Crave - Teresa Mummert Page 0,67

him there. I could see the struggle to maintain his humanity every moment we were together. My life was balanced precariously on the edge of death, but it was a thrill I couldn’t remember living without.

Chapter thirty-one

Porter

I ran the brush through my hair absentmindedly as I thought about the words Olivie had said to me.

“Your whole relationship is a lie.”

What did she mean? As far as I knew, I could only feel what he felt because he cared for me. How could that not be real? Elijah’s voice broke through my train of thought, startling me.

“What is it?” he asked. His jeans hung low on his hips, unbuttoned. His voice was thick with concern. I smiled and quickly erased any trace of worry from my expression. I felt a blush creep over my cheeks at the memory of what we’d done together.

“I’m hungry,” I replied with a pout. I had been ignoring my stomachs cries for nourishment and I felt like I had not eaten for days. He grinned and ran his hand along my jaw, tipping my chin toward him and kissing me quickly on the lips.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said and grabbed a t-shirt from his bag before heading to the door. “Do not open this for anyone,” he called over his shoulder. I nodded in understanding and ran my fingers through my hair. I turned to the bed and rummaged through the bag for something to wear.

I was relieved to find a tank and a pair of panties. I laid them out on the bed as a low buzzing and the flashing of a cell phone screen caught my eye from inside the bag. It is white and silver, not one I recognized. Elijah has been using a black flip phone since I met him. I bit my lip glanced back at the door. No sound came from outside and I picked up the phone.

The screen came to life at the touch of my finger. I slid through the pages of applications and come to one with an envelope titled messages. I paused for a moment to listen for signs of Elijah. The room was silent. I clicked the icon and scroll through the lists of messages. One caught my eye titled Porter Duties. I clicked the folder and an overwhelming list of messages popped up onto the screen. I chose one at random and read the contents.

Services needed. Payment upon delivery of the head.

I gasped aloud at what I had just read when the lock on the door to the room suddenly clicked. I threw the phone back into the bag and nervously began dressing. I had my panties on and my tank just over my head as he entered.

“Find anything?” I asked, my voice too high pitch and jumpy. He looked at me for a brief moment and smiled, holding out a bag full of goodies. I relaxed a bit and remembered to breathe. “Thanks,” I said as I walked over and grabbed the bag, unable to look directly into his eye. I felt guilty for invading his privacy.

I sat on the small desk chair beside the bed and clicked the remote. The television came to life. I watched Elijah pick the phone out of the bag from the corner of my eye. After a moment, he slid it into his pocket.

“Here,” He said as he flung a pair of my jeans onto the bed.

I finished a honey bun with as little chewing as possible, desperate to settle my nervous stomach. I still wasn’t sure what had caused me to end up in that forest. We needed to get to Reid before she could get any closer to us. I pulled on my jeans and slipped on my shoes.

“Ready?” Elijah asked, slinging the bag over his shoulder. I nodded and stood up to take his hand. He held onto me tightly as he opened the door and did a sweep of the parking lot with his incredible vision. Everything was pitch black except for a faint glow from the open sign. He pulled me along hurriedly to his car and opened the passenger door, practically shoving me in with more force than I think he intended.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, he was in his seat and we whipped out of the parking lot and back onto the main road. His eyes flicked from the road to the rearview mirror and lingered longer than I felt comfortable.

I grabbed my