Dark Secrets (74 page)

“
Tu m’appartiens.” He
kissed my cheek and smoothed my hair back, leaving a cool tingle
behind where he linked the chain around my neck.

As it fell onto my
chest, just below my collarbones, my hand rose up instantly to hold
it tight. “What does that mean?”

He slowly pressed his
lips to my ear. “You belong to me.”

“
For as long as I
live?”

“
No, mon amour. For
all time.”

“
I like that,” I
said, sitting back against him, and he wrapped his arms across my
waist, holding me that way until the sun went down, stealing away
the last day of our forever.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Orange shadows
stretched across the highway in the early morning sun, and my
thoughts, distant and reflective, seemed lost far beyond the car
window too. I leaned my weary head on the glass, trying to hold on
to that last moment before everything changed.

Today, for the first
time, I woke to the sting of normality; coffee, with its unusual
ability to make everything seem okay; toast on the table when I
came down, feeling the early morning chill on my bare arms, and
quiet conversation with Dad—trying not to wake the rest of the
house.

Even though Mike was
arriving today, excitement was not the first feeling I had as my
alarm startled me from peaceful slumber; it was devastation,
weighed down with a tight ache in my throat called sorrow. It was
kinda fitting really, that the last time I saw Mike, I was in
exactly the same state of mind as I was now—miserable. I really
thought Mike’s coming to stay would ease the pain of losing David.
But I was wrong.

Dad moved his gaze
from the road and smiled at me; I knitted some semblance of a grin
across my face, but the world couldn’t make me smile for real, and
in two weeks, when David left forever, I’d never smile again.
Unless I became a vampire.

Thing was, with the
days of losing him coming closer and closer, the idea of killing
for love seemed less horrific. Not enough that I was ready to tell
him that—or think it around him. I just…I just needed guidance—a
sign.

The music in the car
became louder when one of Dad’s favourite songs came on, and as we
turned onto the long stretch of highway toward the airport, a black
billboard with a white circle of light caught my attention. I spun
in my seat and read the words as we whizzed past:
Let Fate Decide
.

Let Fate
decide?

Dad turned the radio
off then, leaving me feeling exposed in the silence as an idea took
shape. I sat back in my chair, smiling. Maybe if I couldn’t decide
what to do, I could ask a higher power to grant me an epiphany—or
at least an answer. Mike loved me, but he, in no way, loved me like
I loved him. It would take some miracle for his heart to change,
just like the kind of miracle it would take to convince me to go
with David and be a murderer. So maybe that was it; maybe that was
my answer. If Mike magically confessed his undying love for me, I’d
stay human, live my life, have babies, and one day die. But, if I
was right, if he really only loved me as a friend, then it’d be a
sign that I should throw away childish beliefs about meeting ghosts
of the past in the hereafter, let go the hope of one day being a
mother, discard all my moralistic beliefs, and go with David—become
a vampire.

It was perfect; like
rolling the dice and saying ‘seven’.

Dad looked sideways at
me and changed gears as we slowed, coming into the airport. “You
excited?” he asked.

“
Kinda nervous,
actually.”

“
Nervous?” he said.
“Why?”

Part of me wanted to
tell Dad about the ‘Tragic Rejection Moment’ between Mike and I,
but the sensible part said, “It’s just been a while, is all. I’m
not sure if we’ll be friends like we used to.”

“
Honey.” Dad pulled
over in the pick-up zone and placed his hand on mine. “I’m sure
you’ll be fine. You may have been apart for a while, but Mike’s
been there the whole time. I’ve been talking to him every couple of
days—giving him updates on you.”

“
Dad?” I groaned.
“Really? I mean, I knew you were talking, but—updates? Come
on—”

Dad shrugged. “He
asked. I told.”

“
I don’t know how you
thought telling me that would make things better.” I folded my arms
and looked out the window.

“
Because I don’t want
you to feel like he abandoned you by not pushing you to talk to
him. He’s just been giving you some space.”

I unfolded my arms and
looked beyond the glass entrance of the terminal to the people
flooding the airport, gathering around the baggage collection for
flight 728. Mike’s flight. “He’s here.” I unlatched my seatbelt,
ignoring the intoxicating surge of adrenaline seeping into my arms
and chest, making my heart pick up about ten paces. I wished I
could see him—just make him out among the crowd so I could sneak up
on him—see how different he looked before he saw me.

“
Go on.” Dad grinned,
watching me edge in my seat.

“
I’ll be back soon,”
I beamed as I sprung from the car.

People gathered their
bags from the conveyer belt and hugged their families. I pushed
against the tightly packed bodies, using my elbows to almost swim
through the crowd, my gaze shifting side to side.

“
You lost, sweetie?”
a man asked when I studied his face carefully under his
sandy-blonde hair.

I shook my head and
hurried past him, stopping dead when I saw a guy on his phone by
the Coke machine; sandy-coloured hair, broad shoulders. I squinted,
jutting my neck forward as I took baby steps in his
direction—seeing only flashes as the crowd of people stole my view
several times.

Then, certainty
flooded through me when he threw his bag over his shoulder and
flipped his phone in the air before stuffing it in his back
pocket.

That was
him!

I stopped walking; he
was so much taller than I remembered, and bigger, too. His blue
shirt fit tightly around the softballs in his arms, but there was
still that something in the way he held himself—a sort of tall
stance with a kind of confidence that came from being an officer of
authority. He looked good. Good enough that I felt my cheeks flush
as the perfect word to describe him entered my
head...
sexy
.

“
Ara?” He spun around
suddenly, eyes lighting up.

I couldn’t move. I’d
imagined this moment so many times in my mind; how I’d run into his
arms and he’d lift me off the ground and kiss me—like he loved
me.

