Page 64 of Fractured Fate

Clearing her throat, she forced down the uncomfortable lump lodged there. “I’m going to send an email to the office now.”

“Alright.”

She fidgeted, not sure what to say to him. Was he going home soon? What made him stay longer now that it wasn’t night?

As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I was thinking I could spend today hanging out, since you’ve had some weird things going on. What with the flower delivery and this morning. Which I know was my fault”—he held up a hand to stop her before she could blame him for scaring the pee out of her—“but it still bothered you. I can head back at sunset.”

“That’d be nice.”

She turned without another word and went to her computer. She felt off-balance from not only misunderstanding his reaction to a stupid outfit, but also how her hindbrain hijacked the more capable faculties of her mind. Like it had last night with Aiden lying almost naked in her bed.

Once she had fired off the email, she sat back and sighed, wondering what her mothers were up to.

Aiden chose that moment to appear next to her desk, his bulky shoulder leaning on the wall as he fixed her with a look, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Why don’t you tell your moms about this guy?”

Her brows tightened. “Could you quit that?”

“Quit what?”

Her hand waved about in the air. “The mind-trick Jedi thingy.”

He snorted. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the ‘mind-trick Jedi thingy’?”

“You keep reading my mind.”

His head recoiled in surprise. “I don’t have that ability.”

“I’m pretty sure no one really does. I’m just being stupid. But you have an uncanny knack for saying things relating to my thoughts.”

“Huh. Well, one, you need to stop with the stupid talk. It’s kinda pissing me off.” He moved in front of her and spun her chair. “Two, you’re thinking about telling them?”

She decided addressing the topic of how she talked down to herself on occasion wasn’t the best hill to die on, so she focused on his second point.

“Not telling them, but I was thinking about them.”

“Ah. So telling them. Thoughts?”

She slumped back in her chair and closed her eyes. “I want to show them I can make it on my own—be independent, you know? Even if I plan to come back to Rosebrook Valley to help with the business, I need them to know I can take care of myself,” she said, never opening her eyes for fear of what she’d find waiting in his.

If her mothers knew that the moment she left Rosebrook Valley she had attracted a stalker, they would bring her home and never let her leave. They worried like that. They were awesome. She rubbed at the stupid ache in her chest.

Her eyes opened when the air shifted against her legs as Aiden crouched in front of her. He reached up and rested his hands over the top of hers on the arms of the chair.

“It isn’t your fault some weirdo took a shine to you. Your mothers wouldn’t see that as your lack of ability to look out for yourself.” He squeezed her hands. “You went to the police. You’ve kept up with your classes. Leaving a dangerous situation when the stakes get to be too much is a sign of maturity.”

Well, when you put it like that…

She shifted in the chair, her eyes moving to the planter filled with succulents on her desk with phases of the moon circling its surface.

The stakes had become way beyond stalker levels. She didn’t know if what she saw in that alley was real or not, but if it was… Would the man—vampire—let her exist with his secret? Did he follow her home or know where she lived? A tendril of fear slithered down her spine. She didn’t want to bring the undead back to her mothers and put them in danger. But who could she turn to with that who wouldn’t immediately lock her in an institution somewhere?

She doubted even Aiden, with his kind heart and understanding eyes, would take her seriously if she told him what she’d seen.

13

VIOLATION