Min's Vampire (51 page)

“
You don’t want to know.” He
looked into her eyes and she felt a little shudder, like how she
felt when she fantasized about stealing Brad Pitt form
Angelina.

She shook that feeling out of her
mind. It was preposterous. She hated this guy…well, she didn’t
exactly hate him, not anymore, but he was still a condescending
pain in her ass.

“
Yeah, I do want to
know.”

He smiled ruefully to himself, and as
he shook his head he leaned away from Lucy and pointed down behind
him to the back of his slacks. It took a second, but then Lucy
realized he was pointing to his butt, and she suddenly realized
with a squeak, and then more riotous laughter, that she was holding
a photograph of a tattoo on Gabriel’s ass.

“
It’s not funny.” His face
was sobering up as he leaned his head back. “And leave it to Micah
to get me into the tattoo parlor and snap a picture of it while I
was still… inebriated.”

“
You must’ve been wasted,”
Lucy said, handing the picture back to him, using her thumb and
forefinger like it was something yucky. “But I’ve got to give you
credit for actually sticking to the terms of that drunken
bet.”

“
Thanks.”

“
I just can’t wait to meet
your brother!”

Chapter 10

THE WEEK before the engagement party
passed far too quickly for Gabriel. His confidence in Lucy had
grown considerably, yet he still felt anxious about her meeting his
family. Would they fall for their act? Could he convince them he
was in love with the girl? He wasn’t worried about Lucy’s
performance: she was showing herself to be an incredible actress.
And the story she’d concocted about the way they’d met had been
genius.

It went like this:

They’d literally run into each other
in the entrance of the Szechuan Garden. He had knocked her down,
accidentally, and she had thought he was a complete jerk. He’d
helped her up, and was unsuccessfully trying to apologize when
she’d kicked him in the shin and took off down the street, absently
leaving behind her takeout order.

He’d scooped up the bag and rushed
after her. “Like a creepy stalker,” Lucy had said. “He followed me
to my car and invited me to join him in the park to split the bag
of takeout food I’d left behind. What an arrogant pig!”

But somehow Gabriel had convinced her
he was harmless, and by the time they’d gorged on the contents of
the bag, which strangely had two fortune cookies in it (a romantic
touch that made Gabriel want to gag,) they began to talk, and so
was the beginning of their courtship.

He had to admire how she’d
effortlessly organized some tidbits about him into an actual
romantic scenario. Obviously the imagination of the average
American high school senior was alive and well. Must’ve been the
glut of cable television, practically how-to programs for those who
wanted to rule the world through treachery.

Either way, it was impressive, yet
deceptively simple and easy to remember. And even though Lucy was
unabashedly greedy, Gabriel was finding her rather easy to like. He
still couldn’t believe he’d told her about the tattoo. He had never
told anyone that story, even though he displayed the photograph in
his office. But somehow, he just seemed to want to tell Lucy
things.

Actually, he hadn’t even told the
whole truth of the tattoo to Delia… and she’d seen the real thing,
not just a picture.

What did that mean? The question left
him sitting alone in his office, in the dim light of evening,
wondering what the hell was he really doing? Was he just confused
by trying to act the part of Lucy’s fiancé? Or was there something
he didn’t understand, something right there in front of him, so
obvious it should be as big as a billboard, but somehow he just
couldn’t see it?

And if what he was feeling wasn’t just
an after effect of an act, if it was something real and tangible…
well then what?

Had it changed the way he felt about
Delia?

No. As he leaned into the leather
couch in his office he knew for a fact that it hadn’t changed the
way he felt about Delia. But somehow he just knew that the way he
was feeling toward Lucy was so far different than what he felt for
Delia that he should be ashamed. He should feel guilt ridden and
wretched. Except thinking about Lucy didn’t make him feel anything
but good.

No, not just good. He felt like he was
overheating when he thought about Lucy. He felt like every molecule
in his body was vibrating fast enough that he could just explode.
And then there was how his mind felt around her. His usually cool,
confident thought processes snagged and tripped clumsily around
her… and he really didn’t seem to mind.

What the hell was happening to
him?

He looked at his watch and saw the
time. It was only an hour before the engagement party. He needed to
shower and change into his tuxedo. Laurel had it hanging on the
back of his office door with a little note tacked to the clingy
plastic sleeve.

Congratulations Boss. Lucy’s
great!

He smiled as he plucked the
note from the dry-cleaning bag. Lucy really was great. But did that
mean
anything?

He grabbed the tux and started for the
gym locker-room. He needed to get ready. And, deep down, he wanted
to look good for Lucy.

~*~

After close to four weeks of
preparation Lucy was appalled that she was actually nervous the
night of the engagement party. Especially since there was no reason
to be nervous… well, no real reason anyway.

Between her fashion sense and Elaina’s
elegant advice, she was sure her clothes were beyond reproach. And
since she’d been dieting for the last month, and back on her
exercise routine—now that the shoulder injury from her horrid days
at McDonald’s was just a memory—she’d lost the extra ten pounds
she’d been carrying around. Even without the aid of her
dermatologist her skin was back to its usual lustrous, blemish-free
self.

Red is so my
color
, Lucy thought as she gazed
appreciatively at herself in the full-length mirror she’d installed
in her room. The dress she’d picked for the engagement party was a
very deep, dark red silk, cut to show some cleavage—but not that
much— and formfitting enough to show off her newly regained figure.
The hem came a little over the knee with a slit up the thigh. She
loved the dress with its perfect little silk straps and a skirt
that felt daring and elegant at the same time.

