Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (198 page)

We drove for a bit in silence. My mind
raced at the thoughts of a possible relationship, of monsters and
of why in the world my hormones were all jacked up.
Why did Michael know
so much about grollics?
A sudden thought crossed my mind.
“How old are
you?”

He
glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “How old did Grace tell
you I was?”

“
She dodged answering the question, like you are
now.”

“
You asked her about me?” He grinned.
“I’m…nineteen.”

“
I’ll be eighteen in January. However, I think I’m seventeen
going on thirty. I’ve been grown-up for so long.”

He
chuckled. “I know the feeling.”

Another
thought hit me. “How old’s Grace?”

The
question took him by surprise. He appeared about to say one thing
but seemed to change his mind. “We’re twins.”

Totally weird.
Now how’d I have a hunch on
that?
“How
come you’re done with school?”

“
I work with Caleb.”

“
Did you drop out? Or skip a grade?”

“
No.”

That
didn’t answer anything. He obviously didn’t want to talk about it –
yet. “Why the pretense she’s younger than you?”

“
She is younger, by a bit.”

“
You born first?” Grace had said he was older. Too many weird
secrets. “Are you guys in some kind of trouble?”

“
Questions, questions.” He grinned. “Has anyone ever told you,
you talk a lot?”

“
Never.” I shrugged, feeling giddy. Not once in my entire life.
“One more question, and I promise I’m done.”

Michael
raised an eyebrow.

“
Why was one of those monstery-things after me?”

“
Now
there
’s a loaded question. Caleb might know the
answer.” He glanced down at the book sitting between
us.

“
One more question.” He opened his mouth, so I quickly added,
“Can we stop at Starbucks and grab a latte? Sorry to say this, but
you make lousy coffee.”

Chapter 6

Rocking
slightly side to side, I now hesitated outside the house. Maybe the
reason my body didn’t want to go in had to do with the horrible
memory of the beast. If we went inside and talked about it, I’d be
admitting it was real.

Michael
reached for my hand and squeezed it, giving me the courage to cross
the threshold. Little currents of hot and cold raced across my
skin.

Does Michael have them too?
I blinked, trying
focus on the task ahead. This was serious. I really didn’t want to
be some monster’s dinner.

In the
middle of the living room, Michael stopped. Grace and Sarah relaxed
on the couch and a man sat at the desk Sarah had occupied
yesterday. My heart stuttered.

Caleb
.

He was older than I thought he’d be. Maybe
late fifties or sixties.
The tightness in his face and posture made him
appear ready to pounce.
Or overreact?
The kind of guy who shot first and asked questions
later.

Where
everyone looked tanned, Caleb was pale like me but even more so.
Almost pasty white against the dark, expensive clothes he wore. He
had the same intense blue eyes as the others, but with years of
knowledge behind them, like he’d been through the wars. He was
handsome, in a strange way, with strong facial lines. He sat almost
regal.

When he
glanced at me, his eyes darted from my feet to my head to my feet
again, a harrumph escaping his lips.

I wanted
to disappear.

“’
Tis a pleasure to meet you.” He spoke with an English accent –
very proper – and polite. However, his words sounded
automatic—years of being taught what to say.

“
Hello, Mr....” I paused. I didn’t know their last name and it
seemed wrong to call him Caleb without permission.

“
Knightly.”

“
Hell-Hello.” Should I curtsey or kneel?

He
leaned back in his chair, fingers clasped tightly together, resting
on top of the desk. “It seems you had an altercation last night
with a grollic.”

Wow. Straight to the point.
“Michael’s been
trying to explain.” I played with a loose strand of hair which had
escaped my ponytail. “He seems to think there’s a…a grollic after
me.”

He
tutted. “Possibly, but not confirmed. That’s the first sighting of
one in a very long time. We assumed they’d become extinct in this
area. It seems they may have just burrowed underground.” He twirled
a large ring on his right hand. “Do you have the slightest
inclination why one would fancy you, of all people?”

I
shrugged, suddenly conscious of the book lying in Michael’s car. I
shook my head. It made no sense the two were related. “I just moved
into town. I haven’t done anything since I got here. Met Michael
and Grace, got a job…normal stuff. Last night, I stepped into the
trees on an off-chance. It wasn’t something planned.”

“
Maybe you caught it off guard. Maybe it was curious about the
noise from the kids,” Sarah said.

Good point.
Maybe I was in the wrong place at the
wrong time.

“
Perhaps…” Caleb rubbed his chin, his eyebrows drawn close
together. He stood. He was a lot taller than I originally thought,
at least half a foot taller than Michael. “We must remain aware of
our surroundings and be cognisant of any possible threats. Grace
and Michael will keep an eye on you, and we shall see if this
grollic has any other intentions. Perhaps it was
hungry.”

The way
Caleb looked at me—or through me—I felt like some carnivore’s
dinner, nothing more. I gasped and took a step back. He strode by
me, without a second glance, to his office, the antique door
closing with a cold click from the brass doorknob made me
jerk.

“
It’s just some freak of nature, some kind
of wild animal. Caleb talks as if the thing can think and plan an
attack. Animals can’t do that.” I spoke to no one in
particular.
Who’re you trying to convince? Them or
yourself?

Michael
slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Nothing happened last night
and nothing’s going to happen to you. I promise.”

“
It was definitely a one-off.” I loved it that I believed him.
He made me feel…safe.

Thank
goodness school started without a hitch. No monsters came knocking
at my door. I did joke with Grace, with me practically sleeping at
her place all the time, a grollic could’ve come but bolted when it
got to my neighborhood.

