Whatever Caleb was up to must he serious or at the very least time consuming. I spent most of the day with Jamie at her house, not mine because she had cooler electronics. We saw several different movies and pigged out on some pizza.
As the sun began to set Jamie was getting bored, such things were dangerous for a teenager. “Let’s go do something.” She suggested from her bed where she was sitting.
“Like what? What do cool kids do?” she knew I was a loner and completely clueless on how these things worked. If it was up to me I’d be at work until I was tired enough to go to bed.
“I don’t know, I’m not a cool kid.”
“Wow, you are depressing.” I walked over to the bed and grabbed her hand. “Come on.” I wasn’t sure what we were doing but I wanted it to be fun and as childish as possible. I had parked in my own driveway; we were walking toward it when I noticed someone was looking for me. “Michael?” crap, I didn’t want to see him right now.
He turned from my front door and came down the porch. “My father mentioned you spoke.” He glanced from me to Jamie then back at me. “Now I see why you weren’t home.”
“Domenic gave me a ridiculous amount of days off so I was spending time with Jamie doing girly things. What are you doing here?” I was almost scared to ask because I knew he only came to see me when he needed something.
“I need to talk to you.” he answered softly.
I nodded and gave Jamie my car keys. “Wait for me inside.” I waited until she was inside the car to address Michael. “You need something.”
“Is that the only reason we speak now?” he touched my arm and motioned me farther onto the sidewalk and away from prying ears.
“Pretty much, I can count on one hand how many times you’ve visited me and this is the second time in a week.”
“Is that why you’re upset? Or is it because I’ve interrupted you trying to score points with the alpha’s lineage?” his hands were over the tops of my arms before I could storm away. “He’s not good enough for you.” he whispered along my ear.
I couldn’t stop my senses from reacting, goose bumps broke out all along my skin, and my heart thumped a little faster while he stood that close. “We’ve had this conversation more times than necessary and I can’t keep telling you it’s pointless. If you spoke to Dominic, you know I told him the same thing.”
“And yet you spend more time with Caleb and his daughter, wolves, more than any other race.” He felt betrayed by how I decided to spend my free time.
“So of course that means something romantic is happening and I’m humping him every night?” I smiled as I started to piece the puzzle together. “Would this sudden care about my personal life have anything to do with your snack bar Caitlin?” she would’ve been a good little servant and told Michael about seeing me at Caleb’s. My mind kept running and I realized Caleb would’ve suspected the same thing. Caitlin told Michael about the date, seeing me, everything. If he had planned to spy on the vampires then he would’ve used a better source. So what was the point of using Caitlin? Crap the whole situation was confusing.
“Just because we couldn’t work it doesn’t mean I stopped caring about you.” he took a step back allowing me to see his eyes and honesty. “If it was up to me you’d move far from this street and the conflict.”
“Are you admitting there is a conflict to be worried about?” Last I was told there was peace amongst the werewolves and the vampires in Celestin.
“Yes.” Michael always liked to keep me away from the dangers of his life, if he was admitting a problem then it was bigger than he could handle.
“I can’t just turn my back on them.” those damn words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them or deny their meaning. I was going to tell him I couldn’t turn my back on my friendship with Jamie, so how did her father get lumped into that?
Michael smiled sadly. “Do you still want to tell me there’s nothing there?”
“It’s not what you think.” How did I explain it without further shoving my foot down my throat? I didn’t know, hell I didn’t know anything anymore.
Michael touched his hand softly to my cheek. “Be careful Evie.” He walked away.
I watched him go and felt my heart crack into a new piece created by Michael Winston. I wanted to scream at him but no words left my mouth. I wanted to demand answers as to why he thought he had the right to say goodbye to me after all that time?
I wasn’t sure how long I was staring at the road he drove down wishing he’d come back. I snapped out of it when Jamie came to my side and wrapped her arm around my waist. “It’s ok.” She said. “It’s better this way, remember?”
“I don’t even know why he stopped by.” I felt tears burn my eyes and I hated him for it. I didn’t want to be a weak mess over a broken heart. I had cried over him enough.
“That was him right, the vampire you love?”
“Yeah.” I said softly. “Let’s get out of here.”
Before I always had some hope Michael and I weren’t done, I knew he broke up with me to protect me and the guilt he felt for my turning not going right but now that hope was cruelly stomped on. I believed it was truly over when he walked away, I believed he’d stop interfering with my choices even if he didn’t agree with them. We were completely over and nothing would change that.
I had wanted to get out of the house to make Jamie feel better, now I was the one depressed. I tried to shake the feeling and remember to look ahead and not back. The Coven was off my ass, I had many reasons to celebrate instead of wallow.
I took Jamie with me to Disputandum to dance the night away. Her father would seriously kill me if he knew. It was a club for adults and all supernatural races.
Chapter 15