Bleeding Love (29 page)

Xavier decided
that now was not the time for him to hold back. Being courageous for the first
time since the Halloween dance, he leaned his upper torso forward, leaned on
the table and looked deeply into her eyes and said,” Is it a crime for them to
just want to see the two of us happy?”

“And you think
you can make me happy?” Adie broke the intense eye contact and looked
down.
Of course
, Adrienne's inner thoughts answered, but she wasn't
aggressive. She wasn't going to let him know that. Especially not with the
audience that she had today. “Narcissistic much, huh? Are all you Europeans
like that?” She teased.

“Seriously Adie,
don't play hard–to–get anymore.” That was none other than Brianna trying to
kick some sense into her best friend. “We all know you like him, love him even,
you were a mess while he was gone.”

Xavier choked on
his coffee. “Is that true?”

Looking away,
Adrienne mumbled something incoherent before she turned back and looked at her
friends. They were all smiling sheepishly at her, even Yvonne looked like she
was anticipating the next thing that was going to happen.

Slowly, she
opened her mouth and spoke up. “Assholes.” She was chuckling when she said
that, and everyone took that profanity as a
yes
.

Xavier, who was
slowly taking everything in, couldn't help the smile blossoming on his face.
Flushed, he ran a hand through his hair before he looked at Adrienne again. She
was gorgeous, her skin just a little too tanned for a vampire, but absolutely
perfect for him. She was too talkative for her own good and too carefree for a
princess, but those were her strong points. They made her distinct, different
from the rest, so naturally, who wouldn't like her?

“I love you too,
Adrienne,” Xavier then said, catching everyone, even Tristan, off guard. “But you
already knew that. I’d like to know how you feel about me.”

She decided to
cut the crap and get straight to the point. There was no use trying to find a
way out in this scenario with Brianna and Tristan present. They were going to
make her confess her feelings. In this matter she hated being in the spot
light. She wanted to get this done and over with. “They said it, didn't they? I
love you, too.”

Adrienne rolled
her eyes when everyone punched and tugged her. They were trying to get her to
say 
his
 name, to directly admit that she liked him. She
swallowed the lump in her throat and caged all her pride. God, she was pitiful.
“We need to talk,” she told him, and before anyone could interrupt her, she
grabbed Xavier by the hand and pulled him away from their group of friends and
out of the café.

When they reached
a clothing store, she let go of her grasp on him and entered the shop. She
started browsing through the racks of clothing, fully aware that her fiancé
stood right beside her.

“I missed you,” she
began, avoiding eye contact as much possible. “They were right, you know. When
you were gone, all I kept thinking about was you, and I realized then I wanted
you. All it took for me to come to my senses was for you to leave.”

Adrienne held up
a polka–dotted spaghetti–strapped top in front of her so that Xavier couldn't
see her blushing face. He had no idea she was this insecure about herself when
it came to relationships.

What he couldn’t know
was that he was the only guy she was this timid around. She may have been outgoing
with a number of guys, but they weren't the ones she was going to be with
forever. She hadn’t been tied to Ethan or her other exes, but to Xavier. The
old boyfriends were all about having a good time. Xavier was for time and all
eternity. She was shy when it came to admitting her feelings for him because an,
I love you
, would eventually lead to an,
I do
.

“So that's that.”
She was fidgeting in place. “I love you.”

In that exact
moment, both their eyes turned into a lustful shade of crimson. When she said
those three words, a burning desire filled both their bodies. The temperature
of the room seemed to increase exponentially. All they could do was look at
each other and stare. She was looking at his lips, and he was focused on hers. Slowly
he moved forward and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to
him. He was breathing hard and she could feel him, the tip of his nose grazing
the curve of her neck. Then lovingly, he kissed her shoulder, and she felt his
lips turn into a smile.

“Do you really
mean that?” he said, having no intention of letting her go.

She stared at him,
wide–eyed and in awe, before slapping his arm away and walking over to the
cashier. The incredulity glimmering in her eyes never left her. “Thanks for
ruining the moment.” She turned her back against him and paid for the top. “Of
course I was being serious when I said those three words.”

“What three
words?” he then teased, wanting her to profess her feelings for him one more
time.

“Don't make me
say them again.”

“You know, you have
too much pride, Adrienne.”

“I have about as
much pride, as I do the desire to kiss you right now.”

He grinned, an
innocent, vulnerable, child–like grin, and she couldn't help but fall deeper
into him, his arms supporting and steadying her. Eyes locked onto his, she
reached out for her change and the shopping bag. Everything was now up to him,
where they were going to go, what they were going to do. She was letting him
take the lead. As if wanting to surprise her, he tightened his hold on her and
smiled mischievously.

“Then you should
have told me that sooner.”

As if she were a
fragile piece of artwork, he smoothed a hand over her cheek and traced her jaw
line delicately. He propped his hands on either side of her waist, and she did
the same to his neck. Heads coming closer, they met in a soft, quick kiss
before pulling away.

“This is the
least romantic place to kiss, really,” Adrienne said playfully. “A retail
store?”

He raised an
eyebrow up at her. “Well, where would you like me to take you?”

She chuckled, a
lighthearted kind of laughter escaping her throat. It was obvious he was
nervous, uncertain even. She knew all too well that vampires weren't the most
social creatures, especially when it came to the dating scene, but what she
didn't anticipate was how clueless Xavier seemed to be now that they were
holding hands and hanging on each other.

