Escaped the Night (45 page)

“Smart gi
rl. Not just a pretty face.” Auntie Steph
ran her hand along my
jaw line
. “Double threat!” She
giggled as she went into
the cupboard
and pulled
out the noodles and a
couple
of
can
s
of tomato sauce.

“Can I
offer
you ladies
any help?” Jayce
asked as he wrapped
his
arms around my waist and
kissed
my neck.

Oh, how
I loved
the way
his kisses lingered.
I was turning into mush in his arms.

“Hey Jayce
,
what do you think you’re doing
,
man? L
et those girls be
girls
,
” Kael
said jokingly
. “They’
re doing
exactly
what they’
re meant to
,
preparing food for
us hungry men.
Ha-ha!
”

Auntie Steph and I
both
shot Kael
a wa
rning l
ook. H
e need
ed
to know that
if he wanted dinner
,
he’d
better quit while he was ahead or he
would
be the one in here
making
it for everyone
else
.

“Help?
Going once, twice,
my final offer,
” Jayce said
,
as
he smiled
his devilishly handsome grin at us.

“
As t
empting
as your offer is,” I said,
“I must decline because it looks like we’
ve
got
it under control.
Thanks though.
” I winked
and
he w
ent back
over
to join the others.

Auntie Steph and I
enjoyed our girl time as we
prepared
dinner.
It was great
to
be able to
escape
from
the men for a little while. I
was growing tired of
b
eing the only female around
nowadays
. It was
really
nice to
talk to another
woman because I missed
my
mom and
sisters. I’d g
rown up talking
mostly
to girls and
I found
talking to men was
an all-new ex
perience.

The big pasta f
east was ready
. Just in time because
everyone seemed
good and hungry
from
the wonderful
aroma of basil and oregano coming
from the food
. There
were only
four stools along the
breakfast
bar
, so we decided
to spread out. Jayce and I made ourselves comfortable around the living room table. T
he candle burning in the middle
added quite the romantic touch.

Uncle Dane held
up his glass for a toast. “To true love and dear
friends.”

“To
true
love and
dear friends,” w
e
repeated
.

He was
absolutely right. At this
moment
,
life was perfect. I was with
my best friends
,
Kaleb and Kael, my family and the love of my life.

Jayce and I ate our
pasta in our little love cove, while the others enjoyed their
dinner around the
breakfast
bar.
After everyone
finished
, they made their way back into the living room.
I retreated into the kitchen to
help
Auntie Steph
start
clean
ing
up some of the mess.

Uncle Dane and Jayce
entered
the kitchen.

“Out you girls go. You’
ve made
us
a wonderful dinner
and
now
it’s our turn to
clean
up
.”
Uncle Dane
grabbed
the cloth
out of Auntie Steph's hand and
took over the washing of the
larger dishes that w
ouldn’t fit in the dishwasher.

Jayce took the drying towel out of my hands
, but not before
placing
another
fiery hot kiss on me. Auntie Steph and I
joined Kaleb and Kael.

“Great dinner
, ladies,”
Kael said. “It hit the spot.” He put
his hand towards his mouth, kissed his fingers, then pulled his hand away as he
opened his fingers
up to
throw
us a kiss
. “Fantastico!”

“Thanks Kael.
I’m gl
ad you enjoyed it so much,
” Auntie
Steph said
,
blushing from the compliment.

After a while
Jayce and Uncle Dane
re-
joined the
group
.
As Uncle Dane sat
down he asked
, “So what have you guys been up to?”

Kaleb began
explaining
how we
left
Jayce and the others. Kael got quite excited as he rem
inisced about our adventure.
Then
Kaleb sat quietly
,
while
Kael
explained how we’
d run into
Lakylee
down at the beach and how I
convinced her that I didn’t love Daray
,
but knew
she did. He spoke of how we’d gone back to the vampire house and freed two
of the doomahorns.
He got up out of his seat as he
mimicked my fight with
the werewolf
. He described how it
attacked me not only once
, but a few times and shredded my arm
. He
mentioned how he and Kaleb tried
to help
,
but
couldn’t get
to
me.

I looked over
at Kael trying to
quiet him down, but h
e never paid any attention.
It was a great
adventure story and he was
to
o
proud
not to share. Thankfully, we’
d all made it out okay.
I looked over at
Jayce
, who
shot me a glance
that I’d
never forget
as long as I lived
. I couldn’t have said
anything to
make
him understand
my reasons
, so instead
I turned my head and
look
ed
away.

Kael continued by
sharing the gory details of my blood
squirting everywhere
. I rolled my eyes in protest. He got the hint and went to the part
whe
re
the
doomahorn
transformed into a unicorn
before
our
eyes. He
enlightened them
as he explained how
the unicorn
ended up killing
the
attacking
werewolf and
how she
healed my arm.

“Unicorn?” Jayce asked
.

“I’m serious, it healed her arm. Look! Shanntal show them! Show them!” Kael said excitedly.

I shot Kael the dirtiest look I could muster before lifting up my sleeve. I twiste
d and turned my arm showing them
all
angles
.
“I’m alr
ight
and yes i
t’
s true
.
”

“
Wow.
I never knew th
e
y were real.
”
Jay
ce sat back in the seat
.
I watched as he tried to
wrap his mind around the fact that
unicorns
were very much
alive
.
“I’ve never see
n one
,” h
e said.

“Maybe
you’ll get a chance to
meet
one day.”

Auntie Steph and Uncle Dane didn’t say a word or even blink as
the different stories came out
.
Kaleb and Kael were on a roll as they traveled back through their
lifetimes of
various adventures.
Occasionally,
they’d
let out
an
ohhhh
or gasp
,
which made me smile
,
as
I imagined t
his
was
all
quite mind-
boggling for them.

With all the stories flowing I found myself wondering
about
t
he conclusion of another
one. Would
Jay
ce and I ever get to go
up to the heav
ens? When things went right between
us, it was truly euphoric.
Lately, we’
d
had
so many trying and bad times
. Yes, we’d
worked through
them, even
when
it was
really
hard
and didn’t seem like there was any hope left
. Now here we were, together again,
we
’d
managed to persevere
one more time. I hoped and wished this
would be the
time we’
d
get it
right.

It started getting dark
as
t
he sun retreat
ed
and
the moon and stars readied
for their
appearance.
Kae
l and Kaleb
offered to split
watch
, thinking it’d be
better
to be
safe than sorry.
Ten o’clock
came
around
. S
ure as sunrise,
Auntie Steph
passed along
her good
nights
to us
.

“The b
asement is
set up for whoever wants
some sleep. Jayce, you’re in with Shanntal
,
right?” Uncle Dane
asked.

This threw me off.
He was letting Jayce stay in my room?

“Yes, Dane.
She won’t be left alone,” h
e
answered
.

Now everything became
clearer
. Uncle Dane
didn’t want
me
to be
by myself
. I
felt
safer kn
owing I wouldn’t be alone, but
was also very nervous and excite
d to be spending the night
with Jayce.