by R. D. Berg
An unspoken dual initiates in this dimly lit hallway as our gazes challenge each other. Each of us carefully calculating our next move. I get on my tip toes to where my nose is leveled with his jaw line and lean in toward his ear. I hear the slow inhale as he takes in the scent of my coconut shampoo.
“Careful Maverick, we vampires like to bite in the dark.” I open my mouth to make a chomping noise with my teeth to drive my threat home. I guess I misjudged the close proximity of my mouth to his ear, because when I bite down, I have a mouth full of Maverick’s earlobe between my teeth. The salty taste of his blood oozes through my teeth and then invades my mouth. My eyes go wide as Maverick’s scream fills the empty hallway, luckily they are muffled by the rowdy patrons.
He pulls back, eyes full of shock, his hand cupping his left ear which is dripping blood. “Holy shit, you Mike Tyson’d me!”
My hands cover my face as I stare on in horror. Not at Maverick having a hissy fit, but of Eric as I catch him watching on with a look of disgust tinged with a hint of horror before he turns and quickly exits the restaurant.
“I-I am so…uh,” Lundyn runs her fingers through her hair. “Freaking…Holy crap…Sorry, Maverick.” She stumbles over her words like a cat who’s chasing a laser pointer, and I have to admit, hearing her apologize for once is nice.
“That’s not the kind of biting I’m into, Lundy.” Shit, my ear hurts. Who goes around biting ears in everyday life? My left hand holds onto it like it’ll soak up all the pain.
“What?” I’ve caught her off guard with my comment and even though her sympathy was nice, that’s not what I crave from her.
“Normally, it’s me who does the biting… you know, a little nibble here.” I lean in close while my words wash across the side of her face, but still, I protect my ear. My index finger lazily touches the inside of her neck. “A little nibble there…” I graze over her lower stomach where her shirt rises just above those too tight jean shorts she’s wearing. Her breath catches before I zero in on the rise and fall of her chest. We both stand there in the hallway too close to each other, unmoving. My fingers still caressing her soft skin.
As if lightning strikes right beside her, she jumps back from my touch. “Poor girls. They have no idea what they’re getting into with you, do they? You’re a cannibal. I always knew something was off about you.” Her foot taps while she shakes her head in agreement with herself with a finger to her lips in thought.
I laugh. A deep, belly laugh. “I’m the cannibal? You just took a bite out of my ear!”
“I,” she points to her chest, “didn’t enjoy it!” Then she points directly at me, touching my chest. I personally think, she just wants to touch me. Yeah, I’m going with that. “You, however, just described how much you enjoy eating females!”
Reaching up with the hand that’s not guarding my ear, I grasp her small hand in mine. Her eyes are wide as saucers when she realizes what she’s just said. “Fuck. I didn’t mean eating females. I meant eating female humans. Well, no shit they’d be humans. Crap. I mean that you like to nibble on humans!” She continues to ramble and fuck it’s adorable.
“Lundyn.”
She keeps rambling on, “I don’t care who you eat. Really. Have a buffet of women to eat if you want. I’m not caring. Not one bit.” She blows hair out of her face while I smile at her. “Isn’t it weird?”
“If It were you, there’d be nothing weird about it.” Even to me, my voice sounds like tires treading over gravel.
That comment shut her up. Those blue eyes of hers pierce into me, and I don’t know if the blood loss has made me lose my damn mind, but I want to kiss those lips of hers. We’re standing only a few breaths apart at this point. I could just do it. If she freaks out, I could always claim I was fainting from the injury, and you know, fell into her lips.
“I knew this would happen.” Finn’s voice jars me out of my trance as he leans against the door frame observing us and makes me wonder just how long he’s been standing there. Jumping back, I turn toward his voice, attempting not to look like I just got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Finn knows my struggle with Lundyn, but he also knows I can’t do anything about it. He always says, ‘can’t and won’t are two totally different things,’ but he doesn’t get it. He’s always been pro-Lundyn and I think that clouds his judgement. “You two are already having a pissing match and Lundyn’s only been home a week. At least you guys are by the bathroom.” He grins, and then one of his eyebrows rises as he asks, “Why are you bleeding?” It amuses him that I’m in this situation with her, I can tell from the glint of mischief in his knowing eyes.
