Julian’s hands skimmed across my shoulders and down my arms. I sank against him, trying to turn my face to see his, but he lowered his head to the curve of my neck. Warm lips brushed my skin, followed by the gentle scratch of a fang. I twisted into him. A thin sheen of sweat covered my body. This close to him, I felt trapped in my clothes. I wanted to rip them off. Or better yet, I wanted him to rip them off me. His palm slid to my hip, gripping the fleshy curve so roughly it hurt a little. A moan spilled from my lips, and he laughed darkly. I squinted in the darkness, trying to see his face. He thought I was ridiculous and fragile, and I didn’t care. Not as long as I was in his arms. But it was too dark to make out anything other than the sculpted lines of his lips. They parted, and I melted willingly into him. I waited for him to kiss me. My breath caught, hanging on the moment, but then he pulled away, retreating into the shadows.
“Don’t!” I called after him. It was the same as before. Teasing. Provoking. And then a door slammed between us.
But he lingered in the shadows. I felt him more than I saw him. I held my hand out, an olive branch in the darkness. He took one step closer, and my heart jumped in my chest. I didn’t dare speak. It wasn’t that I was afraid I would scare him off. I got the distinct impression that his reticence was for my benefit. Julian took a step closer, bringing half his body into the moonlight, but he paused again.
Once, when I was a child, I was playing in the desert on a camping trip with my mom when I stumbled across a Mojave rattlesnake. The dry, rocky earth concealed him until he reared up, his rattle shaking in a blur. I froze, unable to move as it decided whether to strike. Julian reminded me of the snake. He wasn’t afraid of me; he was deciding what to do with me.
He took a step closer.
“Thea!”
I turned away from the sound of my name. Not now. Julian held out a gloved hand. Why did he wear those gloves?
“Thea!”
“No!” I moaned, earning another low chuckle from Julian. The wicked sound of it sent heat pooling in my core.
A light snapped on, illuminating the night, and he vanished into the air like magic. I flipped over and buried my head in a pillow.
“That’s it!” Olivia’s voice was muffled by the pillow. “Don’t blame me if you fail your final semester.”
Fail.
Her choice of wording had the intended effect. I bolted up, tossing the covers off, and mumbled, “I’m awake.”
“I can see that,” she said dryly. “Also, your mom is trying to reach you, sleepyhead. She called me. I’ve got to run. Call your mom!”
“Crap!” I fumbled for my phone, practically ripping it from its charging cable, and found I’d missed three calls from her. I hit the redial button as my thoughts began to race. It wasn’t like her to bother me during the week. We’d arranged to video chat every Monday since my schedule was so packed.
“Did Olivia wake you up?” she asked when she picked up the call.
“Are you okay?” I ignored her question. “Do you need me?”
Since my mother’s diagnosis a couple years ago, I dreaded unexpected calls from her. Every time I was certain she was about to deliver bad news. I’d started to breathe a little easier since she finished her last round of radiation. But somewhere, deep down, I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Calm down, sweetie! I didn’t mean to worry you. I just wanted to check in,” she said quickly.
I slumped into the bed and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m fine.”
“You sound tired,” she said with that uncanny knack mothers had for seeing anything you tried to hide.
“Late night,” I croaked, wishing I had some water. I sandwiched my phone between my ear and shoulder as I got out of bed to get some. “I had a gig.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“And work.” I yawned, stumbling into our narrow galley kitchen where I discovered a pot of coffee waiting for me with a note.
Figured you needed some go-go juice.
XO, Olivia
She knew me too well. I bypassed the water and poured myself a cup of it. Cupping my palms around the mug, I savored how its warmth spread through me.
“Okay, but nothing’s up?” Mom pressed.
I was still shaking off my dream, but I thought it sounded like she was worried.
“Not really.” As soon as I said it, the particulars of the night before crashed into my conscious brain. My cello. Vampires. Julian. Was I okay? I mean, mostly. The stranger thing was that she was asking. “Are you okay?”
“It’s nothing.” There was a pause on the other end of the line. “A nightmare, I guess.”
“Well, I’m in one piece.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the cello. It would only make her frantic, and we had enough hospital bills to worry about. I had to trust that Julian would stay true to his word and get it fixed. There was no sense worrying my mom. “What about you? It must have been some nightmare.”
“I think it’s the radiation,” she admitted. “I swear it’s made me have the strangest dreams. Look, Thea, I know this is silly, but–”
A knock at the door interrupted her.
“Hold on a sec,” I told her.
I cradled my coffee mug in one hand and unlocked the door to find a uniformed man holding a box.
“What is it?” Mom asked, sounding almost panicked.
She really was on edge.
“Just a package,” I told her, smiling at the delivery man.
“Thea Melbourne?” he asked, and I nodded. “Great, sign here.”
I scratched my signature across his pad, and he handed me the box. It wasn’t a typical package. Instead of a cardboard box covered in printing labels, it was a large gold gift box wrapped with a white satin ribbon. I scanned it for signs of who it was from, but I had no clue. “Thanks,” I said and began to close the door.
