Chapter 8
Mick? Beth thought to herself.
"What about Mick? Is he O.K.?" she asked him, stepping closer.
"Physically…yes he's fine." Josef said. He took his hand and raked his fingers through his hair, a habit he couldn't break. Call it a nervous tic. One of his only tells.
Josef turned and sat on the sidewalk and looked up at Beth. She sat down next to him and locked her arm in his.
"Josef, just tell me what's going on." She urged.
"You say that Mick didn't see a future with you, that Mick didn't want to be with you." Josef started.
Beth removed her arm and wrapped herself up. Suddenly she was chilled to the bone.
"Yes, that's what he told me." Beth said.
Josef put his face in his hands. How did it come to this? He shouldn't have bothered watching Beth. He wouldn't be in this situation if he had just sent someone else to watch after her. He wouldn't have had to look at her night after night wanting to get closer. He know understood where Mick was coming from all these years. You couldn't stand on the sidelines when it came to Beth. Something about her made you yearn to be apart of her life. For her to be apart of yours. He was about to do the only selfless thing he had done in a good century or two. He was actually dashing his chances at happiness for another person. The situation was alien to him. He did it the only way he knew how to. He just spat it out.
"He wasn't being truthful, Beth. He loves you. He always loved you. Hell he loves you now. He's in Canada just to get you out of his head." He took his hands away from his face and looked into Beth's eyes.
She sat there looking at him with disbelief. It couldn't be true, he told her himself. Mick just turned and left her at the restaurant. He never even bothered to look back.
"He lied to you to protect you Beth. He didn't want you with a vampire, I mean he didn't want you with him. He wanted the best for you, and the best for you according to Mick is a normal life with a normal lifespan." Josef stated.
Beth was still stunned. She couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. None of this made any sense. Why would Mick think lying to her would protect her? She looked at Josef and saw the sadness written on his face, and knew him to be telling the truth. She couldn't be completely sure if the sadness on his face was for her or Mick. She turned to face the city street. She had a lot to digest. It felt like her world had been completely turned upside down. She stood up and brushed her dress off. She looked down at Josef.
"Would you mind to take me home Josef?" Beth asked meekly.
Josef 's head jerked up at the sound of her voice. "Sure, Beth." Josef answered sadly.
They both walked towards his limo in silence. Josef had his hands in his pockets and was concentrating on the pavement beneath his feet. He badly wanted to make a joke, something to distract him from his pain. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He deserved to feel this way, it was another reminder of his ever present eternal loneliness. This was punishment for getting to close to her. He had warned Mick of the follies of falling in love with humans, and here he was, on his way to mending a broken undead heart. They reached the limo and Josef held the door open for Beth.
Beth crawled inside and looked at Josef still standing on the street.
"You coming Josef?" Beth questioned hesitantly.
"Actually I feel like walking tonight." Josef said with a forced smile.
"Josef…" Beth started.
"Goodnight Beth." Josef interrupted her. "I was in excellent company. Jason will take you home from here."
He paused to look at her in that black dress and those painted red lips for the last time before he shut her door. He went to the passenger side door and gave the order to his chauffer. He stood back and watched as his car left without him. He turned and made his way back to his home. He couldn't ride in that car with Beth not saying a word. Sitting there feeling the magic of their moment unravel. No, he would try to remember her on the dance floor with the dangerous look in her eyes. Wanting him, wanting all of him. Vampire and all.
Beth sat in the back of the limo as it made its way back to her place. She had her hands in her lap twiddling her thumbs. Which was one of her numerous nervous habits. She turned one thumb over and saw the mark from Josef's fang. She felt the smile grow across her lips. She let it linger for a moment before her thoughts returned to Mick. What was she going to do about Mick? Should she go to him or should she wait until he returned from Canada? How could she get a hold of him? If Mick knew that Beth knew how he felt about her would it change anything between them? She had a lot to think over tonight. She heard the thunder echo in the sky when the limo stopped outside her apartment building. Beth got out and made her way upstairs in a hurry to get out of the rain.
