“Do I look like I give a shit?” I returned. “Come on,” I said, grabbing her by the arm once the place looked cleaned up. Thankfully, we were near the front door. I popped my head out of the bathroom and, seeing the coast was clear, dragged Hope outside.
“What about Whitney?” Hope whined.
“I’ll text her from the car.” I hurried down the shoveled walkway, unlocked the Volvo, and shoved Hope into the backseat. Damn it. This wasn’t how I’d imagined the evening going.
I pulled out my phone and texted Whitney. I wasn’t ready to sit in the car with Hope just yet.
911. Meet me at the car.
I texted Gavin next. Sorry. Have to bail. Hope’s sick.
I glanced at the pitch-black sky over my head. There weren’t any stars to be seen, which meant a wall of clouds was crushing down over Anchorage. Fitting. I breathed the frigid air in and out until I felt calm enough to get inside the car.
Hope was shivering. I stuck my key inside the ignition and turned on the heat.
“Thanks,” she said through quivering lips.
I looked down to see if I’d heard from either Gavin or Whitney. Gavin had texted back: See you at school. I thought about replying, but decided to leave it at that.
“Next time I’ll behave,” Hope said from the backseat.
I gave a noncommittal shrug, knowing all the while there’d be no next time for Hope. Not at the palace. I wouldn’t risk being banned because of her or anyone else.
Despite the Valerie and Hope incident over the weekend, I went to school Monday morning feeling buoyant.
Clive and his diabolical Bronco had not appeared that weekend. Maybe he’d taken a hint when I gave him the finger... yeah, and maybe the NRA would take up scrapbooking.
I had more important things on my mind. Marcus’s Valentine’s party was at the end of the week. What better time to hook up with Gavin for the first time? We’d come too close for it not to happen, and I was counting down the hours until lunch.
“Happy Monday,” Henry called out as I walked up to their table in the cafeteria. The Black Widows had flocked there once more, like vultures to a fresh corpse.
“Yeah,” I said. “Back to the grind.” I took the empty seat beside Gavin, very aware of the proximity of our legs. We might have been interrupted at Marcus’s party, but in my dreams that night there’d been no intrusion, no Valerie, no friend getting trashed in the bathroom, nothing but the firm mattress of the October room to fall back onto.
It felt risqué thinking these things with Gavin seated directly beside me.
He shot me a friendly smile. “How’s Hope feeling?”
I suppressed a sigh. “Much better.”
“Had a few too many?” Henry asked.
“Something like that.”
The Black Widows exchanged looks. Wednesday rested her elbows on the table and slouched forward. “Sounds like some party.”
“You should check it out.” Henry said. “Weekend after next.”
That’s right, vultures, this Friday’s Valentine’s party was by invitation only. I loved it when Marcus threw one of those into the mix, especially since I was on the guest list.
I kept glancing at Gavin all through lunch. It was hard to say anything about what almost happened when we were surrounded by the corpse brides and Henry’s watchful gaze.
The next day, I was more than happy to find Gavin and Henry at our lunch table minus the girls.
“Where are the vultures?” I asked, unable to mask the smile from my lips as I set my lunch on the table.
Henry’s brows jumped as he grinned. “Now, now, Noel. Play nice.”
“Sorry, it’s not in my nature,” I said for Gavin’s benefit, hoping to remind him of our earlier word play over the weekend. But Gavin seem preoccupied with his phone.
“I predict you’ll be BFFs by the end of the semester,” Henry said.
“Want to bet on it?”
Henry leaned forward and grinned. “Sure. What about you, Gavin? Want in on the wager?”
Gavin didn’t respond. He still had his eyes glued to his phone.
Henry cleared his throat.
Gavin looked up. “Yeah, sure.” He looked over my shoulder. I followed his gaze to Aurora making her way to our table, paper lunch sack clutched at her side. Her long black hair flowed over her blue sweater.
“Wow, is that Aurora Sky?” Gavin said as she reached the table. “I almost forgot you go here.”
