Bite, p.60
Bite, page 60
I wipe away a tear that falls and I whisper, “I promise there will be a time when we can be together. But for right now we can’t.” I lightly stroke her face as she stares at me intensely and with a smile I murmur, “I would like for you to wait for me but I know I can’t ask that of you. The last thing I want to do is screw up your life so if you meet someone else, I’ll understand.”
Her face remains neutral as she takes in everything I say and her body slightly tenses where I prepare myself for whatever harsh words she’s going to say to me. But instead of yelling I feel her deeply exhale which I take as a sign of her caving in. Tiffany taps hard on my chest as she says, “I should be so mad at you and tell you to go to hell.” I wait for those words to come out of her mouth in a harsh tone but she lets out a small sigh while mumbling, “But for some reason I can’t. I don’t want you to go and I don’t want anyone else Charlie. I want you.”
My heart swells at her words and ignoring the warning bells going off in my head, I pull her in for a kiss. The moment our lips meet, all my built up sexual energy comes out and I begin to kiss her more fiercely. To my surprise, Tiffany responds and we savor the taste of the inside of each other’s mouths. Our hands are all over each other and after a few minutes, we finally pull apart to gaze at one another with our eyes questioning what is going to happen next.
“I really should go now. Taking this a step further is just going to make the situation worse,” I say softly but my feet don’t move.
She wraps her arms around my neck to bring me back close to her while she murmurs, “We can worry about whatever the problem is that we can’t be together tomorrow. For right now, I would like it to ignore it and just focus on you and me. Can you forget the rest of the world for an hour or two?”
Oh man do I love this girl’s mind. I smile as I respond, “I think I can do that.”
As we begin to kiss again, the little voice in my head starts screaming at me to walk away and go home. But as she removes her shirt to reveal her wonderful breasts, I tell the voice to shut the fuck up.
Forever an Angel
(Gina)
It is amazing how quickly time flies but the end of the month is here and that means my mom is leaving for Texas. This last week was hectic with helping her pack and going to the bank so Sara could sign the deed over to us. The bank manager almost had a stroke when Sam gave him a teller’s check for the payoff of the mortgage and I fight really hard so I didn’t break out into a laughing fit in his office. Along with that, Sara had us running around with last minute chores as well as shipping her stuff off to my aunt to the point where I almost felt physically exhausted. Yeah it was a crazy week.
So the day before she’s ready to drive off, Sara spent it saying goodbye to the people she worked with at the hospital. I feel this weird sad feeling washing over me and I need to clear my head so I go into the garage and over to my bike. As I start it up, Joseph enters and asks, “You want some company?”
I smile as I say, “Sure.”
He flashes his crooked grin and hurries over to his bike and we both ride out and drive for about half an hour until we stop at a baseball field a few miles away. Since it isn’t being used, we are able to park our bikes right on the field and just sit and chill on a bench. The sun is shining bright so we just lay back to relax and soak up the sun (well sort of).
I take off my sweatshirt since no one is around to wonder why I’m only in a tank top and jeans on a cool fall day. I lay back on the bench and this is the one moment I wish I were human so I could really enjoy the sun. I look over at Joseph who’s watching me with a smile on his face. I giggle as I ask, “Why are you smiling?”
He laughs as he replies, “I’m just watching you enjoy yourself. You look so relaxed for the first time in a while.”
“I needed this moment right now.” I stretch my arms over my head while adding, “The last few days made my head spin and taking a time out was exactly what the doctor ordered.”
“Yeah I can imagine. You have a lot on your plate.”
“Tell me about it,” I say with a sigh.
He gently squeeze my hand as he whispers, “I’m sorry if we’ve been pressuring you with the Ursela situation while you were dealing with your mom moving. We should have given you some time to adjust to being a vampire first before you started working on getting inside our heads.”
I smile as I say, “We really didn’t have much of a choice here. Ursela isn’t gonna wait around until I’m all settled into my new vampire life and say goodbye to my mom before she comes to kill me.”
“Yeah I know. I still feel bad though.”
He stays quiet for a moment and I decide to use this opportunity to practice some more. When I get inside his head, I see a few mental blocks so I pick one to try to move away. I try to push around it to see one of the things he’s hiding but he must feel me because he immediately jumps up and he’s right on top of me with each arm on both sides of me.
“Gina what are you doing,” he asks cautiously.
I actually start to feel nervous, as I answer, “Nothing.”
Joseph cocks an eyebrow while he murmurs, “You sure about that?”
His gaze is a little intense and I start to squirm on the bench. He is not going to move unless I tell him the truth so I roll my eyes as I reply, “Okay I was just practicing. I wanted to see if I could push one of your mental blocks aside. I guess you felt it huh?”
He grins as he replies, “Slightly but it wasn’t too bad.”
“Really,” I ask while perking up a bit.
“Yes. You’re getting better.”