Lundyn and I answer at the same time.
“It was an accident—” she claims.
“She assaulted me—” I answer, incensed at what Finn is suggesting.
Finn puts his hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes like the victim I am. “Would you like to press charges?”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Lundyn huffs while giving me a death stare. “He’s fine!” She throws her hand in my direction, showing Finn that I’m perfectly okay.
“Now that the adrenaline rush is over, I’m a little shakin’ up.”
“Maverick, I swear to—”
“I hope you’re not about to threaten an officer.” I interrupt her, and she snaps her mouth shut.
“I don’t even want to know how this happened. Go clean yourself up, man. I’ve Swiped Right, and the little lady is bringing a friend with her.” Finn winks and slaps me on the shoulder before smiling at Lundyn and walking back to the bar, offering me a quick out of this situation I’ve found myself in with Lundyn like the saint of a best friend he sometimes can be.
With a sigh, I surrender and start walking to the men’s restroom. “It’s all good, Lundy. See you around.” But before the door closes to the men's room I hear Lundyn’s unmistakable voice.
“I hope you don’t catch any STD’s along with that open wound.” If I didn’t know better, I’d say her face was green, and that sweet southern voice was laced with jealousy. I do know better, however, so the chances her face was red, and it was actually meant to be directed with pure hate, is more accurate.
Instead of calling Harlow to give me a ride home from my horrendous date, I decided that walking would help me clear my mind and simmer down my anger before I have to play her, Ask Lundyn a Million Questions, game. As I make the three-mile trek, I can’t help but admire the beauty of the sun as it merges with the earth, casting an alluring pinkish glow across the Texas skyline. Lansing’s sunsets have always been my favorite since I was a little girl running around barefoot with tangled hair and a dirty face. I remember Harlow and I used to climb this huge pecan tree that sat in her parent’s front yard just to witness the sunset’s beauty almost every summer night. This tree no longer exist though thanks to the one and only Maverick Strong.
A dog barking shakes me from my reminiscing. “Oh, shut up, will you?” I yell at the dog, who’s bouncing up and down with excitement through the window of its owner’s home. The dog doesn’t quiet down at my command, and I grow angry at the little Pomeranian that’s donning a pink bow yapping its head off. She has my full attention as I turn and take a few steps onto the lush green yard.
“Yeah, I bet it’s just great having your life? You can nip people on the ankles and they think it’s all cute. But no, when I do it, everyone has a bitch fit and acts like it’s the end of the fucking world.”
“Lundyn who the hell are you talking to?” Quickly, I swerve around where I’m met with a perplexed Harlow. My eyes dart back and forth as I try and siphon out a reasonable answer.
“I, ummm, yeah.” Cool Lundyn, real cool.
“Yeah, what?” She squints her eyes now and purses her bright pink glossed lips together.
“The dog wouldn’t stop barking.” I manage to spit out as I thrust my arm backward in the direction of the dog. Harlow’s gaze follows my arm, but doesn’t alter her expression. Instead, she slowly steps clos
er to me, and puts one arm around my shoulder. The fall breeze catches her lavender scented body spray and teases my senses.
“There’s no dog, Lundyn.” Harlow whispers in my ear. I gasp and whip around, my hair hitting Harlow in the face. She’s right though, the window is empty. That little bitch Pomeranian ran off.
“I promise you it was there, viciously barking at me, Lo. I’m not crazy.”
“Ok, Lundy. Come on, let’s go home.” She nudges me forward to her car which sits idling a few yards away. No words are spoken, but several times I catch Harlow throwing questioning glances my way until we reach her car. Once we have our seat belts fastened, Harlow peels away from the curb to make an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street.
I blow out a heavy sigh, just as a shocking thought hits me. “Wait, how did you know I was walking?” She keeps quiet and acts as if she is concentrating on the road. “Lo, how did you know I was walking?” My voice rising an octave higher.