It
sucked but I barely saw Michael. Caleb apparently had him
travelling for work.

Simon
made it his priority to introduce me to everyone at school. While
the weather stayed warm, a group of us sat in the courtyard every
lunch break.

One
Friday, near the end of October, the guys, being their usual rowdy
selves, started a game.

“
Rouge,” Simon said. “Are you going to come with me to the
Halloween Masquerade?”

Before I
could think of an excuse not to go, Damon dragged Simon to a desk
chair he’d set in the middle of the courtyard.

“
Help me set this up. Then let’s jump over it.” Damon pointed
at us gals sitting together. “You ladies keep score.” All the guys
scrambled over to join them, each one easily clearing the chair.
Soon two, then three chairs were lined up. When a few guys knocked
out, Damon dragged a picnic table to replace the chairs. He scraped
his foot in the grass to make a line ten feet away. He declared
they had to stand behind the muddy line. The remaining three
cleared the table sideways. They turned the table long. After Damon
and Simon barely cleared it, they pulled two together.

I leaned
toward Grace. “Maybe they should fill their pants with rolls of
toilet paper.”

“
What’s that Red?” Damon paused in his work and grinned at his
nickname for me. “Chumming up to your little pal?” He glared at
Grace. “It’s obvious Red’s you’re new little Barbie doll. Poor
new-gal didn’t stand a chance once you sunk your claws in
her.”

How old
was this guy, nine? “I have a brain, thank-you. I’m a Barbie. Maybe
you’re just jealous she wouldn’t let you be her Ken?”

He
stepped forward and leaned down, his face inches from mine, hot
breath hitting my cheeks. “What’d you just say?”

My
courage flew out the window. I dropped my gaze. His eyes were red,
nostrils flared, lips curled in a nasty smile. I locked on his neck
where a birthmark, which also looked angry, peeked out from the
edge of his polo shirt near the buttons.

Simon
pulled Damon back. “Leave her alone. You’re scaring the poor
girl.”

I gasped
for air, not realizing I’d held it. With a shaky hand, I covered my
mouth, not sure what else to do.

Damon
blinked and jerked his arm out of Simon’s grip. “Whatever. Sorry,
Red.”

“
You’re such a jerk, Damon.” Grace grabbed my arm and led me
inside by the elbow. “You okay?”

Leaning
against the cool, cement bricked wall, I tried to calm my nerves.
“Bit insecure, isn’t he?”

Grace
laughed. “I usually just try to ignore him.”

“
How do you ignore someone so big?”

“
And ugly?”

I
grinned, feeling better. “You so missed your chance when you turned
him down.”

“
I guess he never got over it.” She pretended to clutch her
heart. “It started the first week I was here, but he was just so
big—”

“
An’ ugly.”

“
An’ smelly. It turned me off.”

“
I don’t blame you.”

The bell
rang. I had chemistry and she had art on the other side of
school.

“
See you after classes. Try not to pick anymore fights.” She
laughed and disappeared down the hall.

Afternoon classes flew by. At the end of the day, I made my
way out to the parking lot to Grace’s car. My heart skipped a beat
when a dark blue Mustang sat parked beside the Smartcar.

Michael
stood waiting between the two cars, leaning against his
door.

“
Hi.” I hadn’t seen him for two weeks and he looked awesome. I
made tight fists, warning my fingers not to reach up to his blond
hair begging to be tamed. His blue eyes piercing with their
intensity, his lips and slight stubble – all of it made my blood
rush.

He
nodded a hello, but his face remained serious. “Grace told me what
happened. I thought I might have a word with this Damon
boy.”

Boy?
Damon was like a year younger than him. I waved my
hand. “It’s nothing. Damon probably took too many steroids and had
some reaction.”
Bummer. I had been hoping for:
I missed you.

Michael’s head shot up and his body tensed. I turned around
to where he looked.

Damon
pushed through the school front doors, strutting across the grass
with Simon in tow. They headed to the other side of the parking
lot. He kept glancing our way with an irritating, cocky smile, but
he continued to his car. He gassed the engine and sped out of the
parking lot.

“
Michael!” Grace’s singsong voice made both of us turn. “What a
surprise.” Her cheeks and most of her face burned slightly
red.

“
Really? You contacted –” Michael stopped
mid-sentence.

Something passed between the two of them, but I couldn’t
figure out what. It might take a bit of patience, but I intended to
find out. Why would Grace call Michael and tell him about lunch? It
was no big deal. Then it dawned on me. “It seems your old flame’s
still holding a bit of a nasty grudge.”

Grace
shrugged. “You win some and, in his case, you lose again. The guy’s
a meat-head.”

“
Maybe it was good I wasn’t here.” Michael turned and smiled at
me. “Well, if my knight-in-shiny-armor services aren’t needed; is
there anything else I can help you with?”

“
Well…” I said. “There is this Halloween Masquerade. We are
actually required to go for drama class. I could really use a
date.”

Chapter 7

Of all
the Halloween themes, we got stuck with famous couples. Grace
convinced Simon to go with her and she took charge of all our
outfits. She bought a Spartacus costume for Michael and a Roman
slave one for me. I’d come to trust her and she made me laugh with
her charity shop and eBay shopping.

The
night of the dance I sat in her bathroom on a stool, letting her
curl my hair and pin it up. “Doesn’t Spartacus’s wife get
murdered?”

She
dropped the curling iron.

I swore
she caught the hot part in her bare hand but didn’t even
flinch.

Setting
the curling iron on the counter, she grabbed a few bobby pins.
“Aren’t all famous couples tragic?”