Secrets Abound (Supernaturally Bound Book 1) (38 page)

“You can’t follow me to the
bathroom
!” I told him.

“Actually, I can follow you
to
the bathroom. I just can’t follow
inside
the bathroom.” He shot back.

“Seriously, Aiden! I can’t take this anymore. You have to stop following me around. You’re driving me to
Crazytown
!” I said, trying my hardest to keep my voice low so we wouldn’t attract attention.

“It was a short drive.” He smirked.

I was thrown off by his joking. For the last month, we had done nothing but argue, and our fights had gotten pretty intense. We were both stubborn, so when we were on opposite sides of the fence, it made for quite the Mexican standoff.

“I’m not kidding. If you do not quit following me, I’m going to file a restraining order.” I warned. He raised an eyebrow in a disbelieving manner, silently calling me on my empty threat. I groaned in defeat. “Fine! I’m begging you to leave me alone.” I pleaded. He seemed to consider me carefully, his face not giving away his thoughts in the slightest.

“Okay, I hear what you’re saying, and I will back off.” He said.

He returned to the classroom without following me the rest of the way to the bathroom. I blinked at the empty hallway.
Did I really just win this argument? Was he actually going to stop following me around?
If so, it couldn’t have been better timing. Tom and I had a double date with Zach and his boyfriend, Marco, tonight.

Was I actually going to have some time with Tom without Aiden’s watchful eye making it awkward?
I smiled to myself at the prospect of actually getting past first base with Tom.

I was a little skeptical of Aiden’s promise to back off, but I barely saw him the rest of the day. He even let me walk home by myself, which was such a relief. I actually had time to collect my thoughts. This past month had left me out of sorts. Everything seemed to be changing, some for the better, but some for the worst.

Cassie’s absence left a giant hole in my daily life that couldn’t be filled. Plus, I hadn’t spoken to Eli since Nicole’s funeral. At first, he had texted and called me every day, but now, I’d just get random text messages like
I’m sorry
and
I miss you
. I never responded, but I had been tempted to. I missed him, as well. However, I couldn’t get over what he had done. Every time I thought about how close I had come to losing my virginity to him, now knowing that he was just using me, I felt sickened by it. Of all the suckage of this last month, the worst would have to be my nightly plague of nightmares starring Jed. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his face.

Of course, there were a few positive points this past month. I had gotten closer with Tom. Sure, our relationship was simple, but he was human and drama free. There was nothing complicated about it. We were just a boy and a girl dating. There was also Zach who’d become almost my new Cassie. Not that Cassie could be replaced, but he did a good job of mostly filling that void.

And then there was Susan. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of her, just yet, but she
did
introduce me to Hapkido, which I loved. Susan was a girl I had met in group therapy, one who was just as annoyed as I was at being forced to go. She had noticed my lack of interest in the group and how tired I was all the time. She told me the only way to get rid of the nightmares was to learn to defend myself. It hadn’t quite gotten rid of them, but it did make me feel more confident. Well, it did until this morning when Aiden knocked me on my ass, ever so quickly.
Whatever, I’d just have to get better.

It was easier to focus in Hapkido practice without Aiden lurking around. I made a mental note to tell Kevin (the cute instructor that gave me one on one sessions on days we didn’t have class) that I wanted to start learning some more offensive moves. Next time Aiden challenged me, I was determined to put up a better fight. I knew it would take more training to be able to take down a vampire, if it was even possible for a human to beat a vampire. I brushed that thought away quickly. I couldn’t allow myself to fall into that negativity. If I did, I would only feel helpless, all over again, and I refused to go back to that. After being kidnapped and then discovering the truth about Eli and Aiden, I had felt so out of control. Hapkido was the only thing that pulled me out of that dark place.

After a particularly grueling practice, I only had a short time before Tom was supposed to pick me up for our double date. By the time he texted and said he was on his way, I had already showered and was dressed in a red mini skirt and a black tank top, and I was slipping on a pair of black heels.

I knew this was an outfit Cassie would normally pick out for me and not something I would have chosen. However, I had been changing more and more every day, and things that didn’t used to seem like me, somehow felt right, now. I wasn’t sure if it was my overly charged sex drive or my desperate need for things to be different after these past couple of months. Either way, there was no denying that I wasn’t the same person.

I tried to tell myself it was simply part of growing up, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it had something to do with the reason Aiden was protecting me. Not that I
knew
the reason. Aiden had been tightlipped on everything since I found out he was a vampire and Eli (my now ex-boyfriend) was a shapeshifter. I had a million questions that would probably never be answered.

“Oh, look at you!” I heard Nicole say from my bed, which had been empty moments ago. “Somebody’s getting lucky, tonight.” I raised my eyebrows at her through the mirror. She grinned. “No denials?”

“No.” I said nonchalantly. “I mean why not? I convinced Aiden to leave me alone, and Tom’s a nice guy.”

“
Nice?
You might as well just say it! He’s
boring
.”

“Maybe to a
ghost
he seems boring, but to
us humans
, he’s pretty interesting. Besides, a little boring after my luck with guys can’t be entirely bad.” I told her as I adjusted my skirt. “And the more I think about it, the more I wonder, ‘What am I waiting for?’”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you’re waiting on a certain sexy vampire to sink his sexy fangs into you while he puts his sexy man parts into your…”

“Too far, Nicole.” I asserted.

“Oh, whatever! You can’t tell me you haven’t fantasized about it. A hot vampire who follows you around to keep you safe? It’s so medieval.” She sighed.