“Have a seat,” Henry said. “It’s good to see you.”
“Thanks.” Aurora pulled a chair out beside me. Gavin wasn’t the only one surprised to see her. I’d been trying to get her to have lunch with us since she first transferred.
“You and Fane going to Marcus’s party Friday?” Henry asked.
Aurora stared at Henry a moment before dropping her gaze to the table. “I’m going.”
“But you and Fane are still together?” Gavin asked, leaning onto the table.
Aurora glanced sideways at me. “Yeah,” she said carefully.
To prevent vampires from biting her, Fane had been kind enough to maintain the lie that he and Aurora were going out.
“What are you wearing to the party?” I asked, quickly jumping in. “Red or black?”
“Red,” Aurora answered. “What about you? I presume you’re wearing black.”
Henry laughed. “I’d be willing to put money on it.”
Great, another wager.
I straightened up. “Black’s my color.”
“And you look great in it,” Gavin said.
Heat flooded my insides. I felt like things were constantly jumping from cold to hot with Gavin. I smiled in thanks and turned back to Aurora. “Do you need a ride to the party?”
“That would be great. Do you mind picking me up in front of school? I told my mom I was going to the dance Friday night.”
“No problem.”
Henry and Gavin stood up. “See you ladies later.”
“See you,” I said, glancing briefly at Henry before my eyes settled on Gavin. He shot me one last smile before leaving the cafeteria.
Aurora looked from the guys to me. “I hope I didn’t scare them away.” She bit into her sandwich, chewed, swallowed, and asked, “What’s up with you and Gavin, anyway? Is he ever going to ask you out, or are you friends with benefits?”
I rarely blushed, but I could feel color creeping into my cheeks like a sudden rash. I didn’t want to be discussing my personal life, not even with Aurora. So I gave her a blasé answer right before I turned the tables.
“I wasn’t sure if I should tell you this, but Whitney doesn’t think Fane’s with Valerie anymore.”
Aurora put her sandwich down. Yep, that did the trick. Aurora scowled before saying, “Well, Whitney should get her facts straight. She told me they were back together.”
“Because they were,” I said. “For a day.” And now Valerie was trolling the waters at the palace.
It was unfortunate that Aurora had gotten involved with a vampire, let alone one who’d been dating Valerie. Talk about bad luck.
“He’s not worth it,” I said. “Trust me. Neither of them are.”
“Is Gavin?” Aurora asked.
“The difference is I don’t let myself get emotionally attached,” I said leaning back in my seat. I sounded so sincere I almost believed myself.
5
Red Rage
“Oh, crap!” I said to my reflection in the bathroom mirror, noticing what time it was the night of Marcus’s party.
My makeup and hair were done, but I still needed to put on my dress, and I was supposed to pick Aurora up in front of school in two minutes. Tonight, I’d chosen matching red silk bra and panties. Who said I couldn’t pull off both red and black? There were all kinds of surprises beneath the surface.
I grabbed my short black dress off the dresser, pulled it on over my head, clasped the Bite Me pendant around my neck, and hauled ass over to West High. Traffic didn’t help. There
was a school dance that evening. You couldn’t pay me to go to one of those.
I spotted Aurora pacing the sidewalk.
“Sorry!” I called out the moment Aurora slipped inside the car. “I didn’t notice the time.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Aurora said evenly. She didn’t look too pleased, but for all I knew that had nothing to do with me and everything to do with Fane.
“Are you going to be okay tonight?” I asked. The last time Aurora went to the palace, she left against her will.
As though reading my thoughts, she answered, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Besides, I deserve a night off after The Great Pizza Caper. I helped rid the world of not one, not two, but three killers, and I had to put up with Valerie in the process.”
I snorted. “That’s what I call fighting fire with fire.”
Hopefully Valerie didn’t show tonight because it wouldn’t be much of a night off for Aurora if she did.
