Hotblood (25 page)

“
Really? You should watch where you’re going.” His eyes were warm, too warm and penetrating.

I tried to laugh but it didn’t come out quite right. “Yeah, some things are more pleasant to run into than others.” I gestured towards him and forced myself to sound light.

He pointed to himself with a raised eyebrow. “Thank you. That’s quite a compliment.” He gave me a slight smile but those eyes were skeptical. He didn’t believe me.

“
Why not?” I asked trying to stay in control of myself, to stop the spiraling heat.

“
Excuse me?” he asked, and I hated how beautifully intentional his eyebrows looked, raised above his warm eyes.

“
Why don’t you believe me?”

He shook his head. “Because you’re a terrible liar. Would you like to borrow my copy?” He held out his red book, and I stared at it, surprised at how quickly he’d changed the subject. It smelled like him. I took it and turned it over in my hands, the feel of old leather on my fingers somehow satisfying before I put it down on the table in front of me.

“
I guess. If you don’t mind.”

He shrugged. “I’ve read it enough times over the summer.” He focused on his homework and that was the last thing he said to me for the rest of the hour. I stared at the top of his head for a long time before I realized what I was doing and forced myself to focus on my homework. He’d ended the argument we were going to have before it began. I wasn’t sure if I should be glad or not at how easily he’d controlled the entire exchange. I settled on irritation; it suited the mood Mrs. Brigg’s homework put me in. Painting class was terrible, but I survived. I walked home and enjoyed myself for the first time all day. The sunshine was warm on my skin but not too hot. The seasons were changing and soon I’d want a sweater. It was the first time since I’d come home that the weather was crisp.

When I turned the corner to my street, I looked up and stopped walking. A car that looked vaguely familiar was parked in front of my house. It was a low slung muscle car the color of a grape sucker. It sparkled beautifully in the sunshine as I hurried towards it. I heard sounds and followed them through the side gate to the back yard.

I looked down on the scene in shock bordering on horror. Satan and Lewis were circling, then Satan feinted forward, and Lewis ducked and spun. There was a flurry of motion I couldn’t follow where first Lewis then Satan then Lewis looked in control. Satan was enormous, larger than a normal person had any right to be, not that Satan ever claimed to be normal, but Lewis was fast. I walked towards them uncertain which of them I should be angrier with. Lewis had no business being in my yard, and Satan had no right touching Lewis.

Satan had Lewis in a choke hold when he looked up at me and grinned. I noticed then the cigar hanging out of his mouth. The man seriously needed to quit.

“
Satan,” I said greeting him dully. “Looks like your day is going well.” Lewis twisted and did something to Satan’s leg that made him make a strangled sound, and I found myself staring into Lewis’ eyes, only it wasn’t exactly the same person I thought I was getting to know. The warmth in his eyes had blazed into a look of hunger that made me take a step closer to him. “Lewis,” I whispered, before he turned and moved with focused precision until Satan was sprawled on the ground. Panting, Lewis stood with his back to me, his white shirt drenched in sweat, and I felt my stomach tighten. He turned and looked at me, and I felt my breath leave my body like Satan had thrown me down on my back.

“
He shouldn’t have hurt you,” he said, his words tight and short, his chest still heaving from his exertion. It was then that I really understood that Lewis had beaten up my uncle. I touched my cheek, but instead of feeling the old bruise I felt the memory of his fingers on my skin.

“
Oh.” It was all I could think to say. My thoughts were tangled between the horrified embarrassment and the fascinated awe of him standing in front of me. The intensity faded from his eyes and he shrugged and went to the side to pick up his jacket.

“
I guess I’ll see you at school.”

I nodded and frowned at where Satan lay on the grass. “Will he be okay?”

“
Of course. Wilds are nearly impossible to kill.” He didn’t sound particularly happy about that. I watched him leave then after I looked back at Satan, I shrugged and walked towards the patio doors. The white carpet was smudged with what looked like blood from this morning. Blood sounded like a good idea.

