Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
I stand there in the rain, stare at his windows. In the breeze, the orange trees sway back and forth, some oranges falling to the ground below. There’s only a narrow canal between me and his backyard and if I wanted to I could step onto the boat below and then step out onto his side which is unprotected.
But I don’t want to do that. I feel this is as close as I should get. I’m starting to feel like a stalker, which is ironic since vampires are usually the ones who stalk people, not the other way around.
You’re nuts, I tell myself as the rain continues to pour, fat droplets bouncing off the water of the dark canal. Get over it and go back to your place.
But I can’t. I can only stare, hoping for a sign of him. All the lights in the house are off and—
Suddenly the light in the bathroom on the second floor comes on. I watch as Valtu walks past the window, naked from the waist up, and I suck in my breath, feeling like a creep watching him but feeling so angry at the same time.
Why did you do it? I think.
As if he heard my thought, his head swivels and he looks to the window.
Then he comes right over to it and peers out.
He sees me.
He disappears. I stand there, wondering what I should do. I feel stupid, foolish. The rain keeps coming down and I’m soaked.
“Dahlia,” he cries out as he crosses his garden, nearly slipping on a fallen orange. He’s shirtless still but has a towel around his waist. I thought he was ignoring me but I guess he was in the shower. “What are you doing?” he hisses.
I shake my head, feeling tears building behind my eyes.
“Jesus,” he swears, and then steps down onto the bow of the small boat, one hand still gripping his towel as it rocks back and forth. He walks toward me and holds out his hand. “Come here.” He sounds cross.
I sniff, wishing I could disappear, but he’s insistent. I put my hand in his and he carefully guides me into the boat, across and then a big step onto his garden on the other side.
We take a few steps away from the edge of the water and he turns to me, looking me over with wild eyes. “What is wrong with you? Have you gone mad?”
I press my lips together and nod, trying to hold it together. “I think I might be.”
“Dahlia,” he says, shaking his head. Then he pulls at my hand. “Come on, let’s get you dry.”
“No,” I cry out, rooting my legs in place. “No, I want to know why you said what you did. Back there at school you told me it was over, that you were done with me. You told me to leave you the fuck alone,” I sputter, throwing my arms out, the rain flinging off of me. “Why did you say all that?”
“I told you,” he says, stepping toward me so he’s towering above. “It’s dangerous.”
“But for who?”
“For you!” he hisses, grabbing my shoulders, his fingers digging into my jacket. “It’s dangerous for you.”
I blink at him, droplets gathered in my lashes falling and mixing with the tears on my cheeks. “Please explain to me how. I deserve to know the truth, Valtu. If you don’t tell me the truth, then I’ve given you my all for nothing. I trusted you.”
“I can’t explain,” he says through gritted teeth, his jaw tense as his eyes search mine. “Please keep on trusting me when I say this is for your benefit.”
I raise my chin. “It’s a cop-out. You got scared.”
“I did get scared! Scared of losing you.” He releases my shoulders and runs his hand over his face, looking away.
“You’re not going to lose me,” I tell him quietly, reaching out for his arm. I run my fingers down it, grasping his fingers. “We’re okay. Right now, the two of us, we have a good thing and we’re okay. We’re safe.”
“You don’t know who I am, my dove,” he says to me with a grimace, his words sounding pained. “You don’t know what kind of man I am.”
“I know you have darkness in you, the same I have in me.”
“No, no, it’s not the same. I’m dangerous. It’s me. I’m the one that’s dangerous. If you really knew me…”
“Then I would love you just the same.”
Shit.
The words come out of my mouth without any warning, without any thought, they just sit there in the air between us and not even the rain can wash them away.
“What?” Valtu whispers harshly.
I stare at him, blinking, because what the hell. I didn’t think I was going to say that. I didn’t even think I felt that way but now that I said it, I know it’s the truth.