Crimson Groves (13 page)

Tyler left the room again. When he came back, there was a laptop in his hands. He set it on the coffee table as he sat back down next to me. He glanced over, eyes locking onto mine—penetrating, deep, bottomless. They were filled with so much more than just curiosity and a desire to help. There was a whole different kind of desire there. A danger field if I was reading them right, which I knew I was.

10

Determined

DAYBREAK WAS UPON US. The house officially became my daytime prison. Tyler headed back into the living room, bottle of Smart Water in his hands. I sat on the sofa with the wall against my back, staring across the room at the burgundy curtains with white flowers. He sat down beside me. I glanced over at him. He should have been asleep by now—his body must be running on pure adrenaline. At some point he was going to crash. “Aren’t you tired yet?” I asked.

He gave a long sigh. “I’ll lie down soon. Too amped up at the moment.”

“Why don’t you try lying down now? I’ll keep an eye on the computer for Lily’s e-mail. I’m not sure having someone come here is a good idea, so we’ll most likely need to go to one of the clubs tonight. I won’t be able to go much longer than that without blo...eating.”

No response. He looked at me, eyes wanting, longing.

I looked away, stared at the fireplace.

“Abby?” He said it like a question.

I didn’t want to look at him, not into those beautiful green eyes. “What?”

“Can I see your fangs?”

You’ve got to be kidding me. I wanted to say, “No way, go get some sleep.” But instead I said, “Okay.” I turned around, facing him. We were eye to eye, staring. I felt like a show-n-tell project.

I smiled big enough for my fangs to be seen. His eyes grew wide with fascination. Instantly I was embarrassed. My lips tightened around my teeth, concealing them.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “You’re beautiful.” He leaned in a little closer, lifting his right hand to my mouth, stroking my lips with his fingers.

A wave of excitement rushed up my body. It caught me off-guard and I chuckled. His fingers were there—fast, gentle, creeping inside my mouth. He traced along my oversized canines. I swallowed hard, slow. If he cut his fingers, I’d smell blood. If I smelled blood, could I resist it? Better not to test it. I put my hand on top of his, assisting his fingers around my mouth, carefully.

“Those are really sharp,” he observed.

“It was really strange for me at first. I haven’t quite gotten used to them yet.” I spoke softly, barely moving my mouth. It made me think about the last time I was at the dentist’s office when he was asking me questions while my mouth was pried open. It had been so difficult to answer him.

I allowed a few more seconds of fang probing, then decided to pull his hand away. As I did, his fingers intertwined with mine. His grip tightened. He wasn’t letting go. At least there wasn’t another vision this time. Here’s looking for the silver lining in every situation.

“
Look, Tyler, I really appreciate you helping me but I’m just not sure
this
can be anything else. You’re human. I’m a vampire. Please don’t take this the wrong way or as an insult. I just...we
just need to stay focused. You need sleep. I need to figure out my next blood source.” My free hand fidgeted with my hair. I was nervous; my stomach tightened. This was bad, really bad. This meant I liked Tyler, whether I wanted to or not.

Could I be feeling this way simply because of everything we’d gone through together the last twelve hours? That had to be it. It had to be the adrenaline pumping through my veins, just like it was for him. Humans have a need to be close in times of crisis and uncertainty, and that same feeling is on steroids for vampires.

His grip tightened around my hand. He looked away, stared down at the floor. He took a few deep breaths. Oh boy, he had something to say that I probably didn’t want to hear. He looked back up, saying, “I feel like I’ve known you for months. That’s how long I’ve had premonitions of you. Each one makes me feel closer. That’s really why I had to help you.” Yep, I guessed that right. Now what?

I met his gaze. I did understand that, but it wasn’t wise to admit it out loud. Too many questions, too many problems; it was stupid to add more to the fire. “I’ve only seen two visions through your eyes so I guess I can understand that a little, but the reality is that we just met. I’ve never seen you before tonight.” I glanced down at our interlocked hands, mixed feelings swirling in my head.

