Burn Like Fire (15 page)

Chapter 30

“Caroline?” Gabe asked, his voice merely a whisper. A lump had formed in the back of his throat, and he wasn’t sure whether he should laugh or cry. It was all he could do to take in the beautiful girl who stood before him—the beautiful girl who he hadn’t seen in years.

Caroline couldn’t seem to peel her eyes away from him, either; her blue, cat-shaped eyes pored through his in a way that felt all too familiar to him. “Yes, my name is Caroline,” she replied, softly, her voice a beautiful symphony. “What’s yours?”

“Gabriel.” He cleared his throat. “Err, most people call me Gabe.”

“Gabe. I must say, I prefer Gabriel.” Caroline’s lips tilted into a small smile, as she extended her hand to him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Hadn’t those been the exact same words she’d said the first time they’d met?

“The pleasure is all mine,” Gabe whispered back. When he touched her soft hand, he felt a tiny jolt ripple through his body, the type of jolt that he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Judging from the amused look in Caroline’s eyes, Gabe was pretty sure she had felt it, too, but he was too afraid to ask.

“Gabe, do you want me to show you to your room?” Dan questioned, obviously trying to get him away from his sister.

Gabe didn’t turn to look at him because he still hadn’t torn his eyes away from Caroline, but he could just feel Dan’s scrutiny against the back of his head and hear the eyebrow-raise in his voice.

It didn’t matter, though. None of it mattered. All that mattered was the girl who was standing right in front of him, the girl who he had missed for so many years.

“Gabe?” Dan pressed, his voice growing impatient.

“I . . . I,” Gabe stammered, having a difficult time collecting his thoughts enough to respond to Dan, but still unable to look away from Caroline. He felt like a tiny mouse trapped in between an alley cat and a mouse trap, unsure of which way to go.

Gabe watched as Caroline pulled her eyes away from him and glanced over in Dan’s direction. “I’ll show him to his room, Danny. Just worry about getting you and your other friends situated, okay?”

Dan shrugged. “Alright, whatever.” He hesitated and, for a moment, Gabe was positive Dan was going to warn him to keep his hands off his sister. Instead, Dan didn’t say a word. He scooped up Lexi’s duffle bag as they went off in the direction of the room they would be staying in. Austin and Anna followed close behind them.

Gabe heard them all talking in hushed voices, and he wondered if they were talking about him. He didn’t even care if they were, though.

“
Come on, Gabe,” Caroline said, turning back to him with a warm smile on her face. “The room you’ll be sleeping in is upstairs. Follow me.”

Gabe nodded and, without saying a word, followed Caroline down the foyer and to the narrow staircase at the corner of the living room. As he climbed up the stairs, he didn’t even bother looking around the house.

The only thing he could focus on was Dan’s sister.

Once they reached the top of the landing, Caroline led him
down the dark, shadowy hallway.
Gabe found himself lost in his own thoughts. He wondered if the girl who stood in front of him really
was
Dan’s sister. How could Caroline be here, in this house, looking like this when . . . she was supposed to be dead?

It didn’t make any sense and, as crazy as it seemed, Gabe wanted to ask Caroline if she remembered him. He had to know if this was real or if he was just imagining this whole thing.

And what if he really
was
just imagining it? The idea that he could be wrong about this—that the Caroline who was standing in front of him wasn’t
his Caroline
—scared the hell out of him.

“So, this is your room. I hope you don’t mind yellow,” Caroline commented, opening the door of one of the bedrooms, revealing the crisp, yellow-painted walls and sunflower-patterned bedding with matching curtains.

The room gave off a cheerful vibe, but Gabe felt anything but happy; just seeing Caroline was stirring up bad memories for him.

“Yellow is fine,” Gabe murmured, setting his backpack down on the hardwood floor next to twin-sized bed. He glanced over at Caroline. “Thanks for showing me to my room.”

“It’s not a problem.” Caroline seemed to hesitate. After a moment, she blurted, “Why is it that I’ve never met you before?”

Gabe tried to hide the frown that crossed his face, as he realized that she didn’t remember him. “I’m not sure why we’ve never been introduced.”

Caroline nervously darted her eyes away from him and glanced down at the floor. “It’s just that I’ve met all of Danny’s other friends, but I’ve never met you.”

“We’ve only just started being friends,” Gabe replied, shrugging his shoulders. He wasn’t about to tell her the truth—which was that, up until recently, her brother couldn’t stand him. Actually, he still wasn’t sure if Dan liked him. It had been a huge surprise that he’d even been invited to stay at Dan’s house at all.

