My Blood Approves (15 page)

Then he quickly untangled the guitar and
took it from me, without saying a word or looking at me again.

“
What song?” Jack asked
Peter, with a strange edge to his voice.

“
Your choice,” Peter said.
He sounded perfectly even, but when he looked at me out of the
corner of his eye, I could tell that he was a little startled by
our moment.

Feeling weak and shaky, I walked back and
collapsed on the overstuffed plush couch. Matilda decided that I
needed company and climbed next to me, resting her enormous head on
my lap.

I stroked her ears and watched Peter and
Jack play the game. They were playing so fast it didn’t seem
humanly possible, but then I remembered that they probably weren’t
humanly possible.

My whole body still felt electrified from
the touch, and I tried to decide whether or not I should ask Jack
about it. It still felt weird to me to talk to him about his
brother, even though it wasn’t as if Jack and I were dating or
anything.

Peter beat Jack the first round, so Jack
demanded a rematch. They played on for awhile, and Jack kept
looking back at me, to make sure I was still there.

Peter did too but always quickly looked
away. Every time he glanced back, my heart would flutter, and I
swear every time that my heart beat sped up, Peter and Jack would
tense up.

“
You’re not even letting
her play?” Mae appeared in the door with her hands on her hips,
sounding appalled. Ezra stood behind her, but he just chuckled at
the boys, as if he hadn’t expected any different from
them.

“
She played,” Jack said
defensively. “She just, you know, wasn’t very good.”

“
I had to put Jack in his
place,” Peter said.

“
Well, that’s enough of
that,” Mae informed them. She walked over to the couch, pushing
Matilda onto the floor and sitting next to me. “She’s probably
bored out of her mind.”

“
I’m okay,” I smiled at
her. Truthfully, I hadn’t had a chance to be bored. Watching Peter
do anything was intoxicating.

“
Turn that off anyway,” Mae
gestured to the game.

Jack grumbled, but he complied. Peter took
off his guitar and set it down in front of the entertainment
center, and then he sat in the chair on the exact opposite side of
the room from where I was sitting.

“
It’s a fun game,” Jack
complained to no one in particular, then sat down on the floor in
front of me. Matilda grabbed a thick rope chew toy and brought it
over to him. He started yanking on the rope, and she growled
happily and wagged her tail.

“
So, Alice, are you still
in high school?” Ezra asked. He’d been standing in the doorway, but
somehow, he’d moved into the chair closest to me without me
noticing.

Mae was running her fingers through my long
hair, and I thought about how weird it was. If any other person had
been doing that, I would’ve pushed them off and thought they were
insane. But with her, it felt perfectly natural and comforting.

“
Uh, yeah, eleventh grade,”
I answered.

Ezra looked at me as if I was fascinating,
but I couldn’t imagine anything about me would interest a person
like him. It reminded me of what Peter had said, about them putting
me on display, and it did kind of feel like that. Not that that
made any sense.

“
Are you doing well in
school?” Ezra asked.

“
Not really,” I admitted. I
knew that I could lie to him, and part of me wanted to in a
desperate attempt to impress him, but I also knew that I wouldn’t
lie to them. It just didn’t feel right.

“
Are you planning on
continuing your education?” Ezra leaned back in his chair, but
there was nothing disapproving about him at all. He was merely
taking it all in and trying to find out more about me. No matter
what I had to say, it wouldn’t upset him, because it was part of
me, and for whatever reason, he approved of me.

“
Maybe.” I felt sheepish,
but decided to continue anyway. “I was thinking about being a
doctor.”

Peter chuckled, and then shook his head. “Of
course she is.”

“
I was thinking of
psychiatry, actually.” I started blushing when Peter laughed. I
hurried to explain myself, so they wouldn’t all think I was a total
fool.

“
I can see that,” Ezra
nodded, looking intently at me. “You have insight.”

“
How can you even say that
with a straight face?” Peter asked Ezra incredulously, who just
turned and looked at him sharply.

“
She’s only seventeen,”
Ezra reasoned. “You don’t think she has insight for being that age?
And she must have an incredibly high tolerance since she hasn’t yet
killed either you or Jack. That’s patience and wisdom
brewing.”

I blushed even more deeply at his
compliments and dropped my eyes to the floor. Nobody had ever
talked about me like that.

“
Don’t.” Peter’s voice had
gone hard again, and he gave Ezra a look, which he returned evenly.
Then Peter shook his head. “She’s too young! And she’s too…” He
decided against finishing his sentence, and then got up suddenly
and stormed out.

“
Peter!” Jack groaned, then
got up and went after him.

“
Jack, leave him,” Ezra
called after him, but Jack just shook his head and kept
going.

“
He can’t keep getting away
with this,” Jack said and disappeared out of the room after
him.

“
You just have to ignore
him,” Mae purred warmly in my ear. She began braiding my hair,
something my own mother had never done, and tried to comfort me.
“He’s just that way.”

“
I just don’t understand.”
Confused, hurt tears were stinging my eyes, and I wished they would
go away. I thought about wiping at them, but Ezra was staring at
me, and it would only make my crying more obvious.

“
What, love?” Mae asked
softly, pushing stray strands of hair out of my face.

“
Why he hates me so much,”
I mumbled.

“
He doesn’t hate you,” Ezra
said. “He just wishes he did.”

I know that was meant to comfort me, but I
don’t really know how that made things better. Wanting to hate me
felt almost worse. It was a choice he was trying to make.

“
I need to use the
restroom,” I announced. I wouldn’t be able to fight the tears much
longer, and if I cried, I’d rather do it in the privacy of the
bathroom. I stood up, and Mae’s hands reluctantly fell
away.

“
Do you remember where it’s
at?” Mae started rising to show me where it was at, but I nodded
first.

