Heartbitten (A New Adult Vampire Romance Novel) Read Online Free Page A

Take one down, pass it around—"
    "Very funny."
    A strand of Liz's dark hair fell into her eyes. Again. She contorted her shoulder upward, trying to nudge the disobedient strand of hair back behind her ear.
    "When you're done figuring out what pubs to visit, maybe you could help me wash some of these." Liz took the wire cleaning brush and snapped it in Jenny's direction, sending a light spray of water over her. There were test tubes piled in the sink, on the counter, everywhere, and Jenny had had her nose in her phone for ten minutes, looking up pub specials.
    "Eek! I'm coming, I'm coming." Jenny wiped the drips of water off of her phone and stuffed it into her pocket, tossing back her blond ponytail as she rolled up her sleeves and came to help Liz wash the glassware. "You know, that used to be a British song. It was ten green bottles when I was a kid."
    "I suppose Americans like their beer more than you Brits."
    "That is not true!" Jenny brandished a test tube at Liz. "You take that back, you dirty Yank."
    Liz grabbed the test tube away from Jenny and began to wash it. Ninety-eight empty test tubes on the wall...
    "Come on," Jenny said. "We can do this tomorrow."
    "Or," Liz said, "we can do it tonight. And then we won't have to do it tomorrow."
    "Lizzzzzz..."
    "Jennnnny..." Liz said, raising the wire brush in a threatening pose.
    "Have some fun! Come on, it's the beginning of the semester. There's a happy hour at Rossi's across the street. We can do this tomorrow."
    "The lab program director will be here tomorrow." Liz hadn't met anyone in the chem lab except Jenny, but she wanted to make a good impression on the program director. And Jenny, god bless her, was not the labmate she had imagined working next to during her graduate study. She was friendly, sure, but she seemed more interested in what was on tap at the brew pub than getting the lab ready for the beginning of the year. They'd been working a week and, while they'd started a few lab culture tests, the remaining clutter from the year before had yet to be cleared out.
    "He won't show till afternoon,” Jenny whined. “Come on, my mates have been killing me to meet you."
    Liz sighed and lay the wire brush down in the sink.
    "The last few cases of glassware haven't been put away, and I wanted to pick up those books from the library for reference for the director—"
    "He probably won't even care about the lab!" Jenny said, her impatience bubbling out of her. "He just writes the checks, anyway."
    "Still..." Liz looked at the dozens of test tubes strewn across the counter.
    "Please . I promise we can come in early tomorrow to clean up." Jenny's face shone up at Liz, like a puppy begging her to take it for a walk to the nearest pub. " Pleassssse? "
    "Okay," Liz said. "But —"
    "You are amazing! Yes!" Jenny grabbed Liz's hand. "Let's go!"
    "Whoa, hey, careful, I have substrate all over my hands right now," Liz said. "You wash your hands right now along with me."
    Jenny rolled her eyes and, with an exaggerated sigh and a beaming grin to belie it, she squirted soap onto her hands and washed them under the running water.
    Ahh, hot water. Liz loved the feeling of soapiness, of letting her fingers glide across each other and untangle in sensuous knots. The feeling of being clean was nice, yes, but the real reason Liz didn't mind all of the safety precautions of the lab was because she loved the hot water. She'd always enjoyed the sensation of getting into the hottest shower she could possibly stand, letting the water run through her hair...
    "Hello? Earth to Liz?" Jenny bumped her with her hip and Liz refocused her attention. Right. Washing hands. The pub.
    "Sorry, woolgathering," she said, wiping her hands on her jeans. "Ready to go?"
    "Did you want to change before we go out?" Jenny asked. Liz looked down at her clothes. An old hoodie with a stylized chemical molecule of caffeine on the front, fraying at the sleeves, and jeans with more chemical splatters on them than her