Book 3) (12 page)

“Shower,” Damon says shortly, only wearing jeans. “Which is where I should be, so make it snappy.”

“Fine. Can I borrow some bourbon?”

He raises an eyebrow.

“It’s not for me,” I tell him, rolling my eyes because I swear he flips a coin to see whether or not he cares about the drinking age on any given day. “It’s for, um—” I fumble, suddenly wondering if it’ll give everything away if I say it’s for Cali, but he already knows we’re sharing a hotel room, so…

A slow smirk spreads across his face. “Oh, really? Nice work, Baby Gilbert.”

Shit. I glance away, a little pissed that I didn’t realize he’d know exactly what happened tonight, just by looking at me.

“It’s not like that,” I mumble, trying to backpedal since there’s no way in hell he’s not going to give me shit about this in front of Cali tomorrow just to watch me squirm.

“Uh-huh,” he says, and leaves the door open as he goes to rummage in his bag for something. He comes back with a brand of bourbon they don’t even sell at the Grill: an
un-opened
bottle. And knowing him? It costs more than my last paycheck from that place.

“You sure?”

“It’s not for you.” He stuffs it into my hands and reaches in his back pocket to dig out a wallet so new it doesn’t fold quite right yet. He pulls out a twenty and passes it over.

I frown, puzzled.

“You don’t have a glass, do you?” he says disgustedly.

“Um, the room comes with cups,” I remind him.

He snorts and his hand flashes out, smacking me upside the head before I have the chance to react. “You don’t make your lady drink out of the bottle
or
plastic, unless she’s not worth buying drinks for in the first place. Now trot your sorry ass across the street to that steakhouse and buy a glass off them.” He squints out at the parking lot, and then gives me an appraising look. “You think all that little punk rocker wants is a stiff drink?”

“No,” I scoff, without even thinking about it. “What she wants is her drum kit, and to not be on the run with every one of my friends and family.”

Damon’s lips twitch in one of his silent chuckles. “No shit. Does she have a second choice?”

I glance down the row of identical doors, my hands tightening around the bottle of bourbon. I said I’d figure out what she wanted and get it for her. But I wasn’t kidding: what she really wants is her drums.

“A guitar,” I tell him. “Maybe a violin. There was a music store on the way into town...” I glance up the street, trying to remember how much money I have. Probably not even enough to buy a violin string, much less the whole thing.

He smiles. “Damn straight.” He pulls the rest of the cash out of his wallet and slaps it against my chest. “Don’t buy cheap shit, and make sure you get it a traveling case so we don’t have to ditch it when we leave tonight.”

“Um, thanks, Damon.” I fidget a little, weirded out by how nice he’s being to me.

He shrugs. “Whatever. First time she plays a Bieber cover all bets are off and that shit goes out the window.”

I glance down at Matt’s truck, wondering how pissed he’ll be if I wake him up for the keys. Damon groans.

“You freaking kidding me?”

I take a step back, frowning. “What?”

Elena calls something from the shower, but I can’t quite catch what she said.

Damon digs a set of car keys out of his pocket and slaps them into my hand on top of the cash, glowering as he grabs me by the front of my shirt and jerks me up onto my toes. I change my grip on the bourbon bottle, ready in case I need to clock him with it. It’d be far from the first time his mood turned on a dime and as long as he heals, Elena’ll forgive me in the morning.

“That car does not come with a magic ring. It is a classic and it is not replaceable. You, on the other hand, I could do without.”

I knock his hand away from me, dropping back onto my feet. “Didn’t ask for the Camaro.”

He sneers. “You walk all the way to that music store, you won’t be back by sunset.” He glances back toward the bathroom. “And you start opening doors for that girl, you hear me?”

“What’s with all the orders?” I bristle. “I just wanted to borrow a damn drink, is all.”

He snorts and shakes his head, muttering something I didn’t hear.

“What?” I ask, my eyes narrowing.

“Nothing.” He smirks. “Go get the girl, Romeo.”

He closes the door in my face without waiting for a response, and I stand there with his car keys, a bottle of bourbon I could never afford, and about eight hundred bucks in my pocket, glaring in confusion at a motel door with the number 17 stenciled on it.

“Dick,” I mutter, and head for the car.

ELENA

I hear the zi
p of a fly being lowered, and hide my flush of pleasure under the spray of the shower as Damon steps in behind me.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, trying to look nonchalant as I turn to face him.

I tell myself I’m used to the sight of him in the shower, all long, sleek muscles under smooth skin beaded with clean water. I have to stop myself before I swallow to ease my suddenly dry throat.

He gives me a lazy smile as his eyes follow the trails of water that trickle down my over my collarbone.

“Oh, it’s more than okay.”

I poke him in the ribs, rolling my eyes. “I meant with
Jeremy
.”

He takes my hand and raises it, spinning me out of the shower spray with a flourish as he slides into the space I left behind.

“Smooth, Salvatore.” I purse my lips against a smile. “Don’t think I didn’t just notice you stealing the hot water.”