We come to a four-way stop and the car slows until we are stopped. There isn’t any traffic so she turns toward me with mock annoyance showcased on her face. “Ugghhhh. Well, if you must know, Maverick called me and told me you had a mental breakdown in the hallway by the bathroom and he tried to calm you down. He said he thought you were calm, and you lured him toward your face and took a chunk out of his ear.” She takes a huge breath after regurgitating the lies that her brother just fed her.
“Oh, yeah? What else did he say happened?” My calm tone doesn’t match my internal rage that is brewing.
Car lights illuminate the inside of the car prompting Harlow to resume driving. She exhales a heavy breath lightly fogging up the windshield. “I didn’t believe him Lundy I promise,” she darts her eyes my direction before returning them to the road, “Until he sent me a pic of his ear. Then he told me that you slapped your Swipe Right date when he tried to intervene and screamed out a slew of obscenities to the restaurant crowd before you left.”
My mouth drops open in disbelief as look to my friend who seriously has lost her mind along with her brother. This BFF betrayal has left me stunned silent. She takes my silence as an opportunity to continue on. Her knuckles turn ashen as she grips the steering wheel for dear life. “So, naturally when I found you and you were yelling at a house, it sorta all made sense.”
A sinister cackle fills the car and it takes a few seconds to realize it’s coming from me. I can’t describe what comes over me, maybe I am losing my mind, but I full out belly laugh in the passenger seat of Harlow’s car. I look at her and laugh even harder, causing every muscle in my abdomen to ache. She looks on confused, of course, I mean who wouldn’t be. I’ve been back in town a week and I’ve been deemed a terrorist, a vampire, and now a crazed woman.
Harlow’s eyes dart in my direction, and somehow she catches the giggle bug. A little nervous at first, and then full on hysteria that mirrors mine. We laugh all the way home until tears are streaming down our faces, which runs our mascara and sets off another round of laughs because we both resemble reject raccoons.
The sun has finally set, leaving us with a soft black night sky you can only appreciate in the country. Harlow kills the engine, leaving one hand on the wheel she turns to me. “You know Lundy, I know there is something going on between you and Maverick that only you and Maverick know about. I just hope it’s worth all of this mess that you two put each other through.”
I bite my lower lip, digesting what she’s said debating on whether I should tell her the full truth. If only she knew how Maverick lead me on, and when I finally gave in he threw me out like unwanted trash. Instead, of revealing to her how horrible her brother was, I chose to keep our secret tucked away. Maybe it is time that I get it off my chest, and tell her the real reason. I finally decide that it’s time for her to know.
I turn my gaze toward the vacant spot in Harlow’s yard where the pecan tree used to stand, years ago. “Hey, do you remember that pecan tree that you and I used to sit in?” Ok, maybe I am not ready to reveal my secret.
She kills the engine turning to me with a childlike gleam dancing in her eyes. “Yes, until you and Maverick knocked it down,” she states flatly.
My hand covers my chest in mock astonishment. “Harlow Lane Strong, you know good and well it was your brothers fault. For the tree, and for the damage to my new car. If he hadn’t hidden in that tree and thrown eggs at my car I wouldn’t have ran into it.”
She regards me for a moment, her lavender hair glowing in moonlight. “He said, she said. I was in the house, so I still don’t know the full story.”
“The full story is that your brother hid in our favorite tree so he could pelt my car with eggs as I drove off. Wasn’t my fault I panicked and rammed into the trunk of the tree.” One thing I do have is a good memory.
“Only thing I remember is a loud boom, followed by a hard thud and heavy moaning.” The corner of her lips fight a smile, because she knows she’s full of shit.
The floor board buzzes by my feet as my phone goes off, I blindly reach down and retrieve it from my purse. “Sounds like you just described a scene in a porno.”
“Nope, just how I remember the incident. You ramming into the tree, Maverick yelling as he fell out of the tree onto your hood, him withering and moaning in pain with shattered eggs covering him as you supplied him with a dose of Lundyn Spence’s fists of rage.” She holds up both of her fists and loses the battle with her smile as it proudly spreads across her face.
