Somehow, the bond I was only supposed to create with one vampire managed to crossover into two, and because of it, I can’t really be with either of them. After that, Peter took off, saying it was the best thing for me and the rest of his family. Jack and I still hang out, since it would feel impossible not to, but we’re more careful. There’s a pain at being separated from Peter, but I can live with it. Ezra talks to Peter occasionally, and apparently, he’s doing fine. Jack started busying himself with work, partially because it was time for him to, and partially to create more distance from me. If he had it his way, he’d spend every minute with me, but that is not healthy for us. Or for anyone, for that matter.
“Earth to Alice.” Jane waved her hands in front of my face, pulling from my thoughts. “Yeah, I’m sure that kiss was totally nothing if you get all spacey just thinking about it.”
“Okay, it wasn’t nothing,” I admitted reluctantly. “But it can never happen again.”
“Why the hell not?” Jane looked more appalled then I had ever seen her before, but I just shook my head and stepped away from her. “Alice!”
“Not everything is black and white,” I mumbled lamely. Everyone in the store had turned to look at us, but it wasn’t because of Jane’s inability to put on clothes that actually covered her body. She was stalking after me in her stilettos, this intense expression plastered on her face. “Jane, you’re making a scene.”
“I don’t care. You’re an idiot!” Jane announced, like that solved anything.
“I’m not going to have this conversation with you if you’re going to act like this.”
“You’re not having this conversation anyway,” Jane scoffed.
Rolling my eyes, I turned and walked out of the store. Jane followed behind me, at an incessantly quick pace when considering her footwear in comparison to my simple skimmers. She was still glowering at me, but I was stalling for time. Obviously, she wasn’t going to let this go and I had to find someway to explain it to her.
“Well?” Jane demanded when I had gone some time without speaking. We had made it half-way to the food court, so I relented.
“Remember when I told you about Jack’s brother Peter?” I asked cautiously.
“You’re shagging the foxier brother?” Her eyes widened, and I shook my head quickly.
“No, but he’s sorta into me.” He craved me more than he craved anything else on earth, so sure, he was sorta into me.
“No way!” Jane stopped walking, giving me a look of total disbelief. “There’s no way!”
“What?” I hadn’t even told her anything yet, and already she didn’t believe me.
“You’re in a love triangle with the two incredibly gorgeous guys?” Her hands were on hips, and she just gaped at me. “You?”
“Thanks so much,” I muttered and started walking towards the food court. I knew that I wasn’t the prettiest girl in the world. In fact, especially with Jane around, I was never even the prettiest girl in the room.
Still, it didn’t feel good to know that I was so unbelievably plain that it was inconceivable to imagine that hot guys would be attracted to me.
“No, Alice!” Jane sounded apologetic as she hurried to catch up with me. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not even hot enough to be caught in between them. Nobody is.”
“Fair enough.”
For the most part, I tried not to think about how it didn’t make any sense that they wanted anything to do with me. Something inside them compelled them to like me, and it was probably a glitch or some kind of vampire malfunction, so it’d be better if I didn’t question it too much and just went along with it.
“I just can’t believe your luck,” Jane sighed dramatically.
“Who can?” I shrugged.
My attention had turned to the stand selling Mango-Strawberry Smoothies, which is only the greatest drink known to man. Knowing Jane, she would spend an hour talking about what food sounded good and what she wanted to eat, and then just order a bottled water or a diet Coke. But at least she would be diverted from demanding more information about Jack.
The problem with summer was that the nights were incredibly short. It’s still dusk until after ten at night, and dawn starts kicking in around four. In June, it’s the worst, when there’s only four and a half hours of pure darkness. Obviously, vampires spent more time indoors in the summer, but it was more fitting anyway, since heat didn’t agree with them as much as the cold. All summer long, they had kept their house at 65 degrees, and I had a feeling that was more for my benefit. If I hadn’t been around, it’d probably be in the 50’s.
Jack lived in beautiful house, that was really more of cross between a mansion and a castle.
There was a five stall garage at the end of a short, winding driveway. The house had been done in some kind of pale sandstone, and would have otherwise be a rather conventional square house, if not for the gorgeous black iron balcony coming out of a massive second story window.
The large front door was located in the turret, that connected the house to the garage. As many times as I had been here, it never really stopped being intimidating. Everything in the house was luxurious and perfect. Jack had a massive white Great Pyrenees, but there never even seemed to be any white hair on the furniture.
The house was settled onto a gorgeous lake that swept out back from the stone patio. We had spent a great deal of the summer in the backyard, either lounging on the patio or swimming in the lake or taking out the Jet-Ski’s. In fact, Milo and I had spent so much time on the water that Mae had bought us several swimsuits that she kept at the house for us. Mine consisted of three different kinds of bikini’s, which I wasn’t exactly thrilled about. I felt self-conscious enough around their perfection when I was fully clothed, but she insisted that I was beautiful and there was nothing I should ashamed of. There is nothing weirder in life than being complimented by someone who is clearly so much better than me.