Marcus’s place wasn’t far from the school. He lived directly beside the coastal trail. We buzzed through downtown and entered Marcus’s inlet facing neighborhood. I found a parking spot within a block of the palace, which was nice since we chucked our jackets in the car.
The moment we walked in, Marcus called out, “Joyeux Noel and Aurora Sky!”
He directed us to the kitchen where a young man in a tux offered drinks from a tray. He was as young and fit as the bartender from last weekend.
One of the trays was lined with shot glasses filled with thick, red liquid.
Aurora’s eyes widened. “Is that...”
“Blood,” I said. “Don’t worry, it comes from the blood bank. There’s wine in the fridge or champagne if you prefer.”
A dark figured slipped into the kitchen behind us. Amusement danced across Fane Donado’s face as he focused on Aurora. He wore all black and had black hair buzzed at the sides with a tuff of blond at the top. Somehow, he managed to pull it off.
“I think Aurora would prefer the blood,” he said.
It was a good thing Aurora had her back turned to him. It gave her time to recover from the flash of alarm that crossed over her face. By the time she turned around, she took on an expression of annoyance. She wasn’t fooling me, and I’m sure she wasn’t fooling Fane. Vampires seemed to have a sixth sense about that sort of thing.
I wasn’t about to stick around for the fireworks.
“Have you seen Gavin?” I asked, looking over Aurora’s shoulder.
“He’s in the living room,” Fane said.
“Great. See you around.” I left the kitchen without a backwards glance. Aurora seemed to understand that she couldn’t be with Fane, so I was sure she wouldn’t do anything stupid like hook up with him for one night.
I stopped at the edge of the living room and scanned the vampires and humans dotting the palace in red and black. I spotted Gavin in a chair by the windows. He had his eyes on his phone, which hovered at his midsection.
I maneuvered through the crowd, anticipating the moment Gavin looked up and noticed me, but his head remained bent.
“Hi, Gavin,” I said when I’d reached the small space beside him.
Gavin didn’t bother looking up from his phone. “Good evening, Noel.”
The formality of his tone took me back. I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I looked at the source of his interest and asked, “Did you get a new game?”
Gavin frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Just that you’ve been glued to your phone all week.”
Gavin’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not playing games.”
I leaned back not even sure what to say besides a pouty, “Okay. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Gavin didn’t respond; he just kept his head down and began texting again.
It took several seconds for it to register that he actually wasn’t going to stop and talk to me. Not only was I utterly confused, but now I felt like a complete idiot on top of everything else standing in front of a guy blatantly ignoring me.
I needed to sit down and regroup, but the closest seat faced Gavin, and there was no way I could be near him after getting the brush-off.
What had changed? What had I done wrong? I didn’t have a single theory to comfort me.
I found a seat in the far corner of the living room, facing away from everyone. All I had was my reflection in the window for company, and she had no answers, either. I sat staring at her. She offered no comfort or encouragement of any kind—the perfect companion to fit my hollow mood.
I must have zoned out because I hadn’t expected to see Aurora again for at least a couple hours, but it felt more like a couple minutes when her reflection joined mine in the window.
“Noel?”
Slowly, I looked up.
“Oh, hi.”
“What’s the matter?” Aurora asked, taking a seat beside me.
Normally I wouldn’t discuss Gavin with anyone, but his weird behavior was making me nuts. “I don’t know what’s going on with Gavin. He’s being so cold to me tonight.”
Aurora raised a brow. “He’s a vampire.”
“Ha, ha.” That’s what I got for sharing my feelings. “What about Fane?” I asked. “Is it true he broke up with Valerie?”
Aurora was so easy to distract. “He says they were only together a day.” She slumped forward. “He was rather cold, too.”
I felt a twinge of pity. It had been easy for me to place judgment on Aurora for not wanting to break up with Fane and obsessing about him and Valerie after she did. If she felt the way I did about Gavin, I could begin to sympathize.
I sighed. “Why can’t we like normal guys?”
“Because we’re not normal girls.”
