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  “This is La Push…right?”

  “Right,” he said slowly, giving me a bemused look.

  “Listen,” I began, feeling like a b. “I don’t even know what you are talking about.”

  He rocked back. “Wow.” The crease between his brows grew deeper.

  “What?” I gaped at him.

  The music switched to a slow song. Somehow hoping Vincent would come to find me, I turned and looked out into the crowd. That thought was squelched. Instead, he grabbed hold of Glinda and twirled her around. I turned away, feeling like a loser for even hoping.

  “They friends of yours,” he asked inclining his head toward the dance floor.

  “Yeah… I guess.”

  He lifted his brow. “You don’t know?”

  “What is with you?” I snapped.

  “It was just a question.”

  “Well, maybe I don’t feel like answering it.”

  “Testy, aren’t you.”

  “No.” I lifted my chin a notch.

  He stood there, not saying anything. I could feel his eyes on me.

  Finally, I couldn’t take it. “What are you looking at?”

  “That is a loaded question.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Trust me.” His eyes glittered strangely. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Come on,” I urged. “Try me?”

  “All right.” He stepped up to me, blocking my view of the dance floor. “You want to know why you can’t find Vampires here. Come next Saturday, I’ll be giving a tour and I can fill you in.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was hitting on me or not. My internal antenna was obviously malfunctioning. “I don’t think so.” I shook my head.

  “Why, you scared?”

  “No.”

  “Then why not come and find out?”

  “I hate to break it to you but Vampires don’t even exist.”

  His lips twitched. “Yeah, I hear you.”

  My brows creased. “They don’t.” I was adamant.

  “If you say so,” he said his tone placating. “Come on back next Saturday…you’ll see.”

  “Yeah, don’t hold your breath.”

  “You’re afraid,” he taunted.

  “I wouldn’t say afraid…but rather, not interested.” Pulling out my phone, I looked at the time. It was eleven forty five. I shoved it back in my bag. “It’s been an enlightening conversation, but I gotta go.”

  “What about your friends?”

  “What about them?”

  “Didn’t you come together?”

  “We did but…”

  “But they are ignoring you,” he answered insightfully.

  I didn’t bother answering.

  “So what are you going to do? Leave them here, without a ride?” he pushed.

  Actually, I was going to leave but he was right. That would be messed up. “I doubt they want to leave.”

  “Well, you won’t know unless you ask.” His face turned serious. “Don’t worry, I got your back.”

  “Gee, thanks.” I gathered my nerve and walked onto the dance floor. I tapped on Glinda’s shoulder.

  She turned. “There you are!” she burst, wrapping her arm around me.

  I shrugged her off. “I gotta go,” I said. “You guys coming with me?”

  She looked toward Vincent. “Well, I kind of want to stay.”

  If I was having as much fun as her, I would want to stay too. I mean, come on, Vincent was pretty dang hot. Too bad he was so freaking fickle.

  “Okay.” I turned to walk away.

  She grabbed my arm. “What’s that matter?”

  I winced. She was squeezing my arm, really hard. “Nothing,” I lied.

  She made a face. “You look mad.”

  “I’m not.” I dumped out another lie, “I have a headache.”

  “Oh.” This seemed to assuage her guilt. That is… if she even felt any. “Well, I hope you feel better.”

  To my surprise, Vincent walked over to us.

  “What’s going on?” he asked. His hair was damp and falling over his brow. I had a sudden urge to push it back.

  “Amber wants to go home,” she said, and then rushed to add, “She has a headache.”

  A crease formed between his brows. Was he disappointed I was leaving? Sudden hope surged in my chest...

  “Hope you feel better.”

  …and, KaBoom!—it spontaneously combusted. “Thanks, I’ll try.” I stood there stupidly for a moment, waffling on whether to leave. I mean he did come after me… The DJ spun another record and Glinda widened her eyes at me. Could she be more obvious?

  “See you guys.” Whirling around, I pushed my way through the crowd. My eyes burned –stupid tears.

