Better Off Red (17 page)

“It could happen,” Natasha went on. “Anything is possible.

But we do our best now to prevent those types of incidents, and the sorority helps. You girls help.” I tried to let her hopeful grin comfort me. “With our bonds with our feeders in place, our master was able to secure our eternal judgment on an individual basis. If there is another global sweep of our kind, only those who are truly at fault will be damned. Still, we take violations very seriously. Those who cross our master are terminated immediately and banished right back to hell.”

“How do you terminate a vampire?” I asked. I braced myself for a gruesome answer when Natasha pulled Rodrick’s hand closer to her stomach.

“You have to remove the head or the heart and expose it to the sun. The rest of the body will follow once the vitals are destroyed.”

“Oh.” Not a pleasant way to go. “Do the other girls know about this?” Did Benny know?

Rodrick’s lip turned up in a slight grin. I could see the tip of his fang. “We try not to tell humans how to kill us. It’s difficult for us to be overpowered, but people like to find ways.”

I finally saw the need for the sorority then. Their master was here to stay and if he’d come up with an arrangement that kept his vampires happy and fed and the girls and the OBA boys safe, then why rock the boat.

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reBekah WeatherspOOn

“So why are you telling me? I’m still technically a human, aren’t I?”

“We intend to find out,” Rodrick replied, nodding toward the satchel. Somehow his answer didn’t help.

“I’d like to stay that way.” I didn’t want my feelings on changing species to offend them, but I had to be clear.

“Then you will have it that way,” Natasha said sweetly.

We talked for a little longer, and the more time I spent with them, I saw that vampires like Rodrick and Natasha were not the kind I should fear. Rodrick’s size was still a bit intimidating, but they were cute together. They answered more of my questions, the whole time holding hands or exchanging gentle touches. They let me know I was clear to go back to church with Mom and Dad come Christmas time. I wouldn’t catch on fire if I set foot on hallowed ground. Even if I was suddenly craving the taste of human blood, garlic was still safe to eat, and if someone came at me with a wooden stake, Natasha reminded me I had bigger problems than what made up my blood. The decision to let the other girls know about my mother and the mysteries of her pregnancy was completely up to me. Rodrick advised that it would be best for me to wait until they knew exactly how much vampire blood was in my system and how it affected me. I thought it was a good idea.

I spent the rest of the day with the girls, still a little worried about what my DNA would say, but it was nice to know I had Natasha and Rodrick to talk to. I just wished I would have talked to Camila instead of spending nearly every waking moment I had with her naked.

By Friday I was a complete mess. I’d slept like crap all week.

The little sleep I got was riddled with frustrating dreams about a certain vampire—horrible, mocking dreams where she always seemed to be just out of reach. When I wasn’t dreaming of her slipping through my fingers, there were nightmares about my birth mother, the kind I hadn’t had in years. Chest-crushing images of her smile melting, blood dripping from her hair. One night there had even been a man, tall with no hair and no face, holding her close to his chest as a gash across her neck oozed onto the floor.

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The heel of his hand was pressed to her bulbous stomach. As a kid I’d always tried to scream during nightmares of my mother, but the sound never came. It was no different this time. I’d wake in my bed, sweating and sobbing breathlessly, hurting even more that Camila was nowhere around.

At least the anger and frustration, both physical and emotional, drove me to ace my stats test.

After class all I wanted was a self-indulgent cry and a nap, but that wasn’t going to happen. The head of the department had arranged for the chair of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Organization to come speak to all the exercise science majors. There had been a lot of grumbling about why the hell they’d have him give a talk on a Friday night, but his Q and A was scheduled to end at eight. Just enough time for me to go back to the room and grab my stuff for movie night.

I trudged back to the dorm, contemplating paying Laura or Mel for a massage. Or Anna-Jade. She had little hands. I was beat, and my mind was a muddled mess. So muddled that I didn’t register the moans coming from my room before I opened the door. For the first time all week, I actually wished I had the pleasure of walking in on Amy and Danni. And I wished I’d known that Friday was Amy’s night to feed Camila.

