Read Online The Mark (Interracial Paranormal Romance) (Toil and Trouble) by Charisma Cole - Free Book Online

life? Boohoo I have to eat people to survive?”
     
    “Babe-“
     
    “DO I?” he thundered, slamming his fist on the table.
     
    I shook my head.
     
    He looked around now, realizing that maybe we were attracting the wrong kind of attention. He lowered his voice, his eyes distant. “I made peace with what I am a long time ago. I had to.”
     
    I reached out and gripped his hand. “I know, it’s just hard and-“
     
    He ripped his hand from mine, his voice resigned. “Just go home, Jade.”
     
    I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach. “Jack-”
     
    “Just go,” he said firmly, turning his back to me.
     
    I summoned up the last bit of dignity I had left, and looped my purse over my shoulder. I booked it toward the exit, but not before some girl saddled up next to Jack.
     
    “That was, like, the best vampire spiel I've heard all night,” the girl grinned, her pearly whites gleaming in the dark.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Nine
     
    Forever Ever?
     
     
     
    “Can you feel it?” Sia said excitedly as she looped her arm through mine. “I was made for days like these!”
     
    Moore Square shone like a lush garden in the midst of a concrete jungle. Families were lounged in the soft green grass, chatting excitedly as they ate their bagged lunches. Street musicians tinkered a tune and the notes from their weary instruments hung lazily on the warm air. Even those who zipped past in automobiles glanced at the park with longing. Saturdays were made for the outdoors, for basking in the hot rays of the sun.
     
    But my run-in with Jack still laid heavy on my mind. He hadn’t answered my calls and he didn’t rest in his apartment or mine. I'd scanned the local news for any missing persons, but nothing head been reported.
     
    Jack was right...I should have said no. But if we were going to work out, didn't I have to accept what he was? I couldn't just turn a blind eye to his feeding or plug my ears and say "lalalalala" until I was blue in the face.
     
    I smirked as Sia skipped away. She did a sultry dance around a street musician, the ribbons from her white linen dress flapping in time. A couple of bystanders took notice, clapping and egging her on. I could feel them falling under her trance as their eyes glazed over and their mouths hung open.
     
    “That’s quite enough,” I said sternly as I steered her away. Her circle of admirers sighed with discontent, unaware that I had saved their eternal souls from damnation. “I thought we agreed, no soul gathering today.”
     
    She flipped her golden hair over her shoulder and gave me a look. “I was just dancing!”
     
    “Uh huh.” I scooped out my wallet and paid for two ice cream cones, handing one to her.
     
    Her eyes went round with delight. “All is forgiven!”
     
    I couldn’t help but laugh as she slurped the thing like it was liquid gold. After a moment she threw all abandon to the wind and shoved the whole thing down her throat and a stream of gooeyness seeped down her chin.
     
    “So I’m starting to think that I should start charging you an hourly rate,” she said as she wiped her chin with the back of her hand. “Or should I be flattered that I get the privilege of hanging out with Debbie Downer on such a beautiful day?”
     
    My cheeks burned hot. “I’m sorry, Sia.” I tucked a stray hair behind my ear and unrolled the blanket in my bag and settled down on one end of it. “I’m just having problems with Jack.”
     
    “Oh?”
     
    I nodded. “I went hunting with him and we kinda got into it.”
     
    She gave a knowing chuckle. “That pesky human conscience, huh?”
     
    I fiddled with the hem of my t-shirt. “I know that he…” I swallowed hard. I couldn't even say it.
     
    “Eats people?” Sia finished.
     
    “Yeah,” I replied as I bit my lip. “But I’ve never seen it with my own two eyes. When he’s with me, and we’re joking around, it seems like something so romantic and erotic. But that night it