Joseph being this close to me seems familiar but I can’t find the memory of when something like this happened before. I begin to wonder if the two of us have ever done anything romantic. While he stares at me, I quickly go back in his head and find that same block and when I do, I push past it and gasp at what I find. This time he must not have felt anything because his eyes has confusion in them but he still remains in the same position without his arms showing any signs of growing weak.
“What is it,” he asks with a little anxiety in his voice.
“You didn’t feel it this time,” I respond softly with surprise in my eyes.
He thinks about it for a quick moment and when he realizes what I’m referring to he replies, “No. Did you really do it?”
“I think so. I think I was finally able to push around a mental block,” I say with my voice getting louder from excitement.
His happiness starts to fade as worry crosses his face. He straightens up his stance where he’s now sitting next to me and nervously he asks, “So what did you see?”
I’m uneasy answering him because I figure he’ll be angry with me for discovering something so personal. I look down to avoid eye contact as I mumble, “Something that I’m not sure what to make of it.”
Joseph nervously twiddles his thumbs and softly says, “Please tell me. If it’s something that’s confusing you then I want to clarify it.”
I sit silently for a moment unsure of how to word what I want to say. I gnaw on my bottom lip as my nerves jump around in my stomach until finally I murmur, “Joseph, have you and I ever…I mean did we have…”
A slight smile hits his face as he replies, “If you mean if we done anything on a romantic level then the answer is no. The most we’ve done was a kiss on the cheek.”
“Oh,” I mumble while my brow furrows together as I ponder the thought I found in his head.
He takes my hand as he softly says, “I guess you found something bad if you’re afraid to tell me.”
“I don’t think so. At least I hope it’s not bad. You love me.”
I didn’t mean to blurt that out but the words escaped my lips before I could stop them. I guess he wasn’t prepared for me to be honest and just say it because he freezes while studying my face. I am grateful that I can no longer blush because I am sure that would have given away of how embarrassed I feel. Then again Joseph must feel worse than me because those are his feelings that I just threw out there.
“Joseph I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I had no right…”
He cuts me off by putting a finger to my lips. “Gina it’s okay. There are many different ways you can love a person. Yes I do love you but it’s not the same way that Sam loves you.”
“So how do you love me?”
I feel his emotions jumping around and I once again regret opening my mouth. Joseph stands and paces a little bit and finally he stops directly in front of me so he can look me right into my eyes. “The best way to answer that is just to be honest right?” I nod my head and he smiles at me while softly adding, “Out of everyone I know, you’re the only one I feel I can really trust. You don’t always think the worst of me. Basically I love you because you have my back and every time you look at me, it’s without judgment or criticism.”
I smile after hearing his words but sadness enters my voice as I ask, “Then why do you want to leave me when I need you now?”
Dejection also hits him as he replies softly, “Because I have to. I can’t continue living there with Sam jumping down my throat accusing me every time you fall down or get a scratch. He will never comprehend that I would hurt myself before I would every hurt you.”
For the first time, I’m looking at Joseph and in his eyes are the frustrated eyes of a seventeen-year-old kid. I get up off the bench and I immediately take him in for a hug. I feel bad that Sam is pushing him to the breaking point and I want Joseph to know that no matter what, he has a friend in me. When I pull away, he looks at me and without even thinking, he draws me close to him and his lips are on mine. My brain is screaming from all different directions with confusion and I know I should stop this but I can’t. I’m frozen unable to move and I feel guilty because I’m kissing him back. We remain locked together until he pulls away first. We both just stare at each other in silence while I try to figure out exactly what the hell just happened and more importantly why I didn’t do anything to stop it.
“Gina I am sorry. I don’t know why I kissed you like that.” He starts pacing back and forth in front of me as he mumbles, “That was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that. Oh my god I’m such a tool for kissing you. I don’t want to mess up anything between you and Sam. Gina please forgive me. I’m really sorry.”
Joseph is nervously running his hands through his hair as he rambles on and he doesn’t stop talking until I mentally freeze him in place. I walk right up to him and with a smile I say, “Joseph it’s okay. I’m not angry.”
“Yeah but your husband sure will be.”
“No he won’t because I’m not going to tell him. It was just a kiss between friends that’s all.” I feel him try to relax so I remove my hold. I squeeze his hand while staring at him with reassurance that I’m really not angry. I study his face while asking, “Are you going to be okay? I meant it Joe I’m not angry. Friends kiss each other all the time. I’m not going to tell Sam because he’ll misinterpret it as something else and there’s already too much tension between you two.” I don’t want to completely hurt his feelings because teenagers can be very sensitive when they think they’re being rejected. I keep my expression friendly as I say, “We’re friends and I don’t want anything to break our friendship. Is that cool?”
I cross my fingers hoping Joseph understands what I’m really trying to say. I figured he would take it better that way than if I flat out said I don’t see him as nothing more than just a friend. It’s weird but he has become very special to me and I don’t want him to be angry from a rejection. Honestly if I wasn’t with Sam and Joseph hit on me first, I would go out with him because aside from being adorable, I have a lot of fun with him and I can talk to him like I’ve known him for years. Who knows what would have happened if Joseph was there on the beach instead of Sam. I know I would have been happy but I doubt anyone can make me feel the way I do with my husband.
