Thicker Than Water (11 page)

She licked her dry lips and wished water wasn't so far away.
Hecate seemed to think he was into me,
she thought, taking in a long, slow breath.

It was hard for her to believe. A guy that hot—an older guy, a DJ, an older, vampire DJ with a following—was into
her.
Kia grinned. Even if they never went out, never kissed, never did anything more than have that one incredible encounter last night, knowing that she had grabbed his attention was enough.

Well
...
maybe one kiss would be good.
Kia smiled again and sighed.
Or two.
Or ...

A door opened and closed. She heard footsteps.

Kia blinked. Before she could decide what to do, her door opened.

“Kia, what are you doing home;” Her dad stood in the doorway, startled.

“I thought you were in Washington,” Kia mumbled. He was talking too loudly and having to form words to answer him took a tremendous effort.

“I was. We finished early and I dropped by to get some files before heading over to the office.” He stepped into the room. “Are you all right? You don't look so hot.”

Kia shut her eyes. “Sick,” she murmured. “I feel sick.”

“Sick like you need a doctor?” her dad asked.

“Sick like I just want to sleep and not throw up.”

“Sounds like the flu,” her dad said. His brow furrowed. “Do you want me to ...” He jiggled some coins in his pockets. “Should I stick around? Stay home?”

“No,” Kia said. “I just want to sleep.”

Her dad nodded. “Okay. Well, if you need anything, just call me at work.”

Why didn't he stop talking? She wanted to be left alone to go back to thinking about Damon—and not throwing up.

“Can I get you anything?”

“Water,” Kia croaked. “A big bottle of water.”

“That's right. Fluids. That will be good for you. There's leftover wonton soup in the fridge. That might be good too. But you should order anything you want.”

“Just water.”

Kia shut her eyes and listened to her dad rummaging around in the kitchen. He came back into her room with a tall plastic bottle of chilled water. “Here you go, sweetheart. Take it easy.” He sat on her bed. “Uh, I might be late again, but if you need anything, call.”

Kia sat up carefully. The spinning was beginning to dissipate. She took the cold bottle of water from her dad and thought about ice.

He left, and she drank some water, then fell back asleep.

When she woke up a few hours later, she felt much better—even more after a long, hot shower. She came out of the bathroom and saw her dress from the previous night lying in a heap on the floor. As she hung it up, she stroked the velvet and decided she really needed to re-think her entire wardrobe.

The best way to do that would be to get that job at NightTimes. Employee discount and plenty of trying-on time—what more could a girl ask for?

 

The little bells jangled as she pushed through the door of the store. Even in daylight the place was dim. Hecate was marking price tags at the counter. She looked up, her almond eyes a little more raccoonish with dark circles under them.

“Hi,” she greeted. “How's your hangover?”

“Alive and well,” Kia said. “And yours?”

“I think I'm winning, but it's a close race.”

“That was fun last night,” Kia said.

Hecate nodded. “Yeah, that music rocked.” She grinned at Kia. “But I think you were more impressed by the person spinning the sounds.”

Kia covered her blush by rifling through some dresses on a nearby rack. Hecate stayed silent until Kia felt she had to turn around. “Okay,” she admitted, encouraged by Hecate's warm smile. “So I like him.”

“How could you not?” Hecate said. “He's hard-core yum. But Kia, watch out. There's more going on there.”

“What do you mean?”

“He and Kali ... I don't know what their deal is, but either way, the rumors are that they're into some heavy stuff.”

“Like what?”

Hecate shrugged. “No one knows for sure. It's all inner-circle-type stuff. Only a select few are part of that scene, and none of them are talking.”

“Hmm. So, were you serious about the job here?” Kia asked, wanting to get off the subject. She liked Damon, liked thinking about Damon, and wasn't really ready for anyone to give her a reason to stop.

“Definitely,” Hecate said. “Stevo!” she called. “Someone here to meet you.”

A short round man emerged from the back. He was completely bald and looked like a little fat Buddha, except that he was tattooed and pierced on every inch of flesh that Kia could see. Probably in places she couldn't see too, but she had no interest in finding out.

“Kia is interested in taking Blanche's spot,” Hecate said.

Stevo narrowed his eyes and walked around Kia.

“I'd really like to work here,” Kia said.

“Have you done work like this before?” he asked, coming around her to face her again.

Kia decided she should stick with the truth. “No, but I'm a really fast learner, and I'm very responsible.”

“Can you start tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kia said, figuring she would work it out.

“You're hired. Tell her what to do,” he growled at Hecate before disappearing into the back.

The two girls high-fived. “You're in!” Hecate said.

“I've just doubled my wardrobe,” Kia said. “Which is a good thing because I'm totally making myself over.”

A series of little chimes went off in Kia's purse. She pulled out her cell phone and checked who was calling. Carol.

“Hi!” Kia said into the phone. “I was going to call you later.”

“Where are you? I tried e-mailing, and I called the house,” Carol said. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine. I just had a little too much fun last night.” Kia watched Hecate open boxes of amulets and tie little price tags to them.

“What do you mean?” Carol asked.

“I went out with Hecate again.”

There was a slight pause. “To that vampire place?” Carol asked.

“To a different one.” Kia picked up a pair of lace-up boots from a rack and checked the price. Ouch. Well, maybe with an employee discount...

“There are more of them?” Carol asked.

“Yeah. This club was a lot smaller, though.” Kia held a maroon corset with black feather trim against her body and checked out her reflection in the mirror.

“Why would you go?” Carol asked.

Kia frowned. There was something unfamiliar in Carol's voice. A kind of incredulous disgust.

“Hey, good news,” Kia said. “I just got a job!”

“Really?” Carol still sounded strange. Maybe it was just the cell-to-cell connection.