  “Amber…” Vincent grabbed my arm.

  I quickly wiped my eyes and turned.

  “I…” He frowned. “Are you okay to drive?” His breath smelled like liquor.

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

  He raked his hand through his hair. It stuck in awkward angles from his head –somehow it made him look even cuter. “Just wanted to make sure,” he said. He held onto my arm, not releasing me and narrowed his eyes. “Are you crying?”

  “Puh—lease.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s stuffy in here.”

  I pulled my arm from his grasp. “I gotta go.”

  “We good?” he asked.

  “Why wouldn’t we be?” I said, trying my best to sound indifferent.

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged.

  Seriously? He didn’t even know. No ifs ands or buts about it, I decided right then and there, that boys were freaking clueless. Donkeyhole!

  Glinda materialized at his side. “Come on Vincent,” She tugged on his arm. “Amber?” Her eyes flashed, angrily. “I thought you left?” A gust of her breath hit me in the face. She smelled like whiskey—so much for her not drinking.

  “I am.” I didn’t bother mentioning I was trying to, until Vincent stopped me.

  “I’ll call you,” she tittered.

  “Great!” I said with as much fake enthusiasm as I could muster.

  Vincent gave me a halfhearted wave and followed her back on the dance floor.

  “I won’t hold my breath,” I muttered.

  twelve

  The resort’s floodlights were only a faint glow to help guide me through the dense fog as I made my way out to the car. Stopping, I reached in my purse to pull out my keys.

  Approaching footsteps sounded from behind, drawing nearer. I don’t know why the noise scared me but it did—really bad. Maybe it wasn’t the approaching footsteps as much as it was the scratching sound against pavement that followed the approaching footsteps. My keys clattered to the wet pavement. I bent over to pick them up.

  A low growl sounded. I looked up into the glowing eyes of a huge beast. That was it. I was done for. I kept waiting for my life to flash before my eyes as the beast continued to growl at me but it didn’t. And although my heart raged against my ribs trying to break free—I couldn’t get my feet to move.

  A sharp whistle sounded. The glowing eyes, shifted. A form materialized out of the dense fog. “Come on boy.” He patted his leg. A huge animal trotted over to his side. “Hey, you all right?” he asked, stepping forward into the stream of light from the resort.

  “Oh, it’s you,” I exhaled, relieved. Grabbing my keys, I stood up. “Is that a wolf?”

  He laughed. “No, he’s a Native American Indian dog.

  “A what?” I asked.

  “Never mind,” he said. “It’s just a certain breed of dog.”

  “Well it looks like a wolf to me.”

  “This is Bear.” He bent down and ran his fingers through the thick coat of fur.

  “Bear?”

  He patted the massive dog’s head. “Yeah, cuddles seemed a bit inappropriate.”

  “Yeah,” I laughed nervously. “I daresay that would be pushing it a bit.”

  “He is sweet though, want to pet him?”

&nb
sp; “Ah…”

  “Come on, he won’t bite,” he said.

  “He won’t?” I lifted my hand.

  “Not unless I tell him too.”

  I jerked my hand back.

  “I’m just messing with you.” He laughed. “Seriously, you can pet him.”

  “Nah, I think I’m good.” I shoved my hand in my pocket.

  “Suit yourself.”

  “I better get going, um…” I turned. “Thanks for looking out for me,” I said. I put my key in the lock and opened my door.

  “Yeah, you’re welcome.” He let out another sharp whistle and the dog swung its head around. “So will I see you Saturday?”

  “Ah…”

  “Come on,” he coaxed. “It’ll be fun.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” I muttered.

  “What was that?”

  “Oh, nothing,” I said and shook my head and climbed in my car.

  “Hey,” he called. “What’s your name?”

  I rolled down my window and shut the door. “Amber.”

  “Nice chatting with you, Amber.”

  “Yeah, you too…”

  “Lucky,” he said.

  “Lucky?” I repeated.

  “It’s a nickname,” he explained.

  “What’s your real name?”

