Blood Ties

18. Dare You

Adam didn’t take his car to the musical. Instead, he’d rented a stretch limo with a driver to take them there. It was part of the surprise, but when Quinn came out dressed in all her finery and blew him away, he forgot to tell her all about that as part of the evening he had planned for them.

Dressed in a silk dress with lace so fine it appeared to be crocheted by tiny winged fairies, she turned a full circle. She was dressed in a dark green, her bright red hair mostly piled atop her head with loose tendrils hanging in soft curls around her neck. She wore dangling earrings and a silver chain low between her breasts that had a loose gem that hung atop of cleavage. Her heels were modest, because she wasn’t a big fan of stilettos. She was very sensitive to her feet’s comfort since she danced for much of her life.

He stared at her until she looked up at him, concern creasing her brow. “Is it okay? Is there a rip or something in the fabric?

He cleared his throat. “No, no, love. You look stunning. I just…wow. I ordered this dress several months ago thinking it would go well with your skin tone and hair. I had no idea how right I was. Holy shit.” He dragged in a ragged breath, surprised when his throat seemed clogged with something. Emotion, some type of confusion—he didn’t know what except that it rendered him nearly speechless.

He swallowed thickly.

“Thank you,” she replied softly, her cheeks turning pink and her head lowering.

He strode up to her quickly, lifting her chin and pecking her on the cheek so as not to smudge her lipstick. “You are gorgeous, sweet mate. You should be showered with compliments daily, if not hourly. Whether you’re in sweats or a gown, you are the picture of perfection in my eyes, and I would go to my grave saying that.” Ironic, since he was immortal, and he never really even thought of death as a near possibility. A vampire’s life seemed to be the endless promise of forever.

Quinn’s cheeks turned darker, and she twisted her head away from Adam’s gentle hand shyly.

“Thank you,” she murmured even quieter.

Adam pulled her in, holding her gently so he wouldn’t wrinkle her dress or smudge her light makeup. She really had such a fine complexion, she didn’t need much—or any, in Adam’s opinion.

She stepped back a little and studied the suit Adam was wearing. It looked to be brand new and very expensive, which she supposed was normal for what Adam was used to. The more and more time she spent at his home in Beverly Hills, the more unreal most of the luxuries seemed. It held a plethora of objects and appliances that were voice-operated, in most instances. Some she’d never even heard of before, or only read about in the news.

“You look so handsome.” She smiled up at him brightly, the light sheen of her lipstick catching the illumination from the ceiling’s lights.

He couldn’t stay too far away from her and drew closer. “Thank you, but you’ll have to believe me when I say you far outshine any of my glory.” He smiled against her forehead and patted her arm after a brief moment. “Our ride should be arriving at any minute.”

She was startled and looked up at him. “Ride? Are we taking an Uber?”

He shook his head, amused by her question and his own forgetfulness. “Well, I could have ordered an Uber, but I figured we’d get there in a little style.” Adam leaned down and kissed her lips once before winking and tugging her hand gently. “Come.”

She wanted to ask what he was talking about, but she was moving too quickly to get it out before a gentle honk broke the relative silence of the hills.

Adam drew her out the front door in time to see a limousine driving up and parking outside past the front gates.

“A limo?” She’d never ridden in one before.

“Yes, a stretch with a wet bar in the back.” He grinned.

“What? Couldn’t spring for the one with a hot tub and 3 naked ladies on the trunk?” Her voice was so wry that he could only snort.

“Cute. Very cute.”

“Thank you.”

***

Once the play was over a few hours later, they were both too wound up to go home. He figured he could either tell the limo driver to just go home or offer him overtime to stay longer so they could go get a drink. If the man decided to head home early, they’d just grab a taxi or Uber.

Fortunately, the man jumped at the chance of more money, and even seemed happy to be working longer.

When they’d gotten back into the limousine, Adam kept the divider down to ask the younger man some questions.

“Don’t you get bored sitting in your car for three hours just waiting for your passengers to get back? I’d be falling asleep with nothing to do.”

The driver, a man named Jason, according to his badge near the center console, shrugged his shoulders carelessly. “Nah, we have our radios on at all times in case one of us gets bored of reading or watching a movie on their tablet. Then we just conference everyone in and talk smack about our passengers and take bets on which ones will get sick in the back of the limo or which rich old bastard tips the best.”

Even Adam blinked in surprise as he smirked. “Really?”

Jason thought about it for a moment before busting out laughing. “No, not really. We just like to tell that to our passengers when they ask us that question. It’s common. We do try to figure out which ones are gonna be cool or not. Usually, they ask us what we do on our downtime on the way to their destination, so you were a little late. Makes sense, though. Have a feeling if might be your lady’s first time driving in this type of style. No offense, Miss.”

Quinn leaned in, still flushed from the end of the performance. “None taken. And you’re right. I never even went in one for senior prom.”

Now Adam was surprised. “Why not? Doesn’t everyone arrive at the prom in one? It’s, like, shown in every movie since the 80s, man. What did they do back then that warranted arriving there with a clown car-full of rowdy teenagers?”

