The Sight Seer (15 page)

Chapter
Twenty-seven

I swore time dragged on purpose because it knew I had something to look forward to on Friday night. Work on Thursday was torture and the four-hour shift felt more like fourteen hours. Then I had a couple of tests on Friday that I probably bombed because I was too anxious to concentrate. It wasn’t that I was excited for the party—no, I still believed it would suck. What I was looking forward to was seeing Rafe again in a non-demon hunting environment. I wondered what that would be like…?

Pen had volunteered to come over and help me with my makeup and hair, but I knew she would want to stick around to see Rafe’s reaction and probably make a bunch of inappropriate comments, so I declined, saying Chloe would help me instead.
Not that Chloe knew she had been nominated for the job. I probably should have checked with her first because, as it turned out, she was going out as well.

Well, it worked out in the end, anyway, as we stood in front of the long bathroom mirror and did our makeup.
We gave each other advice and I think we both looked damn good by the time we were finished.

Chloe tucked a strand of my hair in place and gave me a nod.
“You look hot.” I gave her a little twirl, my skirt fanning out in all directions. “It’s about time you wore that!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you keep stealing it from me!”

Her expression grew serious. “No, I mean, I’m glad you’re going out. With a guy. Makes me think you’re actually human.”

I went to throw a hairbrush at her, but she ducked out of the bathroom into the hallway, giggling.

“And where are my girls going tonight?” Dad asked when we joined him in the front room.
I watched as he took in our outfits and waited for him to say something. Chloe’s skirt was teeny-tiny, but at least she had the sense to wear black leggings under it. I had a sinking suspicion the leggings would disappear the moment she got out of the house, but I kept my mouth shut.

“Tori and I are going to see that new slasher flick!” Chloe chirped.
And this was actually the truth. What she was leaving out were the boys they were going to meet there, and what they were going to do
after
the movie. “And then I’m sleeping over Tori’s house. Her mom is picking us up, if you want to ask her.”

“I think I will,” Dad agreed.
He glanced at me. “And what about you?”

“We’re hanging out at Pierce Whitman’s house.
Me and Penny and Harrison and… Rafe.”

Dad raised his eyebrows and I felt a surge of panic.
Was he going to tell me I couldn’t go? He usually didn’t mind since he knew I wouldn’t go overboard, but things were different now that Rafe was involved. Not that Rafe and I were involved…yet.

“Be back by midnight,” was all he
said and I let out a rush of breath I didn’t know I was holding in. “I’ll be at the lodge, so call my cell if you need me. You too, Chloe.” My sister was too busy rapidly typing out a text to acknowledge Dad with anything more than a grunt. He sighed and traded a glance with me. “At least I have one responsible daughter,” he said.

“Tell the guys at the lodge I said hi,” I responded.

Dad almost always went to the lodge on Friday or Saturday nights.
The guys sat around and played cards or watched sports, drinking and eating chips and doing other boring guy things. I was glad he went, though. After Mom left, he had spent years devoting himself to us, never going out because he felt too guilty. It wasn’t until we were older and showed that we were capable of taking care of ourselves that he finally started going back to the lodge. It was nice to see him looking forward to something each week besides our pizza and movie nights. I wanted Dad to be happy. As messed up as Chloe and I were from Mom’s abandonment, it hit Dad the hardest, despite how much he tried to hide it. That’s part of the reason why I didn’t give him a hard time like Chloe always seemed to do. He’s dealt with so much as it is, so what right did I have to add more difficulties to his life?

Chloe left first, with a wave and a shouted goodbye.
While Dad went outside to confirm Chloe’s story with Tori’s mom, I played with the strap on my bag, wondering if I should go up and change into my flats. But then I would have to deal with Penny’s wrath, and it just wasn’t worth it. Dad came back in and shot me an amused look when he saw how much I was fidgeting.

I saw Rafe pull up in front of the house but let him get out of the car and ring the bell so Dad could interrogate him again.
I shot him a warning look before opening the door and Dad chuckled. “I’ll behave,” he promised.

Rafe took one look at me and his green eyes widened as he murmured, “Wow.”

Okay, note to self: Thank Penny for picking out this outfit.

Rafe, for his part, looked really good, too.
He was wearing dark jeans with a sky-blue buttoned-down shirt tucked in at the waist. No jacket, as usual, and I was beginning to wonder if he felt the cold like normal people. His hair was slicked back with gel, but a few short curls had managed to escape and were hanging over his forehead in an endearing way.

After Rafe and Dad shook hands and Dad grilled him for a couple of minutes, we were on our way.
Shrugging on my coat, I followed him down the walkway, smiling when he opened my door for me. I wondered if he was doing it to impress Dad, who was still watching from the front door. I gave him a wave as we pulled away, then sighed and leaned my head against the window.

“Sorry.
He’ll probably do that every time he sees you.”
If you keep coming over,
I added silently. Hey, I just gave him a great opportunity to declare what his intentions were with me! Just friends or…?

“No problem,” he replied with an easy smile as he drove.
“Your dad is cool. Wouldn’t he have shot me by now if he didn’t like me?”

“Lucky for you he doesn’t own a gun!”

“Wait, so does that mean he
doesn’t
like me?”

“Rafe,” I groaned.
Now
this
was a perfect opportunity for me to tell him that I liked him, but first I glanced behind me, checking out the backseat to make sure it was empty.

“
You’re not looking for my sword again, right?” he asked, grinning.

“Just checking that Evan isn’t back there.”

“What?” Rafe’s eyebrows flew up in surprise. “Why would you think that?”

