Destined (Vampire Awakenings) (9 page)

   Isabelle’s eyes snapped to Stefan. He was standing in the same spot, his arms folded causally over his chest. There was an amused gleam in his eyes that set her teeth on edge. It was as if he knew that it was really him and herself, that she was mad at, and
he
was thoroughly enjoying it. As if he knew exactly what had been on her mind when she had looked at him.

 
She realized with a jolt that he had. Just as she had known exactly what that hungry gleam in his eyes had meant. He was a very handsome man after
all;
of course he knew the effect that he had upon her. Pride and anger stiffened her spine as she tilted her chin defiantly. It didn’t matter what he knew, she had every intention of staying as far away from him as possible.

   A small smile curved his full, hard mouth as his hungry gaze traveled leisurely back over her. A small tremor began to wrack through her as his gaze burned into her, causing her skin to warm everywhere that it touched upon. When it lingered upon her heaving chest, Isabelle was horrified at the prickling sensation that caused her nipples to tingle and harden. She forced herself to shove the new sensations he awoke aside as she glowered at him. She didn’t know what he found so amusing about this situation, but she didn’t find anything at all funny
about it.

   “Yeah
Is
s
y
!” Vicky cried grabbing hold of her arm. “You are so lucky that Stefan was coming back to the house!”

   Yeah, she was the luckiest person alive, Isabelle thought angrily as Stefan smirked smugly. She turned away from him, taking a deep breath
as she
forc
ed
herself to remain calm. She had to get away from him, all of them. She was too damn aggravated right now, too damn unsettled to be able to deal with any of this. All of her fear for Julian, and herself was gone, but there was a new fear gnawing at the pit of her stomach. One that was threatening to strangle her.

   She hurried back to the path, ignoring Vicky and Abby’s chatter as she mumbled a quick thanks to Stefan, refusing to look at him
again
. It took all she had to hold her head high
and keep on walking
as
she felt
his gaze burn
ing
into her back
with every step she took
.

CHAPTER 5

   Stefan wiped the sweat from his brow as he grabbed a bottle of water and dumped it over his head. His gaze settled on Delia, Jess, Vicky, and Abby. They had set up lounge chairs and donned their bathing suits in order to absorb the sun. Suntan lotion, magazines, and a radio were scattered around them
.
S
oft music drift
ed
through the air to him.

 
They looked extremely relaxed as they flipped through the pages of magazines and talked softly. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, nor did he particularly care. He knew for a fact that Jess’s ability to communicate about anything other than fashion, or hair, was severely limited. He didn’t know how someone who went to college knew so little of the world, but somehow
,
she
had
managed to do it.

   He shook his head as he grimaced slightly. Raising a
n
eye
brow his gaze ran back over them as he wondered why Isabelle wasn’t with them. Obviously her sisters enjoyed the leisurely pass time of doing nothing
.
F
rom what he had gathered, Isabelle was usually with one relative or another
, so he
’
d assumed
s
he would be with her sisters and the other girls
.

 
Popping the top off his bottle, he drank a long swallow of water to wet his parched throat.
Ethan appeared beside him, his gaze settling on the quartet spread
across
the lawn. “I wi
sh I could work on my tan,” he gr
umbled as he grabbed a water bottle.

   Stefan nodded his agreement as he took another swig of water. “Why isn’t Isabelle with them?”

   Ethan laughed softly as he took a swallow of water. “Isabelle, work on her tan,” Ethan snorted. “That’s a joke.”

   Stefan looked at him in surprise. “Why is that?”

   Ethan shrugged as he took another drink. “Isabelle is one of those people that
are
always doing something to keep occupied
.
P
lus she’s a bit of a tomboy, lounging around in the sun is about as appealing to her as eating a box of ants,” Jack answered as he appeared beside Ethan.

  
Stefan’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
The last thing he would have pegged Isabelle as was a bit of a tomboy. From what he had seen of her, she was dignified, beautiful, and completely un-tomboyish. She was too much of a tempting, desirable woman to ever be pegged as anything else. He had pictured her spending hours brushing her hair to get it to shine like it did, painting her nails, and flipping through fashion magazines
in order to keep up on the latest fashions
. The picture they painted of her though didn
’
t fit in with his image
at all
.

   “Plus, she’s cleaning the house,” Ethan added.

   “What?” Jack roared.

   Ethan’s grin grew brighter as he turned to face an irate looking Jack. “I told her not to bother, but apparently, a
nd I quote, ‘We’re all filthy slobs
’.”

   “I like being a slob!” Doug declared as he dropped hi
s hammer and stormed over to Ethan
. “Go over there right now and tell her to stop!”

   Ethan laughed softly as he s
hook his head. “While I’m at it
why don’t I jump in front of a charging bull, wave my red flag, and hope that he stops,” he retorted. Doug’s eyes narrowed as Jack folded his arms firmly over his chest. “Besides, what harm can it do?”

   Their eyes flashed angrily as their scowls deepened. “She’ll have us smelling like women!” Jack snapped.

   Stefan stifled a laugh as he turned away from them. “How much do you expect her to get done in one day?” Ethan retorted.

   “Knowing Isabelle that house is already repainted, with scented candles, and potpourri everywhere!” Doug yelled.