Joseph cocks me a grin while he murmurs, “Yeah. It was just a harmless kiss.”
I smile as I say, “Exactly. We’re still cool right?”
“No worries Gina. For you reacting like this, we’re more than cool.”
“Awesome,” I respond while beaming at him. I glance around the field and while playfully punching his arm I ask, “Care to race me from end to end? I bet I’m faster than you.” He chuckles at my remark and opens his mouth to comment but suddenly we both freeze and we instantly go on alert. We scan the area and with caution in my voice I ask, “Do you feel that?”
“Yes,” he hisses. “Something is definitely wrong. We’re not alone.”
“I don’t see anything Joseph.”
He gets deep into thought while he still scans the baseball field and suddenly Joseph shouts, “Your friends. We gotta get to them now!”
I look at him in confusion as I ask, “How do you know?”
He slowly shakes his head while replying, “I’m not sure but something is telling me we have to find them and fast.”
A deep growl ripples in my throat as we quickly jump on our bikes. As I turn on the engine, I pause. I have no idea of where to even look for them. I think for a moment but I draw a blank. They know to be on alert since they know about vampires and I would hope if they were in trouble they would contact me. But Joseph has never been wrong when he gets one of his feelings and I know I have to trust his instinct. I try to think again of where my friends could be and as I pull out my cell phone to call Tiffany, I ask, “Joseph, what day is it?”
He looks at me with puzzlement as he replies, “It’s Saturday. Why is that important?”
Holy crap I should have known that and there’s only one place I know they will be and hopefully they’re all together. I look at Joseph with concern on my face as I yell, “We have to get to the school.” I go through my cell phone and dial Sam’s number who answers on the first ring. “Hello love,” he answers sweetly.
I skip my normal greeting with him as I urgently spat, “Sam, meet us at the college. They’re here!”
I didn’t need to say anymore as he quickly picks up on the situation. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
I hang up and say to Joseph, “The football game. That’s where they’ll be.”
“But football is played on Sundays,” Joseph responds.
I frantically shake my head as I say, “That’s pro football. College ball is played on Saturdays. Let’s go!”
We both burn rubber as we speed towards the school and in no time we arrive just as the others do. Once I jump off the bike, I scream, “We gotta find them!”
“We will. We know Steve is on the field so that’s going to be tricky getting him off,” Charlie says.
I glare at him as I mutter, “I don’t care what the hell you gotta do to grab him just do it!”
Feeling my anxiety rising, Sam calmly says, “We will get him love. You find the others and we’ll meet back here.”
I nod as I say, “Five minutes.”
Sam and Charlie head for the field while Joseph and Evan follow me into the stands. I look up at the sun cursing that it is still shining brightly. If anything does arise where we have to defend our friends, and ourselves we’ll weaken quickly and that could cost our friends big time.
The moment I reach the stands, even though the thirst is dulled a bit, the scent of all that blood from the humans watching the game still smells delicious. Evan puts a hand on my shoulder as he whispers, “Try to ignore it Gina and focus. Since Tiffany is marked, try to see if you can pick up Charlie’s scent. She reeks of him.”
I nod as I say, “Okay. But the sun is killing me.”
“I know but if you focus hard enough, you still will be able to find her.”
“I’ll try. Thanks Evan.”
He just smiles and I allow my nose to relax so I can locate Tiffany. The sun is not making it easy but when I move to my left, sure enough I faintly pick up Charlie’s scent. I know he is on the field with Sam so I smile when my eyes spot Tiffany, Diane, Amber and Mark sitting together not too far from where we are standing. We head in their direction and when Amber spots us, she starts waving. When we reach them, they start going on about how great Steve is playing and there are rumors that NFL scouts are in the crowd. I feel bad that we have to pull him away from his big opportunity but if he’s dead, he can’t exactly play for the pros now can he.
They continue to ramble on and I rudely cut them off as I say, “Guys forgive me but we don’t have time for this now. There’s trouble and we have to go. Now.”
The girls start to protest but Mark is quick to pick up on the imminent danger when he studies our faces. His face pales a little while he cautiously asks, “What’s wrong?”
I look at them all sternly as I say, “They’re here.”
I’m grateful I didn’t need to explain further because they are all on their feet in an instant. A couple of guys that are sitting behind them start yelling for us to either sit back down or move out of the way using words that are totally inappropriate with a few young kids around. Joseph, Evan and I each give them a menacing stare and they immediately shut up and their faces look straight ahead to avoid our gazes. I smile with satisfaction that I can be scary when I want to but my little victory dance is going to have to wait for another time. As we begin to leave, I look down on the field and smile with relief when I see that Sam and Charlie have Steve. The coach starts bitching when he sees Steve leaving but Charlie puts his influence on him and without the coach giving them a hard time anymore, the three of them hurriedly head off the field.
