Blood & Tears (Jane #3) (5 page)

"You think so? I do really like
him. He's just so funny and he's so easy to talk to."

"Yeah, I don't know about that.
He's scary. But if you're comfortable around him, you can't let him
get away. He seems to really like you, too."

We sat in Annie's room and chatted
about boys for a long time. The only thing that stopped us from
gabbing through to the next day was my ringing cell
phone.

"Hello?"

"Where are you? I've been looking
for you everywhere."

"Oh, hey Felipe. I'm hanging out
with Annie."

"Really? Cool." I could hear the
smile in his voice. "You guys hungry? Me and Jax are
starving."

"Sure. Let's go out to
eat."

Annie beamed across the coffee
table from me, her eyes shining like supernovas and her heart
pounding so loud I'm sure they could hear it down the
hall.

"Awesome. Meet us at the
garage."

I hung up and Annie jumped up,
squealing and dancing like a twelve-year-old girl who just found
out some famous pop singer would be coming to town. I helped her
get ready quickly, then we headed to the garage for our
double-date.

FIVE

We had a splendid dinner and
afterward we headed to a night club where we danced until the sun
began to raise its sleepy head. Then we raced it home, Felipe's
driving barely winning the contest. We stumbled, laughing, from the
car. Jax was staying in the human dormitory, which was located on
the other side of the dining hall, but he walked Annie to her room
first. She invited him in and Felipe and I laughed as the door shut
behind them before heading back to my room. We stood at the door,
as we typically did. The only time he had ever entered was that day
months ago when we had to go take out Victoria's captor.

"So, Jax and Annie seem to really
be hitting it off," he said, leaning against the door jamb with his
classic smirk creeping across his face.

"Indeed they do. They make a
really cute couple." I leaned against the inside of the door frame
next to him. For some reason, I felt uncomfortable with him for the
first time in months. My nails suddenly seemed more interesting and
I focused on them, picking at one to try to make it
straighter.

"Jane..."

I bit my lip and looked up. His
eyes were dark, smoldering, beautiful. He watched my face, his lips
slightly parted. I could hear his breathing, slow, steady, and
deep, like he was regulating it consciously. My heart thudded in my
chest, almost painfully. I felt my breath catch and my skin burn.
My mind was a chaotic mess, but my body took charge. Slipping a
hand behind his neck, I leaned against him, balancing on the balls
of my feet, and pressed my lips to his.

He didn't respond at first and I
almost freaked out. For several very terrifying moments, I
envisioned locking myself in my room and never leaving. Then I felt
his passion mirror mine and his arms slipped around my waist. Both
of my hands were on him now, my fingers gliding through his hair. I
leaned into him, craving his touch. His tongue passed over my lips
and they parted. I backed into my room, dragging Felipe with
me.

He took a step forward, then
jerked back, pulling away. "No, Jane. Wait."

My heart plummeted to the bottom
of my stomach. Dejection rolled over me and my breath grew short. I
turned from him, clapping my hand over my mouth. How could I have
been so stupid? I reached behind me, fumbling for the door. As I
attempted to swing it shut, his hand stopped it. He stepped into
the room, grabbing my arm.

"Jane, stop, please."

I turned to face him. Tears had
formed in my eyes and I could barely see him through the red blur.
He brought a hand up to my cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear that
had been jarred loose.

"Silly Jane."

He smiled, his eyes amused and
gentle. He slipped his arms around me, pulling me close. I pressed
my face against his chest. As my heart and breathing slowed, I
laughed. I hadn't been stupid to begin with, but I sure felt like
it now. He held me tight, kissing my hair. Once I had calmed down,
he pulled away slightly, cupping my chin and lifting my gaze to
his. His lips pressed briefly to mine, their warmth racing through
me like an addictive drug.

"Jane," he said, pulling back once
more. "I want you. I hope you know that. I've wanted you since the
day I saw you. But I'm... We..." I could see him fumbling over the
words and he bit his lip in frustration. "Let's take it slow, huh?
I don't want to rush this and ruin it. And I haven't ever really...
you know..."