“It’s also probably because I was always away at boarding school. Even when my family lived in Briar Creek, I never went to high school there. I went to Pine Crest Academy all throughout junior high and high school,” Caroline explained, carefully tucking a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. “The only time I ever came home was during the holidays, but I spent most of the time with my family.”

Gabe glanced over at her. “Why did you do that?”

Caroline stared back at him blankly before letting out a small, nervous laugh. “Why wouldn’t I spend the holidays with my family?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, sorry. Did you go to boarding school because you wanted to? Or was it because your parents made you?”

Caroline hesitated. “It was for neither reason. It was because it was the only way I ever would have gotten accepted into an Ivy League college.”

“
Did
you get accepted into one?”

Caroline nodded, patting one of her blonde curls and nervously glancing at her reflection in the mirror that was hanging on the wall in front of her.

Gabe tried not to roll his eyes. He should have known that this was too good to be true. Little Ms. Caroline Nichols was probably studying to be an architect or a foreign ambassador or maybe even a physician. She was probably one of those serious types . . . the type who would never even consider having a relationship with a vampire.

Once the awkward silence crossed the room, Gabe asked, “Which college?”

“I go to Julliard. Well, I haven’t actually started yet, but I will soon,” Caroline replied, glancing over at him. “I promise I’m not one of those snobby girls who thinks she’s all-that just because she got into a good school. I wouldn’t be there if I wasn’t going for something I really love.”

“And what’s that?” Gabe questioned, almost afraid to hear her answer. If it turned out to be one of the majors he was suspecting, then he would know, for sure, that this wasn’t his Caroline. His Caroline never would have sacrificed her one, true love in life for a ho-drum, ordinary nine to five job, even if it did mean she would be financially secure.

“Piano,” Caroline replied, meeting his eyes. “I love playing the piano and composing my own songs more than anything in the world.”

Gabe tried not to gasp. So did his Caroline.

Chapter 31

Lexi was just getting situated in the room that she and Dan were sharing when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” she called, cautiously, fully expecting Caroline to be on the other side of the door. So, she was surprised when Austin stared back at her.

“Hey.” Austin glanced around the room. “Where’s Dan?”

Lexi pointed at the other end of the room, where the sound of running water was loud and clear. “He’s taking a shower.”

“
Damn. That’s the seventh shower that I’ve counted in this whole house.” Austin raised an eyebrow. “I never knew Dan’s parents were so rich.”

Lexi shrugged. “Yeah, they are.” She wanted to mention the fact that they weren’t nice, either, but she knew her cousin probably didn’t want to hear about her problems at the moment. From the look on his face, it was obvious that he had enough of his own. “What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you.” Austin closed the door behind him and took a few steps closer. Lowering his voice, he said, “Has Anna mentioned anything to you? About becoming a vampire?”

Lexi shook her head. “No, we haven’t really had a chance to talk lately with everything that’s been going on. Why do you ask?”

“I just get the feeling that maybe she’s not into the idea of changing anymore,” Austin explained. “I-I don’t know why I think that. It was just some comment she made in passing or something, but it’s stuck with me. Do you think you can try to feel her out for me?”

“Well, I can, but why don’t you just talk to her yourself?” Lexi suggested. “It’s pretty important for you guys to talk about it before you change her. If she’s having second thoughts, she needs to be open with you about it.”

Austin closed his eyes and sighed. “I know you’re right. I’m just afraid of asking her about it, I guess.” He paused. “What if her mind is already made up? I don’t know what I’ll do if she’s already dead set about not turning.”

Lexi bit her lip. “It would really suck if that’s how Anna feels, but Austin . . . You can’t really try to change someone’s mind about something like this, you know? It’s not like you’re trying to persuade her to choose the right pair of shoes or not to cut her hair. This is a life-changing decision, and she’ll have to live with it for all of eternity. You don’t want to convince her to become a vampire and then have her hate you for it later on.”

“I know.” Austin sighed loudly. “So, what are you saying . . . that I just need to accept whatever decision she makes and not try to change her mind?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Lexi agreed. She sighed. “Anna loves you, Austin. I think she’ll make the decision that’s right for both of you.”

“I hope so,” Austin replied. “Because I don’t know how I’ll live without her.”

Lexi glanced over at him empathetically. She wanted to offer her cousin comfort, but she couldn’t really relate to him. Even when she thought that Gabe was the one for her, the thing she wanted most in the world was to become a vampire. It was hard to believe that Anna might have second thoughts about it if she really loved Austin as much as it seemed.

Maybe Anna was afraid of making the wrong decision, Lexi thought.

