Caylee's Confessions (Caylee's Confessions Series)

by Candice Burnett

  “Uh yes,” I said, shocked. I wasn’t expecting any packages.

  “This is for you,” he said, handing me a large, brown box that had to weigh at least five pounds.

  “Just sign here please,” he said as he shoved a paper in my face, just as I set down the box.

  “I wasn’t expecting a package…” I looked at him. “I think you have the wrong ‘Caylee.’”

  “Nope, right Caylee, because this was the address. Now just sign, please. It’s not a bomb or anything. Does the person who sent this know about your paranoia?” He chuckled at his own joke. I signed, and rolled my eyes at him as I handed the paper back to him and he walked away.

  I stared at the box, wondering what the hell was in it. I know people usually don’t box up flowers. And who in their right mind would send me flowers? Everyone I knew, knew that I didn’t like them. I opened the card that was attached to the top of the box.

  “Thanks for playing hooky with me. I thought you would enjoy this… :) — Braxton.” I opened the box and had to laugh. It was a nice, large, glass vase that was filled with a huge bouquet of edible flowers, made from pineapples and mangos that were shaped like daisies, and strawberries that resembled roses but were covered in chocolate. It was beautiful and edible, which was perfect. He must have remembered our discussion yesterday about how I didn’t like flowers. I picked up one of the strawberries and took a bite. It was so juicy that my mouth began to water as I noticed my boss approaching my desk.

  “Don’t tell me…Caylee, the lone wolf, is dating?” he asked.

  “No…well…I don’t think I am,” I said honestly. We’d played hooky yesterday, and went on a sort of meeting-date the other night, but I definitely hadn’t expected this. I liked it though—deep down. Tall, sexy, mysterious…what could I not like? My boss laughed, taking me out of my trance.

  “Sure seems like you’re thinking about someone.” He laughed again, walking away. What was I getting myself into? Rule number one: don’t date your clients. That was Lori’s job, but this had to be different, I thought, trying to justify it in my head. I already had the sale before we kissed—unlike Lori, who did it the other way around. I surely was getting way ahead of myself. Maybe he truly just wanted to thank me for having fun yesterday. He said it had been a while since he’d just hung out, my head said as my heart contradicted it, reminding me of the way he had kissed me last night. My phone suddenly rang, interrupting my thoughts.

  “Mason’s Adverting and Marketing department. This is Caylee. How may I help you?” I said, reciting our business’ answering protocol.

  “Hey, Caylee. It’s Braxton,” said a sexy, smooth voice as a huge smile hit my lips. I fell fast for that one.

  “Hi…Thanks for the fruit,” I said awkwardly.

  “Well, thank you for yesterday. I had so much fun, but there’s one thing that’s been bugging me all morning,” he said, and I took a deep breath.

  “What’s that?” I asked nervously.

  “Well, I was wondering if it was technically our first date yesterday when we played hooky or Monday night at the bar?” He chuckled, as the butterflies in my stomach erupted.

  “I…” I was stuttering. He’d definitely caught me off guard. “I’m not sure,” finally left my lips.

  “Well, me either, but that’s why I called, because I want to end the debate by officially asking you to dinner tonight—as a date—completely non-work related,” Braxton suggested.

  “Uh, yes,” I said aloud as my mind reminded me that I had business to tend to tonight. But I didn’t want to change my mind now. I’d already said yes. I would just have to hunt after the date. Vampires were up all night, and the one tonight, according to Claire’s call on my way to work, wouldn’t be feeding on an innocent, because he traveled with a blood bank. Claire wasn’t sure why this vampire was even coming here, but she had said it wasn’t good and that he would have friends—so no cancelling.

  “Are you sure?” Braxton asked, interrupting the silence.

  “Yes, sorry. Just checking my schedule in my head, because I’d said ‘yes’ so fast,” I said, regretting the last part, because that wasn’t supposed to be revealed. I felt my cheeks flush.

  “I’m glad to hear that. Can I pick you up at eight?” Braxton asked.

  “Yes, that would be perfect.” And it would. Claire wouldn’t get upset with me if I would end the date around twelve, because it would leave me plenty of time for the hunt.