I smiled. He was so flustered and
he was actually starting to blush a bit. Felipe, bad-ass
finely-honed weapon of destruction, was blushing, and I'd made him
do it. I started giggling, burying my face into his shirt to
smother the sound. He pinched my side and I squealed, jumping
away.

"Shut up," he growled, but the
edges of his mouth were curling upward despite his best efforts to
keep them lowered.

"I'm sorry," I said, pulling
myself, with difficulty, under control. When I was able to face him
without bursting into a giggling fit again, I looked up and stroked
his cheek. "Slow is good. I like slow."

He smiled, a bright, lovely thing,
and pressed his lips to mine once more. "I guess now everyone will
be right when they assume we're dating."

"Wait, wait, wait." I took a step
back, hands settling on my hips. "Who says we're dating? We're not
dating."

I could see the confusion and
consternation furrow his brow. The pain in his eyes almost made me
lose my resolve.

"But I..."

"But you what?"

"I thought... you kissed me. I
thought you wanted this, too."

"I do. Of course I do." I crossed
my arms, standing my ground. "But how can we be dating if you never
asked me out?"

He opened his mouth to say
something, but nothing came out and he snapped it shut before
nodding. "Yes, you are right. Terribly sorry."

When he dropped to his knees, I
almost lost it, but I lifted my chin, biting my lip to keep the
smile at bay. "My darling Jane, sweet, beautiful, cruel Jane. Will
you do me the most amazing, spectacular, fabulous honor of being my
one and only girlfriend?"

Then he batted his eyelashes,
clapping his hand over his heart, gazing at me with love,
affection, and just a hint of amused irritation. I cocked my head,
placing a hand on my chin in the fashion of thinkers long past.
"Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess I could."

He stood, his smirk firmly in
place, and slipped his arms around me. "You drive me nuts. You know
that, right?"

I leaned into him, kissing his
chin. "You love it."

"I do."

Our lips met again, less
passionately this time, but it was no less wonderful. As they
parted, I attempted, unsuccessfully, to stifle a yawn. He smiled
and kissed my nose.

"Get to bed. I've kept you up too
long. And we have to get prepared tomorrow."

I groaned, thinking of the awful
house we'd have to assault in two days. "Alright, fine. Be that
way."

I pulled away, but he pulled me
close once more, pressing his lips tightly to mine. I held him
tight for a few more minutes, then kicked him out of my room so I
could get ready for bed. I went to sleep that night with a huge
smile on my face and dreamed lovely dreams of potential, but highly
unlikely futures.

My beeping alarm had me up and
grumbling way sooner than I would have liked. I stood in the
shower, my mood alternating between thrilled beyond belief about
Felipe and terrified beyond comprehension about the upcoming
battle. My dreams, though most had been wonderful, had been
punctuated with brief moments of horror where I realized what it
would be like to lose Felipe now that we were finally officially
together. Flashbacks from that awful day in Russia swept over me
and I knelt against the cool tile wall of the shower, letting the
water cascade over me. My breath came short and fast and I allowed
myself a few minutes of intense freakout before I stood up,
composing myself as well as I could standing naked in a shared
bathroom.

As I opened the door to the hall,
I saw Annie at her door. Her hair was mussed and her clothes were
wrinkled. She heard the door shut behind me and jumped, eyes as
wide as those of a teenager caught sneaking into her own bedroom
late at night. When she saw it was just me, she bit her lip and
grinned, her cheeks turning bright red.

"Have a good night?" I asked,
trying to keep my voice casual and not at all as curious as I
felt.

"Mm hmm. It was fun. I like
dancing."

I raised an eyebrow, unable to
contain my grin. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know." Her tight-lipped grin
cracked and she beamed at me. "Jax is awesome. We, uh, we had a lot
of fun."

