Forks, Book Two Page 8

  I swallowed hard, still not knowing what to say.

  “What were you two supposed to be doing tonight?”

  “Um, I don’t know,” I choked out barely and then cleared my throat. “Mom had a big evening planned with Ken and I didn’t want to be a third wheel.” At least that wasn’t a complete lie.

  “How did you end up making plans with Viktor?”

  “Um, he asked if I wanted to hang out. I said yes and here we are.”

  “That’s cool.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared off in the distance.

  “So, what were you doing with Glinda?”

  “A little of this and that,” he said evasively.

  “Oh.” What was I going to say to that? Obviously, he was lying but so was I….kind of. Still, a rush of irritation shot through me and I wasn’t sure what it was from. Jealousy, maybe….I didn’t know.

  “Hey, check it out.” He lifted his hand and pointed up into the sky.

  “What?” I leaned closer and could immediately feel the heat emanating from him as I tried to see what he was pointing at.

  “There’s a shooting star…” He pointed again. “See?”

  “Yeah, not seeing it,” I told him as I looked up into a sky full of stars that just appeared from under a blanket of clouds.

  “Make a wish.”

  “On what? I don’t see the shooting star.”

  “It doesn’t matter, make one anyway.”

  “What should I wish?”

  “Anything you want.”

  “I don’t have a wish.” That was a load. I had a stack of wishes piled up but now didn’t seem like the best time to use any of them.

  He grabbed my cold hand in his and closed his eyes.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m making a wish for us both.” His eyes were still shut but I could see a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

  “What kind of wish are you making?”

  “Shush,” he said, smiling now. “You’re going to ruin it.”

  I stayed quiet at his side with my hand in his. The warmth from his hand spread through my frigid fingertips, warming them.

  “There.” He opened his eyes and looked down at me.

  “Well? What did you wish?”

  “If I told you that, I’d have to kill you.”

  Shocked, I jerked my hand away and took a deliberate step back from him.

  “Amber,” he chuckled. “I’m just kidding.” His eyes glittered strangely in the moonlight.

  “Yeah, you are so not funny!” I shoved him.

  “Yeah, I am. You just don’t get the joke.”

  “Probably,” I admitted and resumed my spot and leaned back against the truck.

  “If you could make a wish, what would it be?”

  “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” I joked.

  “Is that so?” he teased.

  “Well, yeah…” I turned and my breath caught. He was giving me the strangest look.

  “Amber…” His voice was heavy… thick… his expression once again pained which reminded me of my dream.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He leaned forward closing the space between us. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. There was something in his expression that held me in place, I had a feeling he was going to try to kiss me, and even though I knew I probably, definitely, absolutely, should turn away, I just couldn’t. And just as his face reached mine...

  The passenger door opened and Glinda dropped down from the truck onto the gravel. “Fine, be that way,” she yelled and slammed the door shut. “Vincent,” she called and then sat down on the ground and covered her face.

  At first, I thought she was crying but then she dropped her hands hugging herself and I realized she wasn’t crying but laughing—really hard. Holding onto her stomach, she laughed and laughed. She sounded crazy.

  “Glinda, get up.” Vincent grabbed her arms and tried to pull her up, but instead of letting him help her, she somehow yanked him down to the ground with her. She jumped on top of him and they both started laughing.

  Feeling like I had just entered the second act of a play, I backed away having no idea what was going on. My body bumped up against something hard and cold. Slowly, I turned around and looked right up into the unsmiling gray eyes of Viktor.

  “Come on,” he said gruffly and grabbed my hand. Pulling me away from them, he started walking.

  I had to take double steps to keep up with him so I wouldn’t fall on my face. “Viktor, where…”

  “Just come on.” He jerked my arm and I stumbled up onto a long curved footbridge that spanned twenty or so feet. Our footsteps echoed sharply on the worn wooden planks. When we reached the strip of land on the other side I thought he would stop but he kept walking over rocks towards the water.

  “Viktor,” I gasped, stumbling again. “Stop!”

  He stopped so abruptly, I fell into him.

  In an instant, his arms were around me. He held me tightly, burying his face in my hair—his cold body pressing against mine. Barely breathing, I stood there, not knowing what to do. His breath wafted against my neck, sending shivers over my body. Instinctively I leaned closer, my hands inching up his hard chest. His breathing became rushed, as did mine. I pushed up on my toes, trying to get closer.

  “Amber…”with a groan, he pushed me away and stepped back. As soon as his body parted from mine, I felt bereft like I had just lost something close to my heart.

  Reaching up, he scrubbed his hands over his face and then with a heavy sigh, he dropped his hands back to his sides. The moonlight illuminated his face and my heart did an involuntary flutter at the intense look I saw.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice barely audible.

  “For?”

  “For this…” He waved his hand to encompass where we were standing. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

  I guessed he was trying to explain why Glinda and Vincent were with him but he wasn’t doing a very good job. “It’s not so bad.”

  “Yeah, right,” he scoffed.

  “Well, I have to say, I was a bit…surprised,” I admitted.

  He laughed, it sounded bitter, empty. “Yeah, well, so was I.”

