Bleeding Love

by Ashley Andrews

  “Not quite.” Tristan pretended to look contemplative. “A future at being the laughing stock of America. Most probably.”

  “Now, that is what I would call a joke,” answered the female. “You, you can be a comedian.”

  “But I'm meant for greater things, Adie,” was the final reply, and before Adrienne could say something back, the game started, and Tristan was now wildly shooting the zombies on the screen.

  “Fuck, Tryst! Kill them faster!”

  “Aren't you supposed to be the master?”

  “But you're the guy! We're losing! We're losing!”

  The two had started to catch the attention of a few arcade players, but neither realized the interest since they were too engrossed in killing the monsters on the screen.

  “Adrienne, shut up! I'm trying to concentrate here!”

  “You didn't have to use my full first name!”

  “Would you have kept quiet if I didn't?”

  Adrienne's reply was just as fast as her shooting capacities. “Hell no.”

  “Then shut up and focus on the game!”

  “Geesh! It's not like we'll win a million dollars if we pass all the stages.”

  “People actually earn a living by playing video games, you know.”

  “But I thought you were meant for greater things?”

  That shut Tristan up.

  “Didn't I tell you to close your mouth?”

  “Yes, sir!” Adrienne answered army-style, even saluting Tristan, her hand on her forehead, and because of that, she dropped the gun and Tristan shot a string of profanities. In short, when she unknowingly dropped the gun, Adrienne's player was furiously attacked by one of the larger zombies and they lost the game.

  “I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with you,” Tristan said, feigning irritation and anger. “Do I kill you or let you go? That is the question.”

  Adrienne smiled sheepishly and blinked repeatedly at him, emphasizing the curve and blackness of her eyelashes. She was pretending to be a flirt. “You can let me go. That would be the diplomatic solution.”

  She was trying to persuade Tristan by looking pretty and cute, and it was working. Tristan suddenly remembered the events that took place at Sabrina's party—the way they had grinded and almost dry humped each other. He thought about the way they’d pressed their bodies hard against each other. He panted, and remembered the way his insides tingled with her every seductive touch and the tone of his voice. He remembered everything, and because of that, he could let her go. “And why would I?” he asked mischievously, all his muscles tightening at the memory.

  “Because you're my best friend,” she then said in reply, her tone a matter-of-fact. She looked at him, wondered why he looked all tense and well, funny. She didn’t want to intrude on their friendship and read his mind, but he was acting all strange.

  Tristan sucked in a breath. He didn’t want to be her best friend. Or more to the point, he wanted to be a lot more than that to her. So when she dismissed him again as just her friend, it added fuel to his already engorged fire. Tristan didn’t want to be her damn friend. He reached out to her, grabbed her and pulled her closer to him until her head rested on his chest. All he could think about was how her skin felt so soft against his hands. His mind went back again to Sabrina's debut. He told her, “I don't want to be just best friends anymore.”

  He didn’t wait for her response, instead Tristan leaned his head down and crushed his lips against Adrienne's.

  Adrienne was shocked, unresponsive at first, just letting her best friend explore the inside of her mouth with his all-too experienced tongue. She finally gathered her wits and pulled back, pushed away from him to break his hold on her and step out of his arms. “Tristan, don’t,” she said. She looked at him sadly and he didn’t say anything. She turned around and walked slowly to her car. During the short seconds of the kiss, she’d caught a glimpse of Tristan’s thoughts.

  Tristan Shackler was in deep like with Adrienne Stahl.

  Chapter 9: Halloween Trilogy: Scare 1

  Adrienne Stahl tried to forget what happened—what Tristan did to her. It was surreal, to the point that she couldn't even find the right words to describe the initial shock she felt when Tristan kissed her. The action had bothered her and clouded her brain for the past few weeks.

  That was going to change tonight though. It was the day of the Halloween Carnival, the project she led with Xavier, President of the Night Class, and she was going to have fun. She was going to ride the Ferris wheel, eat the sweetest food, play games, win prizes, etc. She was not going to think of Tristan. Even the sound of his name caused her to tense up and frown.

