“Hey…” Adam gentled his tone, but he stepped forward and touched my arm. “Are you okay? I mean…” He raised cautious eyes to Roane and quieted his tone. Little did he know that there was a vampire five feet away. “That didn’t look friendly. You know?”
“I’m fine.” I patted his arm reassuringly. “I promise. That was… it was just a little misunderstanding.”
Roane snorted behind me.
“So, you guys are going to the Shoilster? I haven’t been there. I’d like to come!” Adam exclaimed suddenly and a little bit shrilly.
“What? I mean…” Shelly was startled, but she recovered instantly. She linked her elbow through his and turned a charming smile towards us. “I mean, that’d be great. Let’s go. It could be, like, a double date?”
“A double date?” Adam asked, confused, as he shook his head. “No. We’d just be… hanging out, right?”
I sent Roane a helpless look, but he just smiled tightly and turned his back. Bastard vampire. “Well… okay, but I don’t know. I think. I guess, I—um—we could go for a little while?”
“Great.” Shelly was all for it.
“Great.” I echoed Shelly’s sentiments and surprised both of us when I slammed a hand on Roane’s (very) chiseled chest. We both jumped under the contact, but I gritted my teeth and grabbed his hand.
“Let’s… we’ll meet you there.”
“Uh…” Adam muttered.
Shelly locked her hands with his. “We’ll meet you there! Sounds like a plan.”
They were out the door before I could blink, literally. Once they were gone, it was just me and Roane. I gulped painfully. My hand was still on his chest and I felt him laughing. “Wha…?” I turned, dazed, when I saw an actual smile on his face.
I think I just wet my pants. “Stop!”
Roane just laughed harder and shook his head. Did I mention that my hand was still plastered to his chest? I didn’t think I could move it. “A double date? We’re on a date? I thought you were all about keeping your friend safe, but now I don’t know what’s more pathetic. You and this boy that you’re infatuated with or… the fact that I actually came here?” He chuckled again to himself and moved away.
My hand abruptly fell to my side. “Really? I’m pathetic?”
His laughter dissolved quickly and he sobered while he studied me a moment. Then he shook his head, almost gently, and chided, “No, it’s just your pursuit of being normal.”
My mouth went dry and my body went numb.
He added, impervious, “You’re not normal, but you’re so blind to who you are that you’re willing to do anything for that boy. And he is a boy, trust me.”
“I’m not blind.” I didn’t say anything about the ‘boy’ factor. “I am too normal.”
“No, you’re not.” He stepped closer, unnervingly so. Then he murmured and this time it was fully sensual, “You’re above normal. You just don’t want to admit it.”
“I have a roommate. I go to college. I skip classes. I volunteer at the hotline and I hate it! That’s normal. How can that not be normal?”
“And the fact that you’re telling a vampire all this?” Amusement flared in his depths, but it mingled with something else, something that sent a shiver down my spine and not one of those good ones.
“You’re not normal. When you accept that, you’ll accept your destiny.”
My destiny?
He turned to leave, but he seemed to glide from the room. I was left behind to echo, “I’m a college student. That’s my destiny… what destiny? I’m like everyone else.”
But there was no one in the lounge.
“Hey!” I called out, sharply.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Your boyfriend thinks I’m the bad guy,” Roane spoke up when we parked outside of the Shoilster.