  Chapter 11

  Dine and Dash

  Braxton picked me up at exactly 8:00, like he had said. He was, like the other night, dressed perfectly. Black suit, with a gorgeous merlot-colored dress shirt, and a black tie. The suit had to have cost him ten times what my dress did, but my dress looked a lot more expensive than it was, thank god. It was shiny, ruby-red and clung nicely to the right places. It had a sweetheart neckline and low-cut backline. I’d just bought it today luckily, during my lunch break. I hadn’t owned anything that I thought would look eloquent enough to what I knew he would be wearing. He seemed to like my dress as I watched him smile after looking me up and down.

  “You look delicious.” He smirked.

  “Well, thank you. So do you,” I replied, and he softly grabbed my hand and pulled me into his body. As soon as my head tilted up, his lips meant mine, and I was reminded why I had said ‘yes’ to this date. I felt my hands reach up to his face as the kiss intensified. Screw dinner, I thought as he regrettably pulled away, and I let out a deep sigh.

  “I think we should get going or we’ll have a long wait.” He smiled.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, not wanting to really go anywhere after how he’d just kissed me—but he was right. This was only our first real date, and we’ve only kissed a few times, but something about him was just extremely intoxicating and had my body calling to have him on top of it. I needed to get a grip.

  “I’m not really sure, to be honest. I’ve been thinking about it all day, and nothing seemed to really catch my interest, so I thought we would just walk the strip and see what we’ll find.” Spontaneous—Grandma would have liked him, I thought.

  “That sounds perfect.” I smiled.

  We hailed a cab, and before I knew it, we were hand-in-hand, walking down the strip. This was extremely out of character for me, but he just had that kind of effect on me. My hand just felt so comforted and right, like it belonged there. It was just like our first meeting: he was easy to talk to.

  “Thinking about something?” he asked.

  “Just about how weird all of this is.” I laughed.

  “Weird?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it’s just that I don’t usually…well…I actually haven’t been on an official date in a while. It just feels nice,” I said honestly.

  “Yeah, me neither. Maybe that’s why this is going so good.” He smiled.

  “There’s something about you. It’s just…I don’t know. I feel like I’ve known you forever, that I could confide all my life’s secrets to you, and it’s only been three days,” blurted out, and I covered my mouth.

  He stopped, and turned to face me. “I know what you mean. And I’m glad you said it so I didn’t have to. Have you seen a place that has interested you yet?” he asked.

  “I haven’t even been looking.” I laughed, feeling relieved that he’d said he got what I meant. I was way too wrapped up in our conversation that I forgot I was supposed to be looking for somewhere to eat.

  “I saw a place a few blocks back that I haven’t tried before. Want to try it out?” Braxton asked.

  “That’s fine with me. I haven’t been to any of these places, so anything will work,” I told him.

  “I’ve been to most, but I want to try something new—something different,” he said as he pulled me in again and locked his lips onto mine. I thought we were about to rip off our clothes right then and there, when I felt a vibration on my hip. He pulled away and took his phone out of his pocket.

  “Yes?” he answered, agitated.
And I could only hear the mumbles of whoever was on the phone. It didn’t sound good though.

  “Goodbye,” he said to them as he hung up and closed the phone in his hand, making a crushing sound. But, surely, he hadn’t just broken his phone? He saw me eye it and quickly put it in his pocket.

  “I’m sorry, but it seems I have an emergency that I have to tend to. Please excuse my rudeness, but I have to leave at this very moment.” Before I could let out a word, he had my face in his hands and gave me a kiss that sent tingles down my spine. I opened my eyes afterwards and watched him walk to a taxi, without another word, leaving me speechless. Was that a goodbye kiss? I wasn’t sure, but I really hoped not. I stood there for a second, dumbfounded. I’d just been ditched. But he had an emergency, right? But why didn’t he tell me what was wrong? I mean, this was only our first official date, but who just gets a phone call, kisses you, and leaves without saying a word? It had to be what I thought: I was just ditched. His phone probably didn’t actually ring. He probably pushed the side button to make it vibrate. That’s what I get for opening my mouth about my feelings so quickly.