“Listen,” Kia said. “Why don't I call you back when I get to a landline? I should get home anyway in case Dad calls.”

“Okay. I'm heading home now.”

“Later.” Kia clicked off.

“So tomorrow,” Hecate said, looking up from tagging. “I'll be here when you come in and I'll show you what you need to know.”

“Cool.” Kia grinned. “This is going to be great.”

She hurried back to the Upper East Side, hoping that her father hadn't checked in while she was gone.

She'd still have to tell him about the new job, though. How could she explain that she went on a job interview when she was home sick from school?

The elevator door slid open on Kia's floor and the minute she was inside, she checked the answering machine. Safe. No calls from Dad.

She plopped down on the couch and dialed Carol.

“So like I said, I got a job!” Kia said as soon as Carol picked up. “With a paycheck and everything. Not to mention some serious perks.”

“What kind of job?” Carol asked. She sounded like herself again. Interested. Kia could even hear a smile in her voice.

“At NightTimes, working with Hecate. Clothing store,” Kia added, realizing Carol wouldn't know the place.

“Oh.”

Kia frowned. Carol's voice had gone flat again.

“You should see the clothes, Carol,” Kia pressed on. “They are so perfect for me, and I get a wicked employee discount.”

“Well, that's good.”

Way to sound enthused,
Kia thought. She continued anyway. “And I'm making some cash, which means I can actually buy CDs instead of relying on Virgil to burn them for me. I can even get some techno-toys. And upgrade some paints and things ...”

She stopped talking. Why was she trying to convince her best friend that getting a job was a good thing?

“What does your dad think?”

Kia sighed. “I haven't told him yet. But last summer he tried to make me get a real job instead of that art camp thing.” Kia laughed. “If I had listened to him, I'd still be a virgin.”

Now Carol laughed with her. “Yeah, there were definitely some perks for you with
that
job.” She paused. “Do you ever think about that guy anymore? Kyle?”

“Not that much,” Kia said, thinking back to camp, to the woods, to the itchy blanket and itchier mosquito bites. To the surprising, exhilarating experience of going a lot further than she'd intended but letting it happen anyway and then being more interested in trying things than Kyle had been. She figured once they'd done it, crossed that line, why hold back?

“He was okay,” Kia said, remembering Kyle's definite ideas on what should and shouldn't come afterward, including having no contact once they'd left camp. “But it was kind of disappointing. Even though I
knew
I wouldn't hear from him again, I was still kind of hoping he'd call me after camp ended.”

“You seemed pretty able to live without him.”

“I guess ...” Kia said. “So why are you asking me about Kyle?”

Carol didn't answer, and Kia sat up, holding the phone tighter. “Wait a sec, are you thinking of actually
doing
it?”

Kia never quite understood Carol's boundaries. She did all sorts of things with guys—more than Kia had done until last summer—but always stopped short of actually “going all the way.” To Kia all the stuff Carol was doing counted as sex, but to Carol there was a vast distinction.

“I don't know.... Kind of. I think.”

“Robbie?” Kia asked. Robbie was Carol's latest playmate—the cello player in band. Kia never thought Robbie had staying power; she'd seen Carol ditch guys and move on to the next one so fast she sometimes forgot to let guy number one know before she'd hooked up with guy number two.

Not surprisingly, Carol said, “No.”

“Then who?”

“I haven't met him yet.”

“So this is theoretical.”

“So far.”

“Then why? just to check it out? I know you—you've held out for so long that finally doing it is going to have major impact.”

“That's what I'm afraid of. I think maybe you had the right idea. Get it over with.”

“That wasn't really how it was,” Kia reminded her. “I liked Kyle. And it kind of ... happened. We went overboard. I didn't plan it. Losing my virginity wasn't on my to-do list or anything.”

“Yeah, I know you're right ...” Carol said.

“You haven't met the guy yet,” Kia said. “You need to wait for the guy who makes you tingle. Who makes you lose your concentration in class because you're thinking about his eyelashes or the way his fingers grip your waist.” Damon's image flashed in her head and her blood stirred.

“Yeah?” Carol said. She sounded wistful.

“Yeah,” Kia said firmly. “Otherwise it won't be worth it, and you'll feel sad. Because you've wasted that moment.”

“Makes sense. Hey, you want to come over tomorrow?”

“I can't—I start at the store tomorrow after school.”

“Oh, right.” Carol was quiet a moment. “Is that going to work with school? And it's going to seriously cut into hanging-out time. Aaron is so psyched about this coven thing. He'll be disappointed if you vanish into the working world.”

“It's just a job. It's not like I'm moving to another country or something.”

“I guess,” Carol said. “If Hecate works there, is it like a vampire store?”

Kia laughed. “Yeah, it's where people go to buy vampires.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Listen, call Aaron and we'll get together tonight. We can play his funny little Wiccan games.”

“But your dad thinks you're sick.”

“Oh yeah.” Kia's brow furrowed. “I'll call him and find out when he's getting home. I'll call you right back.”

“Hey, Dad,” Kia said when her father's secretary connected her. “I'm feeling a lot better.”

“That's good news, honey. So you'll be okay if I head back to D.C.?”

“For how long?”

“Just a day or two.”

Wow, things were working out so easily. She could postpone telling him about the job and she could hang out as much as she wanted and meanwhile let him think she was doing him a favor letting him off the guilt hook.

“Definitely,” Kia assured him. “You do what you need to do. ”

“Thanks, sweetie. Have I told you how proud I am of how grown-up you've become? This whole thing with your mom, and my traveling, well, I'm really impressed.”

An uncomfortable tightness spread in Kia's chest. “Um, thanks. Have a good trip, Dad. Bye.” She hung up the phone and stared at it.