Page 14 of Love Lives
I clutched a hand to my mouth--too late. "God, I'm sorry."
We stood on the front lawn of a house, but I barely registered my surroundings as Aldrich stared down on himself, then at me. "A little warning would have been nice."
I grimaced. "Couldn't really say anything without that coming out."
"You're not the first person to get motion sick on these trips," Puck informed me. "And I assure you that Aldrich is no stranger to bodily fluids ending up on his clothes."
Aldrich actually laughed at that. "Not usually in this way, though." He shook his head just a little, but he didn't seem mad. He hadn't let go of me yet either. I was sure he'd be pissed or at least grossed out, but he didn't appear to be either of those things. "You sure it's just motion sickness?"
"I get car sick too."
"Good to know." He looked toward the house. "I should get cleaned up, and you should get settled in." With a glance at Puck he added. "Thanks for the ride."
Puck nodded. "I have some business to take care of anyway," he said, sauntering up to the house. It wasn't a large house. Not like the place the vampires had set on fire. Not even close to it. But it looked cozy. The second floor had a large balcony overlooking the front lawn, which was kept in good shape. There was a bench out on the porch too. Unlike our prior safe house, this one didn't look like no one usually lived in it.
"Ready to go in?" Aldrich asked me. One of his hands still rested on the back of my shoulder as if he wasn't quite ready to stop touching me yet. Even though he had puke on his shirt.
This vampire really was something else. The lengths he would go to just to get some action… I would never understand that.
"C'mon," the vampire said, pulling me out of my musings. "Let's meet the family. And get me a clean shirt."
"Yeah, let's."
He let go of my shoulder finally, and as we walked into the house, I told myself that I didn’t miss his touch. I was a terrible liar, but I tried very hard to believe myself anyway.
* * *
The house really was much smaller than what I'd gotten used to. It wasn't actually a safe house, either. At least, it hadn't been intended for that kind of use. This was Morgan's house. She was letting us stay with her because WAFFER hadn't been able to come up with another good solution on short notice. Morgan hinted that the organization had been in disarray ever since the night of the fire. No one could agree on what actions to take going forward. It was a bit of a mess, or so I was told. Not to worry, though, Morgan said. She still had faith in her organization.
I wasn't sure that I did, but I wasn't going to say that when she'd just opened her home to me. She used to live in this house by herself, and with my whole family in there, it felt a little cramped. I didn't mind too much, though. It had been too long since I'd been surrounded by my family. The only thing that dampened my happiness even a little bit was that they decided I wasn't fit enough yet to take care of dinner.
They were probably right about that, but that didn't mean I had to like it.
"Here, you can feed him," Collin said, handing me his son and a bottle. "Since I know how much you love feeding people."
I snorted at him, but took the infant. Nix was an adorable little thing, and I enjoyed having the warm weight of him in my arms while he tried to grab the bottle from me as if determined to feed himself if I didn't get on with it. "Someone's hungry."
"He eats aton," Collin said emphatically. "It's his favorite thing in the world, honestly."
"Well, he has a lot of growing to do." I smiled at my nephew as I fed him the milk. This was good. This was normal. Sitting here on the couch with my family. I could almost believe that we weren't all in danger from vampires.
And then my brother shattered my illusion of normalcy. "Make sure he doesn't puncture the nipple with his fangs," he said. "He's ruined so many bottles." Collin glanced at Jared. "See what you've got to look forward to."
Jared only smiled in response, quiet as always, but happier somehow. Silas sat right next to him, not saying anything either. I wasn't too sure on the details of their relationship, but if they made each other happy, I was all for it. In the end, that was what mattered, wasn't it? Not if one of them was a vampire or if they were both guys...
Jared wasn't the only one of my siblings with a new relationship I hadn't been updated on, though. Something was definitely going on between my sister and that witch, Caspar, who wasn't letting her out of his sight at all this evening. I didn't know too much about the guy, but I could tell from the way he was watching Elle that he liked what he saw.
Which immediately made me hate him.
Totally unfair and uncalled for, yes. But I couldn't help it. Elle was amazing, and I didn't know if this dude was. So far, he and his organization hadn't been the biggest help.
Aldrich poked my shoulder. "You look grumpy. Is it nap time?"
"What am I? A toddler?" Instead of looking at the vampire, I glanced down at the baby in my arms. "I can stay up at least as long as Nix can."
"How are you feeling?" Elle asked, as if she knew I'd been thinking about her.
"Honestly? A little tired, but I'm okay. If I need to sleep, I'll go to bed."
