“Want to walk down with me? Make sure it’s not someone creepy?”
Adam looked relieved and concerned at the same time. I chose to think he was concerned for my benefit. When we reached the stairway, I was surprised when I felt Adam grab my hand. He looked embarrassed. “Just in case it’s someone you don’t want around.”
“You’re going to play my protective boyfriend?” I teased.
His cheeks turned pink. Adorable. I squeezed his hand and said in all honesty,
“Thanks, Adam. It means a lot.”
When we moved through the bottom doorway, I stopped dead in my tracks. My focus zoomed in on the petite blonde who had wrapped herself around Emily’s vampire. One of her leather clad legs rubbed up and down against his calf and her cleavage was barely hidden underneath a tight black lace tank top poised perfectly for his viewing pleasure. Her crystal blue eyes snapped up and latched onto mine.
I knew why Emily was so furious.
Kates Heath, a childhood nostalge— another one of my words that I used to describe childhood friends that you remained friends with because of nostalgic memories and nothing else — was the epitome of every man and boy’s fantasy of a bad girl. Vampires ate girls like her for breakfast or they would if they could.
“Heya, celebrity,” Kates drawled in her husky voice and whipped her dusky blonde hair around.
“Kates.” I refused to look the vampire in the eyes.
Slowly, with hypnotizing grace, Kates unwrapped herself from him and stood to cross the room towards me. I felt the tension in the air. The entire room had been watching and now everyone held their breaths at our next move.
I flicked my gaze to Emily. She looked like a bomb ready to explode so I latched onto Kates’ arm and yanked her behind me. Dragging her outside, we circled around the corner and through an alcove of trees in the far corner before I whirled and snapped, “What are you doing here?”
Kates looked taken aback, but her smoky laugh rang out. “I can’t believe you. Look at you. You’re all…College Barbie.”
“What are you doing here, Kates? You’re not supposed to be here.”
Kates chuckled. “You’re too much sometimes, Davy. Get over it. You know exactly why I’m here.”
“No. I don’t.”
She groaned and placed her hands on her hips. “Steven saw you on the news. He called me and I headed here. You’re on the freaking news, Davy. You know how bad that is…for you.”
“Nine o’clock news. That was a half hour ago. There is no way that you drove from home in thirty minutes.” We lived five hours away.
“It was on the five o’clock news, Barbie Doll.”
Did it even matter? “You can’t be here,” I hissed.
Kates smiled smugly and shifted comfortably back on her heels. “You’ve got me, whether you want me or not. Who’s the hottie vampire, by the way? He’s delicious.”
I grimaced, but warned, “Stay away from him.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’? He’s a vampire.”
Kates shrugged. “He’s hot. I caught a peek at his marking. He’s a Hunter.”
“Kates.” I shook my head, and sighed. Nothing was going how it was supposed to… I didn’t even know what to think about him being a Hunter.
“What?” Kates piped up, dumbfounded. “Look. I’m just here to watch your back. When I think you’re covered, I’ll head out. Promise.”
“I don’t need this. I can’t… ”
“You were on the news. They talked about that suicidal girl and that someone from the hotline was there. They didn’t say your name, but it won’t matter. They’re going to get calls from people wanting their five minutes of fame. It’s only a matter of time before you’re hunted down. Let’s hope that no one finds out about your special gifts.”
Kates was right. Things were going to get bad, really bad. Here I was, concerned about Emily’s vampire and Shelly Witless. This reminded me— “Adam is mine.”