However, that was
always only a dream, and I left that behind—found another reason to
exist. But, as I looked upon my old crush for the first time in so
long, my new reason to exist seemed to fade for that one moment,
and whether it was by habit or longing, I wasn’t sure, but for that
moment, I still wanted Mike just as bad as before.

“
Ara? Baby?” He
ushered me to him. “What ya waitin’ for, girl, come
here.”

With no mind for the
family walking in my path, I darted forward, forcing them to part
as I launched toward Mike, barely giving him a chance to drop his
bag before I jumped into his arms. We stumbled back a few steps
with the force of my eager embrace—a physical reaction my
steady-legged vampire could never have, unless he was pretending to
be human. And I loved how human Mike was right then.

“
Whoa, baby. That’s
happiness to see me.” His widespread fingers pressed firmly against
the back of my ribs.

I squeezed his neck,
wrapping my legs around his hips—probably showing my undies to
every dirty old man who cared to look. He just felt so good to
hold; a little piece of the past, with a warmth that could only be
human—as if he’d carried some of the Perth sun all the way to the
U.S. with him.

I rested my cheek in
his neck and let myself cry like a little girl. “I missed you so
much.”

Mike’s arms became a
band of restriction, stopping air from coming into my lungs. “I
missed you too, kid.”

When he went to lower
me, I held on tighter. “Not yet. Just...not yet.”

“
It’s okay, Ara. Let
go. I’m not going anywhere.” He unwound my arms from his neck and
placed me on the ground. I pulled my dress down to cover my legs.
“Let me get a look at you.” He shook his head, smiling. “You’ve
gotten thinner. Are you eating?”

“
You sound like my
mum.” I clutched the edges of my dress in fists of nerves. “And,
yes, I do eat.”

“
What’s this?” He
reached for my locket.

“
Oh, um. A friend
gave it to me.” I took it from his hand and dropped it back into
place.

“
You belong to me?”
His brow folded over one eye.

“
Ah, yeah. It’s um, a
good friend?” I offered, but from the way his lips meshed tightly
and his eyes narrowed, I knew he didn’t like it.

“
David?”

“
Maybe?” The corner
of my mouth turned up involuntarily.

He just blinked a few
times, then drew a deep breath through his nose and placed his arm
around my shoulder. “Should I be worried?”

“
Mike? You’ve been
here for a whole two seconds. Don’t start.”

“
I don’t like it,
Ara. It sounds—possessive.”

“
You’re just
jealous,” I said, smiling.

“
Jealous, huh?” His face lit up and his eyes warmed with so
much familiarity that all the pain of the separation over these
last few months melted away. He grabbed my hand. “So what if I am?
You’ve always been
my
best friend. Then, out of nowhere, you meet some random guy,
fall in love with him, and he brands you with his mark. Now, all of
a sudden, you belong to
him
?”

Brands
me? A quick breath came cold into my lungs as I
reached for the yellowing bruises on my neck—the ones from the
indiscretion under the stage. But when Mike’s eyes narrowed as he
looked at my hand, I tensed from toes to shoulders, realising that
wasn’t the
mark
he was referring to.

He grabbed my wrist
and pulled it away from my neck, gasping loudly when he saw what
was hiding beneath my carefully styled, bruise-covering hair. “Who
did this to you? Was it him?”

I shrank into myself,
looking around. “Mike, stop it. Please. People are
staring.”

“
I don’t care. Look
at you. What kind of a guy would do this to a young
girl?”

“
It wasn’t like
that.”

“
Oh, really. Then
what’s the story, Ara?”

“
Look, he wasn’t
trying to hurt me, okay? Just stop worrying about me all the
time.”

Mike grabbed my chin
and studied the marks on both sides of my neck. “Stop worrying,
huh? Well, it certainly
looks
like I should be concerned. Have you seen this?
Have you looked at yourself? Jesus, girl.” He released my face
gently. “What the hell?”

“
It
was an accident. I—I bit him,” I said bashfully. “We were just
playing around. I let him do it to me, and he—well,
we
got a little carried
away.”

Mike’s arms dropped to
his sides and disappointment filled his watery eyes. “Did you sleep
with him?”

I shook my lowered
head. I felt so foolish.

“
Ara. I’m sorry.” He looked around the busy terminal, rubbing
at the frown on his face. “Just. Why would you let him do this to
you? How do you think I feel to come here after missing you for so
long, so worried because I can’t be here to protect you, and I
find
this
—” He
held his hand out, presenting the bruise. “God, Ara. You should
have more respect for yourself.”

“
I
know.” My face crumpled and fell into my hands. “I already feel bad
enough about it.”
About wanting him to do
it.
“I don’t need
you
making it
worse.”

He clicked his
tongue, then wrapped both arms around my shoulders, muffling my
sobs against his chest. I hated the fact that our dramatic reunion
in the middle of the airport was on display to hundreds of
people—all watching. “I’m not mad at you, Ar.” He rubbed my back.
“Okay? I’m not mad at you. I’m just—” He sighed and pulled back,
wiping the tears from my cheeks with both thumbs. “I’m mad
at
myself
. I
never should’ve let your dad take you away. I should’ve come after
you—or kept you with me.” He sounded utterly defeated.

I shook my head. “He’d
never’ve let me stay, Mike.”

“
He would’ve let you
stay with me.”

I shook my head again.
I was glad I came here; glad I met David—even though I was going to
lose him. “He didn’t hurt me, Mike. David? He didn’t hurt me. I
wanted him to do it. I liked it.”

“
Ara? You’re just a girl. You shouldn’t be playing games like
that with boys.
He
should’ve known better,” Mike said in a singing tone. “Look,
I’m sorry. I just lost it, is all. I just never expected to see you
with bruises.”