  “Well…there’s no use in crying over spilt milk.” I tried to make light of the subject.

  His brow hitched up a notch. “Spilt milk?”

  “Yeah, it’s just one of my mom’s stupid sayings.” I felt like an idiot.

  “I like your stupid sayings.”

  “My mom’s…” I corrected him.

  “Yeah, they may be your mom’s words but I like how you say them.”

  “Thanks, I think.” Even though I was cold a rush of heat climbed to my face.

  Little lights dotted in the distance on the curve of the beach. “What are those from?” I pointed.

  “It’s the Keepers cottage,” he said.

  “What’s a Keepers cottage?” I had never heard of that before.

  “It’s where the people who used to tend to the lighthouse lived.”

  “Can we go see it?”

  “Nah.” He shook his head. “It’s not open to the public.”

  “What are the lights doing on then?”

  “The coast guard and the sheriff’s department share it. I guess someone is living there.”

  “Don’t they have to tend to the lighthouse still?”

  “No. Not any longer. Now it’s on a timer.” He lifted his hand, pointing. “See the curve of the beach way over there.”

  “Yeah.”

  “There used to be a wooden catwalk that led to the lighthouse. If there was a storm, the keeper had to walk over treacherous water that was only a few feet below to manually turn on the lights.”

  “Wow. That would suck.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it,” he said as though he had first- hand experience.

  “Can we go on the catwalk?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “It was dismantled a while ago and th
e locals took the wood and repurposed it for other uses. You can still see the concrete pilings though, when it’s light out. It’s a gentle reminder of a forgotten time,” he said with something akin to longing in his voice. The wind lifted his hair and pulled it back from his profile as he stared out to the ocean.

  Waves crashed on the beach below like a large breathing creature. In and out, the waves came and went as the top of the lighthouse spun around in intervals of flashing white light against the blackish-blue backdrop of the night sky.

  “Let’s sit for a minute.”

  “Okay.”

  We both sat down on a large flat rock and I was surprised it felt so warm. It reminded me of when I went to see Lucky at the La Push reservation and what Lucky had said to me about Vampires. I looked back at him, trying to see if he really did look a Vampire. But it didn’t do me any good because I didn’t know what a Vampire was even supposed to look like besides what I’d seen on television. And they weren’t real. Viktor was though, and he was sitting next to me; I couldn’t help wondering if he was, in fact, a real Vampire or just an exceptionally beautiful boy.

  The wind ruffled my hair, tickling my face. I reached up to push it back.

  “Here, let me.” Viktor reached over and moved my hair from my face as the wind pushed it forward once more. He kept his hand on my face, cradling it as his thumb slid back and forth over my jaw. His cool fingers felt good on my heated face.

  “I wanted to show you something but…” He stared down at me with the same intensity he had earlier but something shifted, just a bit, and I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad.

  Nervous, I bit my lip, not sure if I should ask what he meant. I was afraid that if I did I would spoil the moment of intimacy between us. As if reading my thoughts, he slipped his hand around the back of my neck and began massaging the tightness from it. I didn’t move, not an inch, and once again I was lost, drowning in the stormy depths of his gray eyes.

  “I think I may have to break my promise,” he said so low I almost missed him speaking at all.

  “What promise would that be?”

  He exhaled and dropped his hand back down to his side, his face once again expressionless.

  “What promise?” I asked again.

  “Amber…” He shook his head. “I have to tell you something.” There was rigidness in his posture and my heart jumped into double time.

  The silence grew and finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you a Vampire?” I blurted my worst fear.

  He frowned and then did something I didn’t expect. He laughed. It wasn’t a forced one either—it was a full hearty laugh from deep in his chest.

  “What’s so funny?” I fisted my hands, not knowing if he was laughing at me or not.

  “Oh, Amber…” He covered his face and leaned back. His laughter died out and he dropped his hands back to his sides as he looked over at me. “Did you really just ask me if I was a Vampire?”

  “Well, yeah, aren’t you?” When I saw the look he was giving me I wished I’d kept my big mouth shut.

  “Why would you ask me that?”

  “Um,” I bit my lip, unsure if I should continue.

  “And…” His brows lifted as he prodded me to continue.

  “Because, I saw you counting the Red Hots,” I rushed out really fast.

  He gave me a bemused look.

  “The night Jason was shot—at the Timber Museum.”

  “Oh, that.”

  “Yeah, that.”

  “I have a problem.”

  My entire body tensed. “What problem?”

  “If I see Red Hots, I have to count them.” His shoulders shook like he was holding back a laugh.

  “Are you serious?”

  “What do you think?” he deadpanned.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly, because I didn’t.

  “So, that’s why you asked me if I was a Vampire, because you thought you saw me counting Red Hots?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. The way he said it made me sound like an idiot. Was I? I didn’t know.

  “Do you want me to be?” he breathed seductively as his warm breath wafted over my face, drawing me in again.

  “No.”

  “What if I am?” His eyes flickered briefly in the light of the moon.

  “Ah…” I didn’t know if he was serious or kidding. “I guess, ah, I’d have to, um, figure something out."

  “What would you need to figure out?” He gave me a strange look that did little enlighten me on to his real stance on the issue.