The dress was truly romantic. It would
be something she would wear herself, if one day she was actually
going to tie the knot.

That thought made her a little sad.
Wasn’t this real? Did it not count? And if it did count, did it
count against the years of happiness she would have waiting for her
on the other side of this little arrangement?

Shit!
she thought, pulling her hair up in a lovely twist on the top
of her head. Her hair was also back to its old manageable self. If
anything, it looked a little better than it had.

Lucy stared at herself in the mirror
and willed herself to stop thinking about it. It didn’t matter if
this counted or not. This was a means to an end… the end of her
life of poverty, which—though short lived—had been both
excruciating and humiliating.

No. Fake engagement or phony
marriage, this
was
the means. It would buy her back her life and a chance at
happiness after high school—no matter how bad her father had
screwed things up for them.

Lucy slipped on the yummy pair of
matching red Italian leather shoes Elaina had found for her at a
boutique two hours away. She was now ready. Ready to meet her
future in-laws, and the family—the rather large family, from all
reports—she’d only seen so far in pictures and heard of via word of
mouth from Elaina, Dante, and Mr. Excitement himself,
Gabe.

She still called him that even though
he gave her the evil eye every time, and even though he threatened
to expose her relationship with Mr. Gordo. She knew, though, that
he wouldn’t expose Mr. Gordo. That was just a bit of verbose idle
threatening. Actually, Lucy got the feeling that Gabe was starting
to warm up to her. After many long dinners in his huge office at
Enoch Industries, going over his past—where he went to school,
college, grad school (he didn’t seem old enough to have done all of
that, but he had the diplomas and the way about him.)

Lucy had seen that way in her father,
a graduate of Stanford himself. She also saw it in Dante. All three
were extremely well educated, and had a natural affinity for the
work they did.

She looked at her reflection
once more in the full-length mirror.
Gabriel will like the way I look… right?
She shook the question off. Of course he’d like the way she
looked. She looked freaking sensational!

Though Gabe seemed rather cold and
detached for his age, it was part of what was making him
interesting to Lucy. There was nothing on this earth that was more
boring than listening to a nerd talk for hours on end about his
life. “I went to MIT; didn’t make one friend, never had a single
date. Then I went to work for Microsoft; never made one friend,
never had a single date. Then I built myself an android girlfriend,
her name was Heather. She didn’t like me either.”

But talking with Gabe wasn’t boring.
He was actually passionate about the family business. And he
obviously had as many friends as he had family members. His office
was lined with their photos. She’d seen smaller graduating classes
from high schools.

Maybe she was a much older woman, this
inappropriate lady love of his? Not an old hag, no… just maybe a
cougar. That was an interesting thought.

I can’t bring home my
girlfriend because she graduated the same year as my
mom.

Lucy smiled as she got into her shiny
new car. She didn’t like having to park it so far away from the
house. But better the inconvenient walk than explaining to her mom
and grandmother how she’d gotten it. Sooner or later, she supposed,
she would have to break the news to her family. After all, there
would be the wedding, and the wedding announcement.

Suddenly, as she turned the key in the
ignition, she had a horrifying thought.

Would there be an engagement
announcement in the paper?

Crap!

But maybe the announcement
would only be in the papers in San Bernardino?
Yeah, but what if one of Mom’s old friends calls her up to
congratulate her on her daughter’s good fortune.
Marrying up in the world.

Lucy’s head swam with terrible
thoughts as she sat there, the car purring in idle. She pulled out
her phone and called Gabe. He picked up on the third
ring.

“
Is there going to be an
announcement in the paper?”

“
Lucy?” She could hear
people in the background—more than just a few. It sounded like a
prom.

“
Yes, it’s me. Now tell me
there’s not going to be something in the paper about all this. If
so, I’ve got some major damage control to do when I get home
tonight.”

“
Calm down, calm down! My
family is pretty private, so no, there won’t be any
announcements.”

Lucy let out a long, slow breath. So
she was safe… for now.

“
Are you on your way? People
are arriving already.”

“
Sure... I’m on my
way.”

“
How long will you be?” He
sounded anxious, and then Lucy heard why.

“
Hey, Gabriel!” A nasally
woman’s voice rang through the connection. “Where is this
fiancée
we’ve all been
hearing about?”

“
I’m talking to her right
now, Aunt Junipa…”
Junipa?
“She’ll be here any time now.”

“
That’s marvelous. Everyone
is salivating to meet her.”

Lucy suddenly felt like the main
course at a banquet. This night was going to be rough.

“
So when are you going to be
here?” Gabe asked again in a whisper.

How am I going to tell him
I’m just getting on the freeway?
She
stamped her foot down on the gas and the hot little sports car took
off like a rocket. As long as she was going too fast for the police
to see her as she passed by, then things would be fine…
right?

Riiight…

“
Half an hour… give or
take.”

~*~

Smoke rolled out from the tires as
Lucy skidded the car to a halt in front of the La Companion
Refectory: yet another, very exclusive, very large dining venue.
She remembered Gabe saying that they had rented out the entire
place. Suddenly Lucy wondered how many people were going to be
there.

A valet jogged out to the car and
opened the door for her. He offered his hand to assist her, but she
smiled and said, “No thanks.” She swung her legs free of the car
and smoothed the hem of her dress as she stood. The valet was
young, a bit older than Lucy, and he made a little breathy whistle
as he took in the sight of her.