Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,109
at Kyros’s utter mercy. With thousands of dollars, a little less.
I shot her a look. “It should be more than that.”
“The top commission bracket is reserved for those who secure properties at the lowest valuation price.”
In other words, I was shooting myself in the foot by securing homes at the top offer. I didn’t give a shit. Thirteen thousand could go a long way. “Why don’t I have the money?” I pressed. “What’s the latest excuse you’ll make up to trap me here?”
Her tiny wince confirmed my nagging suspicion. Pretty sure that’s why Angelica hadn’t paid me in advance that one time. She knew I’d have to return to work the following week. Looking back, the excuses she spun were bogus.
“We operate legally, Miss Tetley. We require a bank account number to process large sums.”
I sighed. “I don’t have a bank account or tax number. What’s another solution?” I’d used the lease agreement Kyros gave me and my driver’s licence to order a passport. When that came, I could apply for a tax number. It would be weeks away.
“There isn’t one. Without both, we cannot pay you the commission.”
I leaned against the cool concrete, playing out various scenarios in my mind. One where I bluffed and told her I’d have an account tomorrow. Another where I threatened to go to a lawyer.
In every scenario, I lost. “I see. Is that all?”
She searched my face.
I took it as a yes and opened the closet door, feeling the air-con wash over me.
“Miss Tetley, I’d like for us to be friends,” Angelica said quietly.
She went there.
“I had one friend,” I told her, my spine so rigid it might snap. “Now she’s gone. No one will replace her. I have no idea why you’re entertaining the idea of friendship between us, but I will tell you games is a bad fucking start. I don’t play games with anyone. No one.”
“Noted.”
By my record, she’d apologised once before. “I won’t hold my breath, Angelica. Now, please excuse me. I’ve got work to do.”
25
“Go away,” I yelled.
“It’s Rory.”
I muted Sailor Moon.
Rory. What the hell was Kyros’s brother doing here? Scrap that, I could guess. But would he go away if I didn’t make another peep? Sailor Moon was about to find out who Tuxedo Mask really was.
Rory’s muffled voice reached me through the door. “I can hear your breathing. You’re in the back corner of the room.”
I rolled over as quietly as possible.
“You just moved to the right.”
Fucker.
“What do you want?” Why him in particular? I needed to hide from the vampire for more reasons than one.
The man who’d unknowingly humiliated me in my teens growled. “What I don’t want is to break Kyros’s tower. He gets shitty.”
“That’s an incentive, right?”
His louder growl convinced me to haul ass. I glanced at my white tank and white underwear combo.
Eh. He should have called first.
I swung the door wide and peered into the bright blue eyes that once made me swoon. Now they made me feel nauseous with remembered mortification—even if that remembered mortification was dressed in a tux that hugged every line of his athletic body. He must have been a sprinter in his last life. Hot damn.
His eyes swept down my frame, lingering on my bare thighs.
Shit, I was swooning.
I grunted. “What?”
He held up a dress bag. “It’s Friday. I need a date.”
“Hell no.” I slammed the door shut.
Nearly.
Rory held the door ajar. “It’s a social function. It won’t mean anything. You’d be doing me a favour.”
“This is to torture Kyros.”
The bastard didn’t deny it.
“I always take a human date. People find it easier to talk to me when a human is in my company even when I’m muting completely.”
“Are you telling me that you dazzle them?” I called, leaning against the door with my entire body weight.
The door didn’t budge.
“I believe our first meeting left you speechless.”
Oh how right you are. Just not about where we first met. “Things between Kyros and I are finally settling down. I’m not screwing with that.”
Rory snickered on the other side of the door. “You think he’s settling down?”
He wasn’t? No, I didn’t care.
“Since Saturday night, everything has been better. With regards to me and him.” I couldn’t speak for the rest of my life.
“You should’ve seen him when Laurel called about that Fyrlia scum attacking you.”
“I don’t want to know!”
He pressed on the door, and I stumbled backward into the room.
Kyros’s brother stepped into the room. “Come, and I’ll shut up.”