The Turning (27 page)

“You are going to have to explain that one to me,” he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Shit, a sugar daddy is like, well you know how you sometime see those really old rich guys?” He nodded. “And they have these young hot girls on their arms? Well, they’re not there because they have a lot in common. It’s more he buys them a lot of nice things and takes care of them,
gives them sugar
. That’s what is known as a sugar daddy.”

He laughed so hard at first I couldn’t get him to tell me what was so funny. Then he finally replied, “Well, that does describe us in a way. I am a really old, very rich guy, and you are a hot young girl. I do, however, hope you are not with me because I buy you things. I think you actually really like me. I mean you have yelled at me when I spend money on you.”

I started laughing too. “I didn’t think of it that way. You’re right, we do kind of fit that. But you are also right, I am not with you because of your money, I’m with you because of your body.” I winked at him so he knew I was teasing. He gazed over me while licking his lips and I knew what that meant.

We christened the apartment for about a half hour.

While we were getting dressed again, I spoke. “Thank god I can’t get pregnant the way we have sex. I wonder how long until you get tired of me? I mean I have some more tricks up my sleeve, but eventually it’s bound to happen.” We quickly finished and stepped out of the apartment.

He looked hurt as I locked up the front door. “I would never tire of you, Kelly. Why would you say a thing like that?”

“I was kind of kidding, but seriously, doesn’t that eventually happen? Men, or the women, get tired of the sex? You see it in marriages all the time.” He didn’t say anything as we jogged down the stairs, walked out the front door, and headed to the street.

“I will never get tired of you, I promise,” he swore, putting his arms around me as I hailed a cab. We rode in silence. I didn’t mean to upset him, but when you’re looking at forever, maybe with the same person, wouldn’t you get tired?

I pushed the thought out of my mind. I didn’t even know if I loved him yet, wondering about spending forever with him would come later. He was right about the apartment, though. It did need to be painted, so I thought instead about how I wanted to paint my room.

We got to my apartment. Brian paid the driver, and we walked up the stairs. After I opened the door, I grabbed Andre’s flowers so Brian could see and threw them away. “I don’t think we will ever get tired of each other. Now let’s go to bed.” He smiled at me, and we crawled into bed. I was asleep in the next minute or so.

* * * *

I had the nightmare again. I bolted up in bed in a panic, but this time I immediately recognized where I was and who I was with. I looked at Brian and he was up, looking at me, not wanting to move in case I was still freaked.

I glanced at the clock and saw it was two in the morning. I turned back to him, smiled, and curled back up against him. It was over now, since they were all dead. I couldn’t help the nightmares, but I wasn’t going to let any of it take over my life. It took me a while to get back to sleep, but finally I did.

The knocking on the door woke me up several hours later. I rolled over and the clock said 7:45. Shit, that had to be my parents
.

“Brian, wake up, it’s my parents. Hurry, get in the bathroom and change like you just got here.” He was in there like a flash, and as I ran to the door, I hoped my face didn’t look too bad. I pretended to look through the peep hole, though I could smell them on the other side. I opened the door. “Hi, Mom, Dad, sorry I overslept. Brian just got here a few minutes ago. He’s in the bathroom.”

“That’s fine, honey,” my mom said and gave me a kiss. “Glad Brian is here to help.” She looked around my apartment. “Oh my! How did you get this all done?”

“I couldn’t really sleep last night, I was so excited. I finished at like four. Let me go change really quick and then we’ll get Nicole and go see the apartment.” Walking over to the bedroom, I grabbed some jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt and hurried and changed. I knocked on the bathroom door. “Brian, come on I have to brush my teeth.”

He opened up the door and went to say hi to my parents. I brushed my teeth and washed my face and then joined them.

Once we were in the car, we started talking about our plans for the new apartment. We would have to decide whose furniture to use, what to paint, what throw rugs to use, and everything else we thought should get looked at before we moved everything in. We pulled up and Nicole was already outside, she almost skipped up to my parent’s SUV. She opened the door and leapt in chatting.

