Chapter 16
Piper
Fucking men. Fucking vampires. This was stupid. I wasn't five. I could take care of myself. Okay, so I did get almost eaten...twice...and that last one was really close, but still. I didn't need a babysitter everywhere I went. Seriously, I couldn't even go to the bathroom without one of them within hearing distance.
A girl has needs and this girl needed to poop. Badly.
I'd like to keep a little mystery in my newly blossoming sex life, and it was hard to do that when you needed to do unladylike things near said lovers.
"Are you alright in there?" Rayne knocked on the bathroom door after a few minutes of me trying to go to the bathroom.
"I'm fine," I shouted back and then covered my face with my hands. "Could you like...go away?"
Rayne paused and then said, "You know I can't do that, Piper. If Valentine attacks again—"
"He's not going to attack me on the toilet," I growled, picking up a roll of toilet paper and throwing it at the closed door. "I need privacy. Just go out of the bedroom and down the hall. I can't go when you're listening."
"What?" Rayne started and then stopped. "Oh. Oh! Uh, okay. Yeah. I'll just wait outside."
I listened closely until I heard the bedroom door close before I finally went about my business with a sigh of relief. Thank fuck. I was all for not getting killed, but I didn't want to share every aspect of my day with vampires. Being a girl was hard enough, but trying to keep all those habits you kept hidden until you've been together long enough to show your true self, while trying to hide them from someone who could not only hear it but smell it from a different room? Yikes.
When I was finished, I cleaned my hands and made my way out of the bathroom. Moving across my bedroom, I was tempted to hide in the room for the rest of the day just to get some alone time. I couldn't even sleep alone. Though, the last couple of nights I'd hidden out in Rayne's room. Wynn and I had tried to hook back up after breakfast before, but something always got in the way. I had a feeling we weren't going to get another moment alone until we went home.
Home. Now that was something I was surprised to be excited to go back to. Back to cleaning that massive house and running in to each of the vampires I'd come to grow so fond of. Back to Darren critiquing my cleaning methods and hiding the things I've broken. Marcus had named off a few of the things I'd broken, but there were a ton more that I'd gotten rid of before anyone noticed.
One thing I missed a lot was Gretchen's cooking. Darren did well enough in the kitchen, and I wouldn't turn down anything he made, but that woman could cook. Plus, it was nice to have another female in the house. There were plenty of female servants around here and there was even Theresa, but they weren't exactly lining up to talk to me. I think Theresa might prefer to eat me.
"Are you ready to leave?"
I glanced up from where I'd been staring at the floor to see Antoine in the doorway. If he'd knocked, I hadn't heard, but since technically it was his room, I didn't expect him to. I shifted in place, tugging at the hem of the t-shirt dress I'd put on. "I still don't like you buying me clothes. The last time you guys took me shopping, I ended up dressed like a baby prostitute."
Antoine stared up at the ceiling for a moment as if he were praying before walking toward me. He was in one of those well-fitted suits again. I never thought I'd be the kind of girl who loved a man in a suit, but it turns out just seeing him unbutton his cufflinks made my panties wet. He'd also teased me—okay, more like threatened—to tie me up a time or two when I was getting mouthy about being babysat. From the way he played with his tie while saying it told me he had a particular rope in mind.
Not that I was complaining. I'd have been happy to let him tie me down and rock my world. If he actually let me get off. I was still a bit wary of letting him touch me after what happened last time. Antoine seemed to have sensed it and hasn't pushed the matter.
"Our master requires formal wear for all of his parties, and while Darren is a fabulous packer, he didn't pack something suitable for one of our master's events." Antoine walked over to me and lifted a hand to my chin, tipping my face up. "I was wrong to use you to taunt Valentine. I understand my error now. I won't let him touch you ever again."
My mouth fell open. He thought it was his fault? I shook my head, placing a hand on Antoine's jacket-clad arm. Even beneath the fabric, I could feel the muscle there, but I didn't let myself get distracted. "It wasn't you. It wasn't me. It was Valentine. We can't be held accountable for his actions. But I was promised retribution, and if that requires me wearing a poofy dress, then dammit, bring on the frills."
Antoine smiled slightly at that before leaning down to kiss me. I pushed up on my toes to deepen the kiss, but he released me just as quickly. "Come, before I change my mind about tying you to the bed."
My body flushed with the threat, but before I could suggest it, Antoine took me by the arm and led me from the room. Out in the hallway, the others waited for us. Darren had gone to get the limo, but the rest of the household stood in their normal attire at the top of the stairs. Marcus had his eyes on the ground level, while the twins were arguing over something with basketball. Wynn and Rayne both turned to me when I appeared.
I wasn't sure how to handle this situation. Did I kiss them both? Who did I kiss first? What about the others? I wasn't sleeping with them or even close to it, but I liked them...well, not quite Marcus. He was still an asshole.
Thankfully, Rayne got me out of my own conundrum and jerked his head toward the stairs. "Come on, our reservation is at eight. I'm starving."
I rolled my eyes. "You're a vampire. Eating human food isn't going to help."
"It does a bit," Rayne replied, as we turned to head down the stairs. "It takes the edge off at least."
"Yeah, plus," Drake added with a grin, "onion rings are the bomb."
I shook my head and giggled. "Nobody says ‘the bomb’ anymore."
Drake grinned, holding up both hands in with the thumb and forefinger up, and shook them. "Tubular."
Allister smacked him on the back of the head. "They don't say that either. It's badass. Onion rings are badass."