“You had no right to go through my personal things.”
Why do you hate me daddy? She breathed in deep to keep the sting of tears from her eyes and nodded . “I’m sorry,” she said, knowing arguing wouldn’t help.
“You told your mom you weren’t drinking,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“You were so angry. I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
“What were you looking for?” he asked, his tone still hostile. She suspected her mom had already told him what she said, so she repeated that lie. “I’ve been thinking about Chan and thought maybe you’d have a picture of him.”
He stood up. “Chan is dead. Let him rest in peace.”
But he wasn’t dead, Della thought. And perhaps her uncle wasn’t either. She watched her father start to walk away. He hadn’t hugged her since right after she’d been turned.
“Daddy?” she said.
He turned and glanced back. For one second, one heartbeat of time, she could swear she saw regret in his eyes. Regret for all they had lost.
“What?” he asked.
She hurried to him, wanting to feel his protective arms around her. Wanting to know he didn’t hate her.
Before she got all the way to his side, he held out his hand to stop her. Her heart tightened into one big knot of pain.
She inhaled and swallowed. If she wasn’t going to get a hug, maybe she’d at least get answers.
“Is that your twin brother in the picture?”
His lips thinned and tightened. She thought he was simply going to leave without answering, but he finally spoke. “I came to get what was mine, not to give answers.”
“Why haven’t you ever talked about him?” Della asked, not willing to give up so easily.
“Why bring up painful memories? Some things are best forgotten.”
Like me, Della thought. He was working on forgetting her.
He turned to leave.
“I still love you,” she said, her voice low and filled with hurt.
His steps faltered for one, maybe two, seconds. Then he continued on. He didn’t look back. He didn’t say he loved her back. Why would he? She didn’t matter anymore. She was just another painful memory.
“Are you ready to go?” Kylie asked as she and Miranda came running to Della Friday after their classes were dismissed. Kylie was smiling. Since she and Lucas had gotten together, the chameleon smiled a lot. “Mom said she’d be here around four.”
“I’m all packed, but I need to do one thing first.” One thing, yet Della felt pulled in ten different directions. The funeral had left her feeling determined to convince Burnett she was worthy of working for the FRU. Her father’s visit had left her determined to find her uncle and aunt. And somehow she had to find Chan and talk him out of the gang. And then there was Steve.
“What?” Miranda asked. “What do you have to do?” The witch refused to let anything be a mystery. Last night when Burnett got home and summoned Della down for a visit, the witch had gone bonkers until Della explained everything. She told them that Burnett hadn’t been happy about her attending Lorraine’s funeral.
Della could still hear the vamp’s words ringing in her ears. An agent has to keep some emotional distance. Yeah, she’d try to remember that as soon as her heart stopped breaking.
He’d also asked her about her father’s visit. Della told him what she’d told Holiday when her father had left. She’d taken an old photograph of him and his siblings and he’d discovered it missing. Unlike Miranda, Holiday and Burnett didn’t pry. Oh, Della suspected the two camp leaders knew there was more to the story, but they obviously respected her right to privacy.
Something Miranda needed to learn to do. It wasn’t as if Della kept that many secrets from her two best friends. She’d even told them about her dad’s visit.
“What could be more important than our trip?” Miranda asked. But holy moly, did the girl ever give up?
Della let out a low growl. She almost smarted off that it wasn’t any of the witch’s friggin’ business. But right before the words left her lips, she realized she wasn’t really annoyed at Miranda, or her questions. She was annoyed at the situation. And while Della had a lot of situations going on, the one crowding her plate at this minute was her Steve situation.
He’d shown up for classes today as he said he would. And because he knew she didn’t want everyone assuming they were together, he hadn’t been overly friendly. But dad blast it if every time she looked his way, he wasn’t watching her through his thick dark lashes with a sexy smile on his face. She’d bet her best bra that he was thinking about them kissing. About what it would be like to do more than make out.
And seeing him and that heart-stopping smile made her think about it, too. It was as if her brain needed an escape from her other problems, so it took her there. It took her back to Steve’s lips on hers, to feeling his touch.
But damn it, she didn’t want to go there. Especially in the middle of math, with several students able to smell her pheromones.
Nor did she want to think about having to tell him she was leaving shortly after classes were over. But she had to tell him. She couldn’t just leave. That would be rude. Della might not excel at being nice, but she worked at not being rude. Well, most of the time.
Miranda cleared her throat and brought her back to the problem at hand: the nosy little witch problem.
“I won’t be long,” Della huffed.
“What is it that you have to do?” Miranda asked, her tone filled with impatience.
Della almost broke her anti-rude rule. “I have to talk to Steve,” she bellowed out.
“Now see, was that so hard to just tell us?” Miranda’s eyes grew round. “Oh, wait. Are you going to confront him about the doctor’s daughter?”
Kylie gave Miranda a sharp elbow in her ribs.
Della frowned. “What do you know about that?”
Miranda’s expression went forcibly innocent. “I don’t know anything.” She looked at Kylie and then shifted to stand behind her as if Della might attack.
Della was considering it, too. “Spill it!” Della rubbed her head when the throbbing pain in her right temple inched up a degree.
Kylie exhaled. “She … we don’t know anything.” She pulled Miranda from behind her. “Look, we both noticed the girl didn’t seem to be able to look away from Steve. She seemed to have a thing for him.”