“Could and would are two different things, sweetheart.”
Friggin’ frack! How did this guy know her so well? When had she opened up and invited him into her life? Into her heart?
He leaned in and collected a kiss. A short one, that’s all she allowed. But it was a hell of a lot more than she should have permitted. Right then she knew his leaving was a good thing. She needed to put some distance between them. Needed a slowdown.
“I’ll see you Friday. But promise me you’ll call me.”
“I don’t make promises.” She swallowed a slight lump in her throat at his expression. “I’ll try.” Try not to, she amended. She had to put on her emotional brakes. Stop these feelings before they got out of hand.
He put one leg out the window and then glanced back. “Stay away from that new vamp. I don’t like him.”
Me, either, she thought, but didn’t say it.
Della sat there hugging her knees, staring out the opened window, trying not to care about the dad-blasted shape-shifter who’d left her feeling less than happy. A cold blast of wind snaked in her bedroom, and she shivered. She popped off the bed to go shut the window, and that’s when it suddenly occurred to her. She felt cold.
Since she’d been turned, she’d been aware of temperature, but she hadn’t really felt cold. She remembered Steve insinuating that she might have a fever. Placing a hand on her forehead, she moved to the window. She got there just in time to see Derek watching Steve walk away.
Great. Now Fairy Boy was going to think she and Steve were dirtying up the sheets. Derek looked toward the window, half smirked, and started walking over. Her first impulse was to offer him the third-finger salute and slam the window. Then she remembered he was assisting in looking for her uncle. Was he here for that? Did he already have something for her? She leaped out the window and met him halfway.
“I’m not sleeping with Steve,” she said first thing, deciding to make that clear from the get-go.
He rolled his eyes. “I really don’t care.” Then his gaze moved over her. “Smurfs, huh?” He chuckled.
“Oh, please, give it a break. You guys just want to fantasize about us girls wearing sexy lingerie to bed every night. We wear what’s comfortable. We wear what we like. So get over it!”
He scratched his jaw. “I’ll try to wrap my brain around that.”
She shook her head, her dark, straight hair flipping in front of her face. “Do you wear thongs and lingerie to bed?”
“Uhh, no.”
“Well neither do women. So if you don’t like to floss body parts that don’t need flossing, why would we?”
“I…” he stuttered. “I didn’t say anything about … I meant, I just didn’t expect to see a vampire liking little blue people.”
“Why not? I’m not prejudiced,” she said. “I like people of all colors, nationalities, and species. I even like you. A little bit.”
He looked taken aback. “You do know Smurfs don’t exist, right?”
“Of course I do. And you know all women don’t wear thongs or sexy lingerie. And wearing Smurf PJs isn’t weird.” Steve had even liked them.
Derek had the decency to blush, and held up one hand. “Forget I said anything.”
She realized she was overreacting and being grumpy, especially considering he was probably here to help her. “Sorry. I didn’t get enough sleep.” And the new vamp’s insult about her PJs had obviously stung more than it should have. “Did you find something out about my uncle?”
He nodded. “That’s why I’m here.”
Chapter Six
“What did you get?” Della asked, feeling as if his answer could change things. If her uncle was alive …
Derek shrugged as if he was about to disappoint her. “Not a lot, but I was able to dig up an obituary from some old newspapers that were accessible through the library Internet.” He pulled out a piece of paper. “I went ahead and printed it out. Of course, this doesn’t mean that he actually died. But it’s a place to start checking if maybe it was falsified. And I’m not done searching the Internet. If I can find out what school he went to, sometimes if there’s a reunion of that class, some classmates might have posted something.”
Della took the folded paper and frowned. “I don’t know what school he went to, but I’ll see if I can find out.”
He nodded. “Just remember, it’s not overly promising with something that happened so long ago.”
Disappointment whispered through her.
“Oh,” he said. “Can I sort of ask for a favor in return?”
Well, duh, she couldn’t say no, now could she? But what in the world could Derek want from her? “What is it?”
“I was hoping … maybe you could sort of be nice to Jenny.”
So it was really true. Derek had a serious thing for Jenny.
“Be nice to her?” Della asked. “I haven’t been rude to her.”
Now, Della couldn’t say that about everyone here at the school, but because Kylie liked Jenny and sort of took her under her wing like a little sister, Della had gone out of her way not to be rude.
“I didn’t say ‘not be rude’ to her, I said ‘be nice’ to her. There’s a difference, you know?”
Della shook her head. “Me not being rude is me being nice.”
He cut his eyes at her in a frustrated manner. “Look, Jenny’s really … insecure right now. She sees the kind of friendship that you and Kylie and Miranda have and she feels kind of left out.”
“Left out? Kylie visits with her every other day and she sits with her almost every day at lunch.”
“I know, but you guys don’t sit with them.”
“That’s because they’re sitting at the chameleon table, idiot!”
He frowned. “There’s not enough chameleons to be a chameleon table. Jenny wants to feel like she’s fitting in. And for some reason, she admires you. Thinks you’re cool.”
“I am cool,” Della insisted.
“Yeah, well, can you be cool and a little nicer?”
Della exhaled. “Fine, I’ll … try.”
“Thank you,” he said. “And I’ll continue to see if I can find anything about your uncle. And let me know if you find out what high school he attended.”
Della watched the fae walk away, glanced at the obituary in her hand, worrying how she might get the school information on her uncle, and worried how she was going to be nice to Jenny. She didn’t dislike the girl, but she wasn’t into making new friends. Her friend quota was full. Kylie and Miranda were all she needed.