Bloodbound: The Alliance
Chapter 60 - 64

Chapter 60: Chapter 64

My head dives to the side and I flop down beside him with an uncontainable smile. He swings a glance over with me with something suggestive frolicking over his features. I lift myself upright and I start snatching at idle pillows, forming a pillowfort. A puffy, inflated barricade that marks an impassable boundary between us.

"And what’s this?" Vance says from the other side.

"Insurance," I state, cresting a throw pillow atop as the final piece.

"I guess there is something admirable in trying to be faithful to one’s fake fiancé."

"I’m faithful," I say to conclude the matter. "I’m faithful to the one that has my heart."

"And we both know that’s not Landen," he points out half in triumph and half in conflict. "Second times a charm and if things don’t work out with Landen. I’ve heard whispers about a half-brother we may have."

I pause and Vance props up his posture so I can catch a glimpse of his grin over the barricade.

"That’s not funny," I say flatly.

He distracts me by placing a hand on the ridge of the plushy mountain. "Is this really necessary? I had ample chances to make a move on you. If I wanted to, I would’ve."

I tilt closer and my voice thins into a terse torrent. "A man I know, a really wise man once told me that there is no such thing as a gentleman. Only a patient wolf."

¬

A shrieking sound jolts me awake. I fumble around to see that the barrier had held. Vance stirs awake, throwing the blankets off himself before he goes for the pile of clothes on the floor. He flings away his shirt and grabs his pants to dig out his phone. He answers and rises with his back turned to me—his stiffifening form bracing against an unseen weight spelt a moment fraught with tension.

"It wasn’t like that," Vance barks back. "Landen vanishes for his nightly sexapades and for years his behavior goes unchecked and unscrutinised." He hurls a sharp glance back at him before straightening away again. "But instead of using Avara like Landen is clearly doing—I’m looking out for her—her interests. So respectfully I resent your insinuation as I have never given you a reason to judge me in that kind of manner."

I ease out of the bed, tugging on the voluminous sleeves of the oversize jersey.

"Nothing happened," he whispers back feverishly. "It was too late and I was too tired to drive all the way home. I left the drivers and guards because I couldn’t bear to be in their rigid company. I didn’t want to be around anyone whose company would require me to heave in a certain way. Unlike Landen, I actually consider these things—unlike Landen I’ve always aligned my efforts for what is best for this family and not only myself—unlikeLanden."

Vance goes silent to listen for a short while before he hangs up, staring dejectedly at the floor.

"I’ll take a wild guess and say that was your father."

He nods brokenly.

I feared something like this would happen, but the last thing he needs to hear is—I told you so.

He inclines his head and turns to face me with an air of confidence swelling around him, emanating that entitlement that is trademarked. "I don’t regret anything—he can’t make me feel something I do not. No matter the consequence."

"I don’t want to be the cause of any consequence."

"Truthfully, time spent with you can bear none."

I look away bashfully, my eyes falling beyond the window. "Be that as it may. We should probably get going. If your father is on edge and I can only imagine how my father and brothers took to the fact that I didn’t come home last night. Again. And it doesn’t help that I was alone with you."

"Me?" he repeats as if offended. "As if there is anything insidious."

"Well, I know that," I emphasis with a long drawl. "But it’s not just about that. My family, my brothers, they don’t like you Vacherons. Landen they hate at least they tolerate you—tolerated," I amend quickly. "I’m sure after this they will hate you just as much."

"If I can make you like me," he says, meandering around to make his start to my side of the bed. "I’m sure I can regain their respect if not their favour."

I hold my ground, watching each daring step until he looms over me, forcing my face to lift to meet his gaze with equal challenge. I cross my arms as if the gesture could conjure a desperate illusion of space and guardedness between us. He stands over me, his gaze unwavering, the sharp lines of his face carved with a stoic calm. Yet beneath that composed countenance, a flicker of amusement dances in his eyes, betraying a quiet intrigue that sends a ripple through the tension between us.

I speak first. "Who said I never liked you to begin with?"

"You rejected my necklace... did you forget?" he asks in a way that doesn’t invoke guilt from me but reveals his own. "And I also never forget how I first treated you—"

I retreat a step, knifing us apart with a heartfelt smile meant to reassure him. "That was a different time. And I don’t blame you for assuming—"

"Assuming, not knowing," he says to validate his own point. "Don’t let me off so easily. Perhaps this is all punishment for how I treated you before. And that I never offered you a sincere apology since."

My brain highlights a single part in the sentence. "You’re being punished?" I pivot my head to the side, cupping my hand around my ear with my eyes on the window. "Which one of us is engaged to Landen?"

"Which one of us lost you because of it..."

I freeze, sentiment submerged by the scene that meets my sight. On the leaf-carpeted horizon, two black SUVSs climb over the slope to roll to a stop in front of the car we came with. Vance follows my gaze and slices away in angered haste as he yanks his clothes and starts throwing them on as he makes his way out. I stagger back when the thought of how this appears strikes my mind. I strip the jersey, tossing it on the unmade bed before I hurry on to find the emerald dress in nothing but my bra and underwear.

Vance glances back then his head does a sharp turn before knocking into a table stand, seizing his attention back in front of him as he fumbles to keep everything on top from crashing to the ground. I stifle a smile as I spot the dress bundled on the couch and I hurry over to slip it on. I try to fix my hair as best I can as I turn around to see Vance at the door with his hand on the knob.