Richie picks up the glass of bourbon sitting in front of him, swishing the liquid around slowly before taking a sip. The sweet oak-flavour fills his senses but it doesn't affect him, not the way it once did, which pisses the fuck out of him because being wasted would be a welcome respite from the deep stabbing pain that seems to have taken permanent residence in his body these days.
The loss of Kate and Seth sets off a wave of misery in him again but he tells himself to snap out of it. Walking away from Kate was the only option he had, he reminds himself, but there's no way he could abandon and leave her alone like he did the last time. As much as he loves his brother, Kate needs Seth more, which meant distancing himself from Seth as well.
"Another one?" the bartender asks, a hot blonde that's been giving him not-so-subtle signals for the last hour.
"After I finish this," he replies. "And then keep 'em coming."
"Bad night?"
"Bad week."
"Girlfriend problems?"
"Something like that."
"Forget about her. Find someone new to distract you."
He levels the bartender with a keen stare, watching as she graces him with a smile. Even after all this time of being a vampire he's not used to women openly flirting with him, probably because his sheer intensity used to scare them off when he was still human but seems to have the opposite effect on them now. Santanico had been right about that: simple human connection had never been easy for him... until Kate. And for a few short days he really believed they could be together, be happy, but of course life had to take her from him as well. Fuck.
He downs the rest of his drink and pushes the empty glass towards the hot blonde.
"I get off in an hour."
"Congratulations," he says dryly, tapping his glass. "Now how about you earn your tip and pour me some more?"
"Well, that's rude."
The achingly familiar voice catches him by surprise and he turns to find Kate sliding onto the empty bar stool next to him. She's in a red dress, the same one she wore to the sex club, her long brown hair falling past her shoulders, her lips a deep, cherry red and he's positive she's a figment of his imagination, probably a hallucination, a way for his brain to cope with her absence. Except she isn't smiling, or kissing him, or sucking him off like she always does in his fantasies. Instead she's glaring at him, stark anger flashing in her eyes.
"But I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering how much of an asshole you are," Kate continues.
His hungry gaze inhales her in, taking in every tiny detail and imprinting it on his brain.
"I'm sorry for his rudeness," Kate says to the bartender. "He can be a real jerk."
"It's fine. Can I get you something?"
"No, that's okay. I won't be staying long."
After the hot blonde walks away, Kate faces him again.
Gazes locked, they watch each other for several minutes before he finally speaks up. "What are you doing here, Kate?"
"I wanted to see you one last time."
"Why?"
"Why?" she repeats in an incredulous tone, shaking her head. "Maybe it's easy for you to leave me behind but I'm not built like you, Richie. I can't let you walk away from me without an explanation."
Angry, he swings her stool closer to him, peering at her. "I explained to you why. That goddamn bruja told me-"
"I don't care what she told you," Kate interjects, her green eyes filled with rage. "You swore to me you'd never leave me again. You said it would be the three of us, always. And what did you do at the first sign of trouble? You left! And you didn't even have the decency to dump me to my face."
"You're in a world of shit because of me, because of my blood in you, and the more I'm around you the more Santanico will keep messing with your head. I'm the thing that connects the two of you together, that's what the bruja said. And the only way to stop Santanico from fucking with you is to break that connection. I have to stay away from you, don't you get that?"
"And what about the promises you made?"
"I don't give a fuck about that if it means keeping you safe!" he snaps.
She averts her eyes away from him. "You ditched me. Again. I can't believe I was stupid enough to trust you after you broke my heart the last time."
His heart squeezes with pain, he can feel how much she's hurting and all he wants to do is hold her close, tell her he's sorry - but he can't. "It's not like before. You're not alone this time, you have Seth in your life. He'll protect you. He'll keep you safe."
She glares at him. "Did you even think about what it would be like for him? How he'd feel about losing you? It almost broke him the last time you left with Santanico."
"This is different. He has you, he loves you. And you love him."
"Yeah I do," she admits. "But Seth and I, we're not okay without you. He's hurting so much right now and I feel like a part of myself is missing when you're not with us."
Richie knows exactly how that feels, how deep that hollowness runs. "You'll get over it." He picks up the empty glass and starts pounding it loudly against the table-top, anything to distract him from Kate's stare. "Hey, can I get a drink over here or what?"
The hot blonde returns to pour him another shot of bourbon before leaving again. He drinks the whole thing in one quick gulp, ignoring Kate's fixed gaze upon him. Her eyes seem to be penetrating into his very soul, drawing out all those feelings he's desperately trying to keep in check.
"You said you belonged to me. Did you lie about that as well?" she asks.
He refuses to look at her, instead focusing his attention on the table. "No. I'm yours."
"Is there anything I can say to change your mind?"
He shakes his head 'no'. "I can't let you go through what I did with Santanico. She'll rip you apart, inside and out, until you lose your mind. That pain is unbearable, and I'm not going to stand by and let that happen to you."
It's a long while before she speaks again. "Fine. I'll stay away from you. On one condition."
"Well, what is it?" he asks, meeting her stare.
"I want to move on from you, but I can't do that if I'm always wondering what it would be like to have sex with you. So that's what I want. One night, with you. And then I'll leave. You'll never have to see me again."
Stunned by her words, he sits there frozen.
"I know you have a room in this hotel, and you're obviously dying to get away from me so let's not waste anymore time. Let's go to your room, we'll fuck, and then I'll be out of your life forever." She stands up, smoothing down the fabric of her dress. "Don't forget to leave the bartender a big tip. She deserves it for putting up with you."
And with those words Kate saunters out of the hotel bar, leaving him confused and speechless, staring after her.