Of course it was raining why not right? "Fuck me sideways." Josef grumbled. He was now only five blocks away from his place but he was still got caught in the rain. He looked around to make sure no humans were around before he used his vampire speed to get home quickly. He arrived at his front door and made his way inside. His shirt clung to his body and his hair was hanging in his eyes. He walked inside his home and immediately made his way upstairs. Usually he would go to the freshie wing to bid the girls goodnight, or get a snack. But tonight he felt like being alone. He entered his "closet" to change out of his wet clothes. It wasn't really a closet, it was a bedroom that he had converted into a closet. He went to stand in front of his full length dressing mirror, one of the few things he had left from his mortal life. He sat on the footstool that faced the relic and stared at himself. He saw himself dripping wet, with a look of deep sadness in his eyes. He wasn't used to feeling this way. He continued to stare at himself…loosing all sense of time. When he stood he saw the puddle he had left on his stool. "SON OF A BITCH!" he cursed. He didn't know why it set him off…just something about seeing his leather footstool with rainwater beading off of it was somehow enough to do the trick. He let out a roar and sent the stool hurling towards the wall. Watching the stool splinter into a hundred pieces made him feel somewhat better. Josef had always been able to keep his emotions in check. It was something that he was quite proud of. It took a lot to make him vamp out of anger. He hadn't been this angry in a good 75 years or so. He wasn't even sure what it was he was mad at really. He wasn't angry at Beth. She couldn't help who she was in love with. He wasn't mad at Mick. It wasn't Mick's fault that he trusted a complete fool to watch out for his girlfriend. How was Mick to know that Josef would fall in love with her? Josef backed up to the corner of his room and let his back slide down the wall on his way to the floor. He sat there thinking back to the way Beth's blood had tasted on his lips, how she responded to him in the club. He was sure he saw her look at him with something more than desire in her eyes tonight. He brought his knees to his chest and laid his head down. He was going to have to pack up and move. There was no way he could share a city with Beth and Mick. The idea of it made him want to find something else to break. He loved Mick like a brother…but he thought of Beth of more than a sister. If he stayed the situation wouldn't be good. The best thing for everyone concerned was for him to move on. He was growing tired of L.A. anyway. He hadn't been to Europe in quite a few decades. Maybe London would be a welcomed change.
He was going to have to get out of his clothes and head for the freezer. He needed rest, he needed to be alone with his thoughts tonight. He stood up and made his way to his freezer room when he heard the doorbell ring. His head snapped toward the foyer door at the bottom of his staircase. He took each stair carefully. He was trying not to get his hopes up. Though he couldn't help it. He got to the elegant door and pulled it open, hoping to see her standing there for him.
"Jason?" Josef questioned disappointment clearly reading in his voice as he saw his chauffer standing on the other side holding an umbrella in the rain.
"Yes, sir." The chauffer answered. He pointed at his umbrella "I thought it never rained in L.A.?" He attempted to joke with Josef.
Josef stared back at him with boredom in his eyes.
Jason dropped his eyes and stammered "I…I wanted to give you this." The chauffer handed Josef a bright red clutch. It was Beth's from tonight. "I was already here by the time I noticed. I figured you would be seeing her before I would." The chauffer finished with a chuckle. Josef only stood holding the clutch and looking at it with concentration.
"Sir?" The chauffer questioned "Would you like for me too…"
Josef turned and kicked the door closed. He threw the bag on the foyer table and promptly chastised himself for being foolish enough to expect Beth on his doorstep. He tried to regain his composure as he made his way to the stairs, but then the doorbell rang again.
Josef stomped toward the door and flung it open "…Jason I wont be needing your services…" Josef stopped mid sentence to see Beth standing in the rain. Her hair soaking wet, her eyeliner smudged, and mud on her shoes. She looked out of breath. She looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her before.
"Beth?" Josef asked not believing what he saw before him.
"Josef..." Beth answered rainwater falling down her face.