He winks. “I’m known for playing dirty.”

“True.” I cock my head so he knows his distraction techniques aren’t going to work. “Jeremy?”

The corner of his mouth twitches with an amusement I don’t entirely understand as he tips his head back to wet his hair. “Your baby brother’s playing a little dirty, too. With our ex-jailbird, unfortunately.”

My eyes widen. “Wait, I thought they were just rooming together as friends.”

Damon chuckles. “Right, Elena. And I bet when the neighbor boys wanted to play ‘Doctor’ you ran right home and got out your Barbie Princess Band-Aids, too, didn’t you?”

I stick out my tongue at him and hold out my hand expectantly. He reaches out of the shower and snags a disposable razor off the sink for me.

I fumble with the wrapping on a bar of hotel soap, frowning unhappily down at it. “We can’t compel her a second time, can we?”

“We can…” Damon drawls, waiting until I’m finished with the paper before he hands me the razor. “But the longer she’s with us, the harder it will be to wipe all of her memories, especially if we don’t want her to think she’s losing her mind. Besides, she drifted back toward Mystic Falls right away after we compelled her the first time. I don’t think this girl is staying out of the land of the fanged and furry no matter what we do.”

He gives me a knowing look as I turn away and prop my foot onto the rim of the tub, working up a lather over my calf.

“What, like fate?”

“Call it what you want,” he says. “With certain people, that’s just how it is.”

My fingers tighten on the razor and I pause, watching the soap melt in slow trails down my ankle. “We have to tell her, don’t we?”

“We could try not to. I know my brother’s all for keeping her in the dark.”

“You don’t think we can keep the secret, do you?”

“Not a chance in hell.” He shifts a little to the side so the water will warm my back while I shave my legs. “And when we tell Cali, we’d better make sure we keep her away from the sharp and pointys.”

I turn my head to look back at him. “After all those times we compelled Jeremy, I can’t keep this from him. Not if he cares about her.”

Damon’s hand splays comfortingly across the small of my back, his thumb stroking the back of my hip.

“Hey, I never said we should. I’m just pointing out, she’s been a hell of a lot of trouble in the past, and Jeremy’s not much better when he’s pissed off.”

I finish one leg and lather the next, my lips pressed together as I think it over. The longer we wait to tell her, the angrier they’ll be, and rightfully so. But we’ve got bigger problems right now, and we can’t afford them to be mad and drawing attention when the Augustines are so close behind us.

“You know it makes me nervous when you get all quiet and you’re holding sharp objects.” Damon’s fingers play a lazy game of Connect-the-Dots with the water droplets on my back.

My sigh comes out heavier than I meant it to, and I finish the last swipe with the razor and set it on the edge of the tub, turning tired eyes on my boyfriend.

“How do the Augustines keep finding us, Damon?”

“Because we need to ditch the Camaro,” he tells me with a pointed look, and my eyes skitter away. I know he’s right, but I don’t want to give it up. It’s the last familiar thing that we saved from home. “And because the Augustines have a whole box of tricks we haven’t even peeked into.”

Alarm prickles through me, even though I’m safe with Damon under the spray of warm water.

“What exactly do you mean?”

“Maxfield already told you they’ve got connections with the police and the coroner’s office. They have some capability of tracking us the old fashioned way, though I can’t tell how far it goes: I made sure they can’t track our cell phones or bank records but they might be using APB’s or satellite imagery.”

“How is
that
the old fashioned way?”

Damon flares his eyes at me in amusement. “Fine, the human way. But since we’re dealing with a bunch of mad scientists, the new wave of the Augustines might be a lot of things. We know they’re faster and stronger, that they crave vampire blood, maybe even survive on it.”

He cocks his head, a swift movement he does when he’s feeling twitchy.

“But when they had me, they did a lot of experiments, tried to see what other powers they could make me manifest,” he says. “I couldn’t control animals until after my time with them, and I got a lot better at slipping inside people’s minds. The fog was an accident when I…” He pauses, glancing away as tugs me closer and pours shampoo into his hands, my shoulders relaxing as he works it through my hair.

I already washed my hair but it’s easier for Damon to talk if he can pace or fidget or drink. Plus, it feels amazing when the pads of his fingers begin to massage my scalp.

“When I escaped from the Augustines’ prison,” he finally says, “I summoned the fog and it felt like it nearly killed me. I don’t think I would have ever known I could do that if I hadn’t been so desperate. Normally, I can only pull it off when I’ve been feeding on humans. A lot.”

I go still, afraid to consider what could have happened to make him so frightened. He still hasn’t told me what happened when he escaped. What he had to do to make it out. I pause, wondering if he might be ready to tell me now.

“They’ve had half a century to experiment,” Damon goes on, dodging the subject of his jailbreak yet again and I can’t decide if I’m disappointed or relieved. “Their Augustine vampires could be capable of more than we can even imagine, and the fact that we haven’t been able to give them the slip yet isn’t a good sign.”