He didn’t say anything. I looked back up and we stared at each other for a few moments, eyes saying things they probably shouldn’t. His eyebrows arched, creases spread across his forehead in small lines. “I don’t know how else to say this without just coming right out with it. I’m not expecting you to love me yet or anything, but you have to admit you do feel something.”

Wasn’t that straightforward and to the point? I always admired that in people, so why was it freaking me out right now? Oh maybe because he sort of just said the “L” word. My defenses shot up; invisible walls came crashing down. I tried to pull my hand away but his grip got even tighter. I knew I could break it, but I still didn’t want to hurt him, fragile little human, amazingly good-looking human, but I wanted him in one piece. I wasn’t a monster, didn’t ever want to act like one. He’d helped me get away from Bronx. He was my knight in shining armor. Surely that merited him a crazy pass right now. “So that’s why you helped me?” I asked, stupid question. Sometimes you do ask them.

He nodded, slowly. “I guess you could say that I fell in love with you through my premonitions. I can’t control what I see. For three months all I saw was you, every night, everyday. After the first few weeks of watching you, I began to develop feelings for you. But I was afraid. You would definitely be a vampire by the time I found you, and I wasn’t even sure how I could help you. I just knew I needed to try. I needed to find you and then we could figure things out from there. I couldn’t just leave you trapped with him.” His answer sank us further into that dangerous emotional quicksand. I was slipping down with him. Just great.

“I really appreciate you helping me,” I said. “I really do.” He looked at me expectantly, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what he wanted to hear. Everything was too new, happening so fast I couldn’t feel my feet on the ground. “Tyler, I do feel things right now, but let’s face it, we both just had one hell of a night. My animal instincts are much greater than yours. You are attractive; how could I not think that? But I just don’t think we should get distracted right now. I’m already asking too much of you. You shouldn’t still be putting yourself in such a dangerous position.”

“I can’t help you escape and then dump you off. I have feelings for you. Feelings that have grown over the past three months. I want to help you. I need to help you, and I really want to be close to you. You’re intriguing to me. There’s so much I want to know about you. It’s crazy, but I would never even know you’re a vampire without having seen it in my premonition. You don’t act like the other ones I helped. You seem so human. Just like another person.” A broad smile stretched across his face showing sparkling white teeth—just teeth, no fangs. He’s human. I’m a vampire. Did that even matter?

“
You’ve had three months to get to know me, but I’ve only had one night of knowing you.” Tears welled up in my eyes; a massive lump formed in my throat. I swallowed, fighting the tears. They won, spilling out down my cheeks. Just great. Real badass vampire, that’s me.

Tyler let go of my hand and wiped my tears with his thumb—gentle, caressing, soft, warm, and alive. Damn it! He looked like he couldn’t believe vampires actually cried, like he didn’t think it was even possible. It shouldn’t be, it’s such a baby thing to do. Not a powerful vampire thing to do. My head fell onto his shoulder. I didn’t even feel the movement. I was just there, sobbing against him.

He rubbed my back with both hands, up and down, slow and gentle. “Shhh, it’s okay,” he breathed, warm air tickling through my hair. “I promise it’s gonna be okay.” His voice confident, reassuring, sexy.

“Wh-what el-else ha-have you se-een?” I sniffled. It was so hard to get the words out.

Tyler kept rubbing my back, calming me down a little. “Based on my premonitions, we stay here for a little while. I’m assuming you find food since you’re smiling in a lot of those premonitions. I haven’t seen anything else yet. I haven’t seen anything new since I met you in person. Everything you saw I’ve already seen. I promise to tell you the second I get another one.”

I lifted my head up and looked at him. His hands cupped my face. I could feel the pulse in his palms, tapping against my cheeks. I softly placed my fingers on top of his. Through the tears, which thankfully had started to slow, I said, “I miss my life. I hate this. I hate what I am. It’s not like I had that much going on when I was human, but I’d take that over this any day. I’m a freaking monster. How can you have feelings for me? You’d never have a normal life with me.”

