Chapter 17
Piper
Ijerked my head inthe direction of the voice. My gaze shot over to where Rayne stood by the fence. His eyes narrowed, and his chest heaved as if he had been running. Which was pointless since vampires didn’t need to breathe.
“Rayne,” I breathed, not pushing away from Darren, but giving the vampire my full attention. “I didn’t know you were coming today.”
Rayne glowered at Darren. “Apparently, I need to have a talk with the help about passing along messages.”
I turned my attention back to Darren.
Darren stood stiff in my arms but didn’t back down from Rayne. It was one of the first times I’d ever seen him not grovel at their feet when something went wrong. His voice came out polite and yet void of any emotion. It was a lie. Underneath my hands, he practically vibrated with anger. “I was unaware of when you would arrive, Master Durand.” He said master as if it were something vile in his mouth he had to spit out. “I hadn’t had the chance to pass along your message as of yet.”
One minute Rayne was by the gate, and the next, he was by our side. His hand wrapped in the front of Darren’s shirt, jerking him away from me. “It looks like you had enough time to get cozy withmygirlfriend. I’d say you had enough time to tell her, but chose not to.”
Eyes widening, I tried to get between them. Pushing at Rayne’s shoulder, I cried, “That’s enough, Rayne. Put him down.”
Rayne angled his head toward me, his red hair falling into his face but he didn’t release Darren. “Darren needs to remember where his place is.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “And where exactly is that?”
“He’s a servant. Nothing but the hired help. He should act that way.” Rayne snarled, his fangs flashing.
Pain and anger pierced my chest, and I was sure it showed on my face. “Is that all I am to you then? The hired help? I can’t be your girlfriend and lower than you, Rayne. You can’t have it both ways.” I tried once more to push between them. Why wasn’t Darren fighting back? Why would he just take this kind of treatment? “I mean it, Rayne. Let him go. What I do with Darren is my business.”
“And what would Antoine think aboutyourbusiness?” Rayne shot back.
I tried my best to keep my mind blank, but I had a hard time keeping myself from shooting back that Antoine would have been dandy with it, seeing as he already screwed us both. I didn’t need to let Rayne see that night in my head.
“That’s none of your business either.” I crossed my arms over my chest but felt the heat build on my face.
“Oh, so you’re cheating on me now?” Rayne scowled, dropping Darren abruptly.
Darren stumbled back more gracefully than I ever would have.
Rayne stared at me for a long moment, and then his eyes widened. He took a step back from us, his gaze darting between us. “Antoine never said anything. He never even thought about it.”
“Well,” I started and shrugged, refusing to be embarrassed about it, “now you know.”
Rayne swallowed audibly and pointed a finger between Darren and me. “Are you two...” He cleared his throat. “Are you together-together then?”
I peeked over at Darren. His face was unreadable. Were we? I didn’t know. Why didn’t Darren say something? Don’t leave this all up to me.
After a moment, when Darren didn’t step forward to say anything, I answered, my heart aching the whole time. “No. It was a onetime thing.”
Rayne frowned, his brows drawn tightly as he focused on Darren.
What did Rayne see in Darren’s head? I wanted nothing more than for him to share it with me, but I couldn’t ask that. It was the worst invasion of privacy one could ever ask. Instead, I forced a small smile and stepped toward Rayne.
“Now that that’s out of the way,” I wrapped my arms around Rayne’s neck and kissed him. He didn’t kiss me back right away. When Rayne began to respond, I pulled back, ending the kiss. “I missed you.”
Rayne’s lips tugged to one side. “I missed you too.”
“Let’s get out of here, yeah?” I glanced over my shoulder at Darren. “I’ll see you later, alright?”
Darren nodded his head and said nothing once more.
I led Rayne away, pushing down the way my heart had seemed to force itself into my throat. The entire time I felt Darren’s eyes on my back as we left.