Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
After the game, students congregate outside the bleachers, making their plans. I’m busy posturing to everyone, making sure no one thinks anything is amiss, but all the while I scan the crowd for Lauren.
No dice.
She and her twin seem to have disappeared.
I see Casey Muchmore presiding over a large group of volleyball players and cheerleaders. She glances over at me. I should go over and ask her to Homecoming.
Full disclosure–we’ve hooked up a few times during full moon runs. Her older brother Cole would kick my ass to Kansas if he knew, and their dad would probably straight up murder me. The guy used to drink too much and get violent.
The thing is–I don’t feel bad because I don’t think it means any more to her than it does to me. I think she was curious about sex. So was I.
She was pretty bold about telling me how she wanted it and what she liked. It was fine–I wouldn’t say it rocked either of our worlds. I chalk it up to normal teen experimentation. I never for a moment got the impression that she had any emotional attachment to me or expectation that we be anything to each other at school or elsewhere.
So her looking over at me now is almost out of character. Casey is alpha enough, I’d almost expect her to march over and demand when I’m going to ask her.
Except, she doesn’t. For some reason, I get the feeling she hopes I won’t.
That doesn’t make sense, though. It’s expected for us to go together since we would be Homecoming King and Queen.
Would be if I didn’t now have to figure out how to make Rayne get voted in as queen without losing face with literally everyone.
River, one of the cheerleaders, turns to look at me, too. Casey immediately touches River’s waist in what looks like both a reassuring and possessive touch.
Oh. Don’t know why I didn’t see that in her before. Maybe she already has a hot date to Homecoming.
“Hey Abe, you driving to the mesa?” J.J. asks.
The popular kids head up there post-game to hang out with the she-wolves around a fire for flirting and fooling around.
“I can’t, I’m grounded,” I lie. “I’m on probation for grades again.” That part is true.
“Bummer. Okay, see you later, man.” We fist-bump, and I walk to my Land Rover, scanning the parking lot for a Tesla, even though I know the twins must be long gone.
My dad texts me: I’m waiting.
Okay, fine. I’ve got to stop this obsession with Lauren Sterling. She’s the reason I have to spend post-game in my dad’s clinic instead of hanging out with my friends.
She’s the reason my condition is getting worse.
If I were smart, I’d bully some other kid in chemistry into switching partners with me and stay as far away from her as I can.
No, if I were really smart, I’d find a different vampire to wipe her mind and get him to tell her to switch schools or leave town.
A sharp pain jabs at my temples, and I involuntarily groan at the sudden pain.
Fuck. Now even thinking of her now brings on an episode. It’s getting so much worse.
This girl is going to destroy everything for me–expose my weakness, make me lose my position as alpha, gut my father.
And I don’t want it to stop.
I can’t seem to put even a minimal distance between us to prevent my complete destruction.
Chapter Eleven
Abe
Monday is the Homecoming royalty election. J.J. makes the rounds as class president, passing out the ballots. I already told all the ballers to make sure Rayne wins as queen and instructed them to spread the word.
So far, no one has questioned it.
That’s the good thing about having alpha status. When I give an order, it gets blindly obeyed.
That’s why maintaining my status is paramount. It keeps anyone from questioning my behavior when I can’t read the board or an instruction sheet. When I can’t function in the classroom or out on the field.
Even though after last night’s tests in my dad’s clinic I resolved to avoid Lauren as much as possible, she’s like an addiction to me.
I’m looking for her in the hallways as I strut through them with J. J. and Markley. Desperate to catch her scent. To watch those shapely legs strut around in her short shorts and platform heels. To catch every time she tosses that thick copper mane of hers.
Her brother’s scent reaches me from around the corner. It doesn’t have any effect on me–not the way Lauren’s does, but I don’t find it an unpleasant scent like I do with the rest of the human population.
He’s standing near Rayne. “Like I said, it’s just as friends. I’m not looking for a date-date if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’d love to,” Rayne says.
I stop. “What’s this?” I act the part of the asshole, so no one will know I’m desperate for intel on Lauren. “The runt and the new kid are going to the dance?”