Bloodshed

Chapter Fourteen: Flowers (Aiden's POV)

"Damn it, Simone!" I growled, snatching her by the collar of her button-down shirt. "We don't have time for your philandering."

The pile of half-naked women I hauled Simone away from protested and whined, reaching out for her desperately. 

"Seriously, Aiden?" Simone groaned as I dragged her away from the women and out of the club I had found her in. "Ugh, that was the best cuddle puddle I'd ever been a part of! Gods, you're such a cruel bastard."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, and you're a dumb hoe. Did those chicks fuck you senseless? We're here for a reason, moron. Remember?"

She didn't say anything as I dragged her down a dark backstreet, but I could tell that she was starting to give me less resistance. Finally, she dug in her heels long enough to pull out of my grasp, then moved to walk beside me. 

"Sorry." She mumbled without looking at me. "It's been a while since I've really cut loose. But you're right," Simone paused to glance at me out of the corner of her eye, her expression sincere. "We have a job to do."

I nodded approvingly. "Exactly."

"And the sooner we get it done, the sooner I can get back to the cuddle puddle." She grinned wickedly, and I rolled my eyes with a chuckle. 

"Good Lord, woman, can't you keep it in your pants for five minutes?" 

Simone scoffed. "This coming from the man who fucked an entire college sorority in less than five hours on a dare."

I shrugged. "People change." 

"Yeah, people change. We don't." She said, studying me with confusion. "Seriously? When did Aiden, the world's most illustrious lecher, become so virtuous? What happened to my best friend?"

I didn't say anything, and when she realized I wasn't going to answer her question, Simone moved to step in front of me. "Is this because of the queen?"

I stiffened. "Just drop it, Simone. We need to find that grimoire."

"It is, isn't it?" 

"Leave it be, Simone."

"It's not real, what you feel for her. It's the call of her bloodline, you don't actually love--"

Before I realized it, I'd cut Simone off mid-sentence, snatching her by the throat and slamming her into a brick wall that was slick with a fresh rain. "Let's get one thing straight; you may have been right about Francesca, but you're wrong about Audrey. I love her, more than I had ever loved anyone as a mortal."

And she loves me. That's what I wanted to say. And deep in my cold, undead heart, I wanted to believe it. Shit, somedays I even went as far as to let myself dream that I was the only man Audrey had eyes for. It was fantasy, though, and knowing that's all it was hurt worse than any wound I'd ever encountered as a gladiator. 

"Yeah, you said the same thing about Francesca, and look where that got--" I cut Simone off again, but this time it was with a lightning-fast right hook. 

"Audrey is nothing like Francesca!" I spat, shaking with rage. "And if you weren't so busy thinking with your flat cock, you'd be able to see that."

Simone glared at me, blood trickling slowly from the corner of her mouth, but she didn't speak. Instead, she went ramrod straight, watching something over my shoulder with wide eyes. I started to ask what she saw when she grabbed me by the wrist to race toward a corner a few feet back. 

She put a finger to her thick lips, then nodded for me to peek around the corner. I did and cursed under my breath at what I saw. 

Master.