Blood Awakening (Blood Burden Series Prelude)

Chapter 2: Awakening

  Nicole and Kat spent the morning lounging in the pool outside of their room. Nicole shrugged off any lingering thoughts of last night’s dream quickly as she allowed herself to start enjoying the mini-vacation as well as quite a few poolside drinks adorned with umbrellas.

  “Wow, that’s what? Drink number three for you? And it’s not even noon yet,” teased Kat as she dried off and took a seat in the white lounge chair next to Nicole.

  Nicole smiled as she took a big sip from the straw in her Margarita, “I am vacationing, Kat.”

  “You’re absolutely right and I’m so glad to see you’re finally letting your hair down. I know it’s a hard thing for you to do.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, after the way you practically ran out of the restaurant last night when we met those two hotties, I was sure you’d put your granny panties on for this trip.”

  Nicole’s mouth dropped open as she glared at Kat over the top of her white rimmed sunglasses. “I did not run out of there. I just wasn’t feeling well.” Nicole pursed her lips into a dramatic pout.

  Kat chuckled, “Okay, I believe you.” She sighed, giving Nicole’s leg a playful pinch. “Think I’ll get me one of those drinks, too.” She waved a hand toward the patio bar and pointed to the drink in Nicole’s hand. When the bartender gave her a nod, she turned back to face her friend. “Seriously though, you seemed a bit upset last night and then you must have had one hell of a nightmare because you were totally freaking out.”

  Nicole observed her friend’s concerned face as she thought about the man at the restaurant who managed to reach into her sleep, turning a nice dream into a nightmare. The more she thought about it, the sillier it all seemed. She waved a dismissive hand as she took another long sip from her drink, “I’m fine, really. I just had a bad dream but… thanks for worrying about me.” Nicole gave her friend a warm smile as the waitress walked over, handing Kat her drink.

  “Well then, let’s toast to having a good time,” said Kat, holding her drink out.

  “And to best friends.”

  “And to hot guys,” said Kat as they clinked their glasses together.

  “Speaking of hot guys, what happened to our eye candy from last night? I thought you were going to call Matt today?”

  A sly grin crept over Kat’s glossy pink lips as she leaned back into her lounge chair, “What, and tie myself down to one guy when the candy shop is full? I don’t think so,” she giggled.

  After spending the day on the beach with Nicole tanning while Kat flirted with every cute guy that came within eyesight, they did some shopping for a night of clubbing. By the time they finished hitting all of the clothing stores, the sun had begun to set.

  Kat was getting giddy with excitement. One of the numerous guys she had flirted with had given her VIP passes to La Vela, the hottest club in Panama City, with plans to meet up later that night.

  “Can you believe that guy gave us VIP passes?!” said Kat as she spun around in front of the full length mirror in their hotel room. She had picked a short, skin tight, black satin dress with an open back and tall, black boots with super thin stiletto heels. She looked like she just stepped off the runway at a fashion show.

  “Well, the way he was looking at you, I’m surprised he didn’t offer you the keys to his Porsche!” Nicole said as she put on a pair of Kat’s diamond earrings per her bossy friend’s instructions. Kat had also dressed her for the night in a dark blue dress that dipped so low in the front, they had to used double-sided tape to keep the dress from falling out of place. Nicole insisted on preventing the exposure of her assets to the world and her resulting death from embarrassment on the dance floor. “Are you sure this is going to hold?” asked Nicole for the third time since Kat taped it securely.

  “Yes,” huffed Kat. “Will you stop worrying? You look hot! We are going to be the sexiest gals in the club tonight,” she giggled.

  Nicole touched up her eyeliner as she admired how bright her ghostly blue eyes looked when she wore dark blue. She dusted a bit of bronzer on her high cheekbones and across the bridge of her narrow nose, then dabbed a bit of sheer lip gloss onto her full lips. Satisfied, she gave herself a quick wink in the mirror, then followed Kat out the door.