Forks, Book Two

by A. E. Davis

  “Do what you want.”

  “I’ll just stand here and twiddle my thumbs.”

  At the end of my patience, I whirled around. “What do you want from me?” I snapped.

  “Nothing,” he snapped back.

  “Fine.”

  “Good.” I waited for him to leave but he didn’t. In full mope mode, I made the mistake of looking over at Vincent again. He was smiling down at Cressida and his dimple was showing. I ground my teeth.

  “If you want, I can give you a tour.”

  “Of what?” I was hoping it was someplace far from here.

  “It’s off limits to everyone, including me,” he said ominously.

  “If it’s off limits to everyone, including you, how are you going to give me a tour?”

  “I have my ways.” He lifted his brows.

  Instinctively my eyes drifted back to Vincent again, somehow hoping he was looking for me, but now his face was really close to Cressida’s. A sickening feeling settled in my gut. Was he going to kiss her? Gross.

  God, if I didn’t leave, like right now, I was going to be sick. “Fine,” I said before I changed my mind. “Where is this illegal tour supposed to take place?”

  “Come with me and I’ll show you.”

  “Okay.” I pushed off the wall. It didn’t matter that I was still mad at him, I only wanted out of here before I saw anymore. Or worse, did something stupid… like cry.

  He gave me a curious look but didn’t move. “Don’t you want to tell your friend?”

  No. “I guess I should.” Pulling out my phone, I texted Glinda.

  Me: Be right back.

  I watched as she pulled out her phone. A surge of irritation shot through me. So her phone did work which meant she was ignoring me earlier when I texted her. She read the message and then looked around the room. When she spotted me, I gave her a half-hearted wave.

  Her brows creased and instead of waving back or coming over, she texted me. Another surge of irritation shot through me. Seriously? Couldn’t she walk over?

  My phone bleated. I read the text.

  Glinda: Where are you going?

  Me: Outside

  Glinda: Want me to come?

  Me: No.

  Glinda: Fine. :p When are you coming back?

  Me: In a few

  Glinda: Kay

  I shoved my phone back in my pocket and looked up at Lucky. “Okay, let’s go.”

  “Follow me.” He smiled and ducked back out the door.

  Prickles rose on my skin and I felt like I was being watched.

  Being a glutton for punishment, I glanced back over at Vincent. Instead of watching me, like I hoped, he was busy swapping spit with Cressida.

  My stomach dropped and my heart hurt. I turned back around wishing that I had never looked.

  forty one

  Even though there were enough holes in the wall of the building to not even qualify as being inside, once I stepped out away from all the warm bodies, I shivered from the cold. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I tucked my face down in the neckline of my jacket.

  “You sure you want to do this?” Lucky asked, looking unsure suddenly.

  A shiver of unease crept over me. I wasn’t too sure about going but then I remembered how Vincent was kissing Cressida and that overrode any trepidation I was having. “Sure. You’re going to protect me right?”

  Lucky pulled the rubber band from his hair and the silky mass fell down around his broad shoulders. “Of course,” he said as he slid the rubber band over his wrist.

  “Well, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  “Nah, I’ll keep it a surprise.”

  “Great.” I was less than enthused at the prospect of walking off to who knew where with Lucky. But it was better than the alternative.

  “Want me to hold your hand?”

  “I think I’m good.”

  He chuckled. “Suit yourself.” He started walking.

  “Wait up. I can’t see.”

  “Amber,” he sighed, stopping. “Give your eyes a minute to adjust.”

  “Fine.” I stared into the darkness and slowly everything came back into focus.

  “Can you see now?”

  “Yes, but not great.”

  “It’s night, you know.”

  “Yes, I know that,” I snapped getting riled again.

  “Testy, testy,” he said.

  “Yeah, so, what’s your point?”

  “I guess I don’t have one.”

  “Can we go already?” The longer I stood here the less I wanted to go anywhere and if I didn’t go soon I was going to chicken out.

  “Come on.” Not asking my permission, he slung his arm over my shoulder and pulled me along beside him. I didn’t mind because I was freezing and the heat coming from his body warmed me.

  “Aren’t you cold?”

  “Nah. I think it feels nice.”

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  He squeezed my shoulder and laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “I doubt that.”

  He laughed.

  I felt like punching him. “So what happened to the airport?”

  “Fire burned the tower and there wasn’t enough money to fix it.”

  “Is it safe?”

  “If it wasn’t safe we wouldn’t have set up the haunted house inside.”

  “That makes sense…unless…”

  “Unless, what?”

  “You’re trying to do us all in,” I said morbidly.

  He dropped his arm. “You’ve figured out our sinister plot and now I will have to do away with you.” He made his hands like claws and stalked forward.

  “Lucky…stop doing that, you’re freaking me out.” I took a step backward.

  He dropped his hands. “Hey, I was just playing along.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  “So what have you been doing?” He changed the subject, which I was glad for.

  “Not much.” I tucked my hair behind my ears. “Just school work and helping my mom do some stuff since she hurt her ankle.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Yeah, she’s fine. She just can’t get around very well.”