  “Ah…I don’t know …,” I told him. And I didn’t. What if he said yes? What would I do? Run? Scream? Fall into his arms like Bella did with Edward in just a few pages? Not likely. But even as I thought all these things, I couldn’t get my mind to wrap around any of them. And the longer he looked at me seemingly unfazed by the conversation we were having about him being a Vampire like it was of no consequence, I realized something about myself. I realized that I didn’t want to know. I wanted to stay an Ostrich. Not because I didn’t care but because I was afraid. Not of him though, but how it would make me feel about him if I knew.

  In the end, it didn’t matter.

  He made my mind up for me.

  Barely breathing, I stayed perfectly still, afraid to make any sudden movements.

  “Do you want me to drink your blood?” His cool lips grazed my cheek.

  I shivered. “Don’t you want to?”

  “I want to do something…” He nuzzled my neck and tingles of awareness shot through me.

  “What do you want to do?” My voice sounded different… breathy, and almost raspy at the same time.

  “This…”

  Before I could say another word or form a coherent thought his lips found mine. And the world as I knew it slipped away and spun out of control. I couldn’t think, I could only feel. He deepened the kiss—both of us searching for something just out of reach. His fingers tangled in my hair as his mouth moved slowly…deliberately, to my neck.

  I tensed….waiting for the inevitable—I was sure he would turn into a monster just like in my many dreams…

  He tensed too and but when he pulled away, his face was normal—well, as normal as his beautiful face could be. Breathing heavy, he gazed down at me with heavy lidded eyes, they held no warmth but instead with something akin to remorse. “I’m …” he started but stopped.

  “What?” I whispered, barely breathing.

  “Damnit!” He stood abruptly. “Amber…” He raked his hand through his hair and started pacing like he was angry.

  I suddenly wasn’t sure what to feel. It was as though my emotions were at odds. I felt like I wanted to cry and scream at the same time.

  He stopped abruptly and bent down so his face was really close to mine. “What are you doing?”

  “I ….” My voice caught.

  “What is wrong with you?” He gave me harsh look and straightened back up.

  “Me,” I squeaked, barely able to speak.

  “Why are you so damn gullible?” He groaned and leaned his head back, covering his face.

  I felt like my insides were twisting up into knots.

  He dragged his hands over his face, exhaling. He dropped his hands again and turned toward me with a look so…intense, so….volatile…I couldn’t make sense of it.

  “Come on.” He stuck out his hand.

  I grabbed onto it as he pulled me to my feet. “Where are we going?”

  He dropped my hand like I had cooties or something comparable. “I’m taking you home.” He turned and started walking back the way we came.

  Feeling like my heart had been ripped out and run over a few times, I did the only thing I could do. I silently followed him back to the truck.

  sixteen

  After I was unceremoniously dumped back at my house, Viktor squealed away with a stoic Vincent and a giggling Glinda. I stood in my driveway wondering what the heck had even happened.

  After Viktor stole my breath with his
kisses, he got angry and wanted to leave. When we first got back to the truck Glinda was MIA with Vincent but they returned quickly enough, walking up a hill almost as soon as we made it back. Glinda was holding on so tightly to Vincent’s arm, she looked like his Siamese twin. Her hair was unbound and stuck out from her head in an unruly mass of tangled curls. Vincent’s hair looked messy too, as did their clothing, which they were both jerking back in place as they walked back to the truck. Neither said too much, except for a few grumbles from Glinda that someone was ruining all her fun.

  By the looks I was getting from Glinda, I guessed that I was the designated fun-sucker.

  Tiptoeing inside, I snuck in the house and went straight to my room. I lay down in bed and stared up at the ceiling at the shadows shifting in the moonlight. No matter how many times I replayed the evening or lack thereof in my mind I couldn’t seem put anything that happened back into any semblance of order.

  I didn’t get it.

  Vincent was acting weird. Glinda was acting even weirder, but the strangest one of all had been Viktor and how he had acted after our impromptu kiss— the very same kiss that sent my heart to pounding and turned my brain into a mushy mess.

  He ran hot and cold—mostly cold.

  One moment he was kissing me and the world had slipped away, spinning out of control, and the next he acted like I had cootie’s or at the very least something comparable. Did he regret kissing me? I couldn’t help but think the worst. And that wasn’t even the worst thing that happened.

  I took it a step farther and asked him about counting Red Hots and then I told him I thought he was a Vampire. The way he laughed, he must have thought I was some kind of an idiot. Was I an idiot? I couldn’t help but wonder if I was.

  Where Viktor, Vincent, and even Glinda were concerned, I felt like I was being left out in the dark, like they had some kind of inner circle or click that I wasn’t allowed entrance to. No matter what it was, I was even more confused than before. Now I had kissed not only Vincent, but Viktor too, so what did that make me? A tease…or was I merely confused? Well, that one was a no-brainer. I was definitely confused because I didn’t get any of it. Viktor’s kisses were needy, insistent… almost hungry making me feel the same, almost desperate, and my feelings for him were even more jumbled than before. Whereas Vincent’s kisses had been warm, almost familiar, and left me with a feeling of a kind of serene tranquility.