  I finally gained some focus and hailed a cab. I got in the backseat and put my hands over my face.

  “Where to Ms.?” he asked.

  “Just drive anywhere,” I let out with a sob. I wasn’t going to cry. I didn’t even know what just happened. Maybe I wasn’t being ditched. Why was I letting it affect me this much? It had only our first official date. I was trying to wrap this idea around my mind, when I looked down at my bracelet that was practically screaming at me. Flashing colors of light-green and dark-red. Really? Could I even fight undeads right now in this outfit? But if I didn’t, someone would die.

  “Stop!” I yelled at the cabbie as I threw him twenty bucks and got out of the cab. I tried to run to the street, where something was definitely going on, but found that my dress was not the easiest thing to run in. I got to where the action was and saw individuals everywhere. There had to be at least fifteen undead against four humans and Shad. I lifted my dress up to my garter, which was currently holding my stake, and pulled it out. There was no way I could fight with my dress being so long, so I made my stake into a blade and cut the dress just above my knee—that would give me enough space to move. I switched it back into a stake, and was glad no one had noticed me.

  I staked and beheaded two vampires before anyone else noticed me. After the second vampire screamed as it died, the rest were definitely aware of my presence. I got the attention of one of the vampires that was currently feeding on a human, lying lifeless on the ground. The vampire came at me head-on and I barely side-swiped him as he went for my throat. He was fast. Before I could spin back around, he grabbed my arm and flung me into the wall, probably wanting to knock me unconscious. But I’d been hit much harder before.

  I would pretend though. So I closed my eyes until I felt it hover over me, then I flew open my eyes, surprising him as I staked him in the chest. Stupid vampires always underestimated humans. I got up, with only a slight throb in my head, and looked around at the scene. There were now only four vampires left, which was an improvement, but the only problem was that Shad and I were the only humans left. All the others were in pieces and pools of blood. The four vampires surrounded him as they slowly moved in from every angle, waiting to all spring at once.

  “I think you forgot something!” I called out, hoping to distract at least one of them to come after me instead. It worked, but instead of one, I got two, and they were angry. My fingertips gripped my stake and looked down to see which was stronger, because I would need to get them first—if I wanted to survive this. My bracelet told me that the one to my left was stronger, so I ran at him. Before I was within his reach, I threw my stake at his chest. It landed in the sweet spot, and I smiled as he screamed. The second one, unsure of what to do, decided to run. He must have really been a new vamp, because the old ones have too much pride to leave. I grabbed my stake from the stronger one’s chest, turned it into a blade, and with a quick swipe, cut his head off.

  While running after the new vampire who was running away, I converted the blade back into a full stake and threw it at the new vampire’s back. It hit his upper shoulder, enough so that it stunned him and landed him, face first, onto the ground. I then lunged my body on top of his, pulled my stake from his shoulder, and shoved it into his back—in the area where his heart would be.

  I took out my stake, only long enough to convert it to a blade, and then sliced off his head. I glanced over my shoulder, hoping that Shad had taken out his two vamps. He had one staked on the ground that was slowly ashing but, unfortunately, the other was feeding from his neck, and Shad had no stake on hand. His eyes were closed, and he was being held up against the wall as the vamp was draining blood from him.

  I rushed over, hoping not to distract the vamp until after I staked him. Lucky for me, it was in too much bliss from drinking Shad’s blood that it didn’t hear me coming. Carefully I staked him in the back where his heart lay, just deep enough that it only went thru his chest and not Shad’s. It shrieked in pain and both he and Shad slowly fell to the floor. I dragged Shad out from under the vamp’s body and began shaking him.

  “Shad! Shad!” I yelled, out of breath. Please don’t let him die, I yelled to God in my head.

  “Please, Shad. Please. You’re fine. Get up. Please don’t die…” He wasn’t responding. I put my ear down to his chest to see if I could hear his heart beating. Nothing.

  “Shad!” I screamed as I began to hyperventilate. I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t know why, but it just didn’t seem right. Yes, he was an asshole, but he had the redeeming quality of fighting undeads. Sometimes there was even a hint of playful that he let me see. I felt my eyes begin to water as my head laid on his chest.