“
I’ll be right back.” I
dashed out of the room as fast as I could without making it obvious
that I was running away to cry.

On my way to the bathroom, I had to go past
the stairs, but that was as far as I made it. Peter’s smooth voice
stopped me sharply. Hidden at the bottom of the steps, I could hear
them upstairs in Peter’s room. He was talking to Jack, and he
didn’t sound angry like he did in the living room. In fact, he
sounded more sad than anything else.

“
I’m not trying to be mean
to her,” Peter was saying, sounding small and
apologetic.

“
But you are! You should’ve
seen how terrified she was to come over here, because of you!”
Jack, on the other hand, definitely was angry.

I winced at the sound of him confessing my
embarrassing secrets, but I stayed longer to listen to their
argument.

“
Maybe she shouldn’t come
back then.” Peter was saying it reasonably, as if he was only
thinking of what was best for me, not because he didn’t want me
around.

“
You’re such an ass,” Jack
said. “I like her, Ezra likes her, Mae’s practically in love with
her. She’s going to be around. I don’t know why you’re fighting
everything so much.”

“
None of you understand,
okay?” Peter’s voice had gotten sharper. “Ezra has Mae, and you’re
too young. And this is like a holiday for Mae! She’s always wanted
a daughter.”

“
Look, it doesn’t matter!”
Jack had grown exasperated. “She’s going to be around, and you’re
just gonna have to find a way to deal with it. Without hurting
her.”

“
You know I don’t want to
hurt her.” Peter had gotten so quiet, I could barely hear him, but
his voice was unmistakably sincere. He truly didn’t want to hurt
me, or even hate me. So why did he?

“
Yeah, I do!” Jack snapped.
“So knock it off!”

“
Okay!” Peter
relented.

The conversation appeared to be winding to a
close and I could hear footsteps getting closer to the stairs. I
couldn’t have them catching me eavesdropping, so I ran to the
bathroom. At least I felt less like crying now, even though I felt
even more confused about what was going on.

When I came out of the bathroom, both Peter
and Jack had returned to the living room. Peter remained cordial
but distant. Jack played with the dog and tried to get everyone
involved in some other video game. Ezra continued to ask me
questions about myself, ranging from what my mother did to what
television shows I liked the best, and Mae seemed contented to play
with my hair for the rest of her life.

It was after eleven o’clock when Jack
declared that we should get going. Even with the anxiety, the night
had passed amazingly fast.

They all walked us to the garage door, even
Matilda, making me once again feel self-conscious. They were
constantly putting me in the center of the attention, when they
were all far more beautiful and fascinating than I could ever dream
of being.

Mae hugged me tightly to her, and she looked
almost like she was going to cry because I was leaving.

“
You will come back, won’t
you?” Her hands were still on my arms, squeezing them a little too
tightly, and Ezra put his arm around her waist, gently pulling her
back from me.

“
We really enjoy having you
over,” Ezra said, managing a much less frantic invite than his
wife.

“
Oh, she’ll be back,” Jack
answered for me, grinning broadly.

Peter, who had been standing off to the
side, took a step closer to me, and his piercing green eyes met
mine. For one irrational, euphoric second, I thought he might kiss
me, but he stayed frozen several feet from me.

Then, very softly, but so strong that it was
definitely a command, he said, “Come back.”

“
Okay,” I nodded. He
must’ve established his human interaction quota with that, because
then he turned and walked out of the room. I regained some sense of
composure and forced a smile at Mae and Ezra. “I’ll be back. I
promise.”

“
We’ll see you soon then,”
Ezra smiled at me. Mae looked as if she was going to explode with
glee, and Ezra kept his arm firmly placed around her to stop that
from happening.

“
I told you Ezra would like
you,” Jack said when we were in the garage. We were heading down to
his Jeep, and I had a long tirade of questions to ask him, so I
kept my mouth shut until we were safely inside. I didn’t want my
thoughts interrupted at all. “Do you disagree?”

“
I do not,” I replied, then
hopped into the Jeep and waited for him. He had barely gotten in
when I turned full on to face him. “Okay. What the hell does your
family want with me?”

“
What do you mean?” Jack
asked carefully. He didn’t want to accidentally give away too
much.

“
You’re all fawning all
over me, like I’m a shiny gem or something.” That wasn’t the right
way to say it exactly, because I felt like they genuinely liked
me.

“
I don’t know how to answer
that.” He started the Jeep and backed out of the garage.

“
Jack! I have a right to
know what exactly you’re doing with me!” My voice sounded shriller
than I had meant it to, but some small part of me was actually
afraid. They were powerful and beautiful and they wanted me. It was
flattering but terrifying.

“
No, I know. I’ll answer
you. Just give me a minute to think about it.” The radio still
played Smashing Pumpkins, and he turned it down as we started the
drive home.

“
You guys aren’t really
brothers are you? I mean, not in the blood relative sense.” It was
more of a statement, but Jack laughed and shook his head. “You’re
trying to tell me that you all have the same parents?”

“
No, we don’t,” Jack said,
still chuckling over my question.

“
You’re more like a
fraternity or something?” I asked.

“
Kinda, but more than
that.” He was vague, as usual, and I sighed.

“
Jack, what’s going on?” I
asked him earnestly. “What is all of this? Why are you guys so
different? And why do you think I’m special?”

“
Do you trust me?” He
looked gravely at me.

“
Yeah, you know I do.” My
heart raced. He was finally going to tell me something.

“
Okay. Then… I will tell
you, very soon. But you just have to wait a little bit
longer.”

“
Why? What’s going to
happen in a little bit longer?” I demanded to know. “I’ve met your
family, I hang out with you all the time, and I know that you’re
not exactly human. What’s left?”

“
It’s complicated,” Jack
sighed. “And I… I don’t want to scare you off.”