“Nothing. Let’s go,” she said, breathlessly.
I grabbed her hand and got her to the door. “Deep breath. You can do it.”
“I can do this.”
I pulled it open, and we stepped out.
“Lina.” Hunter was by our side in the next breath. “What happened?”
“Perfume.” She stepped into his embrace. “I’m okay. I’m fine. Darn it!”
I stepped to the side, shielding Angelina from the women coming out of the bathroom. Dang, she triggered my protective instinct. She was only a couple of years younger than me, but still. It was like a big-sister thing, maybe.
“Perfume, huh?” Hunter asked, his voice gentle.
“That’s the worst at triggering—” I stopped talking. Shit, I hadn’t planned on saying that. It was like I had verbal diarrhea when I was around Angelina.
Body odor did it for me. Damn men down in Mexico didn’t know how to shower or something. And with the heat…well, they didn’t care. They knew they’d get lucky no matter what. It was so gross.
Drey’s gaze turned tender. It was then I knew he’d want more information. He’d dropped more hints this past month. Even at the Christmas Ball when we were all dressed up, but he didn’t push hard.
Maybe my slip was my subconscious telling me I was ready to share a little more with him. Jenna would probably agree. In fact, I could picture a little Jenna Angel on my right shoulder urging me on to tell him, then the little Sarah Devil on my left shoulder telling me to keep it in. How he’d think me disgusting…
No. I couldn’t go down the disgusting road.
“I’m fine. Sorry guys.” Angelina fanned her face. “That was a doozy.” She stomped her foot. “Okay…let’s see some kick-ass vampire hunter get her dagger on!”
We all busted out laughing, even Angelina joined in. Warm fingers twined with mine, and Drey bumped my shoulder with his. “You good?”
“Good to go, as Angelina would say.”
“What does Sarah say, though?”
We stepped into the dim theater along with pretty much…everyone considering it was packed. “I’m good. For real. I’m good.”
We followed Hunter and Angelina to our reserved seats at the top row, and I settled in next to Drey. I lifted the armrest between us, and he hugged me close with his free arm.
“So…smells?” He eased back and dug out one of our bags of candy and ripped it open with his teeth. Not much choice, since he had one arm occupied with me.
“Yeah. Smells.” I held out my hand for some.
“How ’bout you tell me, and I’ll give you some.”
“Jerk.” I poked his side.
“Hey now.” He grunted. “Gotta give me something, girl.”
“Here? Now? Really?”
He held up the bag of candy, then dumped some into his mouth.
Well, it was dark, for the most part. And he definitely smelled good, so I was more than willing to lean in to him. I pushed myself up a little more so my mouth was right next to his ear, and he held still.
“Before I came here, to Minnesota, I… You know I lived in Mexico.” I gulped through the thickness forming in my throat. Felt like a noose. Probably because I’d been so programmed to never utter anything to anyone ever…I’m safe here. “Well…I was with someone who…hurt me.” I glanced up, judging his reaction.
He stopped chewing but looked straight ahead. His grip on my shoulder tightened slightly.
“His…friendsalso…hurt me.” I swallowed hard. “They—one in particular—smelled really bad. Body odor. Sweat. Bad breath.” I shivered, beating back the image starting to form in my mind. “I…sometimes I get a little…upset if that smell catches me by surprise.”