by Jen L. Grey
I wasn’t sure what the hell I was getting into. I glanced at my phone again and cringed. It had just turned nine, and they were already dragging me to go shopping.
Within minutes, we were out the door and heading to the parking lot. Since it was a Saturday morning and right before the dance, we had been blessed to have a day off to rest and relax. Obviously, I wouldn’t be partaking in any of that.
“Damn, do you know which car is his?” Jess glanced around the rather small parking lot.
Cole appeared in front of us and waved us toward him.
“How the hell did he get here so fast?” He was nowhere in sight, and then within a blink of an eye, he stood right in front of us.
“He’s a vampire.” She didn’t even bother glancing in my direction. She was on a mission. “That’s one of their things.”
Of course I knew that, but Cole had never used that skill on me.
As we approached him, his blue eyes seemed to sparkle in the sun. “So, I’m thinking we’d start with Victoria’s Secret. I mean, yes, it’s like the staple guy thing to say, but I’m open to other places after we leave there.”
“When did Victoria’s Secret begin selling dresses?” Jess paused and grabbed her phone.
“Dresses. Okay.” He nodded and glanced off into the distance. “Sure, that would be classier, but you’d need a lot of lace or leather.”
“Leather does sound sexy.” She nodded as she kept swiping on her phone.
“We aren’t going to Victoria’s Secret.” I needed a damn cup of coffee and pronto. “First we’re going to Starbucks and then to a store that sells dresses. Apparently, I need a dress for the shindig tonight.”
“Shindig?” Jess stopped paying attention to her phone and looked at me. “What’s that?”
“But you’d still need new underwear for underneath.” Cole nodded at me with a very serious expression on his face.
“The shindig of which she speaks is the dance.” Rage walked up to us from behind. “And no, no new underwear.” His earthy scent hit me a little too late since he’d already made his presence known.
“Oh, come on.” Cole pouted and raised both hands. “Every girl has to have new underwear for a dance.”
“Who the hell told you that?” Sometimes I worried about him and his ideas.
“Common knowledge.” Cole huffed and pulled out his keys.
“No, this girl right here is fine with her underwear. I just need a dress.” There was no way I’d be modeling anything ever for Cole.
“New underwear wouldn’t hurt though.” Jess smashed her lips together, trying to keep from grinning.
“No.” It had been a nice friendship while it lasted. “It’s not happening. Or if it does, that’s just between you and Cole.” At this point, I was wanting to march back into the dorm and crawl back into bed. I wasn’t sure I could take a full day with these two ding-a-lings. “Please, for the love of God, I need coffee, stat.”
Rage grabbed the keys from Cole’s hands and headed to the car. “Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard in the last five minutes.” He hurried over, opened the front passenger door, and held it open. “Let’s get moving. If those two want to join, they’ll jump in.”
This was the closest I’d been to him for a while, and his scent made my head a little dizzy. “Thanks.” I wasn’t sure how the word got out of my mouth, but it did even if it was a little breathy.
I slid into the seat, and he shut the door. He didn’t skip a beat as he walked past Cole and Jess.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Cole followed behind, but it was too late. Rage had already opened the driver door, got behind the wheel, and even locked his door behind himself.
“Dude, this is my car.” Cole reached to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
“If you want to go, get in the back seat.” Rage motioned behind him.
“Hell, no. This is my fucking car.” He narrowed his eyes and extended his fangs.
“What the hell?” Every nerve in my body was on end.
“Don’t worry.” Rage whispered as he grabbed the gear stick and put it in reverse. “He’ll get in and get over it fast too.”
“So you’ve done this before?” It surprised me that this might be a common occurrence.
“Nope, but I was trying to make you feel better.” He grinned at me, and my body reacted inappropriately.
The door behind me opened, and Jess climbed in. “You guys aren’t going anywhere, not without me.”
“I sure hope so since you were the one who got me up this damn early.” I could’ve been in bed sleeping, but Jess had ruined that.