  “Tell you what,” he said, grinning. “You come on the tour Saturday and I’ll tell you.”

  “Well, I see you haven’t left me much choice.”

  It was his turn to look confused. “Not following,” he said.

  “How can I turn you down…I mean the temptation of finding out your real name is …”

  “Oh, I get it.” He laughed. “That bad?”

  “Nah, it was a good try though.”

  “Did it work?” he asked with a hopeful look.

  I turned on the car. “Maaybee,” I said. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  Theatrically, he put his hand to his heart and made a thumping motion. “I’ll be waiting.”

  “Don’t hold your breath.”

  He staggered backward, mockingly wounded, and extracted an invisible arrow from his heart.

  “That was good,” I said laughing, pulling away, and heading for home.

  thirteen

  Ken’s squad car was in the driveway when I got home, which was an hour earlier than I planned, thanks to my, started-out-awesome-turned- craptastic evening. Although, even I had to admit, the end wasn’t so bad—Lucky had made it better. And he was really cute too—so maybe, Glinda did me a favor. At least that was what I was trying to get myself to believe.

  Tiptoeing inside the house, I tried to be as quiet as possible. I made it to the second level when I heard muffled groans wafting down the hall from Mom’s room. I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what they were doing. Gross.

  I ran up the last flight of stairs and shut my door—not that I cared what they were doing but… come on. Mom getting busy was not something I needed to hear, like ever.

  Grabbing the remote, I turned on the television and cranked the volume.

  “UGH! Do they play this crap every night?” I threw the remote on my bed. Twilight was playing, again.

  I stripped out of my thrift shop special dress and pulled on my robe. Smoothing my hand down the fabric, I hung it on my closet door. Lucky was right. My dress was cool. At least I didn’t look like a cookie-cutter replica of every other girl there. Besides, I wasn’t big on conforming to the masses, anyway.

  As a precautionary measure, before I left my room to take a shower, I put my ear buds in and turned up the volume. No need to put myself through anymore of the “chica-chica-bow-wow” that was going on downstairs.

  After a long hot shower, I did my nightly regimen of teeth brushing, flossing, etc. etc., and then headed downstairs for some much needed sustenance. Opening the fridge, I peered inside. Somehow, even after all the shopping I had done, there was nothing good to eat. So I made do with Captain Crunch to tide me over. Standing at the sink, I filled up my glass with water, staring at my own reflection in the window. I made a face at myself, hit the light switch, and froze.

  Someone was standing in my back yard, eyes glowing in the darkness. Fumbling, I set my stuff down and looked again. But when I looked, no one was there.

  “Must be seeing things,” I told myself, but somehow, I knew I hadn’t been.

  fourteen

  After a fitful sleep, I crawled from bed and headed downstairs for some much-needed coffee. It was already after eleven and yet I still felt sleepy. I glanced around the corner, looking for Ken, but luckily he was nowhere in sight. Curious, I walked over to the front door and opened it up. My jaw fell open and my eyes bugged from their sockets.

  Viktor was standing on the porch with his hand lifted, balancing two cups of coffee in a tray. I slammed the door in his face, freaking out. He was the last person I expected to see.

  “Amber,” Mom said, coming down the stairs. “Who is at the door?”

  “It’s Viktor,” I choked, running my hands through my tangled mass of hair, pacing back and forth.

  “Why did you shut the door?” She gave me a questioning look. She was already dressed and had on her makeup.

  “Look at me!” I screeched, freaking out.

  “Well…” She seemed to comprehend my dilemma and widened her eyes. “Did he see you?”

  “Yes, he saw me,” I complained.

  “It’s too late then,” she said. “You have to get the door.”

  I grabbed her hand. “Mom, please get the door and keep him busy while I fix myself.”

  She shook her head like she was about to object.

  “Please!”

  “Oh, all right,” she exhaled and walked over to check her reflection in the mirror.

  I had my foot on the stair. “Mom, he’s waiting.”