I changed into my suit, carefully keeping the towel wrapped around me when I came out of the bathroom, but Milo had already changed. He was sitting at island in the kitchen, munching on some grapes and drinking water, and talking amicably to Mae. In people years, Mae had been the eldest when she turned, at twenty-eight. Her skin was flawless white porcelain, and her light brown waves of hair had been pulled up into a loose bun. Wearing only her bathing suit and an apron, her warm, honey-colored eyes danced as Milo instructed on her how to make the snack she was preparing. As a vampire, she didn’t eat and had lost all sense of cooking.
My brother, on the hand, was an excellent cook, so he had rapidly become her sous chef, helping her prepare all the meals she made for our benefit. When I had first started coming over, there hadn’t been any food here, but with Milo and I all but living here this summer, the house had been fully stocked. I would’ve protested all the extra work and expense Mae put into it, but it was obvious that she relished this sort of thing. Taking care of a family was all she really wanted to do.
“Where’s Ezra?” I asked, walking over to the island and stealing a grape from the bunch. By the looks of what was laid on the island, Mae appeared to be making some kind of fruit dip with cream cheese and yogurt, and slicing up apples, pears, and strawberries.
“He’s taking a nap, ,” Mae informed me in her warm, British accent. “He’s probably a little jet lagged because he just got back from the trip.”
Out of the three boys, Ezra was probably the most attractive, although I couldn’t help but be more attracted to Peter, thanks to our mutual bloodlust. Ezra’s eyes were deep mahogany, and like Mae, they were infinitely warm. His skin was the same tanned color as Jack and Peter’s, but his sandy hair had soft blond highlights. Not like a hairstylist had done them, but like someone who has spent a lot of time in the sun and got sun kissed streaks through it. The most powerful thing about him was his voice. It was low and resonated through everything. He had a faded accent that I was told came from being born in England, but he hadn’t lived in Europe in over twohundred years, it had definitely muted over time.
“Now just add a little brown sugar,” Milo instructed Mae as she mixed the fruit dip.
Out the glass French doors that lined the dining room wall, I could see Jack rollicking about with his dog, Matilda. Shirtless, the bright patio lights revealed the taut, tanned muscles of his chest and back, which even I had to admit was rather stunning. He rolled on the stones of the patio without hesitation. The hard surface should’ve left him battered and bruised, but I knew that he’d have nothing to show from his battle with Matilda.
“Alice, do you wanna try it?” Mae asked, pulling me from my thoughts and my gaze away from Jack. She held out an apple slice towards me, covered in dip, but I just shook my head.
“I’m getting pretty chilly. I think I’m gonna head outside.” My arms had started to stand out in goose bumps, and the warm night air would soothe them, but I could tell by the skeptical look that Milo gave me that they didn’t exactly buy that as my reason for wanting to go outside.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” Milo said through a mouthful of the fruit he had sampled.
“Okay,” I murmured and headed out the French doors into the night.
Jack had ventured a little off the patio in his pursuit of Matilda, but I could see him easily in the light of the full moon. Although it was much warmer outside than it had been in the house, I kept the towel wrapped securely around me as I made my way down the patio onto the small lawn that separated the house from the lake.
Matilda caught sight of me and bounded towards me. There was a very good chance she would knock me over, since she was used to vampires who could handle her lunging at them at full speed, but Jack overtook her and playfully tackled her before she could do any damage. Then he stood up, brushing the grass from his swim trunks, and grinned broadly at me.
“Are you gonna go swimming with the towel too?” Jack mocked my propensity for modesty, something he was hoping I would soon get over.
“Maybe.” To spite him, I pulled the towel more tightly around me, and he laughed. Matilda came over and sniffed me heartily before concluding that it was just me, and then sauntered off, wagging her tail slowly behind her.
“Suit yourself.” A mischievous glint caught his eye, and I knew I was in trouble. After spending a summer getting thrown in the lake, I knew exactly what that look meant.
Dropping my towel, I quickly turned and ran towards the dock. Jack trailed a few steps behind me, even though he could easily sprint past me. My legs were going as fast as they could, but the sport was in the chase for him. Most of the time, he’d wait until I reached the end of the dock before grabbing onto me and tossing me into the water. It really seemed like a moot point to me since I was about to jump in anyway, but it thrilled him endlessly.
I had barely made it to the edge when I felt his strong arms looping around my waist. I squealed happily and let him twirl me around once before he released me, sending my soaring into the air and landing in the lake with a loud splash. Under the bright moonlight, I saw him take a running jump and leap out, flying over me and splashing way out in the lake. He howled excitedly when he jumped, as if he hadn’t made that same jump a million times.
“Jack!” Mae leaned out the French doors and shouted out at him. “You’ve got to keep it down so the neighbors don’t call the police again.” It was after midnight on a Wednesday, and the neighbors weren’t big fans of the noise on the lake.
“Yeah, Alice,” Jack teased, swimming over to me.