Cole jerked the back driver’s side door open and got in. “Not cool.”
“Sorry, man, but if you drove, we’d be heading straight to Victoria’s Secret or some other specialty store. I don’t think I could handle that today.” Rage turned on the A/C, blasting it.
Those words and the A/C were like a cold shower to me. I didn’t know why, but I thought he might be having a hard time fighting his feelings for me just like I was for him. Still, if both of us fighting our attraction didn’t make it clear, I wasn’t sure what else could.
“Well, you could be right.” Cole leaned forward and winked at me. “I mean, hot girls with barely anything on. If that’s not a good start to the day, I’m not sure what else would be.”
“Can you please just drop this?” If I had to hear the words underwear one more time, I might have spontaneously combusted.
We hit the main road heading into town. Everyone in the car was in complete silence until my eyes landed on the Starbucks logo, and I groaned. “Thank God.”
Cole cleared his throat. “Whatcha doin’ up there, Ravey? Do we need a hand check?” He leaned between the seats, scanning me over.
“What the hell are you doing?” I reached over and smacked him on top of the head.
“It just sounded like you might be pleas …”
“Shut the hell up, Cole.” Rage clutched his fingers on the steering wheel and shook his head. “She just saw a Starbucks.”
“I’m just saying, this has been probably the best morning of my entire life.” Jess giggled in the backseat.
When Rage pulled into the parking lot, I got out and stretched my legs. Cole was a handful, so I probably needed a double shot of something in order to get through the day.
Jess and Cole headed straight into Starbucks, but I needed a moment to myself.
“What’s your usual?” Rage stepped up to me and scanned me over.
He always gave me mixed signals. One second, I’d think he was attracted to me, and in the next, he didn’t seem interested at all. It shouldn’t matter. After all, I still had Greg, but a part of me knew that relationship wouldn’t amount to anything. “A venti non-fat blonde vanilla latte.”
His indifferent face morphed into one of pure confusion. “Okay, wasn’t expecting that at all. I was expecting mocha or regular coffee. Not whatever it is you just said.”
“Hey, don’t shade me.” I stuck my tongue out at him. “I just know what I like.”
“I wished that was true.” The words were so low I thought I’d dreamed them. He nodded to the door. “You ready?”
“Go on without me.” At least he seemed to not hate my guts. “I need another moment of peace before I head into that.”
“Yeah, he’s a handful.” A genuine smile crossed his face. “At least Jess seems to hold her own.”
Damn, I was in trouble. That unguarded smile might have been my undoing. “That she can.” Thankfully some coherent words made it through, so I wasn’t just awkwardly gawking at him.
“Alright, let me go brave the vampire.” He winked at me and walked across the parking lot.
I was completely at his mercy as I watched his ass the entire way to the building. Damn, I had to get myself together. My phone dinged, alerting me to a text message. When I saw Greg’s name, I felt really guilty even though I hadn’t done anything.
Hey babe, I hope to see you soon. <3
It had been over six months since we last saw each other, and the way we had left things wasn’t the best. At this point, I knew what I had to do, but damn, I wanted to do it in person. He at least deserved that, but not letting me go home over the holidays took me by surprise. However, Damien offered to stay back and work with me. He had said something about his parents doing Christmas overseas without him.
“You were the one hollering for coffee, and you’re still standing out here?” Jess took a sip of her coffee and waited for me by the door. “Get your ass in here already. We have to make sure we have ample time for dress shopping.”
My chance at killing some time had just ended. “They don’t open until ten. We still have,” I said as I glanced at my watch, “thirty minutes.”
“By the time you get in line and we get out of here, it’ll be perfect timing.” Her cheeks were flushed, and the wind blew her hair to the side.
“Alright, let’s do this.” I opened the door and went to join the line.
“Hey, come here.” Rage motioned for me. “You don’t need to stand in that line.”
