Flutter mba-3

by Аманда Хокинг

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The night we met, you came up to my room, and I didn’t want meet you. I didn’t want to want you, but the instant I saw you…” He looked away from me. “Before even I saw you. I felt you as soon as you walked in the house, and it was overwhelming. I reacted poorly when we met, so Mae took you away, and you went out in the hot tub with her and Jack. I watched you when you weren’t looking. You were sitting with him, laughing, and the way you looked at him… You’ve never looked at me that way.”

  “How did I look at you?” I asked thickly.

  “Like you had to, like I was magnet and you were pulled to. There was no choice.” That was exactly how it had felt, but I hadn’t realized that he could see that. “And when you look at Jack, it’s because when he’s around, why would you want to look at anything else? You love him the way you could never love me.” I swallowed hard, knowing that was true, and while that should have been comforting, it was painful too. I felt like I had hurt Peter without every giving him a chance. “But I love you in a way that he never can.”

  “No, Peter, you don’t love me,” I shook my head and looked down at the floor.

  “Alice, I am many things, but I’m not naïve,” Peter said breathlessly. His voice had changed to something I had never heard before, desperate and earnest, and I looked up at him. “I love you, more than I’ve ever loved anyone, even Elise. As much as it kills me to do it, I can’t stop.”

  “I can’t be with you.” My voice quavered and I felt tears swimming in my eyes. His eyes were so beautiful and pleading. Part of me really wanted to be with him, but I could never hurt Jack again. I refused to. And Peter was right. Despite anything that I might feel for him, I still loved Jack more.

  “I would never ask you to,” Peter whispered, still looking at me.

  “But you would love it if I offered,” I smiled sadly at him.

  “Yes. I would.” He stared at me a moment longer, then exhaled shakily. “But you can’t.” He finally lowered his gaze and ran his hand through his hair. “I can’t do this anymore, either. I suppose I should start packing up my things.”

  “No, you don’t have to go.” I reached my hand out, meaning to touch his arm and comfort him, but I realized how dangerous just touching him would be, so I dropped it. “This is your home. We have no right to keep kicking you out of here.”

  “What do you mean?” Peter gave me a very perplexed look.

  “Jack and I are moving out. You can stay here,” I smiled, trying to be hopeful, but his expression changed to one of dismal understanding. I had expected this to be at least kind of good news, but he didn’t take it that way.

  “Of course. Jack couldn’t possibly stand the idea of us living together,” Peter looked at Jack’s room, our room, with jealousy and disgust. “This had already been planned. You’re going to run away and live happily ever after, and I will stay here. With them. Forever.”

  “It’s not meant to be a punishment!” I said, surprised that I was somehow hurting him even when I meant to be helping him.

  “Neither is my existence, and yet, it is.” He shook his head and took a step toward the stairs.

  “I should go. We shouldn’t even be talking. If Jack caught us, that would be disastrous, and I don’t want to put a damper on your honeymoon.”

  “Peter!” I shouted, but he just kept walking. Once he was gone, I sighed and muttered, “We’re not even on a honeymoon.” I stood in the hall for a moment, trying to catch my breath and clear my head.

  “So…” Milo poked his head out of his room and smiled sheepishly at me. I blushed, forgetting that he was in his room and had been able to hear everything. “I guess you really do need to move out.”

  “You think?” I laughed hollowly.

  Peter vanished after my conversation with him, but I was grateful for it this time. I couldn’t handle anymore run-ins with him, especially with Jack around. Milo, Jane, and I camped out in the living room watching bad chick flicks until Jack and Bobby made us stop. When I had a moment alone with Jack, I asked him how the apartment hunting went, and he hadn’t found anything exciting yet, although he had some promising ones to look at tomorrow. He told me to cross my fingers about them, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to.

  Jane never mentioned her fight with Peter, but she was acting weird. All fidgety and twitchy.

  She complained of being hot and cold more than usual, and then she added complaints that didn’t even really make sense. Like the fabric on the couch was too rough for her skin, or that the air in our house was making her itchy. Her mood swings were intense, too. One minute she’d be laughing, and then next she was threatening to smother Bobby with a pillow.