  “So tell me again why you want to avoid Tristan, your best friend?” Brianna asked, busying herself with trying on a few of Adrienne's clothes.

  “Haven't you been listening to me, Bree?” Shocked, Adrienne gaped at her best friend who merely shrugged her shoulders in return. With a sigh, the vampire entered her walk-in closet then grabbed a denim skirt from her one of the drawers.

  “You guys made out.”

  Adrienne shook her head. “We didn’t make out, he kissed me, without my permission or even my acknowledgement. And his thoughts were creepy. I like Tristan, a lot, as a best friend. She pulled a black halter-top that had pretty gold-beading off of its hanger. “Best friends don't make-out with each other.”

  “They do in high school,” was Bree's answer.

  Adrienne chuckled, her hands on her hips, before she ran to the side of her bed, grabbed a pillow, and clobbered Brianna with it.

  In return, the latter gawked and let out a squeal. “What was that for?” Bree asked, her mouth still hanging open.

  “Oh, so you're the love guru now, huh? You have a matter-of-fact answer for all this angst I’m feeling?”

  “I didn't say that!” said Brianna in defense.

  “Just because you’re in loouve.” Adrienne tried to hide the mischievous smirk from her best friend. She hadn’t meant to barge in on Aidan and Brianna when they were making out just the week before. The two's reactions were utterly hilarious. Adrienne hadn’t been able to stop laughing. And she smiled know.

  Brianna knew that grin was directed at her and Aidan, she flushed a deep red in embarrassment. “It's nothing like that,”

  Brianna received a questioning glance. “So are you two friends with benefits?”

  The blush that crept up to Bree's cheeks was immediate and lingered for quite a while. She never thought of Aidan in that way. The vampire was too much of a romantic and a gentleman to even consider such a proposition, and both Brianna and Adrienne knew it. The latter just wanted to pull a few of her friend’s strings.

  “You know he'd never go for that,” Brianna muttered quietly.

  Adrienne guffawed. ”And you would?”

  She raised an eyebrow and winked at Brianna, who was too flustered and was covering her face. In that moment, Adrienne's bedroom door opened, and Xavier, with Aidan trailing behind him, entered his fiancé's sanctuary—her bedroom.

  “You do know that your father can hear you?” Xavier asked Adrienne slyly, making his way over to her, while Aidan stayed at Brianna's side.

  “It's Brianna's rep that's going to be tainted anyway,” was her sarcastic reply. “I wonder what my father thinks of you now, Bri. He always tells me how much of a role model you are, and now the wheel has turned. I'm the angel and you're the devil.”

  “You're a bitch, you know that?”

  Brianna tried to act serious, but Adrienne wasn't buying it. It was all just an act, and when she read her friend's thoughts, her theory was proven.

  “And I'm still your best friend.”

  “And birds of a feather flock together.”

  With that, the two women nodded in unison and turned their attention to the male vampires standing in the room. Xavier, gorgeous as ever, was wearing a pair of cargo shorts, an apple-green shirt, and new Adidas. Aidan had gone with a simpler approach; he had on a pair of Levis,
a black shirt, and matching Chuck Taylor's.

  Xavier and Adrienne eyed the other two people in her room and noticed Aidan discreetly wrap an arm around Brianna's waist.

  When Xavier tried the same move on his fiancé, Adrienne stepped aside. Even if they were betrothed, they weren't really together, so he didn't have to do that.

  “Are we leaving now?” Brianna asked, leaning on Aidan.

  “It's getting darker, so yeah,” was Adrienne's reply as she made the first move and walked out the door.

  The four of them got in Xavier's car with Aidan and Brianna taking the backseat. The vampire prince started the engine and drove off. The ride to the school was silent, but when Constance Academy came to view, the atmosphere inside the car changed to one of excitement.

  “This will be the best fair ever,” Brianna said to no one in particular.

  Adrienne nodded in return, and then made a sarcastic comment, “Not if someone gets bitten and turned.”