In the kitchen I opened the fridge and found some raw hamburger. I leaned against the fridge, and felt nauseous, even while I devoured the meat. I rinsed off my hands and sat on the floor below the sink and wrapped my arms around my knees rocking slightly. The back door opened and shut with a bang, and I heard Satan move through the house until he found me.

“
You okay?”

“
I think I’m supposed to ask you that,” I muttered and shook my head.

He opened the fridge. “What happened to the hamburger I was going to use for dinner?”

I looked up at him and shrugged helplessly. “I was hungry.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’m going to the store. Do you want to come? You don’t look so good.”

I laughed sounding slightly hysterical. “I don’t? I can’t imagine why you’d say that.”

Satan looked at me and frowned. “Don’t think too much about it. He’s a fine fighter, but he’s not for you. He’s just one of those weirdos who feel like there’s no injustice they can’t get uptight about. Don’t think there’s anything more than that.”

I laughed. “Platonic. We’re very platonic. Don’t worry about me, Satan. Seeing him bash you around was really great, but truly, my heart lies in a different direction. There’s this guy Smoke at school who really knows how to jive. Jive trumps watching someone mash in someone’s skull nine times out of ten.” I realized I was rambling.

“
Cool. You should go do some homework or something. You don’t want to be sitting there like that when your mother comes home. It’ll give her a nervous breakdown. You look terrible.”

“
Thanks. Some people say I really take after my uncle.”

He guffawed and flexed for me. “Lucky you.” After a wink he was gone and I made it to my room before my mother drove up.

I couldn’t seem to settle down to my homework. None of the books I was supposed to read were nearly as interesting as the one I got no credit for, and it smelled like him. After dinner, I retreated to my room, tripping over the pile of clothes in the hall. I was going to have to do something about that. I read well into the night, seeing Lewis’ face and features in place of Mr. Rochester until I finally fell asleep with my cheek on the book cover.

10 Round and Round We Go

In the morning, I woke up to a knock on my door. It was still dark out. Oh, right, dance.

I found myself yawning, slumped beside Snowy while we drove through the dark streets of Sanders. In dance class, I stood there feeling awkward and uncoordinated for the first ten minutes. Then Tawna turned the music up really loud, and I lost track of everyone else in the room, including myself. I may have been doing a close approximation of whatever the other people were doing, but I didn’t really care. The bass was so loud, and the moves were so fun. It wasn’t ballroom, it was more like a hip hop cha-cha. Afterwards when the lights came on and the music ended I blinked at Snowy, who was staring at me like she’d never seen me before.

“
What?”

“
I’m speechless,” she said, linking her arm in mine.

“
I’m not,” Valerie said stepping in front of us. “I wouldn’t have believed it possible that you could go all the way from zombie to seizure victim out on the dance floor.” She batted her unnaturally thick lashes at me, and I wondered for a second if I was going to do something regrettable, but I still felt so good from the endorphins racing through my blood, I laughed all the way into the locker room.

“
She’s so evil,” Snowy muttered after we were showered, and the girl had left.

“
She seemed nice,” I said with another snicker.

“
Yeah. She’s so mean, and I can’t be as mean as she is however hard I try. It’s so frustrating. She makes me want to do something horrible, like put glue in her shampoo bottle or something.”

“
Snowy, I never knew you had a dark side. Before I know it you’re going to be spitting on people over the balcony.”

She looked shocked then grinned at me. “It is tempting sometimes.” We were both giggling when we walked out of the dressing room together.

Lewis stood across the hall. I studied his face carefully, but after fighting with my terrifying uncle he didn’t have a mark on him. He looked up and I turned my back to him. I had no idea what to say to him after what he’d done yesterday.

“
Platonic it is,” Snowy said brightly.

I glared at her and she snickered. I’d almost forgotten that she or Osmond had told Lewis about Harris. If they hadn’t, he wouldn’t have seen my face, and the whole scenario yesterday would never have happened except that Lewis didn’t seem like the type to miss anything.