“Uh, yeah, I do.” It was just like a man to forget who wanted to come here in the first place. “If you want to come out of this whole thing alive, I’d recommend you wait for me to get something.”
“What if I want to be naughty?” Cole lifted the car keys and jiggled them.
Rage smacked Cole’s hand, causing the keys to fall to the ground. “Just ignore him. I already ordered yours, so you’re good to go.”
My heart warmed at his words. What was going on with me? “Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.” The last time we’d talked, it had been right before Ashley went berserk in the cafeteria. It was tense, to say the least, so him being considerate was doing things to me that it really shouldn’t have. He was a freaking player, so I had to keep my head on straight.
Jess nudged me in the side. “He got yours.”
“You know he can hear you, right?” She’s a supernatural and should know that shifters have amazing hearing.
“You know I don’t care, right?” She elbowed me again and snickered. “Just sayin’ he didn’t get mine.”
I gave her my best death glare, but she only dissolved into giggles.
“Blonde nonfat vanilla latte for Raven.” The barista placed the drink on the table and went back to work.
“What the hell is that?” Cole advanced slowly toward the cup. “When you ordered it, I thought you were talking about Jess.”
“Why in the hell would I be ordering for Jess?” Rage rubbed a hand down his face. “You know what. I don’t want to know. Forget I asked.”
“I’m glad you asked the question.” Cole pointed at Rage and then rubbed his chin. “Because I thought that was a more plausible explanation instead of it being a fucking frou-frou coffee drink.”
A few younger girls sitting at a table nearby giggled, checking both of the guys out. My wolf wanted to come unhinged.
“First off, thank you.” I grabbed my drink from the table and headed to the door. “Now, let’s go. We’ve already been everyone’s daily entertainment.”
Jess followed right on my heels, and when we stepped outside, she touched my arm. “Girl, I’m only having fun, but you need to be careful with Rage. Granted, he never treated Ashley like this. Still, don’t give away your milk for free. Make him buy the whole damn cow.”
If this was any indication of how my day would keep going, I definitely needed to go back to my room and crawl into bed. I had a vampire that was inappropriate as hell, a player that was making my insides turn to mush, and a fae giving me dairy quotes about sex. I hoped there was only one way up from here.
Chapter Thirteen
My only salvation was my bougie coffee drink that everyone made fun of. I blocked out all the ramblings as I sat behind Cole and next to Jess. I was relieved that I got a little bit of distance from Rage, but the way Cole was driving made me regret it. I think we ran at least three red lights and blew through two stop signs. I’d never been honked at this many times in my whole life. “I don’t remember you driving like this before.”
“Well, you were already going through a lot that day, so I behaved.” Cole glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “Thank God I don’t have to anymore.”
“I’ve never ridden with you before, so you could behave for me.” Jess clutched onto the door handle for dear life.
“You can’t complain.” She was the one who had texted Cole, not me. “This is all your doing.”
“Just pull over. I’ll run the rest of the way.” Rage turned around and glanced at me.
“You can’t do that.” Cole let go of the steering wheel and surveyed the area. “We’re in a freaking town. Someone would see you shift, and then shit would hit the fan.”
Luckily, the storefront came into view, so we had to survive only a few more seconds of misery.
“See, here we are.” Cole squealed his tires as he flew into the parking lot and drove at least fifty miles per hour to the front parking space. There was no one even attempting to get it, but he didn’t slow down until he skidded into the parking space while slamming on his brakes.
Desperate to get out of the car, I yanked on the handle and tumbled out. Somehow, I was able to save my latte.
“Now don’t be dramatic.” Cole frowned and slammed his door shut. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“Speak for yourself.” Jess held her stomach, and her face was a little pale. “I may puke.”
“That’s it.” Rage shook his head and grabbed the keys from Cole. “I’m driving us back. End of discussion.”
“I’m feeling a little ganged up on right now.” Cole pouted and glanced at the ground. “I don’t like it.”