  Bobby had put Sid & Nancy on the TV in the living room, because he claimed it was a love story that we could all relate too. I think Gary Oldman is a fox in it, so I didn’t protest. I curled up next to Jack on the couch to watch it. Milo laid a blanket down on the floor, and Matilda tried to take it over, but Jack managed to convince her to lay by his feet instead. Since Milo wasn’t that interested in the film, he laid out long ways on the blanket, and Bobby rested his head on Milo’s stomach, facing the TV. Jane sprawled on the chaise lounge, with her current complain that bracelets were too confining. Mae didn’t want anything to do with the movie, so she opted for a bubble bath instead.

  “Are all the doors locked?” Ezra appeared in the living room. He didn’t seem anxious, but something wasn’t quite right.

  “Uh, I don’t know?” Jack shrugged looking at him. “Do we ever even lock the doors?”

  “You have to lock the doors!” Jane exclaimed, sounding tremendously worried. “People will steal your stuff!” Our stuff must really have meant a lot to her.

  “Maybe, but someone is always here, and we’re vampires, so…” Jack trailed off.

  “I locked the French doors after I let Matilda out,” Milo said.

  “Why? They’re glass. Anything that really wants to get in can get through them,” Bobby pointed out.

  “Either way, I want you all to start locking everything,” Ezra commanded.

  “Alright. Don’t we have an alarm or something?” Jack asked. “You had one put in when you built the place, didn’t you? It’s like standard in this neighborhood.”

  “Yes, I did,” Ezra nodded and scratched his head. “I turned it off immediately after we moved in, and I can’t remember the codes. I’ll have to reset it and give everyone new numbers.”

  “That seems like a lot of trouble to go through.” Jack had his arm around me, and it started tensing up. “Did something happen? What’s going on?”

  “No, it’s probably nothing.” Ezra shook his head. “There’s just been a string of robberies in the neighborhood.” I don’t know how I knew, but I knew he was lying.

  “Oh my God!” Jane shrieked and put her hands to her mouth. Naturally, everyone ignored her.

  “We’re still vampires,” Jack gestured to himself, me, and Milo. “I’m pretty sure that we could take whoever broke in here.” Jane was over-the-top terrified, but Bobby didn’t look concerned at all. When you’re human, vampires seem extra invincible. But as a vampire, I knew that I wasn’t anywhere as strong or amazing as everyone else.

  “It’s always better safe then sorry.” Ezra nodded, as if that settled that. “I’m going to go look for the alarm manual, and I’ll get back to you when I have codes.”

  “Alright.” Jack gave me a weird look, and he was as skeptical about Ezra’s intentions as I was.

  “I don’t how you guys can just sit here!” Jane whined, getting to her feet after Ezra left the room.

  “Jane, relax. Nothing’s gonna happen to you,” Milo tried to reassure her.

  “No! I don’t mean that! It’s just so boring here!” She pulled at one of the bangle bracelets she had taken from me, and her eyes darted all around the room. “You just sit here all the time!”

  “Jane, its four in the morning. What do you suggest we do?” Jack aske
d her honestly.

  “And we don’t sit around here all the time,” Bobby countered. “I went to school, Jack went out, Milo goes places too, I’m sure. But just you’re not because you’re still not feeling well.”

  “I’m feeling fine!” Jane stomped her foot and tried to take off the bracelets. “If it weren’t for these damn bracelets! They’re like handcuffs!”

  “Jane! Just calm down and watch the movie!” I snapped. “We’ll go somewhere tomorrow night. Okay?

  But right now, it’s too late. So just relax.”

  “Whatever.” She finally managed to get off the bracelets and chucked them to the other side of the room, startling Matilda into barking.

  “Is everything alright in there?” Ezra shouted from his den at the end of the hall.

  “Seriously. What’s going on?” I looked at Jack. “Is there like a carbon monoxide leak?

  Everybody is being a total freak today.”