She was reminded
of the first time she ever saw him. He had seemed pretentious, so confident
about himself. He even had the nerve to kiss her. And that was the same guy
standing right before her. He had the same eyes, the same hair, and the same
body. The only thing different was that she now saw him in a different light.
He might still be a smartass, but when it came to the inner workings of
relationships, he was an amateur.

“How about we go
back to the bistro?” she offered, intertwining their fingers together. “I'm
pretty sure they're dying to know why we left them.”

“We're going to
look like we're on a triple date, don't you think? Brianna and Aidan. Yvonne
and Tristan. You and me,”

Adrienne let out
a soft groan, and this caught Xavier's attention.

“Why the snarl?”

“Now that you're
here, I owe Yvonne a lot, but I still can't believe she’s with my best friend.”

“They seem to be
happy, so just let them be.”

Xavier calmed his
fiancé by running his hand up and down her back. This seemed to placate her
since her shoulders drooped and she smiled a satisfying smile. After that, they
kept ample distance from each other since she had never been the clingy type.
They were simply contented to have their brush against one another from time to
time.

“Yeah, you're
right. It's not like I can do anything.” Adrienne opened the door of the bistro
and spotted her group of friends still sitting at the table. “It's not like I
can do anything anyway. They're both stubborn as hell.”

“And we're
indebted to them,” Xavier then answered, grinning. “I wouldn't have come back
as soon if it weren't for them.”

She bumped him
softly with her shoulder.

“I guess I really
do owe her.”

Before Xavier could
reply that, Brianna swiveled on her seat, jumped out of it, and brought the two
into a long, tight embrace. When she let go of them, she stared at them warily,
looking for telltale signs that the two had come to an agreement as a couple.
She frowned when she saw none.

“So what did you
guys do that you had to leave us here?” That was Tristan, and his smile was
infectiously mischievous.

Adrienne couldn't
help but tilt her own lips upward. As a reply, she raised an arm up and showed
them her A&F shopping bag.

“No joke, Adie?”
asked Brianna, looking slightly disappointed. “We were hoping you guys might
have kissed, but seriously, you went shopping?”

Xavier let out a
low chuckle before he discreetly placed a hand on the small of her back. The
vampires saw the action, and Aidan and Yvonne were slowly starting to smirk to
themselves.

“Who says we
can't do both?”

“Adie!” Brianna
shouted, causing a few heads to turn, before she continuously slapped her
friend's arm. “That wasn't funny, seriously! You were going to make me cry!”

“She's sad
because she thought you made her look like a fool,” Aidan then said, trying to
appease his girlfriend. “Just 
relax,
 Bree. You got what you
wanted anyway. The two are finally together.”

“Then seal it
with a kiss you two,” she demanded.

“We already did,”
the female replied, leaning closer to her mate.

“Then rewind it
and show me how you guys did it.”

Laughing, Xavier
couldn't help but say, “Aidan, your girlfriend is very demanding, man.”

“But Ivy and I are
siding with Bree.” That was Tristan, and he shot Adrienne an impish look. She,
on the other hand, glared at him. “Seal it with a kiss.”

“You lot really
want to embarrass us, huh?”

Surprisingly, it
was Yvonne who replied. “We were getting bored while the two of you were gone.”
She locked eyes with Tristan before turning back to the two. “And also, you owe
me, and you know it. Just consider the kiss as payment of your debt.”

“Screw you four.”

“I prefer you do
that to Xavier,” Tristan jibed.

“Fine,” she
quickly answered, and before any of them knew what was happening, she circled
her hand around Xavier's nape and brought him down into a soft yet mind–blowing
kiss. When she pulled away, she grinned up at him. It was obvious she’d just
rocked his world. She turned to their friends. “Satisfied?”

“Yes,” Tristan
and Xavier answered at the same time.

Everyone laughed.

“That was short
though,” Brianna quipped, earning herself a glare from Adrienne.

“I'd like to see
you do better,” Adie huffed.

Adrienne rolled
her eyes, but despite the foolishness her friends made her do, she was still
having a great time. There was great coffee and even greater company. To add to
that, she earned herself a relationship. She also had to give credit to Xavier
though. There wouldn't have been a
Xavier–and– Adrienne
if he hadn't
cared enough to come back right away. To be braver and more straight to the
point. He was the one who had kissed her, the one who first admitted his
feelings for her. He stepped out of his comfort zone, and with those thoughts,
she curved her lips into a satisfying smile.

She was seriously
in love.

“Why the hell are
we in a forest?” Tristan's voice echoed amidst the trees and marshy grassland.
With the way his lips twisted into a foul arc, it was evident that he felt
contempt and nothing else for the little journey. “Who said I wanted to go
hiking the week before Christmas?”

“You did,” Yvonne
snarled back, rolling her eyes in the process.

“I didn't say
anything about hiking through the forest.”

“Yes you did. You
said you were fine with whatever I wanted to do, and this is what I want to do.”

Tristan growled
and stomped his foot in frustration. Yvonne was the weirdest girlfriend he'd
ever had, and he was starting to get sick of her mysteries. Whenever they went
to the beach, she didn't like to sunbathe for too long. Whenever they kissed,
she felt stiff and controlled as if there was something foul in her mouth. She
was still pretentious, that characteristic stayed and remained permanent, but
he felt like he was slowly growing out of
like
with her. “Of all the
places we could go, why choose a forest?” he demanded.

“Because this is
where Adrienne told me to go.”

“Adrienne choose 
this
?”
He kicked a few fallen twigs out of his path. “Fucking A.”

“I also want to
show you something,” she said, walking deeper into the forest. “But we have to
wait for them. Brianna and Aidan are also coming.”