“Hey, everyone! Are you guys excited? Has anyone seen the apartment yet? We might have to paint. I was thinking of a lavender for my room, and maybe something lighter for the living room, but warm for the kitchen? Is there a dishwasher?”

“Nicole, breathe, girl,” I snickered. “Yes, we are excited, only my dad has seen it, and yes we were just talking about painting, and we don’t know if there’s a dishwasher. We are also going to have to decide whose furniture to use.”

We chatted a little more about other plans for the new apartment, the order of the move, and how we would all go back to Nicole’s apartment after this and help her pack. We went up to the new apartment, and all of us were speechless. Brian elbowed me since he knew I was faking and had already seen the place.

“Kelly, you take the bigger room. Can I get the one with all the sunlight?” Nicole folded her hands in front of her and stuck out her lower lip. Goof.

“Sure, if you want. I don’t have to have the bigger room though. This carpet is horrid, what should we do about it?”

“I wish we had hardwood or Pergo floors. I think lavender or lilac for my room. What do you think for the living room?”

“How about a light gray?” my mom suggested.

“I was thinking that for the kitchen, since the countertops are black,” I suggested. “I think we should do a mocha for the living room. Maybe a rose color for the dining room? Thoughts?”

“I like everything but the rose, Kelly,” Nicole responded. “No offense. I just don’t like rose, maybe a maroon?”

“Maroon works for me. I was thinking a darker gray/blue for my room?”

“I like that,” my mom agreed. My dad measured a bunch of things while talking with Brian, but I knew Brian was listing everything in his head to make a call later.

“Dad, you done measuring? What are you measuring for?” I asked.

“No, I’m not. I’m measuring for blinds,” he responded.

“What are you measuring for, Brian?” He looked up at me, with wide eyes. “I know you. What are you measuring?”

“Nothing much,” he muttered and I felt the wave.

“You can either tell me or I can guess. And I can just tell when you’re lying to me,” I reminded him.

“Appliances,” he admitted, lowering his head like a puppy.

“Busted. No appliances.” We waited around for my dad to finish and we went back to the car. Brian ended up in the front seat with my dad, and I saw him with his phone, copying down my dad’s measurements and sending emails. We went back to Nicole’s and started packing. Brian and I took the kitchen, away from everyone.

He grabbed me around the waist. “We haven’t christened Nicole’s apartment.”

“With my parents and Nicole here? Yeah, likely.” I snorted and he shook his head. I guess he had to try.

And then we went into quick motion mode, and we had the kitchen packed up in no time at all and then had a very nice make-out session. Brian’s phone beeped and he started flipping through emails, so I went back to Nicole.

“What can I do to help? We finished the kitchen.”

“You can make up some more boxes. They’re in the bedroom. I put a bag together, so everything else can be packed.”

“Great minds think alike. I did the same thing.” I left to do the rest of the boxes. I slowed down to normal human pace worried that someone could walk in at any second. I was just finishing when my mom came in and gave me a big hug. “What was that for?”

“I’m just happy for you, and I really like Brian. Give me the dirt,” she answered.

“Ma, there’s no real dirt,” I scoffed as my cheek flushed. “He’s a nice guy. He’s hot.”
And he made me a vampire
. “His parents passed away awhile back, so he doesn’t have any family. I like his friends and he’s really nice to people. I mean you saw what he did for Nicole, and he treats me well. We are a really good fit, so I mean it’s been a little fast, but not too fast. I really like him.”

“We like him too. Your dad and I were talking about it last night on the way home,” she offered. “And you know how your dad is.”

I laughed. “Yep, you have to love him. But I’m glad you guys like Brian. I was almost surprised about Dad liking him. They are both Alpha men, and normally that doesn’t work.”

After that we pretty much dropped the subject and just packed up Nicole’s room. It was nice. I didn’t get much time with my parents these days because I was always too busy with med school and I barely saw them.

“I never noticed how much you two look alike until you both just smiled,” Brian said from the doorway, scaring the crap out of us. He looked so amazing leaning there. “Sorry, I did not mean to scare you.”

“No, it’s fine, Brian, I think we were just both deep in thought,” my mom chuckled.