“I don’t have a normal life anyway. I haven’t been close to anyone in years. Helping people requires me to move around a lot. I’ve been living here for a couple months on a month-to-month lease. Then I decided to help you and headed to Florida.”

“Wait, this is your place? You shouldn’t have brought me where you live. What if, what if Bronx finds us? You’ll have to move...”

Tyler put his index finger on my mouth, hushing me.

“Abby, don’t you listen? I’m with you now. I’m a hundred percent committed to helping you. If we need to leave, we leave together.”

That’s when I knew I had to get up. He was going to kiss me if I didn’t, and I just couldn’t let that happen. Not yet. It was just too soon and I still had questions. Bronx was out there looking for me. I started to get up, to move away from him, but he grabbed my arm, pulling me back down beside him. I knew I was stronger than him. I knew I could easily get away, but I didn’t want to hurt him, even though he was now starting to cross a blatant line—one I’d just drawn in the sand. Sand. Was that solid enough not to cross?

His face inched closer, steady and slow, eager eyes on me. My body sunk deeper into the cushions, the leather squeaking and groaning. I swallowed hard, lumps still stuck in my throat. Tingles shot up my spine, cold and prickly along the back of my neck. The cold sensations morphed into heat and waves of fire flushed my face. Could I be blushing? Did vampires blush? My stomach was doing somersaults with heavy weights. I wanted Tyler—to kiss him, hold him, feel close and safe: such a human thing to feel. Maybe vampires really are a lot like people. I scooted closer. He did too. My attraction for him reached a level I’d never felt before. I bit my bottom lip, instantly tasted blood. It jolted me out of the moment.
I can’t do this! Get away from him now!

I jumped up in a flash of movement. The sofa half-swallowed him as I pushed away. He gasped, eyes wide with fear. Then I was across the room, staring at the fireplace, wishing I could crawl in there with that unburned log.

“Abby,” he called out. “Abby, I’m sorry.”

I didn’t look back; I couldn’t. The lust was still there, clinging to my insides like superglue. “Don’t do that again.” I said each word slowly, stretching them out. “I could’ve hurt you.” Oh my God, did I hurt him? I turned around fast, finding him on the sofa. He was frowning, but he didn’t look hurt. But the next time he might get hurt. Next time? No way! There couldn’t be a next time. I turned back around, buried my face in my hands, and cried.

Moments later, two strong arms came up from behind and wrapped around me. I let out a deep, long sigh, turned around, and pressed my face against his chest. It was soft, warm, his heart beating fast, alive. It felt so good to be close to him, inside his arms. He gave me a tight squeeze. I reached my arms around his waist, pulling closer into him. My body relaxed. A calming wave washed over my inner tension. His chest moved as he breathed. It felt like sitting in a rocking chair. A short time ago I’d wanted to be far away from him, but now I couldn’t get close enough. I finally stopped crying, but I wasn’t ready to let him go. So we stood there, holding each other for what seemed like an eternity.

“I know this is a lot for you to take in,” he said, voice soft, warm breath tickling my ear. “But please know I’m here to help you. I’m here for you. You can trust me.”

I thought about what he’d said for a minute. I was very thankful that he was helping me. And that he was here with me so I wouldn’t be alone. But so much was happening so fast. I needed some time to collect my thoughts and figure things out. “You really need to get some sleep. I’ll keep an eye on things while you do. You want me to trust you, but you also need to trust me.”

His grip loosened, and I let go of him. He took a few steps back toward the sofa. “You’re right. I’ll try. Will you please lie with me for a few minutes? Please?”

“You’re not going to give up, are you?” I rolled my eyes, turned my attention back to the lonely log.

“No, I won’t. But I promise to respect your space. I won’t try to kiss you again.”