Darkness (29 page)

Zoey gave me one of those great hugs that are full of love, concern and happiness. I took my seat across from her in the front window of the diner. We were in a perfect spot to see Carter standing on the corner shaking his chicken butt with his sign in his winged hands. We had a really good laugh over it, especially when I told her he’d borrowed my iPod and I had made sure the only things on it were Evanescence, Pink, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and some Flyleaf. “Some nice girly music for him to shake his tail feathers to.” I was having way too much fun at his expense.

Once the laughter had mostly died out I asked Zoey what was new in her life. “Well,” she began. “You realize we haven’t had a chance to talk since…well, since you found out what I am and I found out that your boyfriend is of the same…um, well you know.” She’d lowered her voice halfway through that statement.

“True,” I said back, and I was thinking this probably wasn’t the place for such a conversation.

“It’s nice to have somebody to talk to about things that others totally wouldn’t understand.”

I smiled back at her. She was right. My new lifestyle wasn’t something I could share details of with Kiera, but Zoey would understand.

The waitress shuffled up and took our order, then shuffled off to the kitchen. We chatted about nothing important while we waited for our milkshakes, fries and burgers, with a basket of chicken strips to split. Once the round little waitress, who appeared to have been on her feet for too many hours, delivered our food we caught Carter’s attention from the front window and showed him the chicken basket. I held up a strip, pointed to it and then at him. Zoey flapped her arms like a bird and made chicken sounds, not that he could hear us, as I took a bite. Poor defenseless chicken boy just shook his chicken head and continued waving his sign. We had a spectacular laugh at his expense again and drew a little too much attention to ourselves.

“Um, yeah. She voiced that to me too,” Zoey giggled a little. “To have Kiera’s problems, huh?” She giggled again. “If only our worries were so small.”

“No kidding,” I murmured as I glanced out at my chicken suit wearing friend. “He been through a lot but he’s holding it together pretty well.”

“I could say the same for you,” she said.

I stared down at my burger. “Yeah,” I agreed softly.

We watched Carter wiggle to who knows which girly song for a while as we sucked down our milkshakes. We talked a little more about normal things, like school and rumors Zoey had heard. Nothing really worth remembering. Mostly more of Avery’s whoring around which reminded me to tell her about that sleaze bag ending up as Oliver’s lab partner to which she replied, “Keep an eye on that snake. She’s slithery and sneaky.” This wasn’t news to me.

It was getting late. We’d stayed there talking and laughing and making fun of our friend for quite a while, and the sun was already setting as we left the diner. Carter was coming in from the curb to start his shift as busboy. He got to ditch the costume for that and sport an old school white diner hat and apron. “Hey Lane,” he called as he pulled the chicken head off. I stifled a laugh. “Will you wait a minute for me to change so I can stick this in your trunk? I don’t want anyone to mess with it. They’ll charge me for it.”

“Sure.” Zoey waited with me and it still felt strange just to be out in town like nothing had ever happened. I found myself checking my surroundings often as the dark started creeping in. Carter didn’t take long to change and we had the costume stuffed into the trunk of my car in no time.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Carter said to us and Zoey gave him a quick hug. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders before going back inside and said softly, “Thanks for being there for me.” He kissed my cheek which surprised the hell out of me and then he rushed off into the diner. I was a little stunned. Zoey snapped her phone shut and it brought me back to myself.

“Laney, could you give me a ride home? My grandmother, who begged to borrow my car and said she’d pick me up once we were done, is complaining that she already has her nightgown on and doesn’t want to leave the house.”

“Not a problem,” I said with a smile. I was anxious to get home but her place was on my way, so it wouldn’t be any trouble. I responded to a text that Oliver had left about an hour before to let me know he was back, request my whereabouts of course, and inquire when I would be returning. I was sure someone knew where I was considering he hadn’t sent another message or called. I imagined there were vampires sentries stationed in all the dark places regular people couldn’t see. That thought got me into my car pretty fast. Although they were supposedly good vampires, it was the idea that others were out there and they could see me and I couldn’t see a single one of them.

Zoey and her grandmother lived above an antique store that her grandmother owned in one of the old buildings downtown. She gave me a hug from across the console of my car and told me she’d invite me up but since her grandmother was already in her nightgown it would probably be best to have me over another time. I had never actually been inside Zoey’s home and I was curious, especially now that I knew they were vampires, but I was eager to get back to the comfort of Oliver even more so. I waited for her to get inside the door that led up to her apartment before I drove away.

Chapter 39 - Holy Man Candy!

I pulled into my space next to Oliver’s SUV and did a quick scan of the area before getting out of my car. My heart was pounding at the thought of what could be out there in the night. I didn’t like being out in the night alone. I didn’t like it before I knew what was out there, but now that I knew, it made it hard to get out of my car. But I did, and I hauled ass up those steps, past my apartment that I had yet to enter and down the path to Oliver’s door. I was standing outside the door panting when he opened it and looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a scrunched brow.

“I freaked myself out.” Pant, pant. “I’m good.”