"I'm sure you did." I wiggled my
eyebrows and she giggled, blushing deeper. “Didn't you guys stay in
your room?”

“We got hungry, then went back to
his. So what about you and Felipe?"

I smiled, thinking of his lips.
"It went well. We didn't, uh, ya know. But we kissed. A couple
times. And he asked me out."

I gave her an abbreviated version
of what happened, eliciting a giggling fit from the half-vampire.
When she started yawning, I bid her farewell and started back
toward my room. I was walking past Felipe's hall when I heard
someone clear their throat. He stood there, leaning against the
corner, shirtless. Over his shoulder hung a towel and he held his
shower caddy in a hand.

"Morning, beautiful."

My blush rivaled Annie's. "Hey
handsome. How much... uh..." I waved my hand in the direction of
Annie's door.

"Enough. So she and Jax got their
freak on, eh?" His smirk gave way to an amused grin and I
laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so. She seems
pretty happy."

"She should be. They're both great
people and they deserve happiness."

He moved toward me, wrapping his
arms around my waist. I felt the caddy bump my backside gently as
he pulled me close. I tilted my head up, pressing my lips to
his.

When he pulled back, he kissed my
nose and said, "Go get ready. I'll pick you up for breakfast in a
few."

"You go get ready. You
stink."

I giggled as he swatted me, then
we kissed again and he headed to the bathroom. I was ready before
he was and went to stand in the hall to wait for him. While I
waited, Annie came out of her room, heading for
breakfast.

"Hey." She propped herself against
the wall beside me, hair still wet.

"Hey. Heading to
breakfast?"

"Yeah, meeting Jax down there. You
waiting for Felipe?"

"Yep."

"Cool. I'll wait with
you."

Ok, so it wasn't the most
stimulating conversation, but we were tired from the night before.
Neither of us had really gotten a lot of sleep. And thoughts of
what the next couple days held for me kept flitting through my
mind, killing the high I got from my newly official
relationship.

Felipe arrived a few minutes later
and we all headed to breakfast. Jax, Benton, and Ado joined us. It
was a fairly subdued, but enjoyable breakfast and I even saw Ado
smile once. No matter what people tell you, miracles do
happen.

After our plates were cleared
away, Annie bid Jax a very uncomfortable farewell as we all
watched, grinning, then the rest of us headed to our training room.
It wasn't the same room Felipe and I had used when I first started
learning how to be a killer vampire chick, but a bigger, more
involved setup. It was several stories high—I think it might have
been expanded into the abandoned warehouse above it—and right now
it was set up much like the street we would be on. I've never seen
them change the room, but Felipe tells me that Bellini has a group
of vampires and humans that are in charge of designing and building
the training scenarios.

In the middle of the room was a
full-scale building made of cardboard, wood, and paper. On
occasion, having the easily-destructible buildings was a pain in
the butt. They were in tatters more often than not by the time we
were finished preparing. This one needed to stay standing, as per
our orders. Ado growled as he left his grenades and flame-thrower
in the collection by the door. He had secured weapons for all of us
and we took our time gearing up. Vests, helmets, mesh belts with
stakes, bullets, and medical kits were all required wear, even in
training. The only big difference between training and the real
thing were the rubber bullets. They hurt like a son of a gun, but
they prevented any accidental deaths, which is always
nice.

"Alright. Let's do this," said
Felipe as he slapped a clip into his machine gun.

For the next six hours, we walked
through different scenarios, attempting to find the best attack
avenue. By the time all was said and done, the house was tilting
badly, the "porch" was nothing more than kindling, and one of the
surrounding buildings had been burnt by a small grenade that Ado
had somehow snuck onto his person and let loose in an irritated
moment. When we headed to dinner, we all were sore—it's quite a
feat making Felipe and Ado hurt like that—but we had a general game
plan. With any luck, the vampires wouldn't see us coming. It was
risky, to be sure, but we had high hopes that we would all be
coming home.