“And that would be reason number five hundred why I hate your brother.” I glance down at my phone and see there’s a message from Swipe Right, informing me that I have a match— fuck that app. Harlow startles as I snap my fingers when a memory comes to me from that night. “Hey, wasn’t that the same night Finn caught his crotch on fire?”
Her face lights up with realization as she excitedly points her finger at me. “Holy shit that was the night of the bonfire and Finn—”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Our piercing screams fill the car, followed by a hollow thud when my head collides with the low roof of Harlow’s Camaro after three booming knocks hit the front car windows.
“Ouch, dammit.” I curse while reaching for the door handle. Fueled by anger and adrenaline, I push open door ready to lay into the dumb ass who scared us. As soon as my foot hits the pavement I hear Harlow yell out.
“What the fuck Finn, you gave me a heart attack.” Finn’s snarky laughter carries through the quiet of the night. Once I am fully standing that pine mixed with vanilla scent does the tango with my senses, causing me to nearly sway from the pleasurable assault. It’s as if I have no control over my eyes as they automatically search out and find Maverick who’s standing next to me leaning against the car like he is the reincarnation of James Dean— complete with hair slicked to the side and rebel without a cause smirk. He sure does have some nerve showing up here after what happened earlier, followed by the heaping amount of lies he feed his sister. I huff out a breath and mentally put on my boxing gloves. Ding, ding, ding; Game on Bruh - Maverick and Lundyn round 501.
The ferocious glare I’m currently receiving from Lundyn just makes her look even hotter. That is until she opens her mouth and ruins it.
“You just couldn’t take the hint, could you? Telling your sister that I came on to you, when, in fact,” she pushes her finger into my chest with her vicious glare still in place, “it was you who came on to me. I was just defending myself.”
“Oh, Lundy, if I came on to you, we’d be in between my sheets right now and not out here in the driveway with you throwing a tantrum like a five-year-old.” Finn and Harlow have walked up completing our circle. They look nervously at us.
Lundyn makes an awful gagging noise. “I think I’m going to barf. Just the thought of being in your sheets makes me ill.”
“Can we stop talking about you guys? Sheesh,” Finn jokes.
“So much hostility.” Harlow shakes her head with a smile. “Or sexual tension. As much as you two keep talking about
getting between the sheets together, makes ya wonder.”
“Oh,” Finn snaps and then points to Harlow with a smirk, “good one!”
“I hate you all.”
“The feelings are mutual, Lundyn.” Pulling out my phone, I see I’ve matched with a few girls. Finn is so close to me that I can feel his hot ass breath down my neck.
“Dude! That girl is seriously hot. I’d bet she wouldn’t gag at the thought of your linens.” Finn slaps me on the shoulder, and my eyes dart at Lundyn, who’s gone rigid. It’s not her pissed off stance either. I’m not sure what it is, but when her eyes meet mine, they don’t light up. An urge deep inside of me wants nothing more than to put that light back, but I shake it off. I think her crazy is wearing off on me.
“You signed up?” My sisters’ eyebrows shoot upward. “Well, color me shocked.” Throwing her hands on her hips, Harlow is full of sass.
“Finn basically held me at gunpoint,” I tell my sister before my phone alerts me of a message.
“That’s a lie. Hell, yes, man. Avery wants to meet up with you tomorrow night!”
Lundyn scoffs. “Avery, like the paper?” Her nose is wrinkled in distaste.
“For paper, she’s pretty hot— take a look.” Finn grabs my phone from my hands and shows it to Harlow and Lundyn before handing it back to me. “Are you going to meet up with her?”
“I think you totally should. You’re single and before that you just dated crazies. You haven’t brought a girl around in what, a year?” Harlow is referring to the girl I brought around to stop myself from taking things further with Lundyn before she left town. I reply to Avery before my sister is done rambling.
Lundyn gives her a stare of death and then looks to me. “Yeah, Maverick, you should.” Her eyes are cold and hard, but her voice wavers.
“Not that ya’ll’s approval is needed, but I’ll be meeting her tomorrow.”
“Awesome. Perfect.” Lundyn pulls out her phone. “Shit. My phone’s dead. I’m going to go charge it,” she says as she rushes into Harlow’s house without a glance back in our direction.