She nodded. “I was hit by a local politician who desperately wanted to settle out of court. Danny told me that during the case, I couldn’t work as a dancer, since we were claiming disability, so he gave me a little job as his legal secretary at one-tenth of what I made before, you know, to show that I had lost earning power.” She paused. “Danny got me a nice out-of-court settlement and he used his part of the proceeds to buy out the strip club where I worked because I told him it was a gold mine. I used my part of the settlement to get a little condo in Beverly Hills. I went back to dancing at the club he now owned and the rest is history.”
Now the pieces were coming together about why Danny had left lawyering to own a strip club. I tried not to let my eyebrows go up. “And you and Danny got pretty close, I guess,” I said, not bothering to hide my irritation.
She shrugged. “Danny seemed like he liked me. And he told me he was getting a divorce from you, and that you were this horrible person. He made me not like you in return. And then...”
“And then he told you about me being a vampire.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you think about that?”
She looked at me long and steady before she replied, “Let’s just say that I wasn’t as weirded out by it as you might think.”
What I saw next in her mind made me gasp. I snapped my head around and stared at her. “Your ex-boyfriend...”
“Is not so different from you, Sam...”
Chapter Five
Allison and I were at a place called Alicia’s in Brea.
Besides being a typical sit-down café, Alicia’s specialized in, of all adorable things, making to-go picnic lunches, complete with wicker baskets, silverware and checkered tablecloths. A picnic with Kingsley sounded like fun, now that I no longer shrank away from the light of day like a monster in a 1930s’ horror movie. Maybe we could go to Tri-City Lake. Spread out a blanket in the shade. Lots of wine. And lots of canoodling—
“Canoodling?” said Allison. “Are you sure you aren’t, say, a hundred and five?”
“A hundred and five?”
“It was the first number that popped into my head.”
“Oddly specific.”
Allison shrugged and bit into her smoked roast beef and raspberry jelly sandwich on, of course, a slender baguette. And because I regularly fed on her—which not only enhanced my strength but also increased her own witchy powers—Allison and I also had the closest of all telepathic links.
She seemed to revel in that. Me, not so much. Luckily, she and I had become best friends—and yes, to my extreme annoyance, she even used the word “besties.” Anyway, Allison had proven herself as a good and loyal friend, and a steady source of blood. Yeah, our relationship was...unorthodox. But we both benefited. Symbiosis at its best.
Except for the “bestie” part, of course. In fact, I might be the only bloodsucker on earth who has a bestie.
My life, I thought.
“Quit bitching,” said Allison between bites. “You should be so lucky. I happen to come in handy.”
The next thought that crossed my mind, I regretted, but there it was, and she picked up on it instantly.
“And I am not needy, Samantha Moon. I have a full, rich life, of which you should be honored to be a part.”
“Oh, brother.”
“Well, you should.”
“Fine,” I said, picking up my own sandwich. “I’m honored as hell.”
“Don’t patronize me...”
It went on like this throughout the next five minutes, all while I ate the first half of my sandwich. It had been over a year since I had been given the gift of food and sunlight, thanks to two special rings, one on each hand. The rings had done much to give me back my life. Eating lunch in the light of day with my friend was a gift beyond measure.
“Okay, that’s more like it,” said Allison, beaming.
“Happy?” I said.