  “How’d she hurt her ankle?”

  “She fell down the stairs.”

  “Ouch!” He pulled in a sharp intake of air and made a pained face. “That’s sucks.”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “Well, other than helping out with your mom and doing homework, have you been doing anything else exciting?”

  “That would depend on what you qualify as exciting.”

  “I don’t know. Have you watched any good movies, lately?”

  “You think watching movies is exciting?” I lifted my brows.

  “Fine. Maybe not when you say it like that. But some are pretty good and maybe exciting, depending on what you are watching or who you are watching it with.”

  I thought about the movies I watched with Viktor and could at least agree on that part. It could be exciting if you were with the right person.

  “So have you watched any…movies, that is?”

  I was about to say I watched Twilight but then decided against it. “Nope.” I shook my head. There was no sense in opening that can of worms. “So what have you been up to?”

  “I entered the Last Chance Salmon Derby.”

  “Hey, I read about that.”

  “Really?” His face lit up. “Where?”

  “The website for Forks,” I explained. “I was wondering if you entered it.”

  “So, you have been thinking about me?” He gave me a sly look.

  “No.”

  “It sure sounds like you have.”

  “Puhleeze. Conceited much?”

  “Hey, you’re the one that said you were thinking about me.”

  “I did not. I was just wondering if you entered the Derby.”

  “Suuure,” he drew out the word. “If you say so.”

  I pushed him.

&n
bsp; He stumbled sideways, like he was going to fall over.

  “Oh, stop,” I laughed. “I didn’t push you that hard.”

  “You’re a lot stronger than you think.” He righted himself and flipped his hair back as he walked over to me.

  “Yeah, right,” I said, still laughing.

  “Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand. “We’re almost there.”

  I followed beside him around the corner and then stopped abruptly. There was a big structure that looked like a frame without the bottom and had designs carved on the wood. “What is that?”

  “It’s the Quileute cemetery.” He rubbed my arm, seemingly sensing my distress.

  “I’m not going into a graveyard,” I said automatically.

  “It’s a cemetery.” He corrected me.

  “What’s the difference?”

  “A graveyard is attached to a church, or in a church yard.”

  “What’s in there, then?” An eerie sense of foreboding washed over me.

  “Dead bodies, I guess.” He shrugged.

  “You don’t know?” I gaped at him.

  “Well, I do, but…”

  “Wait. You haven’t been in there before?”

  “Nope.” He shook his head.

  “Why not?”

  “Because, I’m not dead…yet.” He smiled but instead of making me feel better, it had the opposite effect.

  “Then why do you want to go in there?”

  “I don’t, really.” He shrugged. “I just wanted some alone time with you.”

  “Why didn’t you just say so?”

  “I didn’t think you would want to… you know… just hang outside with me.”

  “That’s just stupid. I like hanging out with you.”

  “You do?” he said eagerly. “I mean…” He cleared his throat. “That’s cool.”

  “Yeah, I do.” I smiled up at him. I couldn’t help it. A gust of wind pushed us forward. The trees shook and made strange creaking noises.

  He shook his hair back from his face. “This place is pretty creepy.”

  “Yeah, it is,” I agreed wholeheartedly, relieved he thought so too.

  “Come on,” he said, and grabbed my hand again. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

  “Yeah, I’m with you on that.” He laughed.

  As we started walking, I had the strangest feeling I was being watched. I glanced over my shoulder. Several pairs of eyes glowed in the darkness staring back at us from the woods on the other side of the structure. “Lucky,” I whispered, barely able to speak.

  He froze. “What?”

  “There’s something back there.”

  Lucky looked warily over his shoulder.

  I looked too, but this time, I didn’t see anything but darkness.

  “Must be seeing things,” he said squeezing my hand.

  “Yeah,” I agreed for his sake but I didn’t believe that for a minute. Something was there, waiting. I just didn’t know what.

  forty two

  The crowd had thinned out considerably by the time we got back to the airport. Glinda was still in the same place where I last seen her, in the corner, with Lucky’s friends. I scanned the room looking for Vincent but he was gone, along with Cressida and Curtis.

  I tried not to let that dampen my mood. “Hey.” I tapped Glinda’s shoulder.

  She whirled around. Her face was flushed. “Where have you been?”

  “I told you, I was going for a walk.” I shoved my hands in my pockets.

  “Yeah, that was two hours ago,” she snipped.

  “So.”

  “You said you’d be back in a few. I took that as minutes, not hours.”

  “Sorry,” I said even though I really wasn’t. “I’m here now. What’s the big deal?”

  Glinda looked up at Lucky and then back to me. “Never mind.”

  Lucky cleared his throat. “Amber, this is Bo, Stu, and Peter.”

  “Hey,” I said and smiled warmly at his friends.

  “Lucky give you the tour?” Stu asked, grinning broadly, revealing a space between his two front teeth. He had on a black t-shirt with a yellow werewolf crossing sign on the front.