He took my wrist in his hand and pulled me inside closing the door behind me. Once we’d finished with the hellos and “missed you” greetings, you know, all the hugging and the kissing and such, I was in need of something sweet and headed off to the kitchen for a bowl of Lucky Charms. Oliver was standing at the couch folding laundry and stuffing a few things into a backpack.

“You getting ready to leave again?”

His gorgeous eyes lifted up to meet mine. “Just for the night. I should be back tomorrow evening. I’ve got to get Levi back to Sacramento after he speaks with Amber.”

He went back to his laundry and I had gotten my cereal poured and my spoon in the bowl. As I was getting the milk from the fridge I made a mental note that we needed to buy more soon and some orange juice too, and when I turned back around to pour the milk into my bowl, Oliver’s door swung open and out strode one of the hottest men I had ever seen. He was tall, really tall, lean and muscular. Perfectly trimmed blonde and very fair. It was no guess that this was Professor Amber’s brother. The man was the male equivalent of her beauty. My breath caught as his eyes met mine. He leveled his stare with mine and took a step towards me. Holy shit! He was totally freakin’ naked! Naked, seriously naked and, Oh. My. God…I moved the cereal box to hide his man parts from my eyes. He was closer to me now and he stopped with his head lowered. “Who have we here?” My eyes shot to Oliver who had continued with his laundry with a bit of a grin on his lips, then I returned my gaze back to the naked man in front of me. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and I couldn’t help admiring his expanding chest as he did so. “She is to be yours?” He opened his eyes and glanced over his shoulder at Oliver.

“Yes Levi, she is to be mine.”

“You are a lucky man.” He looked right back at me with dazzling blue-green eyes.

“I know.” Oliver looked up from his laundry and gave me that beautiful half smile that made me melt. I swear it was the smile and not the naked hunk of eye candy in front of me who, at that very moment was reaching his hand out, over the kitchen bar, to take mine. And I raised it without a second thought. He took my fingers gently in his very cool hand and raised it to his lips. “Delaney I presume. I have heard much about you. The pleasure is mine,” he said smoothly and kissed the back of my hand with cool perfect lips.
Whoa.
His eyes lingered on mine for a while. “I am Levingston SaVan. I believe you know my sister.” I nodded. I had no idea what to do or say so I just stood there with a strange naked vampire holding onto my hand and staring hypnotically into my eyes. Eventually he smiled slightly and let go of my hand. He turned to Oliver and said, “We should go.”

“Very funny,” I poured the milk on my cereal. “There was a massive naked man in front of me.” Massive he was…“Why on earth was there a naked man in your room?”

With another chuckle he zipped his backpack closed and took his laundry basket into his room and then came back to sit with me at the table. He sat beside me and smiled like he had something on his mind.

“What?” I asked suspiciously.

“Oh, nothing.” He leaned back in the chair and smiled mischievously.

“I doubt that.” I took my bowl to the sink and rinsed it. He was up to something. When I turned back to the table I jumped. He was standing right beside me; hovering down on me. He caught me in his arms and pulled me in close. I looked up into his emerald green eyes that were holding on to every piece of me. “What?” I breathed.

In a very breathy and seductive voice he said, “You. You are everything to me.” Then he kissed me. Really, really kissed me. The kind that makes your knees weak and your girl parts throb. He pressed me against the counter with his body and I dug my nails into his back through his shirt. I heard him rumble deep in his chest and he lifted me up onto the counter with a quick and easy motion. I wrapped my legs around him and held him there. “I don’t want to leave you for another night,” he breathed against my neck.

I pulled him closer and whispered, “Then don’t.” I kissed his neck, then lightly bit him several times. That sort of made him a bit crazy, in a good way, and I was pretty sure had Levi not walked out of the bathroom at that moment, I would’ve been on my back on the kitchen floor.

Levi cleared his throat. “I am sorry to interrupt but I do not want to keep my sister waiting much longer.”

Oliver didn’t take his eyes off mine. “If you could just give us a moment that would be great.”

“But of course.” I saw him head towards the livingroom from the corner of my eye but then I heard Oliver’s bedroom door click shut.

He grabbed my thighs and pulled me to him causing me to gasp when my girl parts collided with his obviously excited boy parts. I ran both hands up the sides of his neck and into the back of his hair and watched his eyes roll with pleasure as I did so. I pulled him closer so his lips met mine and bit lightly on his bottom lip. He growled and kissed me hard. Then he rested his forehead against mine and stared into my eyes. “You are completely irresistible.”

I smiled and felt the warmth run into my cheeks and through my body.

“I will see you tomorrow night. Maybe we’ll stay at your place tomorrow.”

Whoa. I felt my stomach totally drop. And saw a wicked little smile prick at the corners of his lips. He lightly kissed me and whispered, “I love you Laney.”

I couldn’t help grinning at that and whispered it back. He kissed me one more time, then left me sitting on the counter as he gathered his backpack and knocked on his bedroom door. Levingston opened it and stepped out of the room. “I am ready,” he announced, although no one had asked.

I watched them as they left. Oliver gave me a priceless smile and Levi nodded at me and said “It was a pleasure to meet you Miss Alexander.”

I gave a quick wave and choked out, “You too.” The door closed and was locked behind them.