Younger, Bree - Burn [All American Vampires 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (19 page)

“Not too good. I’m afraid I’ve got a virus or something. The doctor says I should be okay in a few days, but I’m not going to be able to work this week.”

“Shit, Libby, that’s really gonna screw with the schedule.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry about that. But you don’t want me coming in if I’m contagious, do you?” She felt a bit guilty, lying to Rocco. He was a real sweetheart, and she hated letting him down.

“Well, hell, no. Okay, Libby. Truth is, you hardly ever miss work or ask for time off. So I really can’t complain. I’ll work something out. I hope you get better quick.”

“Me, too. I should be okay by this weekend, so you can put me on Friday and Saturday nights, if that helps any. And I’ll work the late shift, too.”

She could hear him shuffling papers around. The restaurant was closed on Mondays, but he always came in early to work on the schedule and make sure everything was set to go for the week.

“Yeah. I can do a little swapping. No problem. You sure you’ll be okay by Friday?”

“Pretty sure.”

“All right. I’ll make the changes. Call and let me know if you need some more time off. Luckily no one else is sick or has asked off, so it won’t be a problem. I know Kate won’t mind since you’re willing to take the late weekend shifts.”

“Great. Okay, then. I’ll call and check back in a couple of days.”

“All righty. TTYL.”

“Bye, Rocco.”

She put down the phone, glad to have gotten that settled. She always felt bad when she asked off work because she knew the other waitresses did it a lot. Plus, she really needed the money. She put her phone back in her purse and rummaged around until she found some painkillers. She was seriously hurting, and her head was killing her, too. Maybe a shower would help.

She looked for her duffle bag and saw one of her suitcases on the floor next to the bed. Quinn must have sent someone for her things like he’d said he would do. After shuffling through the suitcase and finding clean underwear and a comfortable pair of sleep pants and a tank top, she went into the connecting bath.

When she got out of the shower, she felt even worse. Deciding against going back upstairs, she climbed into the bed and fell back asleep.

A little later, she felt someone shaking her. “Libby? Libby? Wake up.”

“Go ’way. Leave me alone.” She shoved the hand away and turned over on her side.

“Why are you down here, Libby? Is something wrong?”

“Ty?” She squinted up at him. “What is it?”

“Why’d you leave my bedroom? I woke up, and you were gone. I was worried.”

“No. I needed to call in sick to work. Came down for my phone. And then I just felt really bad, so I decided to sleep down here.”

His hand rested against her forehead for a moment. “Your head is warm. Move over.”

“I think I’ve got the flu or somethin’.”

She scooted over to the far side of the bed, and Ty climbed in beside her. He pulled her back against his front, spooning her close. His hand came up to stroke over her hair, and she drifted back to sleep.

Chapter Twelve

At dusk when Ty got up, he could see that Libby was still feeling bad. She was sleeping restlessly, like she had all day. Her cheeks were flushed with fever. He knew it was a reaction to the vampire venom, and he felt guilty as hell. Well, it might be his fault that she was sick, but he was going to make the next few days as comfortable as possible for her. He didn’t like her being sick. Not at all.

He dropped a light kiss on her forehead, careful not to wake her, before he went to his own room to shower and dress. Then he went looking for Quinn. He found his brother in the den, reading the recently delivered evening paper. He looked up as Ty walked in.

Ty grabbed the sports section where it lay on the table and joined his brother, dropping into his favorite chair and propping his feet up on the coffee table.

Quinn quirked his brow. “Have a good night’s sleep?” he asked, a knowing look on his face.

“Fine.” Ty refused to rise to his brother’s prodding, opening the paper and looking over the latest sports scores.

“Good.”

“Libby’s sick.”

Quinn nodded. “The doctor said that she would be, so I’m not surprised.”

“No, but I didn’t think she would feel so bad. She’s got a fever.”

“She probably needs some painkillers. Doc left some prescription-strength ibuprofen. I put it on the dresser in the guest room. And remember, Doc also said she needed lots of juices. When she wakes up, make sure that room service has sent up some things for her. We don’t exactly have a kitchen stocked for a human.”

Ty hadn’t even thought of that. “I’ll get some groceries sent in. If she’s going to be here for several days, she’ll need to have something to snack on if she gets the munchies or if she feels like cooking her own meal.”

“That’s fine. Just call down and tell one of the assistants.”

Ty flipped over his cell phone to get room service to bring up a light meal and some juice. Then he called one of the junior assistants and asked for the groceries to be delivered within the next hour. He closed his phone.

Quinn looked at him over the paper. “I think it would be a good idea if you didn’t use Libby’s name to anyone except the people who already know it. Also, don’t let any of the delivery people see her, or the maid, when she comes in to clean up.”

“What? Why?”

“Just a safety precaution. If anyone is having us watched, we don’t want to give them any ideas about using Libby. A lot of people know that a human saved you, but only a handful know her name or what she looks like—you, me, Doc, Maria, Hawk, RJ, and Hawk’s two men. I’ve already told the others not to tell anyone.”

Ty nodded, recalling his earlier worries about Libby. “Do you think she’ll be safe here?”

“I don’t know why not. And as soon as Libby’s feeling better, we can have her taken home. That’s probably the safest thing for her.”

“I don’t like to think of her unprotected.”

Quinn nodded. “We can put a watch on her. Weres might be best. They can be there day or night. Just until this is over.”

Ty didn’t like it, but he knew his brother was right. The longer Libby was around them, the greater the risk that someone would figure out a way to harm him through Libby.

“So, what’s on the agenda for the night?”

Quinn folded the paper and set it aside. “I’ve got to go over some budget items for the quarter, and I’m meeting later with Hawk to look at some new info he’s got on this McElroy fellow.”