Now, I kind of felt bad. “It wasn’t that horrible; it was just a little rough. Oh, and a couple of things were unexpected.”
“Yeah, like when the bus was in the intersection and you ran a red light.” Jess grabbed my arms and placed some of her weight on me. “All I had seen was the bus coming right at my door, and I swear I could hear the driver screaming as he narrowly missed us.”
“Or when the old people rode their bicycles in the bicycle zone, and you decided that you could go faster in that lane instead of the main road.” I still cringed at the memory. “The old man had to fall on the ground to escape you clipping his bike.”
“He stood back up, though.” Cole threw his hands to the side. “So, he couldn’t be injured that badly.”
Jess grabbed her phone and smiled. “Alright, it’s ten. Let’s get shopping.” She marched right to the doors as if she was daring them to still be locked.
“Why are we here?” Rage walked beside me, taking his time. “I’m assuming the lingerie talk was something Cole was hoping for and not actually happening.”
“You’d be correct on that.” I took the last sip of my drink and threw the cup into one of the garbage cans in front of the strip mall. “I’m getting a dress for tonight.”
“Oh, you’re going?” He focused hard on the doors in front of us.
“With Jess, I doubt I have an option.” Besides, all my other high school dances had been with Greg. We’d always end up eating with his crew. After it was over, we’d wind up at one of his friend’s parties, which involved him getting plastered and trying to feel me up. I’d finish the night by dragging him home and letting him sleep it off. This was a chance for me to do it my way.
“So, who are you going with?” He cleared his throat and looked away from me.
Was he fishing for information? Let’s have a little fun. “Well, they are hot and fun to be with.”
There was a tick in his neck, and his jaw tightened. “I hadn’t realized you made that many friends here.”
“I’m going with Jess.” He thought I was dating someone at school. “And she has to make sure we look perfect, so here we are.”
We were silent as we entered Macy’s together. Cole passed us by and headed over to the guy’s section. �
�Don’t worry, man. I’m going to find something that will make us look good too.”
“Oh, dear God.” Rage sighed and shook his head. “I better go with him. Otherwise, he’ll have me wearing a pink tux or something worse.”
“Girl, come on.” Jess hollered at me and appeared from behind a rack of clothes. “We’ve got to hurry. We still have to get ready.”
“Duty calls.” I hated that this moment with Rage was ending, but at the same time, it needed to. I couldn’t get attached for several reasons, and the main one was Greg. Even though I realized we didn’t work, he deserved more than a text or a phone call to end it. We had spent over two and a half years together. Granted, the last six months had me here while he was there. Secondly, even if Greg and I were broken up, Rage wasn’t the one I’d need to fall for. It would just leave my heart shattered.
“Have fun.” He winked at me, and my knees became wobbly.
Not wanting to become an awkward gawker, I forced myself to join Jess. “So, what are we shopping for? I haven’t been to a dance here before.”
“Girl, think prom.” Jess pulled out a red feathered lacy dress that was low cut and tight. It flattered her pale skin and blonde hair. The feathers seemed to move when she took a step while just holding it, totally embodying the fae look.
“Try that one on.” If she didn’t, I would, and it wouldn’t look quite as great on me.
“That’s what I was thinking.” She flipped through a few more dresses and pulled out a shimmery green dress that had a slit from the upper thigh all the way to the floor. “Ooh, and this one.”
She hurried off to the fitting room as I stayed back, flipping through the rack. There were all sorts of pretty dresses, but I was low on funds. Unlike most of the kids attending Bloodshed, my parents didn’t have a ton of money. From what I gathered, even Jess was from a wealthy family, just not filthy rich and one of ‘the’ families that usually got in—kinda like me, except for the cash.
My phone vibrated again, but I didn’t even bother looking at it. Greg had been texting a lot here lately. It was as if he felt our impending doom as well.
“How does it look?” Jess stepped out wearing the red dress and twirled.
