Dead Man's Curves (BBW Vampire Paranormal Erotic Romance) [KOBO ED] by Ava Lore

feet.
    Without thinking, James took it, and the vampire pulled him effortlessly upright. Their eyes locked. A dazed look passed over James's face.
    "Hello," the vampire said conversationally.
    "Hey," said James.
    Chloe licked her lips. She didn't know what she was going to do if this went south, but she was sure she would do something. Her whole body tensed as she waited for things to play out.
    “Sorry to bother you,” the vampire continued, clearly not sorry at all, “but I was just hoping to fall into bed with a beautiful woman, and what should she tell me but a story about a faithless fiance and a treacherous friend?” He shifted his eyes to Jenny, who had begun to bristle. Immediately she calmed. Her eyes unfocused and stared somewhere far away.
    “That's better. After all, we are all acquaintances here. We all know the score. Now... James, was it? James... tell me, what made you think you should be the one who keeps the living quarters? Do you not possess sufficient funds to procure your own place to live?”
    This was something Chloe hadn't thought of before. She knew Jenny was in a bad way financially, but Jenny had always been twenty dollars away from losing her apartment the entire time Chloe had known her. She was just bad with money. James, on the other hand, had a good paying job. He had plenty of money.
    Except apparently he didn't, because he shook his head. “No,” he said dreamily. “I lost my job five months ago.”
    Chloe gasped. Five months?
    The vampire didn't look at her, but she saw a muscle twitch in his neck. “I see. Did you inform your fiancee of this fact?”
    “No. I was ashamed. I told Jenny. I hid it from Chloe. I've been using up our savings keeping up my half of the bills...”
    Their savings? A sick feeling settled in her stomach, pushing back the breathless desire, leaving her reeling. “Was that why you cut me off from our accounts?” she demanded. “So I wouldn't find out?”
    James' mouth twitched but he didn't answer right away.
    “Well?” the vampire prompted.
    “Yes,” James said. “That was why.”
    Chloe collapsed back onto the couch and stared at the ceiling. All that money... was it all gone? She'd been saving her birthday money since she was seven—seven!—for something special. Like a honeymoon, or a down-payment on a house with her husband. She'd thought that was going to be James.
    She was going to have to start all over again. Chloe covered her face with her hands and tried not to hyperventilate.
    “I think,” the vampire said, “that you should leave all your valuables here. Go fetch a piece of paper... Good. Now write on it: I, first name and last name, do hereby bequeath all items in my possession worth more than the sum of one dollar to—”
    “Twenty dollars,” Chloe interjected. “Inflation.”
    “Apologies. More than the sum of twenty dollars to Miss Chloe Banks. Any remaining items will be collected and removed in the space of seventy-two hours.' Good. Now sign it. You, too, Miss. You'll make a fine witness. Now date it. Now... pack a change of clothes and get the hell out of here. Miss Banks does not want to see your weaselly face again.”
    “Yes, sir,” James mumbled.
    Chloe dropped her hands from her eyes and watched as James and Jenny calmly gathered their things. They must both have very little money, Chloe realized, otherwise they might have gone to crash at Jenny's apartment. Had Jenny been kicked out? Why didn't they tell her? Why turn to each other and keep her in the dark? It was no wonder they'd ended up fucking. Her relationship must have been over long before James and Jenny had begun their tryst.
    She sat up and twisted the gold and diamond engagement ring from her finger. “James,” she said as he walked placidly toward the front door, preparing to waltz out of her life permanently. He turned and looked at her. There was no malice in his gaze, just a sort of general confusion, as though he wasn't quite sure what he was