“Wait!” he stopped me. “There’s one more. I wanted to make sure you were here before I brought it up.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“Be right back,” he called as he dashed down the stairs.
“That’s weird,” I muttered, forgetting I was still on the phone with my mom.
“What?” she asked.
“Two packages,” I said, yawning again.
“Were you expecting something?”
I loved my mother, but I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at her question. Why would I think it was weird if I was expecting it? “Nope.”
“Well, open the first one.”
“Okay, hold on. Let me put my coffee down.”
“I have no idea how you juggle all these things,” she said. “Where are your roommates?”
I slid my coffee onto the kitchen counter, past a pile of dishes and an old pizza box. “Olivia has class. Tanner is probably asleep.”
“Has he gotten a job yet?” She didn’t wait for me to answer before she rattled off her concerns that he was going to kill himself playing video games day and night. I untied the satin bow and slipped the ribbon off the package, murmuring half-hearted ums and ohs in agreement with her. Lifting the lid, I found an envelope resting on neatly folded tissue paper.
My hands shook a little as I drew out a card of thick ivory stock and read the words scrawled across it.
I couldn’t text this. Sorry. I’ll pick you up at nine.
-J
My mouth went dry, and I nearly dropped the phone. He really did expect me to go out with him tonight. Swallowing, I pushed open the sheets of tissue to reveal emerald velvet. I picked the dress up gingerly, and its skirt rippled down to puddle on the floor.
“Thea, honey,” my mom said on the other end of the line. “Are you there?”
“Yes, sorry, I think I’m half-asleep.” I hated lying to my mom but telling her I had a date with a vampire probably wasn’t going to ease her mind.
“Maybe you should go back to bed,” she suggested.
“Can’t.” I checked the clock on the microwave and felt a fresh wave of panic. “I need to get to class.”
“You’re stretching yourself too thin.”
“Not much longer, I promise.” I’d lost track of the number of times that I’d said that to her since I started at Lassiter. I told myself it was a lot as well. “Oh, hold on, the delivery guy is back.”
“Another package?” she asked as I opened the door.
“It’s for Olivia.” Why was I lying so much? Because I didn’t want to put any more stress on my mother, not with remission looking so promising.
But when I saw what the delivery guy had in his hands, I dropped my phone on the floor. Quickly, I picked it up and apologized to Mom.
Julian hadn’t just sent me a dress for our date tonight. He’d also made good on his promise about the cello. It wasn’t my cello case in the man’s hands now. Mine had come with my cello, both purchased secondhand. And while they had been well cared for, they’d also been well-loved. The case he held was a Bam L’etoile in a striking violet purple. It must have cost a couple thousand dollars.
“Mom,” I said softly, “I need to let you go.” I was vaguely aware of her saying goodbye, but I ended the call.
“Looks nice,” the guy said as he passed the case to me.
As soon as it was in my hands, I knew my cello was not inside. Julian hadn’t repaired my cracked instrument. He’d bought me a new one. “Thanks.”
Shutting the door, I carried the case and placed it carefully on the kitchen counter. I closed my eyes as I unfastened the locking clips. When I finally looked, I nearly fainted.
Two hours later, I was not in class. I was sitting on a stool, velvet dress in my lap, staring at the cello Julian had sent me. Tanner ambled into the living room, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and stopped when he saw me.
“Shouldn’t you be in class?” he asked with a yawn.
I looked at him, blinking as I processed his question. “Oh, yeah. Probably.”
“Earth to Thea.” He snapped his fingers. “What’s going on?” He moved closer and peered into the open case. “Is that a new cello?”
“Yes,” I said numbly but quickly added, “or, no. Not really.”
“You need some coffee?” he asked. “Because you aren’t making much sense.”
“It’s a Grancino.” I sighed when he gave me a blank look. “It’s from the seventeenth century.”
“An antique.” He reached to touch it, and I batted his hand away with a shriek. “Whoa! Sorry. Is it worth a lot of money?”
I swallowed and repeated the value Google had placed on it when I’d searched earlier. “Half a million–give or take.”
Tanner took a step backward as if he’d found himself past a velvet rope in a museum. Then he sank onto the stool next to me and joined me in staring at it. After a minute, he finally spoke, “So when you said rich…”
“Rich.” Honestly, I hadn’t even known just how well-off he was, but this was probably a good indication of the status of his bank account.
“And he’s in love with you,” Tanner added.
This snapped me out of my daze. “What? No! I just met him.”
“I don’t care how much money you have. You don’t send someone a half-million-dollar present just because.”
“Mine broke,” I reminded him, but even I knew my reasoning was lame.
Tanner poked at the dress in my lap, and I passed it to him. He held it up and whistled. “And this?”
“For our date tonight,” I said weakly.
“So, you’re going.” It wasn’t a question. We both looked at the cello and then the dress. I was going.
Julian had given me no choice.
