He shook his head. This was beyond strange. “Taz, are you feeling all right?”
She grinned and nodded. “You betcha’!” All the while rubbing the ring.
He supposed he should be grateful she was feeling better, but something odd was going on. He reached out with his mind and bumped against her thick mental barrier.
She sensed his probe and grinned. “All these drunks. Sorry, Matts, just don’t want to hear them, ya know?” Then she winked.
God, there was something familiar about that.
Before Matthias could question Taz, the DJ announced her song. She dragged Matthias on stage with her.
The DJ handed them two mics, and the song started. He recognized it immediately, it was one of Rafael’s favorites. Meat Loaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” Usually Rafe charmed a lovely young thing into singing with him and then took her to bed. He didn’t care if they could sing. He picked his karaoke partners based on their physical assets.
Taz snapped with the beat and started singing, perhaps sensing Matthias wasn’t ready. He finally picked up on the second verse and they sang it more as a duet until the bridge. Then she belted out the woman’s part, her eyes burning into his, pulling him in.
Matthias didn’t know how he made it through the rest of the song. She sounded good, and the small audience, a little larger than it was when they first started, went wild at the end when she grabbed him and kissed him, stunning him with her passion and ferocity.
The waitress brought her drink, double bourbon. Taz smiled and downed it in a couple of gulps.
Holy hell, Taz never drank like that.
Did she? He thought about it. To be honest, he didn’t know. He’d have to call Tim again, but would he even know?
But…
Rafe did. Used to.
Rafe had the constitution of an experienced Irish drunk. One or two shots didn’t even give him a buzz. Combined with vampire genetics, the effect was even more dramatic. Matthias had watched him drink an entire bottle of bourbon and be white-line-walking sober within twenty minutes.
Matthias paid the tab while Taz sang a number by Pink. A sad ballad of lost love that never was.
A shiver crawled up his spine and he wondered, yet again, what was going on.
Three drinks later, Taz was laughing and leading him out of the bar, stopping in the middle of the parking lot to throw her arms up in the air and spin around, whooping with joy.
He managed to lead her back to the room. “What was that for?”
She grinned. “Just happy to be alive, Matty-boy!”
Then she collapsed.
Alarmed, Matthias dropped their room key and caught her. Fortunately he’d already unlocked the door and managed to put his foot against it and kick it open, gently laying her on the bed. He grabbed the key from where it landed and went back to Taz, grabbing her hands.
“Taz, Taz! Wake up!”
Her mental barrier was mostly down, and she felt confused, dazed. Not drunk, but…like waking from a long, deep sleep.
“Taz!” He was about to phone Tim when she finally moaned and put a hand to her head.
“I’m—what? What’s wrong?” She opened her eyes. “Matthias, what’s the matter?”
“Are you all right? You passed out.”
“I—” She tried to sit up and groaned, lay back down again. “What happened? Why does it taste like I’ve been drinking?”
“You don’t remember?”
She looked at him, her eyes wide. “What happened?”
“We just got back from karaoke. You had three double bourbons. Straight.”
“I what? I don’t drink bourbon.”
“You did just now.”
She sat up with his help. “Matthias, this isn’t funny.”
“Do I look like I’m laughing?”
“Karaoke? I don’t do karaoke. I’ve never done karaoke.”
“Well, you sure wowed the crowd. You were fantastic.”
She looked at him like he was crazy. “What the hell is going on?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I wish I did.”
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Taz awoke before Matthias. The nasty taste in her mouth brought back everything that happened, including the karaoke. Why did she do that?
It was like someone took over her body, and she sat back and watched from the bleachers. She hadn’t even minded. It was…
Weird.
Crazy?
Scary.
This was way more than hot, sexy dreams and a phantom voice.
She watched Matthias and suddenly knew what she had to do. She was out of control again, or rapidly heading in that direction, and she needed to decompress before she lost it like she did in Yellowstone. She’d spent her entire life in complete control and refused to let it slip through her fingers again. It didn’t matter what the guys told her or how they blamed her loss of control on the sudden awakening of her powers. The Ice Queen would not melt down again.
Never again.
She needed to be alone. Her fugue, if you could call it that, was more proof she needed to get whatever this was out of her system. This was too much, too soon. She was used to being by herself, not as half a couple. She loved Matthias, but this was something he’d have to give her.
Space.
She risked touching Matthias’ mind and saw he was still deeply asleep. She showered, dressed, and packed her things. Then she wrote him a note and sat in front of the TV.
When he awoke he smiled. “Ready to go?” he asked.
She nodded. “I didn’t want to keep you waiting.” She felt guilty about withholding her thoughts from him but knew this is what she had to do.
He got up and kissed her, frowning slightly but not pushing. She knew he sensed her mental barrier.
“Are you all right, Taz?”
She forced a smile. “I’m okay.”
“Let me get a shower and we’ll go eat.”
She waited until the water was running and she knew he was under the spray. She left the note on the dresser, under his keys where he’d find it. Then she grabbed her bag, purse, and Rafael’s laptop case and quietly let herself out.
Stopping at a bank on the other side of the interstate, Taz made the maximum withdrawal from her checking account at an ATM, then took a cash advance from one of her personal credit cards. She needed to get away, untraceable for now. They would track her credit cards.
Before she headed north on I-75, Taz switched off her BlackBerry. She needed to disable the GPS tracking feature. She also had to put some immediate distance between her and Matthias so he couldn’t sense the direction she was heading, and she didn’t have time to figure out the phone settings.
She knew where she wanted to go. Once there, she’d tell him.
At first, Matthias thought Taz went to load her luggage in the car or get them a table at breakfast.
Then he spotted her note.
Matthias, I love you. With all my heart. But I need a few days alone. I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin. Last night scared me, proved I need time so I don’t explode like I did in Yellowstone. Please don’t worry—I will be careful. And please don’t try to find me. I’ll stay safe, and I’ll let you know where I am when I’m ready to come home in a few days, I promise.
Love, Taz.
His knees weakened as he sat heavily on the bed. No wonder she’d blocked him.
Even though he knew she wouldn’t answer, he tried to call. Straight to voice mail. He hung up without leaving a message, knowing she’d turned her phone off so it couldn’t be tracked.