“I think it was mainly used as an excuse to spike the punch bowl at the dance and get drunk and still arrive back home in one piece. Enough drunk driving videos and it sobers you up real quick, no pun intended.” Jason seemed more easygoing than the usual chauffeur, and Adam wondered if he was new to the job. It seemed rude to ask, so he phrased it differently, politer.

“You get any real nasty responses to telling your passengers about talking smack about them?” he asked in a mild tone.

“Only once, and that was because the guy was already plastered by the time I got there to pick him up to take to his own 80th birthday. Puked on the way there and the way back. He was blacklisted by the company after that. Turns out, he’d done that many times before to other drivers who kept silent because he paid them handsomely to keep it hush-hush. I figure the company thought he wouldn’t last too much longer anyhow—you know, with the way he was drinking and his age. But yeah, I only been with the company for six months, right after getting my CDL.”

“I must say, I’m impressed. You drive like you grew up around here.”

“Well, I was born in Oakland, but my Dad’s job moved us to Southern California when I was less than a year old. We moved around L.A. a bit until he was bumped up to a high position in the company he was working for. Then he was able to afford to put a mortgage down on a house real soon after that. He still lives in it with my mom and wouldn’t want to move. I think he’ll let that place burn down around his ears before leaving. The times he’s been told to evacuate over the years because of wildfires…” Jason shook his head, obviously exasperated with his stubborn father.

“Does he live that far from the city?”

Jason lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Yeah, pretty far. He got real lucky when looking for a house. Usually a decent-sized one like that would have been going for at least 30k higher, but the housing market plummeted right before he purchased a home. It was weird. Everyone was suffering, but my dad made more money than ever and was able to capitalize on that. Weird timing, but we were grateful. My mom had like 5 kids, and we all were living in a small three-bedroom apartment. Mama gave birth to my youngest sister, Teri, a month after we moved into the house.”

“That’s damned wonderful. But how did his luck change so quickly? Normally, it would take years to raise that much cash for a down p*****t, right?” Quinn seemed interested.

“That’s actually the funny part. He took over as COO of Lyft and doubled his income. They only kept him at a lower level in the marketing team because they couldn’t afford to lose him there. I don’t know all the specifics, but he’s just a few years off from retiring and his house got paid off about a decade ahead of time.”

It seemed like a rags to riches type of fairytale, but such things did happen occasionally. There was one thing that was bothering Adam, though.

“Your dad works in the upper echelon for a cheap car-sharing service while you work for the opposite—the most expensive ride service there is?” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe it.

“Yup,” Jason agreed.

“Your Thanksgiving dinners must be cheerful. Do you strangle each other to half-comatose before or after the tryptophan nap?”

“We decided to make it a brief but bitter battle,” Jason explained ominously.

“Oh?”

“We would break the wishbone and whoever won, immediately won the argument.”

“Oh…”

***

A hour later, they were having their last nightcap of the evening at a small but clean bar only a couple of miles from Owens Park Theater and laughing. Sunday in the Park with George was not a comedy, but it did have a few moments of levity.

Despite the seriousness of the plot and the times when the dialogue tugged at her heartstrings, she was talking about it as excitedly as if she had attended a heavyweight championship in Vegas and was retelling the final fatal blows of the match.

“It’s late, sweetheart. Even through all your riveting re-telling of the musical I just attended with you, you are yawning and droopy-eyed.” He paused as his lips twitched. “It’s quite adorable actually.” He pecked her on the mouth and licked off the taste of her cocktail. It was fruity. He had a whiskey neat in front of him.

They were in the most private corner of the establishment, tucked away behind a support column and out of sight of most of the other patrons. A few were remained in the area, but were turned away watching one of the TVs placed high up on the wall. It wasn’t a sports bar primarily, but they did keep the televisions on for the Dodgers fans and during football season. Some of the patrons of this modern tavern weren’t loud and simply wanted to watch their favorite teams play while not having to deal with drunken carousing.

Quinn blushed prettily and took a sip of her cocktail. Not a big drinker, she’d decided on a mai tai since it wasn’t too strong. This was her second, and she was getting tipsier and more slap-happy by the minute.

“I’m fine, I promise.” She grinned at him before leaning in to press her lips against his.

He took full advantage and licked his way inside her mouth, thankful for their relative privacy. With his hand reaching toward her, he gave a low groan, fingers skating over the cool flesh of her arms until one was cupping a firm tit. He pinched her n****e until she drew back and bit her lip.

“Adam, we’re in public.” Her eyes darted around the room a moment before settling back on his face. He was still smiling.

“Sweetheart, I’m wearing a black suit and black shoes.” He winked. “So what’s stopping me from crawling under this table and eating your p***y right now if I wanted to?”

She was startled and blinked as the air in her lungs left her in a whoosh. “You wouldn’t,” she muttered. His words had sounded like a threat.

He shook his head, his grin widening. “You’re damn straight that I would.”

And with that, he ducked under the table and widened her legs for him before pulling her toward his waiting mouth.

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