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Even with Amy draped all over her, it was impossible to miss how gorgeous Camila looked. She wore a red hooded sweater under her motorcycle jacket and skintight jeans under her knee-high riding boots. I would have complimented her, but I was too busy fighting the intense wave of rage and arousal that swept through my body. Amy was fully dressed, which didn’t matter. She was grinding her crotch against Camila’s stomach. The layers of clothes between them probably added to the friction quite nicely.

Camila and I stared at each other. She didn’t release Amy’s neck. Her fingers were tangled in her blond waves to keep Amy in place. I could tell from the way Camila’s brow contorted that she was frowning at me. I realized then that I was standing in the hallway with the door wide open while a vampire was making love to my roommate’s jugular. I quickly stepped inside and closed the door.Camila didn’t look like she had any intention of letting my presence interrupt her feeding, so I didn’t let their erotic exchange stop me from getting ready for movie night. Amy’s chorus of moans and grunts grew more urgent as I grabbed my pajamas. I’d crash with Cleo and Benny. The pair of boxers I liberated from Todd and my Reading Memorial High T-shirt were as sexy as it was going to get. A couple pairs of fresh undies, some clean jeans, my favorite green V-neck, and a black ABO hoodie to wear to pancakes the next morning would be enough to cover me until I came back to the dorm.

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reBekah WeatherspOOn

As I was shoving everything in my bag, Amy came with a loud “Oh God!” and then after a few moments of nothing but harsh breathing, I heard her shuffle off Camila’s lap. Amy cleared her throat and excused herself to the bathroom. A clean up in aisle two was definitely in order after busting that loud of a nut.

I froze at the edge of my bed, my knees pressed into the crappy mattress, my throat and chest clenching in frustration. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to clear my head. It didn’t work, but my hands and feet decided to cooperate. I snatched the last few things I needed—my phone charger and my brush—then I sat on my bed to text Mom.

“Amy let me know about your seminar. I dropped by to give you two a ride to the house,” Camila said hesitantly. The sound of her voice tore at my stomach. So sweet and warm, nothing like the person it belonged to. It annoyed me that she had the balls to actually say anything to me, but I refused to be a brat about it. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing all the hateful things that were running through my head. “Yeah. Whatever. Fuck you, bitch,” was not the reply to go with.

I looked up from my phone and ignored the pained way she was looking at me.

“Thank you. I’m pretty tired. A ride would be great.”

I glanced over when Amy came back in the door, looking flushed and refreshed.

“I’m ready,” she said as she glanced nervously between Camila and me.

I locked up after Camila and Amy stepped into the hallway, then followed them down to the car. When we reached the curb it was obvious how out of it I had been when I’d come back from the Q and A. I hadn’t noticed the matte black Range Rover parked in the fire lane.

I was tempted to join Amy in the backseat, but I could tell by the way she closed the car door behind her that she was giving me a chance to ride up front with Camila. I hopped in and forced myself not to show just how impressed I was with her car. The cream-colored leather smelled just like her and the fancy dashboard settings were

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lit up like a very expensive Christmas tree. It was easily the nicest car I’d ever seen or sat in.

Camila started the SUV, and a low R&B tune came through the speakers. I knew the song, instantly remembered singing along to it with Todd and Mom, but those happy memories only made the trip to the ABO house worse. I wanted to be at home with my family instead of riding in the dark with a vampire I had been stupid enough to fall for. There was no way to be slick about wiping the few tears from my eyes, so I did it quickly with the sleeve of my fleece.We rode in silence for a few minutes, time I took to calculate just how many days of the silent treatment Camila deserved. A month sounded fair. Starting tonight. Totally appropriate for the week of silence she’d given me.

And then Amy’s cell rang. From the way she giggled like a fool, it had to be Danni.

“Hi…Yeah, we’re on our way right now. Okay. I’ll see you soon…I love you, too.” It took everything I had not to jump from the moving vehicle.

