Bleeding Love (18 page)

The make-out
session had gotten pretty heavy, and the action intensified. She continued to
repeatedly swipe her tongue against his teeth, and then, before she knew what
was happening, her lip started to bleed and she felt fangs brushing against her
mouth.

The guy was a
vampire! She tried to move back, worried that he was exposing himself to everyone
passing by the kissing booth. He didn’t let her retreat. He kept hold of her
head, his mouth fused to her rapidly swelling lips.

He was ripped
away from her. Adrienne blinked and backed up. She saw that Xavier had a hold
of the guys shirt, and was pulling him away.

“What did you do
to her?” Xavier asked, his voice firm and strong yet the calmness remained.

Someone in line
decided to shout, “Pretty heavy make-out session you two had! Wouldn't be
surprise if she has a hickey!”

Adrienne took a
deep breath. 
Thank God
, she thought. It was a good thing today's
generation was wild and crazy. Adrienne forgot about that—the foolishness of
teenagers, people like her. They would bite and act like animals even if it
wasn't their nature to do so. Thankfully, no one saw the guy’s fangs, or the redness
of his eyes.

“Vlad was just
having a little fun, Xavier! Nothing to worry about!” one of the redhead's
friends shouted out as a tease.

The President of
the Night Class held a tighter grip on the collar of Vlad's shirt, and from the
way his eyes darkened into an almost-black color, Adrienne figured out that her
fiancé was far from happy.

“All of you come
with me.” His tone was demanding, even authoritative.

“I told you this
wouldn't be a good idea,” one of the quieter vampires added.

“Shut up.”

“You had to dare
Vlad to kiss Xavier's fiancé, didn't you?” another one said, as they all
followed Xavier out of the carnival, walking closer to the principal's office.

Adrienne was
tagging behind all of them.

“It's not my
fault. I didn't know our President here's the jealous type!”

That caused
Xavier to stop and stare, and seeing him in this fiery state scared Adrienne.
She had never seen him so mad. His face was red, and his fists were balled up.
He hadn't even let go of Vlad who was currently feeling more embarrassed than
he had ever been in his entire immortal life.

“So how much are
you lot supposed to pay Vlad here?” he asked, turning back to eye Adrienne for
a second.

“Well, the kiss
lasted more than ten seconds,” one of the vampires hesitantly answered.

“Excuse me?” That
was Adrienne. “What did 
you
 just say?”

“You heard right,
princess,” replied one of the more arrogant bloodsucking creatures. “You've
just been the center of our bet.”

“And you're going
to be the center of my father's wrath when this story comes out, maybe I’ll
embellish a bit? What do you thing?” was the witty quip.

Several of the
vampires gasped at her pronouncement and Xavier turned to look at Adrienne
again, and he couldn't help but grin. She really wasn't like any of the other
female vampires who took things too seriously. She joked around and hurled the
funniest insults, the most sarcastic comebacks, and the cleverest remarks. She
was a force to be reckoned with.

“That's my girl.”
was Xavier's alluring voice.

“And you're
punishing Vlad because he kissed your woman?” someone asked.

“Partly, but that
isn’t the only reason.” Xavier didn't feel compelled to explain himself to
them. In a few minutes, they were more or less going to be suspended.

“And what's the
other reason?”

Adrienne stepped
up beside Xavier.

He scowled out at
the group. “You 
almost
 exposed our existence, you imbeciles.”

For a moment
there, Adrienne was surprised. Xavier was one of the most patient people she
knew, but tonight, he was far from being tolerant. He wasn't controlling his
anger, even his jealousy. He was insulting the other vampires, and Adrienne
couldn't help but feel flattered. Was he getting this worked up because someone
had made-out with her?

“There, you said
it yourself, we 
almost
 exposed our kind, but we didn't. Vlad
didn't let anyone see his fangs.”

Xavier was
getting tired of the stupid debate his classmates were putting up. He was going
to let Adrienne's father handle them since he didn't want to stress himself
more worrying about what punishment to give them.

“Not my problem.
You can just explain yourself to Principal Stahl,” Xavier said and he opened
the door to Adrienne’s father’s office.

* * * * *

“So you guys made
a bet about my daughter?” the principal asked.

His voice was
calm, and that unnerved the guys even more than it would have if he’d shown
some emotion. The mood of the room was dark and silent since its occupants had
no idea what direction the principal would head with this.

“We didn't mean
to anger anyone,” said Vlad, his bright red locks slightly covering one of his
eyes.

“We also didn't
think anyone would care or that Xavier would get jealous,” one of them said.

Xavier stiffened at
those words, causing Adrienne to look at him and smile encouragingly. If they
had been sitting beside each other, she would have reached out and held his
hand. But that wasn't the case at the moment; they had been situated across the
room from each other.

“We just wanted
Vlad to have a little fun,” another commented to the snickers of his friends.

“Talking to
Yvonne and the others was more than fine already,” Vlad said, eyeing his
friends before turning to look at the principal. “It was them who wanted to
have fun. You could say I was the lab rat.”

Principal Stahl
nodded. He was listening, thinking about everything that was said, and what
wasn’t. He weighed the options. “So tell me, who deserves to be punished?”

“Mr. Stahl, are
you letting them have a say in this?”

“Xavier, relax,” Adrienne
said, making her way towards him. She just wanted to pacify him. “It's nothing
big.”

“Your girl's
right, you know,” said Vlad. “I'm sorry Adrienne.”

And just like
that, she was willing to let his rude friends and him go. Vlad's smile was
infectious, and Adrienne was such sucker for Adonis-like men.

“Principal Stahl,”
Adrienne started, addressing her father formally. “Why not just give them a
warning for now? They were right. We weren't exposed, and no one saw Vlad's
fangs. Everyone just thought he was a normal hormone-driven teenager who got a
little rough.”