  Xavier glanced at his mate and noticed the smirk on her face. She was really different from all the other girls he knew. She was so beautiful to him. Maybe she wasn't the prettiest, female that he knew, but she had such an air of vivaciousness that it made you look at her, and want to be near her, well…he thought the right word might be glow. He smiled, and then sometimes when you got all caught up all that glowing beauty, she would open her mouth. She didn’t keep anything back. He’d learned that if Adrienne thought it, she said it. She voiced her thoughts and had an opinion on everything. And sometimes those opinions weren’t exactly what you’d call politically correct. He sighed. She was both perfect and imperfect, and as confusing as this was, Xavier's feelings for Adrienne grew every day. He just wished that her feelings for him would do the same.

  “Relax, Adrienne,” his tone was calm. “Your father asked for the help of a few of the older vampires for protection. Nothing bad is going to happen tonight.”

  Adrienne grinned in acknowledgement. That was a great idea. They arrived at the fair and parked the car. She got out and looked around. So far, it seemed that everything was going great. The guests were smiling and having a grand time. The rides were all working. There were dozens of booths selling food and providing games for entertainment. A quick glance told her that the few vampires she could see—fit right in. Still, Adrienne couldn't relax.

  “If tonight and tomorrow breeze through without any drama, then I can die happily,” Adrienne said. Referring to tomorrow’s end of the festivities, which would be the Halloween dance.

  Speaking of which, she already knew what she was going to be. The shocker was that she was going stag. Adrienne wanted her costume to be a surprise, so she wasn't spilling, not even to Bri. However, her date situation wasn’t going to be a shocker. Okay, maybe it was. It wasn't that she couldn't find a date, because seriously, she could just bring any guy that lived in her town. She just wanted to focus on the dance and make sure everything happened smoothly. That was why she was going alone. Xavier, Brianna, Aidan, Sabrina, and her other friends knew that already.

  “But you're never going to die.” That was Xavier with his always-present smartass replies.

  “I can figure out a few ways to kill a vampire.” She was smiling to herself. “Care to be my lab rat?”

  Xavier tugged her shoulders. “You'll have to catch me first, and we all know how slow you are.”

  “And we all know I like my negativity with a little spice. Come closer Xavier, let me just snack on you. That way I can just make you weaker, and then catch you.” She raised and lowered her eyebrows suggestively. They both laughed. Then they walked side-by-side, happy, enjoying hurling insults and digs at each other.

  She was so immersed in her sarcastic debate with Xavier that she didn’t watch where she was going, and bumped into someone. She looked up and locked eyes with Tristan. Eyes trailing sideways, she saw his hands gripping her shoulders.

  “You mind?” she said, looking from his hands to his face.

  He got the clue and let go of her. With a sigh, he bent his head down closer to her ear and whispered, “We need to talk.”

  She immediately knew why they needed to talk, and unfortunately, Xavier and Aidan knew too. They, including Adrienne, read his thoughts and felt how sorry Tristan was for crossing the boundaries of friendship.

  Xavier, in haste, pulled his fiancé closer to him, her back against his chest. “You made out with him?” That came out as a snarl, erupting deep from within Xavier's throat, and Adrienne felt the rapid rise and fall of his chest.

  She didn't know why, but her vampire instincts told her that Xavier felt threatened by Tristan's presence, by what he’d done.

  “Adie, please, we really need to talk.”

  “You can talk now,” Aidan said, still standing at Brianna's side. He, too, felt possessive of Adrienne.

  Tristan shook his head. “Adrienne, I need to talk to you alone.”

  The moment he’d kissed her, Adrienne had lost her trust in Tristan. He wasn’t her best friend, and it hurt more than ever not to be able to believe in him like she used to. She had to resort to reading his mind, and when she did that, she felt like she was invading his privacy, like she wasn't best friends with him anymore. The make-out session weakened their friendship to an all-time low. She wanted to rewind the past, but even vampires were incapable of that feat.

  “Fine, let’s go somewhere where it can just be the two of us,” she said dully. She didn’t want to end their friendship, but if he pushed this, that is what would happen. Even if she barely trusted him anymore, Adrienne still knew Tristan well enough to assure herself that he wouldn't do anything stupid. He wasn't an ass like Ethan, just impulsive.