  “You’re not crying are you?” Shad said, scaring the hell out of me as my head jumped off his chest.

  “You idiot!” I yelled as I began to laugh. “You’re alive.” And I wrapped him up in a bear hug.

  “You thought otherwise?” he tried to say confidently, but I felt the uncertainty in his voice. I got up, now feeling awkward for hugging him, and helped him to stand up.

  “Are you sure you’re okay to stand?” I asked. He looked really shook up.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve been drank from before…I don’t feel like I’m going to pass out, so I should be okay.” He smiled.

  “You fought in that?” he asked, looking me up and down with the same look that Braxton had given me earlier.

  “What was I supposed to do—fight naked?” I asked.

  “No, uh…I just…” He was stuttering and his cheeks turned pink. Had I just caught him checking me out?

  “What happened to your arm?” he asked as he seemed to struggle to look away from my chest, changing the subject.

  “Probably from the fight. It doesn’t hurt though. Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, as he was acting a lot different than usual.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here though?” he asked.

  “Well, for one thing, you’re welcome!” I said, frustrated that he hadn’t yet thanked me for saving his life. “And trust me, I wasn’t following you or anything. I was actually out on a date…” I paused, and watched as his eyes widened. “Well, actually, on my way home from a date, when I heard a disturbance going on. I figured it was undead stuff, so I came to look, ruined my dress, grabbed my stake, and joined in.” I laughed.

  “Oh,” was all he said as I caught his eyes looking down at my now shorter, ripped dress.

  “Yeah…” I said awkwardly.

  “Well, thanks, but you shouldn’t have come. Next time just stay in the cab,” he said, finally turning into the Shad I knew.

  “Are you serious?” I yelled. “How can you even say that after what I just did for you?” I was screaming.

  “You should have just stayed safe, Caylee. Like I said before, there is no reason why a female should be out on the hunt…” He was beginning
one of his speeches.

  “You would be dead if I hadn’t!” I was now hysterical.

  “Yes. Like my brothers down there, it would have been an honorable death. We did kill a lot, which would have served the greater purpose,” he said, looking like he didn’t completely believe his own bullshit.

  “Will you please, for a second, stop thinking in your cult mindset? I came and helped you, and now, instead of being like your other members down there—” I pointed at the bodies. “—you can live to fight another day! Isn’t the risk of me fighting alongside you, worth your life?” I asked him.

  “No,” he said, while looking down.

  “You’re fucking hopeless. I can’t believe that you still doubt my fighting abilities after what you have seen me do today. I just don’t understand how you can be so naïve and ignorant about the whole thing. I’m just a female, and it doesn’t make me weak, just different,” I said as I turned away. I’d had enough. I couldn’t believe that he still felt the way that he did after what just transpired.

  “It’s not that I think you’re weak; you just shouldn’t be doing it. Females are of such value and worth,” he said, not making any sense. “It’s just not right.”

  “Well, fuck being right then,” I coldly said, as I walked away without another word, and tried to convince myself that if the situation did come up again, I would leave him stranded. I knew, deep down, that I wouldn’t be able to do that though.

  “But you don’t have to do this anymore,” he yelled after me. “I told you already, we have more people and…” I left the alley before he could finish. He just would never get it.

  Chapter 12

  When ‘One Too Many’ is an Understatement

  The next week at work was not a pleasant one. The only thing that brought me a slim amount of joy was the fact that it was finally Friday. I avoided everyone and just sulked in my office until we had our ‘end of the day’ meeting. I couldn’t even find room in my mind to contemplate what my boss was saying because I was too busy and pissed off going over the events of the other night. I couldn’t believe that, what had started off as such a good day, had turned into the crap day that it had been. Braxton still hadn’t called after he’d ditched me, and I still couldn’t get over the fact that Shad still believed I shouldn’t be out fighting—after I’d saved his life. And last, but not least, I’d ruined a dress that I’d practically spent my whole paycheck on. The only thing I had heard my boss said was, ‘Alright. See you guys on Monday,’ and everyone started to walk out.