“I don’t know why she would!” Milo looked like he was going to explode. He had truly believed that I wasn’t coming back, and for awhile, so had I. “She’s at work right now, but I’m sure she won’t care.”
“I hope not.” I knew I had some penance to do with her, and I wasn’t looking forward to that. Or getting up for school the next morning, especially since I had spent the last few nights on a vampire sleeping schedule.
“Why did you come back?”
“I figured that somebody had to be here to help take care of you.” I reached out and ruffled his hair, and he pulled away, just like I thought he would.
“I’m not a little kid.” He smoothed out his hair, but I hadn’t even really messed it up. “And besides that, I spend more time taking care of you than you do me.”
“That is true,” I smiled.
Milo had never really needed anyone to do anything for him. He just kinda wanted somebody to be there, and I could at least manage that.
“On the subject of which, I should probably whip us up some supper.” He went over to the fridge, talking amicably about the extravagant meal he had planned for us tonight. Leaning against the kitchen counter, watching him as he worked, I knew that I made the right choice to stay with him.
When I went to school the next day, Jane looked pleased to see me. I’d been standing at my locker, juggling my books, when she walked past me, smiling in her overly seductive way, and murmured, “Good to have you back, Alice.”
Admittedly, it’d only been three days since I’d last been to school, but it had much longer than that since I hung out with her, and I’d barely been active in my own life. At school and at home, I’d been a zombie.
There was no separation in the two lives, though. They were all part of me and what I was doing. I went to high school, hung out my brother, gossiped with Jane, and in my free time, I hung out with vampires.
Nothing about me had really changed, and even as mind boggling as the events of the last month had been, I was still just plain old Alice Bonham, and that’s the way it was going to stay. For a few more years at least.
So when Jane walked past me, I got my books together and bolted after her. She must’ve really missed me, because she actually stopped to wait for me when I called her name. After a few friendly jabs about being missing in action lately, I filled her in as best I could about what had been happening my life lately, conveniently leaving out the stuff about vampires.
At home, I let Milo help me with the Calculus homework, which really seemed unnecessary. I would make it my life’s mission to never, ever find a use for that particular information. Milo made something delicious with salmon for supper and enlightened me on his progress (or the lack thereof) with his new crush, Troy.
All in all, my life felt like it had hit some kind of stride, and maybe I really could get comfortable with all of this.
Jack text messaged me, saying he’d be over in twenty minutes to pick me up. I got ready, and Milo warned me that I had to be up early for school, and I promised I’d be back before one. That still seemed too late for him, and six hours of sleep did not sound like enough to me, but I had to find a balance.
While outside waiting for Jack to pick me up, something startled me. I was waiting outside for Jack. No matter how fast I rushed through getting ready, he was invariably waiting for me. But I had been waiting for so long, that I’d actually gotten a little chill and had to pull my sweater around me.
I dug out my phone to text him just as a silver Audi slid up in front of me, and my heart twirled nervously.
Even through the dark glass of the car window, I saw Peter’s green eyes burning at me. That incessant pull that had slowly faded the last few days returned with a vengeance.
My body started to shake, but not because I was cold. My heart started beating in the way that drove Jack mad, and I wondered if Peter felt the same way. I opened the car door and got inside, preparing myself to find out.
- 22 -
Instead of saying anything to me, Peter squealed away from the curb, keeping his eyes locked on the road in front of us. His jaw tensed, and he gripped the wheel tightly.
The car was completely full of the tantalizing scent of him, and my mouth actually started to salivate. We had never been in such close quarters before, and it felt like a bad idea.
Even as close as I was to him, my heart tugged on me to move closer, to reach out and brush my hand against his flawless skin, so I clasped my hands together.
“I just got back,” Peter said at length.
The silence felt thick and overwhelming, but I couldn’t think of anything to fill it with. My head swam. I felt the hunger for him, burning and frantic, like a rush of adrenaline, only much more intoxicating. By the time we’d get to his house, I’d be delirious with him.
“We need to talk,” Peter murmured huskily, allowing his haunting gaze to settle on me for a moment.
“I know.”