  She did a fast hair flip and then smoothed the flyaway pieces. Once she was satisfied with her handiwork, she walked slowly to the door. I swear this was the slowest I had ever seen her move. A freaking turtle would have beaten her to the door. “Mom,” I groaned, impatiently.

  “I got it, Amber,” she said, giving me her staple hairy eyeball. “Go, before I change my mind.” She waved me away.

  Not having any alternative, I ran up the stairs and busted into the bathroom.

  Ken stood there, leaning forward over the sink, wearing only a towel that hung precariously low on his trim hips.

  “Sorry!”

  I slammed the door and ran up the last flight of stairs to my room. “Couldn’t she have told me he was in the bathroom... Seriously?”

  I think I may have broken a few records getting ready. By the time I was presentable, luckily Ken had vacated the bathroom. So I was able to brush my teeth really good and put on some deodorant. I didn’t look great or anything but I looked a heck of a lot better than I did fifteen minutes ago. Taking a breath, I headed downstairs.

  To my surprise, once Mom saw me coming she got up off the couch and left me alone with Viktor. “Sorry about that,” I said, giving him a sheepish smile, pulling my arms back into the long sleeves of my oversized sweater.

  “No,” he said, standing. “I’m sorry I didn’t call first, but I didn’t have your number.” He was wearing a dark sweater, with a white t-shirt underneath and jeans, and he looked completely drool-worthy. His gray eyes sparkled and his lip lifted up into a slow grin.

  “It’s okay,” I said, and sat down on the opposite side of the couch. My slouchy boot-socks slipped further down my leg.

  “I brought coffee, though.” He smiled and picked up a cup, holding it out for me.

  “Thanks,” I said, taking the Styrofoam cup and pulled off the lid, inhaling the heavenly aroma. Nothing smelled better than a cup of fresh coffee in the morning. I took a sip. It tasted wonderful and was just how I liked it—black.

  “Do you like it?” he asked, lifting his brow.

  “Yes, it is just what I needed.” I cradled the cup, the heat w
arming my fingers. It was chilly in the room. Actually, it was chilly in the whole house, except my bedroom, unless the window was open. The whole heat-rises thing.

  “Rough night?” he asked, his face beaming suddenly with humor.

  “How’d you know?”

  He shrugged. “Just a lucky guess,” he said, and then took a sip of his own coffee.

  “So what did you do last night?” I asked, setting my cup back down.

  “Nothing much,” he said, looking away.

  I chewed on my lip, not knowing what else to say. I was crappy at small talk. My old friends used to talk non-stop so I never had to worry about my end of the conversation, usually. Instead of talking, I grabbed my cup and took another sip of coffee.

  “Did you go to the “Prom”?”” He did air quotes.

  “Yeah.” I scrunched up my face, remembering a bit too clearly, how Glinda had stolen the spotlight from me.

  “That bad?” he asked.

  “Nah, it was fun…for a while.”

  “Why do you say it like that?” He leaned forward, suddenly looking interested. His light gray eyes were disconcerting. “Did something happen… with Vincent?”

  “Ah….” My face flamed with color. “No, nothing much,” I skirted around the truth, definitely not mentioning our almost kiss.

  “Did you two dance?” His eyes narrowed and the color of his eyes seemed to darken.

  “For like a minute.” I made a face like it was no big deal and took another sip of coffee.

  “What about the rest of the night?”

  “I watched people dancing.” I rolled my eyes.

  This seemed to cheer him up immensely. “What was Vincent doing?”

  “He danced with Glinda.”

  He barked out a laugh. “He danced with Glinda?”

  “Yeah, what’s so funny about that?”

  “Ah, nothing” he deflected. “So did you meet anyone else…interesting? Or did you just stand alone all night?” He gave me a lopsided grin.

  I felt like hitting him. “I talked to one of the tour guides from La Push.”

  “Who did you talk to?” His eyes flashed.

  “Um…” I shifted uncomfortably under his relentless stare. “This guy from the reservation, Lucky,” I said and pulled my legs up into a cross-legged position.