  “I am not being a freak!” Jane protested, then collapsed heavily back onto the chaise lounge.

  “I’m fine.

  Let’s just watch the movie. I wanna see what happens to this Sid guy.”

  Before the credits started roll, Jane fell asleep, but she was twitching a lot in her sleep. It was actually super creepy. We all watched with mild fascination until Mae came out of the bathroom and yelled at us for just staring at her. She carried Jane up to Peter’s room, but she came down a little bit late because Ezra enlisted her on his search for the missing alarm manual. It was the first time they’d really interacted in awhile, and she seemed to bare a grudge about the whole thing. The rest of us did not wish to participate in that search, so we headed up to our respective rooms.

  “You know, Ezra’s in the den,” I said to Jack when we got to our room. He had already taken off his tee shirt in preparation to put on pajamas, but when he turned to look at me, I started slipping off my jeans in the most seductive manner I could manage. “So you can’t really sleep there.”

  “Here’s the funny thing.” Jack grinned at me and walked over to me. He’d come into the room and gone straight to the closet to get ready for bed, but I had other plans for the night, so I stayed next to the bed.

  “I’m not really all that tired anymore.”

  “Really?” I took a step back, so my butt hit the bed. “You wouldn’t want to crawl into bed at all?”

  “Oh, no, I definitely wanna crawl in bed,” Jack smiled wickedly. He took another step to me, so he was right in front of me, and put his hands on my bare thighs. Slowly, he slid them up under my shirt and let them linger on my waist. “God, you’re beautiful.”

  I looped my arms around his neck and stood on my tiptoes so I could kiss him. He kissed me deeply, cupping his hands on my butt, and holding me to him. Gently, he pushed me back onto the bed. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling me closer to him. He pushed against me, and I moaned. His mouth trailed to my neck, and suddenly, I wanted it.

  “Bite me,” I breathed, burying my fingers in his hair.

  “What?” Jack stopped kissing me so he could look at me. He was trying to play it cool, but his excitement was unmistakable. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah,” I looked up at him. Being bit felt amazing, and he was in control enough where it wouldn’t be dangerous. I’d be the weak one, so there was no risk of me hurting me.

  “When was the last you ate?” His happiness momentarily broke.

  “Jack!” I protested. “Don’t break the romance with logic. I’m fine, okay?”

  Jack bit his lip and looked down at me. He was making sure that I was completely okay with it, but he pretty obviously wanted to do it. I could feel his hunger, hot and eager, flowing over me. His heart was pounding heavily, and it was just above mine, so I could almost feel it. His eyes were all fading translucent, the way they did when he really wanted me. The more passionate he got, the lighter the color of his eyes.

  When his lips pressed against my veins, I moaned involuntarily, and I arched my back, pushing closer to him.

  “Alice!” Mae screamed and threw open the bedroom door.

  “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” Jack yelled incredulously and sat up, and I agreed entirely. He turned to glare at her. “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing!”

  “I don’t care about you!” Mae snapped. She looked positively stricken, so I sat up and pushed Jack back out of the way. “Jane is missing! I think something’s happened to her!”

  Chapter 24

  In the panic over a possible Jane-napping, I didn’t think to put on pants and Jack didn’t put on a shirt, so we both got dirty looks from Milo, who rushed out of his room when he heard Mae screaming her head off. I returned his dirty look evenly since Bobby was shirtless and guilty looking. We were all crowded inside Jane’s room, since that seemed to be the source of the evidence. Mae had tired of her pursuit of the alarm manual, so she had gone upstairs to bunk with Jane again, but when she’d come in the room, Jane was gone. That was all her evidence.

  “Did somebody ransack the room or something?” Bobby asked, admiring the disheveled state of Peter’s room. Somehow, half of my wardrobe had migrated over here and had been strewn around everywhere. She’d only been here for two days, but she needed to try on most of my clothes.

  “No, it always looks like this,” I said. I hadn’t seen her room lately, but this was her natural state of being. Bobby was just unaccustomed to the rooms of teenage girls.

