In Bloom - Felix Volturi

36. Eight Minutes

We sat in silence for awhile, letting the radio fill the empty space between us.

"Do you need a place to stay?" Tom finally asked after we'd rolled threw a few stop signs and turned out of the neighborhood.

"What?"

"Your bags," he said, glancing at my belongings in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah. If you don't mind," I replied.

"Of course not," Tom said, his guard thawing.

"It's been a crazy twenty-four hours for me," I explained.

"You're telling me," he exhaled heavily.

"Felix and I broke up," I confessed. "After Steve...you know..."

"Really?" Tom said, notably maintaining a straight face.

"Yeah."

"Why?" he asked, stealing a glance at me.

"Because I fuckin' felt like it," I said, accidentally letting agitation seep into my tone. I didn't want to dwell on it, and I didn't want to watch Tom's ego swell due to the good news.

Tom continued to drive in silence; I didn't know where we were heading but considering how small town was, I didn't have much time to make my move before we ran into someone who recognized us.

"What are we doing, Tom?" I asked suddenly.

He turned down the radio but kept his eyes forward. "What's up?"

"What are we doing?" I repeated. "Ever since we crossed paths again it's been like there is an elephant in the room."

"And by elephant, do you mean Felix?" he asked. "Because, size-wise, they aren't too far off."

"Very funny."

Tom pulled up at a red right and turned to look at me. "What do you want me to say, Lucy? You're the one who moved on."

"You moved on, too," I said, remembering the woman he was with at the county fair.

"I would hardly call Cynthia moving on," he said with a humorless chuckle, putting a name to the face. "Are you trying to tell me that Felix isn't doing the trick?"

I waited for the light to turn green before I responded for the sake of drumming up more drama. "Things with Felix were complicated," I said, "Not like us. What we had...what we have is so simple. It's so easy to be with you."

Tom continued to drive without responding; he seemed lost in thought.

"Pull over, Tom," I commanded.

"Where?"

"Just— I don't know. Somewhere private."

Tom didn't argue with me as he pulled into the parking lot of a small, mostly abandoned strip mall.

"Pull around back," I instructed him. "I don't want to deal with other people right now."

"Sure," Tom replied. He looped around the back of the line of buildings and parked as far as he could from the nearest operating business. He rolled down the windows, cut the engine, and waited for me to say something.

"We should run away," I blurted out.

Tom gave me an apprehensive look. "Right now?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"What about Felix?"

"I told you. We're over."

"He seemed pretty attached to you, Luc, and I'm not exactly looking to get on that guy's bad side."

"He'll never find us," I insisted. It was a bold faced lie, of course, but he didn't need to know that.

"Lucy," Tom said, turning in his seat to face me better. "This is...this is crazy, right? We can't just drop everything and disappear."

I hesitated to respond. I really needed him to cooperate with me. I exhaled and looked up at him with doe eyes.

"I love you, Tom."

Tom stared at me in stunned silence. Then, abruptly, he leaned in and planted his lips on mine.

I froze as searing hot pain ripped through my throat. I feel the heat of the blood that ran through his veins and I inhaled his mouthwatering aroma as he pressed his lips against mine in an attempt to kiss me fervently.

I needed to continue to play the part; I had to reciprocate.

I parted my lips and breathed in his scent, causing the pain the my throat to worsen. Since being splattered with blood the night before, I'd been so...hungry.

Absolutely parched.

Starving.

His pulse, his body heat, the aroma that wafted off of his skin...a small whimper escaped from my throat as I desperately resisted my darker urges.

Tom misinterpreted the origin on my desire and lifted his hand to cup my cheek as he kissed me harder. I could feel the delicate skin of his lips against my teeth, molding itself against my canines. My mouth watered.

I could resist him, but I didn't want to. My fangs shot down and sliced the thin layer of skin on his lips, causing blood to immediately pool in my mouth. Tom attempted to jerk his head away from me, but I wrapped my arms around him and cemented him in place, only relenting when I moved my fangs to his neck.

Tom grunted and struggled against me as I drained the life out of his body, but to no avail. He couldn't escape his fate. I could feel him grow cold, then limp, until he was nothing more than dead weight and a burden to me.

My time in Texas was up. I needed to dispose of the body, ditch the car, and fly my happy ass back to Italy. I missed my mate, and I was too self-involved to deny myself of him any longer.

I clamored out of the passenger seat and popped the trunk before I haphazardly drug the cadaver to the back of the car so I could shove it in the trunk. Once the body was deposited in the trunk, I slammed it close - with a little too much force, if I were being honest - and circled back to the front of the car to slid into the driver's seat.

It had been seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds since Tom had put the car in park. It took me less than thirty seconds to pull back onto the highway without a second thought.