“Kelly, I was wondering if we could go out tonight? I know things have been crazy, but I was thinking something simple, dinner and a movie, maybe?” A wide smile spread over his face.

“That sounds nice,” I agreed, winking at him.

“Great, I will make the reservations. Seven work?” I nodded and he left the bedroom. I wondered a bit about dinner, since neither of us ate. I wonder what he’s up to now?

We kept packing until lunch time. Brian had subs delivered. He was always Prince Charming, and I was going to have to try and get used to that. We wrapped up about five, having just about everything done besides the bathroom and marking which furniture would be going to the new place and which was to be donated.

* * * *

As soon as Brian and I walked into my apartment, I called Julie. “Hey, Julie, it’s Kelly, your flight go okay?”

“Yes, it was fine, thank you for asking,” she replied, sounding tired but happy to hear from me.

“And I wanted to thank you so much for the tulips. It was really sweet of you, they’re my favorite.”

“You are quite welcome. Did the ceremony go well?”

“Yeah, everything was great. My parents leased a new apartment right across the street from the hospital and paid for it the first year for Nicole and I.”

“That was very nice of them. I really had a fun time with both you ladies, and I came home to a huge Victoria’s Secret delivery. I have been trying it all on, having lots of fun,” Julie chuckled.

“That’s great. We had a great time too. You said if I ever needed anything, I could call you. Do you mind if I ask you something?”

Her toned changed and I could practically see her putting on her
boss
hat on. “Of course not. Go right ahead.”

“I have an older sister, Marie, I’m not sure if I told you that. She lives in New York, and I asked Brian if there might be a list of people who were off limits to our kind?” I hinted vaguely, not wanting to use the word
vampire
over a cell phone. “I know New York is Andre’s territory, but he seems to have taken a little too much of a liking to me. It makes me nervous, plus Brian said that you could put Marie on a list that would be across the county. I hate to ask you, but I don’t know how I would ever explain this all if my family found out. Or forgive myself if one of them ever got drained.”

“Not at all, my dear, would you like your whole family on the list?”

“Wow, I didn’t even think about that. Glad one of us has our head on straight,” I replied. “I really appreciate it, Jules. You have no idea how much I feel better knowing they are safe.”

“My pleasure, Kelly. I have to run now, but tell Brian I say hi.” With that Julie hung up.

“Julie says hi,” I informed Brian. “So what are we doing about
dinner
since we don’t eat?”

“I cannot tell you everything, it would ruin the surprise, and I like giving you surprises,” Brian grabbed my hips and pulling me close to him. “Just wear something casual.” He gave me a soft kiss and ran his hands from my hips up my back and into my hair, held me closer and gave me another deeper kiss.

I pulled back and walked away slowly so he would know I didn’t care if he followed and he did… All the way into the bedroom. He leaned against the doorway in that sexy way he does. I slowly stripped everything off and wiggled around so he could see every curve. I made the bed and did a few other things, making sure I kept leaning over before I grabbed some clothes and slipped them on.

“You enjoy that, big boy?” I teased.

“Big boy? I would ask what that was in reference to but I think sometimes it’s better to not know and let me think the best. To answer your question, yes, I enjoyed every single second, until you got dressed again that is.”

I shook my head at his answer. “Let’s go. I want to see this surprise.”

We walked out of my apartment and raced down the stairs again. I had no problem that he kept winning, but that didn’t mean I was going to stop trying. When we got to the street, he started walking. No car? I followed for a few blocks in complete silence.

“Okay, Brian, what’s the deal? Let’s go. Fess up.”

“Tonight I am teaching you how to hunt,” Brian announced solemnly.

“Cool. I’ve never been hunting. I’ve always wanted to go. I know how to handle a gun, though. Well not a shotgun, but a .45 and a rifle I’m good with, but I haven’t fired one in a while,” I rambled.

“Kelly, you can be such a blonde sometimes. I find it very endearing,” he chuckled.

“What do you mean I’m a blonde sometimes? You said hunting—Ooh
shit
,” I hissed, stopping in my tracks. I am a blonde. Vampires didn’t hunt with guns and people didn’t walk to a hunting ground at night. Shit
.