  She moved away from Xavier’s side. She looked at her fiancée for a moment, waiting for some word or sign from him. He simply nodded his head. She smiled at him and tuned to walk to Tristan’s side.

  “So where do you want to go to talk?” she asked, keeping space between them as she strolled off with Tristan. She looked around, at anything other than the boy walking at her side, thinking of anything but him. The carnival, she had to admit, was much better than she expected. It filled the fading night with color and life. The carnival was so overwhelming that it seemed to somehow diminish the light from the moon and stars.

  While they were walking, she noticed Yvonne, Tatiana, and Valerie by the game booths. They were laughing and shrieking, trying to make a small, colored ring land on any of the bottles before them. So even the vampires where having fun.

  Turning her head away, Adrienne noticed that Tristan was pointing at something, and she followed the direction of his finger.

  “There.” A gargantuan Ferris wheel stood a few feet away from them. “We can talk,” he said and then he pointed to the cart that was at the highest altitude, “there.”

  “You were being really serious, huh?” Adrienne looked thoughtful. “When you said you wanted it to just be the two of us.”

  He grinned sheepishly at her. “Guilty as charged.”

  Adrienne smiled back at him, and for a moment, things felt like they were back to normal until she remembered the kiss. Her grin faded, and so did his. “Let's go,” she said, walking ahead of him. “The line's pretty long.”

  Tristan caught up to her. They took their place in line and soon enough, they moved to the front. They talked, but only about the carnival and the games they wanted to play.

  “Finally! It's our turn!” Adrienne punched a fist up in the air in victory. “I can't wait to take pictures from up there!”

  Tristan beamed when he saw the enthusiasm on her face. Whether she was smiling, frowning, or crying, Adrienne always looked extremely pretty.

  “You'll get your pictures soon, Adie,” he said to her, letting her enter the little cage first.

  When she was seated comfortably, he entered the tiny cage, and the ride started to move right away. This Ferris wheel had small private cages, so they didn’t have to be strapped in, they could move from one side of the
cage to the other, peering down from all angles. As they moved, Adrienne busied herself snapping pictures.

  They moved slowly up to the top of the wheel as the ride operators switched out the passengers in all the other cars. They were rising higher and higher. When they reached the very top, the Ferris wheel stopped turning, and silence fell between them. This was the moment of truth, and they both knew that.

  “Can I ask you something?” Adrienne said, turning to face Tristan so she was looked straight into his eyes.

  Tristan nodded. Of course, his eyes read. But he didn’t wait for her question. “I like you, Adrienne,” he said, shifting in his seat. “And not as a best friend.”

  She had already seen in his mind that he had feelings for her. But she had hoped it was just a fleeting thing. She had stubbornly refused to look in his mind again, wanting this to all go away. So when those words came out of his mouth, she felt like she was suddenly carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was in utter shock. This was so not what she wanted to hear.

  Tristan was scared, frightened of what she would think of him after this conversation.

  “But why?” her voice was soft, barely a whisper of sound.

  “It just happened,” he said, not looking at her but at the picturesque view before and below them. He could see colorful streamers, all sorts of people, dark skies, the twinkling cosmos, etc.

  Their surroundings were heavenly, extremely beautiful. But the emotions in the small cart weren’t. They both felt the weight of the serious discussion.

  “It cannot just happen,” her voice was strong and firm when she said that.

  Tristan had always been a little intimidated by Adrienne. Even thought she was several inches shorter than he was, she had a really big personality. “Maybe for the mind, it can't just happen, but for the heart it can,” Tristan's voice was soft.

  At that moment, Adrienne flung herself to his side of the cart and began kissing him, skipping the fragile and delicate pecks and going right into the intensity and fun of tonsil hockey. She had him caged. She straddled his lap, and he couldn't escape if he’d wanted to. Eventually she pulled away from him, breathing and sighing, before she joined their lips together once again. He started nipping at her ear and her neck, and that was when she really pulled away and scampered back to her seat.