  “Yeah, did Lucky give you the tour?” Bo asked his almost dark eyes glittered with amusement.

  “Ah, yeah, I guess.” My brow creased as they started laughing. I had a feeling I was being left out of some kind of inside joke.

  “Don’t pay any attention to them,” Lucky said and shoved Bo away.

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Glinda was standing next to shorter of the three, the one named Peter. His spiked dark hair had white streaks in it and he was dressed all in black. He had piercing green eyes and he wasn’t much taller than Glinda, but he was definitely the cutest one out of the three. “Hey, you ready to go?”

  She made a face at me. “Not really.”

  “I have a curfew,” I reminded her.

  “Just give me few.” She smirked at me and so did Peter.

  Seriously? “Okay. I’ll meet you in the car.”

  “Okay.” She turned back around and resumed her conversation.

  “What’s her problem?” Lucky asked when we were out of earshot.

  “I guess she’s mad because I left her.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have saved her, after all.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “Come on, Amber. You know I wasn’t being serious.”

  I released a slow stream of air, trying to get my emotions in check. Since I found out Vincent had left, they were all over the place. “Yeah, I know,” I finally said, feeling bad.

  “Want me to hang with you or would you rather be left alone to sulk?”

  Was I that transparent? I guess I was. “Sure!” I over enthused to cover my pityfest. “I’d love it if you kept me company.” I tried to keep my voice upbeat even though I was feeling anything but, right now.

  A slow grin spread across his face and his eyes glittered.

  “I mean…” I started babbling. “You know, to just talk. Nothing else.” I didn’t want him to get any ideas.

  “What else would we be doing, if not talking?” His brow lifted.

  “Ah…” My mind blanked.

  “Don’t worry,” he said and laughed. “I’m picking up what you’re laying down.”

  “Huh?”

  He laughed again, harder this time. “Come on, Sunshine. Just open the door.”

  I froze. How did he know where I lived?

  He sobered and his brows creased. “Amber, what’s wrong?”

  “Why did you call me, Sunshine?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “It was meant as a compliment.” His brows pulled together.

  “Oh.” Flustered, I opened my door and climbed inside. Reaching across the seat I unlocked the passenger door and then slid all the way back to my seat and got as close to the door as humanly possible.

  Lucky climbed in and shut the door. He made a face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “What’s that smell?” His nose wrinkled in displeasure.

  I inhaled deeply but didn’t smell anything. “Car funk, I guess.” I shrugged.

  “Mind if I open the window?”

  “No. Go ahead.”

  Lucky rolled down the window and cold air poured inside the car.

  I buttoned up my coat and pulled my sleeves over my hands. It was quiet. Too quiet. Neither one of us were talking. The only thing I heard other than my breathing was a dog howling in the distance. Of course, that automatically reminded me of what Glinda had said about Werewolves. As soon as I thought that, the full moon slipped back out from under a dark cloud.

  “So,” he hedged jumpstarting the conversation. “Did you have fun tonight?”

  “Yeah, I did.” In addition, surprisingly, I did.

  “Cool.” He brushed his long hair back over his shoulder. He had nice hair, like really nice. It was pin straight, and looked super soft.
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  Self-consciously, I ran my hand down over my hair. “So, how much money do you think you earned from the Social?”

  “I think we probably pulled in a few thousand.”

  “Wow. That much? That’s great.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty happy with the amount we made.”

  “I should say so.” I glanced up as the moon slid under a big black cloud. Stupid cloud.

  “Amber…”

  I turned and my breath caught. Lucky had a strange look on his face.

  “About the other night…”

  “What about it?”

  “You know… when I called….” It sounded like he was having a hard time getting the words out he wanted to say.

  “It’s okay,” I tried to tell him, to make him feel better. I didn’t feel like getting into that again.

  “Yeah, but, I….”

  “Boo!” Glinda stuck her head in the window.

  Me and Lucky both jumped in our seats.

  Glinda laughed maniacally.

  I tensed. “You ready?” I asked, hoping to get out of here before Lucky told me something I didn’t want to here.

  “In a minute.” She made eyes at me and then turned back around towards Peter.

  Before I could say anything else, Peter’s mouth landed on top of hers—roaming hands and groaning ensued.

  Lucky rolled up the window and turned back towards me. “So…” He cleared his throat and shifted in the seat.

  It was more than a little awkward with Glinda and Peter making out. “Hmm?” I lifted my brows in question, acting oblivious to what was going on right outside the window. Unbelievable.

  Lucky angled his body so he blocked the show—and I didn’t mind in the least. “Do you have your costume all picked out for next weekend?”

  “Costume? For what?”

  “Aren’t you dressing up?”

  My brows creased. “What for?”

  “Halloween.”

  “Um… I think I’m a bit old to go trick or treating.”

  He laughed. “It’s not for that. It’s for the dance.”

  “What dance?”

  “The one we’re having next weekend.”

  “Oh, I was going to say,” I laughed. “I haven’t heard about that.”