“Nothing happened,” I said, knowing what she was implying. “He was just over at the ranch for dinner, and we talked, and voilà, we’re dating.”
She eyed me, obviously convinced I was withholding juicy details. “You’re a bad liar, Mystic, but congratulations, you snagged a boy.”
I mentally snorted. I hadn’t snagged a boy; I’d snagged a freaking vampire. Well, it was more like he’d snagged me, but whatever, some snagging had occurred.
When I headed to lunch with Trish, Adrian was standing outside my fourth-period class. As we walked out, he slipped his arm around my waist, which was beginning to feel less and less weird.
We sat down and a senior started talking to him immediately, diverting his attention. Trish looked at me meaningfully over her carton of milk.
I turned so no one could hear. “What do you want to know?”
She peeked over my shoulder to see that Adrian was firmly engaged in his conversation, then whispered, “Details—when, where, how.”
I gave her my driest look. “Two nights ago. At my aunt and uncle’s. Because we decided it was best.”
She shook her head. “You are the worst storyteller I have ever met.”
“Are you looking for a good one, then?”
It was Adrian. A hush went over the entire lunch area. Adrian never spoke up voluntarily, let alone to tell stories—let alone to tell romantic stories. They’d all been waiting years for this.
Adrian put his arm around my shoulders. My first instinct was to smack him, but I realized two could play this game. I plastered a love-drunk smile on my face and twined my fingers through his hand with as much sugar-coated grossness as I could muster. He arched an eyebrow as if to say challenge accepted, then looked up at the waiting crowd.
“As many of you know, I’m not the most social person.” There were a few scattered laughs, but no one could tell if he was actually trying to be funny or not. I only knew he was because of the half crinkle of a smile in the corner of his mouth. “For years,” he continued, every single person hanging on to his every word, “I’ve been so focused on academics and getting into a good college that I hardly ever saw the world around me. That is, until I rescued Caitlin during the storm.” He looked down at me like I was just so adorable. “After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.” He smiled happily. “And now we’re completely inseparable.”
There was a sort of letting out of breath as everyone sighed. Even Trish looked a little dreamy. I looked up at him and fluttered my eyelashes a few times as I whispered, “If you don’t let me go right now, I’m going to bite you.”
He grinned wickedly and murmured, “Go ahead.”
I didn’t even try to hide my glare.
“Although,” he said, nuzzling his face against my neck so no one could hear him, “perhaps I should be the one making threats about biting.” I felt the gentle scrape of his teeth on the side of my neck and—
“You all right, Mystic?”
I looked at Trish, startled, and squeaked, “I’m fine!” Adrian chuckled too low for anyone else to hear and let me go.
Fifteen minutes later the bell rang. I tried to run off to class again, and again, Adrian caught me by the back of my jacket, looking puzzled.
“You’re really giving people the wrong impression with all this running away.” He slung an arm over my shoulders casually.
“We need some rules,” I hissed.
He looked around at the milling students. “Really? I think the ad-libbing is going quite well.”
He stopped in front of my fifth-period class, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him a few feet down the hall to the tune of giggles and whispers behind us. As soon as we were out of earshot, I let go of his hand and stared sternly up at him.
“If I want grossly affectionate public encounters, I will let you know. Until then—rules.”
“All right,” he said brightly. He planted a quick kiss on the top of my head and headed off, but there was a grin on his face that I didn’t trust. Maybe he was just reveling in having an excuse to interact with people for the first time.
Maybe.
*
“Lucian’s the one that looks like my younger brother, because he is. Julian’s the one that looks like my older brother—although he’s in New York for the foreseeable future so he won’t be there tonight. Mariana’s the one that looks like my aunt but is actually my sister, and Dominic’s the one that looks like my uncle but is actually my brother-in-law.”
“Thanks,” I said flatly. “Very helpful.”