Dead as a Doornail

my own, I gripped Bill’s smooth dark hair with both hands and used it to yank his head back. In the excitement of the moment, Bill reached behind him to catch my wrists in his hands, and he began twisting. I choked with pain. Both my arms were about to break when Sam took the opportunity to sock Bill in the jaw with all his power. Shifters are not as powerful as Weres and vampires, but they can pack quite a punch, and Bill was rocked sideways. He also came to his senses. Releasing my arms, he rose and turned to me in one graceful movement.
    My eyes welled full of tears from the pain, and I opened them wide, determined not to let the drops roll down my cheeks. But I’m sure I looked exactly like someone who was trying hard not to cry. I was holding my arms out in front of me, wondering when they’d stop hurting.
    “Since your car was burned, I came to get you because it was time for you to get off work,” Bill said, his fingers gently evaluating the marks on my forearms. “I swear I just intended to do you a favor. I swear I wasn’t spying on you. I swear I never intended you any harm.”
    That was a pretty good apology, and I was glad he’d spoken first. Not only was I in pain, I was totally embarrassed. Naturally, Bill had no way of knowing that Tara had loaned me a car. I should have left him a note or left a message on his answering machine, but I’d driven straight to work from the burned house, and it simply hadn’t crossed my mind. Something else did occur to me, as it should have right away.
    “Oh, Sam, did your leg get hurt worse?” I brushed past Bill to help Sam to his feet. I took as much of his weight as I could, knowing he’d rather lie on the floor forever thanaccept any assistance from Bill. Finally, with some difficulty, I maneuvered Sam upright, and I saw he was careful to keep his weight on his good leg. I couldn’t even imagine how Sam must be feeling.
    He was feeling pretty pissed off, I discovered directly. He glared past me at Bill. “You come in without calling out, without knocking? I’m sure you don’t expect me to say I’m sorry for jumping you.” I’d never seen Sam so angry. I could tell that he was embarrassed that he hadn’t “protected” me more effectively, that he was humiliated that Bill had gained the upper hand and furthermore had hurt me. Last but not least, Sam was coping with the backwash from all those hormones that had been exploding when we’d been interrupted.
    “Oh, no. I don’t expect that.” Bill’s voice dropped in temperature when he spoke to Sam. I expected to see icicles form on the walls.
    I wished I were a thousand miles away. I longed for the ability to walk out, get into my own car, and drive to my own home. Of course, I couldn’t. At least I had the use of a car, and I explained that to Bill.
    “Then I needn’t have gone to the trouble of coming to get you, and you two could have continued uninterrupted,” he said in an absolutely lethal tone. “Where are you going to spend the night, if I may ask? I was going to go to the store to buy food for you.”
    Since Bill hated grocery shopping, that would have been a major effort, and he wanted to be sure I knew about it. (Of course, it was also possible that he was making this up on the spot to be sure I felt as guilty as possible.)
    I reviewed my options. Though I never knew what I’d walk into over at my brother’s, that seemed my safest choice. “I’m going to run by my house to get some makeup out of the bathroom, and then I’m going to Jason’s,” I said.“Thank you for putting me up last night, Bill. I guess you brought Charles to work? Tell him if he wants to spend the night at my house, I guess the, ah, hole is okay.”
    “Tell him yourself. He’s right outside,” Bill said in a voice I can only characterize as grumpy. Bill’s imagination had evidently spun a whole different scenario for the evening. The way events were unfolding was making him mighty unhappy.
    Sam was in so much pain (I could see it hovering like a red glow around him) that the most merciful thing I could do was clear out of there before he gave into it. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sam,” I said, and kissed him on the cheek.
    He tried to smile at me. I didn’t dare offer to help him over to his trailer while the vampires were there, because I knew Sam’s pride would suffer. At the moment, that was more important to him than the state of his injured leg.
    Charles was behind the bar and already