We pulled up in front of the house and Camila put the car in park. I reached to grab my bag, and I almost escaped before Camila gently put her hand on my thigh. I froze. The feeling of her palm burned through my jeans. She moved her hand before I had a chance to slap it away.

“Ginger will be up in a minute,” she told Amy.

The song changed to one I loved even more.

“Okay,” Amy said slowly. I looked over my shoulder. Amy strolled out with her hand on the door. Instantly, my anger with her drifted away. She had this desperate look on her face that told me no matter what Camila said, Amy wouldn’t leave me until she knew I was okay.

I gave her a slight nod of reassurance, which she took as her cue to hop out of the car. None of this was her fault, and I had every intention of apologizing to her for being so cold. As soon as I got this horrible conversation over with.

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reBekah WeatherspOOn

Avoiding Camila’s gaze, I watched Amy run up the front steps.

She stopped halfway to the door, and three other freshman, Ebony, Gwen, and Maddie, ran to meet her. They were safe inside before Camila said anything. Her silken voice floated over the soft music.

I missed the way it used to soothe and excite me, even if it had only been for a few days.

“I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to read your thoughts, so would you care to tell me what’s the matter?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes. I do.”

I thought about how happy Amy and Danni were. I pictured just how cute Micah and Anna-Jade looked walking hand-in-hand across the quad. I’d wanted that, and I would never have it with Camila. I thought of how things had been just a week ago, the night Camila and I met and how shitastic things had been since. Now seemed like a perfect time to draw a new line with her. There was no way I could spend another minute wishing she wanted a relationship we couldn’t have.

I looked back toward the house and took a deep breath, pushing my sadness aside and replacing it with some bitterness and a little rage that had been fighting to get to the surface. Then I worked up the nerve to let Camila know just how crazy I was before she formed any more opinions about me. Or before I spent another day infatuated with her. It was better to just spill the beans now and have her kick me out of the car so we could both just get on with our lives.

She could fondly remember me as the little lunatic who fell for her after two nights of hooking up, and I’d think back on the forty-eight hours I’d actually thought I was adult enough to handle nostrings-attached sex with the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.

“Fine.” I turned in the seat to face Camila. “I’ll tell you what’s bothering me.”

She cut the engine off and settled back against the leather. Her expression was calm, but that didn’t ease the air between us.

“I’m in love with you. Well, obsessed might be a better word considering I don’t actually know enough about you for it to be considered love. But yeah, I’m obsessed with you. I’ve been thinking

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about you non-stop, all week. Actually, that’s not true. I masturbated thinking about you last week, so really I’ve been obsessed for about ten days now. I didn’t sleep at all because I was praying you would call me.”

She hadn’t even blinked so I just kept going.

“And then I spent hours and hours just thinking about how stupid it was for me to feel anything for you. You’re, well, you and I was actually sad because I want to be with you and we can’t be together. Then, just when I’m sort of coming to grips with the fact that I’m crazy and pathetic, I come back to my room to find Amy feeding you. I forgot what she sounds like when she’s coming, so thanks for that.” I started losing some steam. I took another deep breath and drove my point home.

“That’s what’s wrong with me. I’m obsessed with you and there’s nothing I can do about it. Oh, and I have to spend the next four years knowing that you’re making my roommate come at least once a week, but that’s none of my business, so we can ignore that part,” I said as I slapped my thighs.

Finally, she blinked. “Is there anything else?”

“Nope. That’s it. I’m gonna head inside. I hope you enjoy your weekend.”

“Ginger.”

“What?”

“At any point were you planning to tell me how you feel?”

“No.” Why would I do that?

“You’ve assumed I have no feelings for you, that I’ve been avoiding you, and that I intentionally fed from Amy to rub all of that in your face?”

I thought for a quick second. “Well, yes and no. I don’t think you were rubbing Amy in my face, but the avoiding and the no feelings, that sounds about right.”

“I apologize for the situation with Amy. I need to feed, but I understand that doing it in the space you share with her was a mistake. I won’t do it again.”