“Yeah,
too
medieval. In case you haven’t heard, women do
not
need men to save them, anymore. Especially not
this
woman.” I said, looping an earring through my lobe.

“Okay, Susan B. Anthony.” Nicole teased, and I rolled my eyes at her. “I wonder how old Aiden is, anyway.”

I stopped brushing on my mascara and turned to face her. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Yeah, I mean, if he’s dead, then he could be a thousand years old for all you know.” She continued to ponder.

How had that thought not ever cross my mind? She was right, I had no idea how old he was. This was such an unusual discussion that it felt surreal. What was I saying?
My whole life felt surreal.
I mean, my ex-boyfriend was a shapeshifter and my ex-best friend was a vampire with stalker tendencies. And here I was putting on lip gloss for my date while having girl talk with a
ghost
like it all was just no big deal. What did that say about me?

“I have a question for you.” I informed her.

“Shoot.” She bounced a few times on the bed, which was unaffected by the movement.

“Now that you’re...
dead
,” I whispered the last word, knowing it was a sensitive subject for Nicole. “Do you, like, know more?”

“What do you mean, exactly?”

“Well, Sylvia said she could tell that I was different, somehow, but she couldn’t tell me how, exactly. I just thought, well, you aren’t quite as restricted as her, so maybe you might know more. Do you?” I asked nervously. It was one thing to suspect I was different, but to have it confirmed would change everything.

“
Well
, mostly the only thing that’s different now that I’m…
dead
,” She whispered the last word, mocking me, “aside from the obvious, is that I can sense your spirit. Yours isn’t like everyone else’s, but that’s all I could tell you. So, I’m in the same boat as Sylvia on this.”

“Oh.” I said, not bothering to hide my disappointment.

“Hey, it probably doesn’t mean anything. I mean, it’s not like Sylvia and I have seen
that
many people. Who knows? It could just mean you’re part Native American or something.” She said, but it was obvious even she wasn’t buying that story.

“Sure.” I gave her a weak smile through the mirror. “But Aiden wasn’t sent to protect me because I’m part Native American or whatever. There’s a
reason,
and I just wish I could get him to tell me.” I pondered on the frustrating situation. I hated being kept in the dark, especially when I was the center of the secret. I
deserved
to know.

“You may not have to.” She shot upright with wide eyes. “It’s not like he can see me, right?”

“Right.” I said, not sure where she was going with this.

“So, I’ll just tail him until I get the scoop.” She hopped from the bed, her feet making no noise as they landed on the floor.

“Slow down there, Nancy Drew. Are you sure he can’t see you or sense you? If he knows you’re there, he won’t give anything away.”

“Oh, I’m positive.” She gave me a wink.

“What does that mean?” I asked, thinking I might not want to know the answer.

“Let’s just say vampires
do
take showers.” A huge grin plastered her face as she stared off in thought.

“Ew, Nicole you peeping Tom!” I tossed a hair clip at her. She reached as if to catch it, but of course, it flew right through her.

“Hey, I have very little to entertain me these days.” Nicole crossed her arms. “Do you want my help or not?”

I thought about it for a moment. It seemed wrong to have Nicole spy on Aiden, but hadn’t he been doing that to me for the past month and who knew how long before that? My right to privacy had been invaded, so why should his remain preserved?

“Okay, do it.” I concluded.

“Oh, this is so exciting!” She squealed right before disappearing. Nerves fluttered in my stomach at the thought of what she might find out. A large part of me desperately wanted to know the truth, but then another part of me was terrified to find out.

“Wow babe, you look hot.” I heard Tom say from behind me.

I had been so focused on my thoughts that I hadn’t even heard him crawl through my window. I recovered quickly, turning to see him in a pair of dark jeans and a black, button up shirt. His light brown hair hung slightly in his big, dark, puppy dog eyes.

“So do you.” I strolled over to him, and he drew me close to his chest. He leaned down, kissing me gently. “So I was thinking, maybe after the bar, we could go park somewhere and…
hang out
.” I gave him a hinting smile, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Why the sudden change?” He asked.

I had never wanted to park and make out before because Aiden was always lurking around, watching. Of course, it wasn’t like I could tell him
that
. I doubted he’d react well to “my vampire ex-friend’s been stalking me, and I wasn’t comfortable getting up close and personal with an audience.”

“I don’t know. I just thought it sounded like fun, but if you don’t want to…” I teased.

“I never said that.” He leaned down, giving me a small kiss. I didn’t feel the same spark I had with Aiden or Eli, but the sexual excitement that had been growing in me did a few cartwheels. “We better go if we are going to make it by eight.”

We strolled into the rinky-dink bar Zach had given us directions to. It had a very
Cheers
sort of feel to it, only slightly gayer. Okay, a whole lot gayer. I spotted Zach sitting next to a slightly scrawny looking guy who I assumed was his boyfriend, Marco. His hair was dark but shaved very short, and his bone structure gave away an ethnicity I couldn’t quite place. Italian, maybe?

Zach waved us over and did introductions. “So, did you ask him yet?” Zach asked, darting his eyes over to Tom, making it obvious who he was talking about.

“Not yet.” I gave him an annoyed look. “I was going to talk to him about it, later.”

“Talk to me about what?” Tom chimed in.

“Zach wanted to know if we would go with them to prom.” I felt foolish asking someone who had traveled through Europe and was applying to universities if he wanted to go to my
high school prom
. Especially, someone who didn’t even attend his own prom but rather went to an anti-prom Chad had thrown. I knew that because I had been there, too.

“I don’t know.” He said hesitantly. I was about to tell him it was okay, that we didn’t have to go, but Marco spoke up.