  “Not to sound, you know, like a dick,” Jack said carefully. “But you just dragged us out of bed to show us Jane’s messy room? That’s not really an emergency, Mae.”

  “She’s not here!” Mae shouted, gesturing to the mess around her. “That’s the emergency.”

  “Again, not to be a dick, but that’s not really emergency,” Jack said.

  “Something could’ve happened to her!” Mae insisted. “She wouldn’t just leave like this!”

  “She might,” Milo shook his head. “She was bitching downstairs about how boring we are.”

  “But she didn’t tell me where she was going!” Mae was looking at us all with disbelief. Jane had really gotten to her, and she wasn’t willing to let her go so easily.

  “You know what? I’m sure she has her phone on her,” I suggested. “I’ll call her, and we can figure this out right away.”

  “Good idea,” Mae looked slightly relieved at that.

  “Well, I’m going back to bed,” Milo yawned. “I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

  “How can you be so callous?” Mae snapped at him, but he just shrugged.

  I hurried across the hall to my room, and Jack trailed behind me. Mae stayed behind in the hallway to argue with Milo about how innocent Jane was while I pulled my cell phone of my pants pocket. Jack rubbed his bare arms and shook his head.

  “You don’t really believe something happened to Jane?” Jack asked quietly.

  “I don’t really know, and I’ll feel better making sure.” I scrolled through my phone for her number, then hit call. I wasn’t even sure if she would answer, but it was better than nothing. The phone rang in my ear, and I watched as Milo and Bobby slunk back to their room. Mae looked at me expectantly, and I started to tell her that Jane wasn’t answering when Jane answered.

  “Yeah, what?” Jane sounded bored.

  “Jane?” I asked tentatively. “Where are you?”

  “Out. Your place was a drag,” Jane yawned.

  “Really? You’re calling us a ‘drag?’” I asked. Mae peered at me with infinite concern, but Jack rolled his eyes and walked to the other side of the room.

  “No, you’re not.” Jane sighed loudly. “Look, I know you guys have been really good to me, and I appreciate all your hospitality. But… the thing is, I need a bite.”

  “We have food here, Jane. You didn’t need to-”

  “No, not a bite to eat!” Jane cut me off. “I need to be bitten.”

  “But… No,” I shook my head. “We just got you out of there! That life is bad
for you, and you know it!”

  “Jonathan is probably bad for me, and I got a little carried away on Halloween.” Jane made it sound like she had a shot too many at an office party. She had almost died because a vampire was eating her throat.

  “But I still love the way it feels, and I’ve just been craving it.”

  “Jane!” I shouted, incredulous. “No! You will die if you keep it up!”

  “I don’t think I will, but so be it.” There was noise behind her, and Jane sounded in a hurry when she spoke again. “I gotta go. Thanks for everything, though, Alice. I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

  “No, Jane! Wait!” I said, but she’d already hung up.

  “What’s going on? Where is she?” Mae asked.

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head and tried calling her again, but it went right to voicemail.

  “Dammit.

  She shut off her phone.”

  “What did she say? Why did she leave?” Mae was getting even more panicked.

  “She, um…” I considered lying to Mae, but what was the point? “She wanted to go get bit. I guess she’s going back to being a bloodwhore.”

  “No!” Mae’s eyes widened with terror. “She can’t! She’ll die!”

  “I know. I told her that,” I was taken back by her intensity, and I looked to Jack for help.

  “Mae, she’s a junkie,” Jack said, not unkindly. Considering how much he currently disliked Mae and Jane, he was handling this quite well. “The last high had started wearing off from being bit, and she had to go out and get another fix. You can’t keep her here for a couple days and expect to cure her.”

  “No. She was doing so well,” Mae shook here head fiercely. “I refuse to believe she willingly went back out there. I’ve got to find her.”

  “Mae, the sun is about to come up.” I gestured to the windows. No light ever spilled in around the curtains, but I could feel when the sun rose and set. It was a weird vampire tick. “She’s probably crashing somewhere for awhile. She won’t even be able to find a vampire until night fall.”