She left me at the door of my English class. I found a seat and pulled out the red book. I sank low in my desk and didn’t notice Lewis until he said something to Mrs. Briggs from the seat to my left. I stared at him then looked back down, but somehow the story wasn’t quite as gripping as it had been a few minutes earlier. What was he doing sitting by me? I could see him in my periphery, the way he cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes when he saw a discrepancy in Mrs. Brigg’s lecture. He kept commenting, keeping the discussion and the other kids going. I tried to listen to Mrs. Briggs but it was hard to hear her over the sound of his heart beating a gentle rhythm beside me. It got louder and louder until I jumped out of my seat the moment the bell rang. I stopped at the door and walked back to my seat where Lewis had picked up my bag. He watched me come towards him with a perfectly serious look on his face, except his eyes twinkled when he held it out to me.

“
Thanks,” I said, before I grabbed it and ran out of the class. The week went like that, me managing to be polite to Lewis, but nothing else. He irritated me. He was too nice, too attractive, and too platonic. If I was going to get close to him, it would be closer than was healthy—for either one of us. I couldn’t help but watch him though. Every time he moved, spoke, or smiled, it was a fierce struggle for me to respond easily and naturally the way Snowy did. It was better for me to avoid him.

On Friday morning, I ate breakfast and was glad to see Snowy’s parents’ SUV pull in the drive before my mother got up.

“
Morning,” I mumbled as I slid into the passenger seat.

“
Yes, it seems to be,” she replied giving me a once over. I sank down in the seat and tried not to notice her perfect posture, perfect manicure, perfect polo. Perfect was boring when you came right down to it. “So,” she said pulling into the street. “You and Bob Rowe.”

I rolled my eyes. It was so ridiculous to even think of me with anyone. “Right, Snowy. Me and Smoke can’t help ourselves. It was love at first sight. I saw him and something just clicked. It was probably that name.”

“
You don’t have to be snotty about it,” she said glaring.

“
And you don’t have to act like it’s any of your business,” I snapped back.

“
What about Lewis?” She demanded. I stared at her until she sighed. “You know what I mean. That boy doesn’t see anything else when you walk by. I’ve seen him look at you, and frankly, it’s almost embarrassing. He’s never looked at me or anyone else in the school the way he looks at you, not even Valerie. Bob Rowe looks when Valerie walks by, Lewis doesn’t. He was asking about you all summer, and I don’t think it’s because he was curious. I think it’s because he’s really interested in you. It’s a pity for you to ignore a relationship with so much potential!”

“
He has way too much potential for me.”

Snowy made an unladylike sound. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. I intend to marry someone who’s as much better than me as I can possibly find. I don’t agree with you anyway. You’ve got enough money and various accomplishments to make any match uneven, in your favor. I won’t deny you lack sophistication, basic courtesy, and taste in clothing, but it shows your personality. It’s a part of you he probably finds charming.”

“
Snowy, I’m volatile! I’m not a zombie, but I almost killed Harris the other day because…” I didn’t want to get into that. “Because he was creepy. Osmond thinks my platonic relationship with Lewis is great, why can’t you?”

She exhaled sharply as we pulled into the parking lot. “Never mind. Do what you want. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t let Osmond tell me what kind of relationship I can have. If you’re into that whole misogynistic thing, yay you.”

“
Come on, Snowy,” I said as she parked with a jerk. “What am I supposed to do? Corner Lewis and demand that he like me?” I slammed the SUV door and started towards the gym.

I heard Valerie’s chortle behind me. “You and Lewis?” I looked over and saw the smirk on her face. “What a sweet idea. It’s too cute.”

Snowy growled. “Shut up, Valerie! Nobody asked you.”

“
It doesn’t sound like dear Dari asked you either, honey.” She laughed again. “What in the world would someone like her have to say to him?” She cocked her head and got an evil glint in her eye.

“
If you say one more word, I will rip your extensions clean out of your head,” Snowy snarled.