Shiver (Night Roamers) (2 page)

He licked his lips and smiled. “I’ll be your host tonight. My name is Ethan.”

“
Excuse me, waitress, can I get another coffee over here?” snapped the twenty-something blond with the Bluetooth attached to her ear. She’d been sitting in the corner of the diner, talking loudly into the headset, making sure everyone around her knew she was important. From her boasting, I understood she was some type of investor, and a successful one at that. To me, she’d been nothing but a royal bitch.

“Are you ready to order
yet?” I asked quietly, refilling her cup of coffee for the fourth time. She’d been in the diner for almost an hour and I’d tried to take her order several times, in which she’d brushed me away with her hand like a bothersome fly.

This time she gave m
e an arrogant smile. “Yes, waitress … I’d like the Oriental Chicken Salad.”

Bitch.

I looked up from my order pad. “Excuse me?”

The woman raise
d her eyebrows. “I’m sorry?”

I
could have sworn I heard her say “bitch”, and from the smug look on her face, it seemed very likely.

“
Sorry, I thought I heard you say something else,” I mumbled.

She looked at her watch.
“I just gave you my order and I don’t have much time to wait.”

Get moving
, Bimbo…

T
his time I’d been staring at the woman, and her lips hadn’t moved when she’d called me a “Bimbo”, but I’d heard it as clear as day.

Stunned,
I stepped backwards, right into Susan, knocking her tray over. “Oh, God! I’m sorry, Susan!” I groaned in horror, my face turning red.

Susan bent down and began picking up the wa
ter glasses. “It’s fine, Nikki. Fortunately, it wasn’t anything important,” she replied. “Just a little water.”

As I bent down to help Susan,
the evil blond customer’s voice popped into my head once again.

What a dumb, stupid bitch
.

I stood up and stared at her. “What did you
just call me?”

Her eyes narrowed. “
I don’t know what in the hell you’re talking about.”

“
Having problems over here?” asked Rosie, coming towards us.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “
My fault, I bumped into Susan.”

“Don’t sweat it
, honey,” said Rosie. “It’s just water. I’ll help you, Susan. Nikki, go and seat those other people who just walked in.”

“Can somebody place
my
damn order?” snapped the woman, tapping her long, painted nails against the table. “I don’t have a lot of time here.”

“
Certainly,” I replied.

“Don’t worry, Nikki. I’ll
just seat the new customers,” said Susan.

Jesus
, is everyone around here incompetent twits?

I turn
ed back to the woman and scowled.

“
Let me guess, you already forgot what I ordered?” she asked with a tight smile.

I smiled coldly
. “No. I was just going to suggest the House Salad. It takes less time to make and fewer calories than the Oriental.”

Her mouth opened
. “What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”

I shrugged and gave her an
innocent look. “I’m just saying… you’re in a hurry. The extra calories in the salad dressing might bog you down.”

Her eyes narrow
ed. “Just order me the fucking Oriental Salad.”

“E
xcuse me,” interrupted Rosie. “Ma’am, that’s no way to talk to one of my waitresses.”

The woman reached into her pur
se and threw a couple of dollar bills onto the table. “You know what?” she huffed. “Screw this two-bit diner. I don’t have time for this bullshit.” Then she slid out of the booth and stomped out of the restaurant.

Rosie shook her head. “I’m not sure what that was all about
, but sometimes, it’s just better to let customers like that leave.”

“
I’m sorry,” I said to her. “It was probably my fault.”

“No,” said Susan. “
Don’t be so hard on yourself. That’s just Faye Dunbar and everyone knows she’s an annoying cunt.”

My jaw dropped and I
burst out laughing.

“I have to agree with you there, Susie
,” chuckled Rosie. “Spoiled rich girl with some major superiority issues.”

I wiped away my tears
and then went to go check back on my other customers, trying hard to forget about Faye. I still wasn’t sure how I was able to read her mind, but I knew it wasn’t my imagination and that the words had come directly from her.

“
I just seated an old friend of yours,” murmured Susan, coming up behind me as I refilled one of the coffeemakers with water.

“Really?”

I looked over towards my section and felt a pang of regret.

Duncan.