Now that Lexi was an immortal, it never crossed her mind that she may have made the wrong decision. Her choice meant that she would be able to stay in Dan’s life forever—as well as in Austin and her father’s lives—and that was all that really mattered.

Just then, the bathroom door opened and Dan strolled into the bedroom, a fluffy, white towel wrapped around his waist. “Is everything okay?” he asked Austin.

Austin nodded. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just talking to Lexi about something.” He glanced over at Lexi, giving her a look that told her that she should keep their conversation just between the two of them. Austin turned back to Dan. “I should probably get back to Anna before she starts to wonder where I am. Let’s all meet in the living room in ten minutes, though, so we can figure out our plan.”

“Plan?” Dan asked, a confused tone in his voice.

“Yeah. We need to figure out what we’re going to do once we get back to Huntington.” Austin rolled his eyes, as though the answer should have been obvious.

“Oh, that’s right. I sort of forgot,” Dan admitted. “That whole exchange between Gabe and my sister has me kind of confused.”

“Confused?” Austin asked. “Why are you confused?”

“Did you see the way the two of them looked at each other?” Dan questioned. “It’s almost as though they’ve known each other for years or something. They’re definitely attracted to each other, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“I didn’t notice,” Lexi replied, even though the truth was, she definitely
had
noticed the spark between Caroline and Gabe. It confused her, too. Caroline seemed like the type of girl who had a very specific type—the type of guy who would play alongside her at Juilliard or maybe the type who would become a politician one day. She couldn’t picture her with Gabe.

Not that she could picture Gabe with Caroline, either. Lexi had understood when he’d had feelings—or whatever it was that he felt—for Rhonda. Since he had created her, there was bound to be some sort of attachment. And as much as Lexi hated Veronica Hart, she also understood the connection that had existed between Gabe and Veronica, too. They had a history, a past that forced them to somehow be aligned with one another.

Gabe didn’t have that sort of connection with Caroline, though. He hadn’t been turned into a vampire because of her, and as far as Lexi knew, Caroline wasn’t a vampire herself. No, if Gabe and Caroline ended up together, it was because he was choosing to be with her—and Lexi wasn’t really sure how she felt about that. Even though Lexi loved Dan with all her heart, she didn’t want Gabe to move on from her that quickly. She wanted him to pine after her for a little while, just so she knew that she hadn’t been crazy all along, and that what they had really
had
been something special, even if it wasn’t meant to be everlasting.

Lexi wanted him to wallow in his misery because he had screwed things up and he couldn’t have her; she didn’t want him to move onto the next blonde bimbo he met.

“
I noticed it,” Austin said, snapping Lexi out of her thoughts. He glanced over at Dan. “There definitely seems to be something between Caroline and Gabe. Let’s just hope it doesn’t grow into anything more than what it already is, though. I’d hate to see your sister get involved with a murderer.”

Dan sighed loudly. “Yeah, I didn’t think about it that way. That wouldn’t be cool. I’m going to need to have a talk with Caroline,” Running a hand through his sandy blonde hair, he turned to Lexi. “Actually, would you mind talking to her for me?”

“
Me
? Why
me
?” Lexi gaped at him. Didn’t it occur to Dan that if she talked to Caroline, it would just make her look like a jealous ex-girlfriend? In fact, Gabe and Caroline both would probably think that she hadn’t moved on from him and that she was pathetic or desperate—or both.

“Well, I mean, it could be good for Caroline to hear the truth from you firsthand, ya know?” Dan
asked. “If you tell her about what Gabe did to Justin, she’ll understand why she needs to stay away from him.”

“But . . . why can’t you tell her what Gabe did to Justin?” Lexi asked, narrowing her eyebrows at him. “You’re her brother, after all.”

Dan shrugged. “That’s exactly why it would probably be better for it to come from you. She might think I’m just taking the role of overprotective big brother too far. Caroline doesn’t know you that well, though, so she won’t think you have any reason to over-exaggerate to her.” He gave Lexi a pleading look. “It would mean a lot to me if you could talk to her.”

She sighed. As much as she didn’t want to seem like a jealous, conniving ex-girlfriend, she also didn’t want Dan
to think there was a reason she didn’t want to talk to his sister. Lexi didn’t want him to think that the reason was because she still had feelings for Gabe, when that really wasn’t the case at all. “Okay,” she gave in. “I’ll do it.”

“Thanks.” Dan grinned at her. He leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. “You’re the best.”

Lexi forced a small smile. She wasn’t sure how she could be the best when she was dreading talking to Caroline.