We gazed into the blackness beyond our reflections in the window pane.
Aurora cleared her throat. “A boy from school followed me here.”
“What?” I said, turning away from the window.
“Well, actually he followed us here after he saw me get into your car at school.”
“Why would he do that?” I never realized February was National Stalk Someone Month.
Aurora rolled her eyes. “I guess he likes me. Annoying, right?”
“And stupid,” I added. “Did he see anything?”
Aurora scrunched up her nose. “No, I got him out of here right away and told him to never come back.”
“Let’s just hope he doesn’t.” And that was hoping a lot from a high school boy who’d already followed Aurora to a party.
“I was very clear,” Aurora said. She sighed. “So much for a quiet evening out. Ready to get out of here?”
Was she serious? We’d barely arrived. Then again, maybe it was better if Aurora left before she attracted any more trouble. I stood and led the way out of the living room.
I caught Henry’s eye in the kitchen as I passed. I wondered if he knew what was up with Gavin.
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel as I drove across town. When we reached Aurora’s home, she said, “That’s weird. All the lights are on.”
I vaguely remembered her saying her dad had split. I wish mine had taken off. If he’d left, I wouldn’t have had to. Aurora didn’t know how lucky she was. Not only that, but obviously her mother was up worrying about her. Mine couldn’t even muster up the guts to protect her own children. I thought that was supposed to be a basic animal instinct. We had the capacity to reason and communicate verbally, but all it had done was corrupt us. All hail the human race. If any creature deserved eternal life, it was dolphins or elephants, not humans. People were a plague on earth.
Aurora stepped out of the car and wished me a good night, but I wasn’t calling it a night. My roommates were out for the evening. Even Eric couldn’t get away with staying in on Valentine’s. Clive would never allow a Hallmark holiday to dictate his dinner plans. He likely assumed that no guy wanted to be with me and could very well be stalking the entrance of my building.
Screw that.
I was going back to t
he palace. Maybe Gavin had finished texting or whatever the hell he was doing and lightened up. He’d made moves on me before. I hadn’t imagined it. Obviously he was interested. He must have been distracted by some important news. He wasn’t the most open guy. Probably didn’t want to bother me with whatever it was.
I zipped through downtown, only vaguely aware of traffic and street lights.
Finding a parking spot proved challenging, especially later in the evening, but my luck improved when a car pulled away from the curb. I took their spot as soon as they vacated it.
I let myself into the palace. There was a small gathering in the kitchen, but I didn’t see any sign of Marcus. I glanced at the last place I’d seen Gavin, but he wasn’t there. The living room was packed, the voices within louder than the music. A couple going up the spiral staircase squeezed past a couple coming down.
I hadn’t noticed Gavin during my initial scan, so I stepped further inside the living room.
Hopefully he hadn’t gone home or upstairs.
A flash of red caught my eye when I looked around the room a third time. Valerie. Red hair, red dress. Big surprise. She was sitting in a guy’s lap on the couch. My first thought was that it was Fane and that it was a good thing Aurora had left early. Then Valerie moved back ever so slightly and I saw that it wasn’t Fane, but Gavin taking the brunt of her ass. My Gavin.
My fingers curled. My stomach clenched into one tight fist. I tasted bile. I felt rage. And still I couldn’t believe it was true.
That heinous bitch!
Apparently I wasn’t the only person who felt she’d stepped into an alternate universe. Maxine, a regular female vamp at Marcus’s parties, honed in on Valerie as she entered the room from the spiral staircase.
“This is new,” Maxine said, tossing her copper highlighted hair over one shoulder. “What happened to Francesco?”
Valerie did her own hair toss, one that sent her tresses over her shoulders—like billowing boob curtains. “Fane is old news. Emphasis on old. Gavin here is nineteenth century. Barely old at all. Besides, he’s so much better to look at.”
Gavin beamed with pleasure. He gripped Valerie’s hips and said, “You’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve looked at in two centuries.”
Stakeout (Aurora Sky Page 6