   “Why
is she all by herself
?” Stefan interrupted.

  
They looked at him in surprise before shrugging absently.
“Vicky and Abby had enough of work yesterday,” Ethan answered.

  
A
pparently they were all used to Isabelle being on her own, and not having any help. He didn’t know why, but for some reason the thought of that did not sit well with him.
“And Jess?”

   They all looked at him as if he were crazy. “I don’t think she wanted t
o help,
”
Jack answered
, chuckling softly.

   Stefan nodded, but didn’t say anything. Of course Jess wouldn’t want to
help;
the idea of getting her hands dirty was enough to make her squirm her way out of anything. He groaned inwardly, wondering for the thousandth time why he was still with the girl in the first place. He had his answer almost immediately, she was good in bed. But she was also whiny, clingy, and truly beginning to grate on his last nerve. The sex was becoming not worth the trouble.

   A flash of
wide
violet eyes unwittingly blazed through his mind, and to his amazement, he found himself hardening instantly. He could clearly recall how Isabelle had felt when he had seized hold of her tiny waist, a waist so narrow that his hands had nearly encircled it. Her skin had been warm, silky smooth, and utterly tempting.

   For a moment, the touch of her had blazed through him, arousing him fiercely
.
The smell of her, apples, and fresh dirt, and her underlying sweet, natural scent had assaulted him instantly, and aroused his baser instincts.
He had not wanted to release her, and s
ince he had touched her he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head
.
O
r his cock
,
he thought ruefully.

   He shifted uncomfortably as the force of his erection became almost unbearable. “G
o stop her Ethan,” Jack ordered briskly
.

   Ethan sighed as he ran a hand through his
tangl
ed hair. “Leave her be Jack. It’s not going to hurt us to have a clean house, and clothes. Besides Jess is staying there
too
, and Isabelle is the one that realized that if there’s no human food in the house
,
she’ll think it
’
s odd. You know that none of us would have thought about it. She
sent
David and dad shopping for
groceries
.”

   “That’s fine and dandy, but....”

   “Jack,” Ian interrupted as he approached
them
. “Leave her be. You know how Isabelle is when she’s upset about
something;
this is just her way of working things out.”

   Jack’s scowl faded as he nodded slowly. “What is she upset about?” Doug demanded. “Oh, Julian,” he answered.

   “Yeah,” Ethan said tiredly. “I had a long talk with the four of them last night.”

   “Did you tell your parents?”
Doug demanded.

   “I wouldn’t have, but...”

   “They could have both been killed,” Ian finished
for his brother
.

   Stefan glanced back at the four people stretched out in the sun, his aggravation mounting. He was half tempted to walk over there, drag Jess up, and force her to go help Isabelle. The house was obviously a bachelor’s place, and even he had been a little amazed by the amount of dust and filth in it. Jess had complained endlessly about it yesterday, the least she could do was help
clean it
today.

   “Yeah, so if this m
akes her happy than let her be,
”
Ethan said firmly.
   “Anything for Isabelle,” Jack muttered, but there was a soft smile on his face.

   Stefan raised a
n
eye
brow as he turned back to them. “What, are you scared of her?” he asked lightly
, but there was a tens
ion
in him that he had never quite experienced before
.

   They grinned back at him, their eyes twinkling merrily. “Of Isabelle? Hardly!” Doug snorted. “She growls like a grizzly but inside she’s as mushy as a teddy bear. We just hate seeing her unhappy.”

   “Isabelle’s our favorite,” Jack said
jokingly
.

   “Hey!” Ethan and Ian objected.

   Jack laughed at them as Doug
eagerly
nodded his agreement.
“Well she is,” he t
old them, biting on his lip as he attempted to keep from laughing at them.

  
“That’s good to know,” Ethan mumbled.

   “Oh, she’s your favorite too, and you know it!”

   Ethan grinned as he ran a hand through his hair again. “What is this, break time?” Mike demanded as he strolled over to them. “Someone could have told me.”

   “Trust me, this isn’t a break that you want to be involved in,” Jack
muttered
.

   “Why is that?”
Mike
inquired
.

   “We were talking about Isabelle cleaning the house.”

   Mike grimaced as he shrugged his shoulders. “It needs a good
cleaning;
we’ve been over here so much that it’s filthy
,
even by our standards. Leave her be, she’s upset about Julian. They both could have been killed.”

   “Both?” Stefan asked
in surprise
. “It was Julian that was hanging inside the pit.”

   They turned to look at him, their faces hard, and their eyes dark. “She never would have let go of him,” Ethan said, shuddering slightly. “She’d have followed him into that pit first.”

   Stefan opened his mouth to protest that
statement;
no one would follow someone else to their death, no matter how much they cared for the person. Then, he thought about Isabelle hanging into that pit, holding on to her brother for dear life. She wouldn’t have let go, he realized with a start. A shiver of fear raced up his spine as he recalled the dangerous spikes at the bottom of that pit.

   Suddenly he understood why the people gathered around him were so determined to make sure that she was happy, why they capitulated to her wishes. He didn’t know anyone else that would have gone over that edge. They would have tried to save Julian, yes, but fear for their own life would have caused them to release him before they went over too. It was a shock to realize that he actually respected and admired her for it. He couldn’t recall a woman he had ever felt that way about.