We hadn’t spoken in over three months; his choice, unfortunately, not mine. He hadn’t gotten over the night I’d disappeared with Ethan, if only to say goodbye. It had been very willingly on my part, even after Duncan and my brother had basically rescued me from Ethan’s house of vampires. When all was said and done, nobody believed that Ethan or the others were, in fact, vampires. Not even my brother, Nathan. He’d somehow been brainwashed to forget. I knew without a doubt that Caleb, my mother’s boyfriend, A.K.A. town sheriff, A.K.A. head vampire, certainly had a hand in that. With the power of persuasion, he could pretty much control anyone’s mind he wanted. That is, except for mine. Somehow, I was now immune to it. My only guess was that it had something to do with Ethan sinking his teeth into my neck before he’d left town. He’d been weak and I’d offered to let him feed before leaving for New York.

And fe
ed he had, almost to the point of my death.

At
least, that’s what Caleb had told me. Luckily for me, Caleb and my mother had arrived while Ethan was still attached to my neck, draining the blood from my body. My mom had freaked out and Caleb had shot Ethan, sending him away like a ghost in the night. Now Caleb and I had an understanding; I wouldn’t talk and he’d protect my family from the other vampires.

“Hi,” I said, stopping by Duncan’s table. He was with his dad,
Sonny, and looked like he wanted to take off as soon as I approached.

“Well, hello
, Nikki,” smiled Sonny.

Duncan nodded but focused most of his attenti
on on the menu, which hurt. I realized right then and there that I still had feelings for him and would have done almost anything to at least have his friendship.

I cleared my throat. “Um, can I get you something to drink?”

“Coffee for me,” said Sonny. “What about you, Dunc?”

“Just water,” he sa
id, still trying to avoid my eyes.

“Okay,” I said
.

“Your brother is doing a fine job at the marina,” said Sonny
, rapping his knuckles on the table. “Yep, a fine job. He’s a hard worker.”

I nodded. “Yeah, he must be doing something because he’s completely
wiped out when he gets home,” I said.

So
nny smiled. “We keep him hopping. But he seems to like it even so.”

I nodded.
“He says he loves it.”

“So, how’s your mom doing?” asked Sonny. “I heard she was hav
ing some problems with her eyes?”

Duncan glanced at me when
I answered. “Yeah, she still does. She’s been to a couple of specialists, but they don’t really know what it is.”

Secretly
I knew, though. Caleb was slowly turning my mother into a vampire. I’m not sure exactly when the final change was going to happen and he claimed that he was only doing it to save her from cancer. What I did know was that she hadn’t been given a choice about becoming a vampire, and she scoffed at me when I tried to talk to her about it. She believed that I was watching too many late night movies and they were going to my head.

“Well, hopefully it will clear up. Just tell her I said hello and that the offer still stands to get her out on my boat.”

“I will,” I said.

I left
to give them time to look over the menus. After refilling coffees and checking on the status of my other orders, I went back to their table and realized that Duncan was missing. Sonny explained that he had some errands to run and had realized he didn’t have time to eat.

“That’s too bad,” I said.

Sonny nodded. “Ever since he started hanging out with Caleb’s daughter, he’s been up late and moving slow during the day. I just don’t know what’s gotten into that boy.”

My throat went dry. “He’s been hanging out with Celeste?”

Sonny took a sip of coffee. “Yeah. Says they’re just friends, but the way she looks at him, he’s got to be blind if he doesn’t see it.”

I felt a pang of jealousy mixed with fear. I highly doubted her intentions were good.
“How long have they been hanging out?”

“Oh, ab
out a month now. Pretty girl she is, but a little on the wild side.”

Wild side?
He had no idea.

I
only nodded.

“Anyway, I suppose I
’d better order. I’ll have The Special,” he said, looking into his menu, “with my eggs over easy, please.”

I nodded.
“Sounds good, Sonny.”

He looked at me. “You know, I’
m surprised I haven’t seen you around the marina lately.”

I shrugged. “
I know. Now that school’s started and I’ve been working here at the diner, I haven’t had time to do much of anything else.”

“Well, pity. I think Duncan was beginning to really like you.”

I stared out the window, noticing in dismay that Duncan was standing in the parking lot talking to Celeste. She was sitting in her truck, wearing thick, dark sunglasses and a pouty expression. She must have sensed I was watching, because she turned towards me and smiled.

It gave me the chills.

“Nikki?”

I looked at Sonny. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

He chuckled. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Nikki, one of your orders is
up,” said Rosie, passing by the table. “Hey, Sonny.”

“Hi
, Rosie.”

I left Sonny’s table and finished up my shift
, thinking about Duncan and Celeste.

What
in the hell did she really want with him?

Whatever it was, it made me nervous
. I decided it was about time to hash everything out with Duncan, whether he liked it or not.