“What kind of new info?”

“Apparently some werewolves came in today with a list of known acquaintances, including that Cumbest guy. So far they haven’t found him, but we’re not giving up. Hawk’s running down the names to see if he can get some kind of idea where McElroy is now or see if we can find someone who might know.”

“You think we’re going to find him?”

“I know we’re going to. It’s just a matter of time.” Quinn folded the paper and set it aside. “Did you ever check your e-mails?”

“Not yet. I’m going to do it in just a bit. After I check on Libby. I was also thinking about driving back over to Waveland. Maybe take RJ with me.”

Quinn nodded. “Sounds good. It’ll be interesting to see if you get any replies to those e-mails. I’m also going to want to talk with Libby, if she’s feeling up to it.”

He resisted the knee-jerk reaction to deny his brother’s request but knew he was being ridiculous. “I don’t like it, but I know it needs to be done. Just remember that I want to be there.”

“I take it you two settled your…disagreement.”

“Yeah. I was an ass. I admit it. Libby means something special to me. I was scared, and I hurt her. I won’t do it again.” He met his brother’s eyes, expecting Quinn to have some kind of smart-assed remark, or to at least say “I told you so,” but he just nodded.

“Good. Now, I need to get downstairs. See you later?”

Ty nodded and watched as Quinn walked out of the room.

He had almost finished reading the paper when he heard the front bell ring. It was room service with the meal he’d ordered for Libby. After tipping the bell boy, he rolled the cart in and checked it over. Perfect. He walked down the hallway, wanting to peep in on their guest to see if she was awake. She was, smiling weakly at him as she pushed herself up in the bed.

“How ya feeling, Lib?” he crossed the room to stand beside the bed, leaning down to fluff her pillows and help her get situated.

“Not great.” She smiled weakly. “I think I must have the flu or something.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You need to take some medicine.” He looked over and saw the ibuprofen on the dresser and scooped it up. He shook two out into his hand and gave them to Libby. After getting her a glass of water from the connecting bathroom, he stood and watched as she swallowed them down before taking the glass and setting it on the bedside table.

“You feel hungry, babe?”

She shook her head. “Not really.”

He sat beside her on the bed. “You need to eat something. I ordered a light supper for you. It’s in the main room. I could bring it in here for you, if you’d like.”

“No. That’s okay. I’ll get up.”

“Are you sure? I can fix you up a little tray, no problem.”

“I’d rather get up. I can’t stay in bed all night.”

“Why not?”

She shot him a speaking glance. “Because I don’t want to. It’s boring in here all by myself with nothing to do.”

“Ahh—” He decided he wasn’t going to touch that one.

“Give me a few minutes, okay. I’ll be out as soon as I get dressed.”

Ty left and went into the kitchen to get everything set out on the table for her. It wasn’t too long before Libby joined him. She looked a little better, but her face was still too pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. Her feet were bare. Why he found that sexy, he did not know. But seeing her feet with their dainty pink toenails did something strange to him.

He saw her eyes take in the meal spread out on the table. “This is great, Ty. I don’t know if I’ll be able to eat much, though.”

He pulled out a chair for her and sat down with her. He pushed the orange juice he’d poured toward her. “Eat as much as you can, Libby. It’ll make you feel better.”

“I hope so. I’m sorry to be such a bummer. You don’t have to stay and entertain me. I know you probably have things you need to be doing. I hate to be any trouble.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re no trouble.”

“I really don’t know why I got sick all of a sudden. I’m usually pretty healthy.”

Ty couldn’t meet her eyes. “Eat.”

She rolled her eyes but picked up her fork and began eating. “You know, I’m not a child, Ty. You don’t have to treat me like one.”

“Believe me, babe, I’m well aware of the fact that you’re not a child. And I’m just trying to make sure that you are taken care of. It’s my fault you’re sick…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s certainly not your fault. Everybody gets sick now and then.”

Ignoring her eyes so she couldn’t see the guilt in his, he pushed her plate closer to her. “Now, finish your meal.”

She shook her head, but a small smile tilted her lips and she began eating. Finally she pushed back. “That’s it. That’s all I can eat, Ty.”

He looked at her plate and decided that, while she hadn’t eaten quite as much as he’d have liked, she had managed to eat about half of what he’d given her. “Tell you what, drink the rest of the juice, and I’ll consider it done.”

After she’d done just that, he stood and started clearing away the dishes, putting everything on the room service cart and moving it out into the hall. As he was about to head back to shut the door, the elevator dinged. It was Quinn’s assistant with the groceries he had ordered. He thanked the young vamp and took the bags.

When he got back to the kitchen, Libby got up to help him. “Sit back down, Lib. You’re supposed to be taking it easy.”

“I hardly think putting up a few groceries is going to put a big strain on me,” she retorted. But he could see how quickly she subsided into her chair and knew that she was still feeling weak. “Ty?”

“Yeah, babe.”

“Have you been getting—er—enough to eat yourself?”

He darted a look at her. He could tell she was trying to keep her expression blank, but he could see the curiosity and maybe even a slight twinge of jealousy. “We have people who donate their blood to us.”

“You mean like at a blood bank?” He knew she was struggling with the idea.

He smiled. “Sort of. Some of the donated blood we bottle. But it’s not as good as it is fresh from the source.” Looking at her face, he could see she understood what he was saying.

“You drink straight from the donors?”

He nodded. “Usually.”

“Do you…have sex with them?”

“Sometimes.”

“Have you been—lately?”

He shook his head. “Not lately. I told you I wanted us to be exclusive, Libby. I meant it.”