Page 13 of Love Lives
"I don't know yet," I lied. "Gotta see what's in stock." In truth, I wanted to try my Grandma's minestrone again, but sharing that with Aldrich seemed oddly personal. I might have told him more if I hadn't felt so rattled already. Absent-mindedly, I rubbed the scar tissue on my chin. It was itchy. I glanced at the mirror above the sink in the corner of the room, kind of wanting to take another look. The bandages had come off only two days ago, and I still wasn't used to the sight of scars on my face. There was one on my cheek too, but it was less deep. Less pronounced. The doctor had said it might fade even more with time. The one on my chin too. That one was ugly, though. All jagged and red.
"You look fine," Aldrich commented.
I shrugged as if I hadn't been thinking about my face at all. My sudden vanity bothered me. I'd never cared about these things before, butit was weird to see a stranger staring back when I looked into the mirror.
"You still have a very nice ass," Aldrich said.
I snorted. "Do you think that's helping?"
"It certainly doesn't hurt."
Well, he was right about that. My ass, at least, hadn't been burned. My forearms and thighs hadn't been so lucky. I probably had my brother to thank for the fact that I didn't have any nerve damage. My limbs were a little stiff--partly due to all the bed rest--but I could move. Even if I had to lean on Aldrich a bit.
"Puck's late," Aldrich complained, glancing at his phone.
"Maybe something came up."
Aldrich made a non-committal sound.
"How did you two get to know each other anyway?" I asked.
"Late night at a bar. I kind of dig the hair."
"Did you two... Wait, I don't even want to know." Already, I regretted asking. "You're really not picky, are you?"
Aldrich pocketed his phone and looked me up and down. "I know what I want and I go for it when I see it."
I scoffed, trying to appear less affected by his gaze than I was. For some reason, my skin prickled as if the vampire had touched me with more than just his eyes, which was so fucking weird. It wasn't like I wanted to be touched by him. He pursued me, I shot him down. That was the game.
Or it had been, until one of us had been trapped in a burning building, anyway.
A popping noise interrupted my thoughts. A witch with electric blue hair appeared before us. Yeah, I kind of got what had attracted Aldrich to Puck. That color was eye-catching. Spoke of someone who didn't mind being a little adventurous...
No, I told myself.Do not picture the two of them in bed.
"My, you're looking grumpy," Puck greeted me.
I schooled my features. "It's the scars."
"They'll take some getting used to, I'm sure." Puck looked around the room. "Now then, do you have everything?"
Aldrich lifted my bag off the bed, then helped me stand. His grip was surprisingly firm. He wasn't any taller than me, and no more muscular, but he was a vampire after all.If he wanted to, he could lift me up and carry me. I would protest such treatment, of course, but right now, his paranormal strength came in handy.
He flashed me a grin. "Ready to go?"
I nodded.
"If you would give me your hand," Puck said, offering his own to me. I
"Hold on tight," Aldrich said. "This ride can get a little rough." He pressed me closer to himself. It should have bothered me, but all I could think about was the way he smelled. Not of antiseptics and disinfectants, but as if he hadn’t spent any considerable amount of time in this hospital at all. He smelled like the air outside on a cool summer’s night.
It wasn’t a bad smell at all.
"If we're all set then..." Puck murmured. He said something else, but it wasn’t English. The room began to spin around me. No, not the room was spinning. We were. Aldrich had not been kidding. I wrapped an arm around his waist, clinging to him.Was it too late to mention how easily I got motion sick? Probably. Nothing for it but to power through. Closing my eyes, I dug my fingers into the fabric of Aldrich's shirt and fought the urge to throw up the terrible hospital breakfast I'd had.
I didn't remain victorious for long.
As soon as the world stopped spinning around me and Aldrich told me that it was okay to open my eyes again, I opened my mouth instead. And there was this morning's breakfast, half-digested, and all over the vampire's clothes.