A few vampires
smirked when Adrienne said that.

“Just make sure
that if they do pull something like that again, a proper punishment will be
given.”

“Adrienne,” Xavier
sounded disappointed with her judgment. “He bit you without your consent.
You're just going to let that go?”

Adrienne nodded
and reached for his hand as she intertwined her fingers with his. By holding
hands, she was telling him to calm down, to relax, and to accept the fact that
she didn't want any drama to take place. “It didn’t mean anything, Xavier.” She
turned back to Vlad. “Just don't do that anymore guys, or if you do, let us,
women, know,” she said mischievously, even adding a small wink.

All the guys'
frowns turned into small, subtle grins as they looked at each other with a
little hint of disbelief etched on their faces.

“Wow, just wow,” said
the one who had been rude to her a while ago. “You're just going to let us
pass? Or is this a hoax?”

“No tricks here,
guys.” She let go of Xavier's hand now since she felt him relax. “I don't want
to punish any of you. It's the night of the carnival. I want everyone to have
fun, and 
this
 is high school. We’re supposed to do these kinds
of things.”

Vlad decided to
speak up, saying, “Just admit that because you enjoyed the kiss you couldn't
press yourself to punish us.”

His voice was
teasing, and Adrienne shook her head. She could see the two of them eventually becoming
friends. He had a pretty wicked sense of humor.

“Don't push it,” she
said to him before casually leaning her shoulder against Xavier's.

“Just come with
us. I'm sure Aidan's going to come,” Adrienne said, tugging on Xavier's arm.

At the moment,
Adrienne was trying to entice Xavier into coming with her to Max's place. Her
group of friends had decided to crash over at the guy's place to unwind, relax,
and catch up on things. It was only going to be a few people, not a big party.
That was why Adrienne couldn't figure out why Xavier was so hesitant about
coming.

“You should just
go.” He wasn't looking at her. “I can take care of myself.”

“It's going to be
fun! Trust me.”

She was pulling
him now. At first, he was trying to fight back, but after a while, he
eventually gave up. Xavier was allowing Adrienne to drag him off to his car,
and they would bump each other at the hips from time to time. The walk to the
parking lot was silent but not at all awkward, and the both of them like that.

“I should call
Bree and ask her if she and Aidan are going to ride with us,” Adrienne then said,
fishing her mobile phone from her pocket.

She held the cell
against her ear and waited. After a few rings, Brianna picked up, sounding
busy, breathless, and in a rush.

“Hey! Are you
okay?” Adrienne glanced at her fiancé, who was busy starting the car. “You
sound like you can't breathe!”

“Umm, yeah?”
Brianna said, her voice hesitant. “Well, Aidan and I—if you know what I mean.”

Adrienne's sly
grin quickly turned into a smirk before she ended up laughing her ass off. Xavier
looked at her with a cocked-up eyebrow, curiosity washing over his face. He
concentrated his hearing, trying to here the other side of Adrienne and
Bailey's cell phone conversation.

“Yeah, I do know
what you mean,” Adrienne answered, mouthing the story to Xavier in a few short
whispers. “And if you guys want a ride to Max's, I'd say take another deep
breath and hurry to the parking lot if you don't want us to leave you guys.”

And just like
that, Brianna Kim hung up on Adrienne, who quickly came to the conclusion that
her Asian friend, along with her vampire boyfriend, was running like there was
no tomorrow. She was right, very, very right, because after a few minutes, she
saw two dots quickly coming closer to Xavier and her.

“Thank God you
guys are still here!” Brianna shouted, slamming Xavier's car door closed. “The
others already left a while ago. They said something about buying the booze.”

Adrienne nodded
in understanding before saying, “That shouldn't take them long, but I bet they
get there right after we do.”

The drive to the
Winter’s household was far from quiet, especially in the backseat where Brianna
and Aidan were seated. There was no dialogue between the two, just distracting
noises, smooch, moan, smooch, moa—

“Shut up already,
you two!” Adrienne's voice was loud and clear. “Can't you like get your hands
off each other for just a few minutes?”

She turned her
head to look in the backseat and saw the two groping each other. Aidan's
mocha-colored hair was completely mussed up while Briana's top was all askew.
The two, in unison, were breathing heavily, gulping in all the air they could.

“I didn't know it
would bother you so much, Adie,” Brianna said, her voice so soft Adrienne
wouldn't be able to hear it if she weren't a vampire.

“Well, if there's
moaning and groaning right behind me,” Adrienne was biting her lip, trying to
control her irritation. “I think it's just natural to get bothered.”

Xavier snickered,
and Adie eyed him lethally.

“What are you
smiling about?” her voice was stern. “Are you jealous or what?”

Xavier's smirk
turned into a full-on laugh.

“Far from
jealous, Adrienne,” he said, reaching for her arm and tugging it. “I just
remembered something,”

The other vampire
turned her body to the side. She was now fully facing Xavier, who still kept
the smile on his face in place.

Brianna and
Aidan, on the other hand, kept quiet, inching a few spaces away from each
other. They were scared of Adrienne and her temper.

“And what's that
something?”

“Remember the
night you broke up with Ethan?”

Adrienne
stiffened in her seat.

Xavier continued.
“Well, the first time I saw you two that day he was straddling you and kissing
you feverishly.”

“And your point
is?” she replied, trying to keep her cool.

“What Aidan and
Brianna were doing a while back was nothing compared to what you and Ethan used
to do.” He was smiling at her. “So just relax, okay?”

Ashamed, Adrienne
bit her lip before she fished her mobile out of her pocket. She sighed and then
said, “I'm going to tell Sab and the others to hurry up with the drinks. I want
to forget what you said, Xavier.”