“He seems to show up when he’s least expected.”
And not invited
, I added silently.

“As true as that may be, you have nothing to worry about,” Rafe said.
“He won’t bother us today; Evan has things to do on Friday nights.”

Probably flirting and other
unmentionable things
, I thought. “Turn here,” I said aloud, pointing. Coward that I am, instead of telling Rafe I liked him, I instead spent the rest of the ride giving directions to Pierce’s house. And yeah, I suck, but whatever.

The block was already crowded by the time we got there, all the lights in Pierce’s house on as loud rap music spilled from the open front door.
We parked four houses away and walked back in silence. A couple of guys were having a drunken game of football in the front yard, and Rafe’s hand shot out to grab me by the shoulder as a charging senior nearly flattened me into a pancake. In my heels, I stumbled awkwardly against Rafe’s chest, but his strong arms held me in place.

“Thank you,” I said a little breathlessly.

“No problem,” he replied, sounding a little breathless himself. And it took a couple of extra seconds for him to release me, I noticed gleefully.

At the front door, we paused as a girl ran past us to go throw up in the bushes
. Rafe and I exchanged glances. “So far this is a pretty exciting party,” he commented.

“It’s not too late to go somewhere else.”

He laughed, putting a hand on the small of my back. I shivered under his warm touch and found myself leaning towards him. “Hey, we’ve both dealt with demons; how bad could one harmless teenage party be?”

“Famous last words, Rafe,” I warned.
“I bet by the end of the night you’ll be wishing you went hunting instead of coming here.”

He leaned down to murmur in my ear.
“And miss seeing you all dressed up? I don’t think so, Gabi.”

So of course I was blushing like an idiot when we walked in and spotted my friends sitting on a couch in a corner of the living room, which probably led them to draw all sorts of conclusions as to what Rafe and I had been doing before we came here.

But I was also smiling from ear to ear, so I guess I didn’t mind
that
much.

Chapter
Twenty-eight

Penny jumped up from the couch to give me a quick hug before pulling away to appraise my outfit. “Perfect,” she confirmed. “See why you should listen to me?”

“I know, I know.”

We sat down together, flanked by the two guys. Rafe’s thigh was pressed against mine, but neither of us made any effort to move away. I wished we could hold hands like Penny and Harrison were doing, but oh well. I’d take the thigh action for now.

Penny handed me her cup and I took a small sip, wincing at the taste of warm beer.
“It’s so good that you came,” Penny yelled to Rafe over the music. “I always have to drag Gabi to one of these by her hair.”

I rolled my eyes.
“Because they’re
so
stimulating.”

Rafe laughed.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked me. I was about to answer when I saw Christian and Stacey approaching us and groaned. Rafe followed my gaze and shot me an inquisitive look. There was no time for an explanation so I just grimaced, wishing I could take Rafe by the hand and run straight for the exit.

“Well, well, well, is that Gabi?” Christian asked, looking like the cat who had corned the mouse.
Stacey, in a tight red dress that she was practically spilling out of, smirked as she wrapped herself around Christian’s arm. Gee, and I thought I was over-doing it by wearing a skirt. Next to me, Pen smacked Harrison, and the two started arguing over whether he was drooling or not. I swallowed a giggle and steeled myself for whatever awful thing Christian was about to say. Luckily, it was nothing too stimulating. “I thought you were too good to come to these things?”

“Had I known you were going to be here, I wouldn’t have come at all,” I said tightly, wishing he would just leave me the hell alone.

Christian, unfortunately, had other ideas. When Stacey asked, “Who’s your friend?” I could practically see Christian’s gaze zoom in on Rafe. The two guys appraised one another, and then Rafe very politely held out his hand and introduced himself. Christian took it and proceeded to make the very stupid mistake of trying to crush Rafe’s hand as they shook. When they let go, Christian was wincing and trying to shake his hand discreetly. I gave Rafe a look that he purposely ignored. I did see a flicker of amusement in his eyes, though, and I had to fight to keep from smiling. But really, was Christian blind? Didn’t he see how Rafe was built?

“You work out?” Christian asked, trying to divert everyone’s attention from him (which
was weird since he normally loved being the center of attention). “Play football?”

“Baseball, actually,” Rafe replied.

“Really. What position?”

“First base.”

“First base?” Christian’s lips spread into a cruel smile as he glanced at me. My stomach dropped, but I crossed my arms across my chest so I would appear blasé. “Speaking of first base, you should know that according to rumors, Gabi never lets any guy get to first base with her. Thought I should warn you before you try to do anything with the Ice Queen.”

My cheeks heated up as I desperately wished the couch would swallow me whole.
So much for acting like I didn’t care what he said. This was not something I wanted Rafe to hear, ever. Especially when I was still trying to figure out if he even wanted to take things in that direction or not. Rafe narrowed his eyes but kept quiet, and it was Penny who quickly spoke up.

“Oh, really?
You want to talk about rumors, Christian? According to what I’ve heard, you’re not packing a whole lot down there, if you get what I mean.”

Even Stacey laughed at that, which made me wonder if it was true.
Christian whirled on her to snarl something, but I’d had enough. Getting up, I walked away without saying anything, finding some peace in the kitchen where the music wasn’t as loud.

Rafe was two steps behind me.
“Hey. Are you alright?”

I shrugged.

“Come here.” He made me sit down on one of the stools next to an island, then opened up an ice chest and fished out two cans of soda. He held one out to me and I took it without comment. “Unless you wanted something stronger?”

“No,” I quickly said.
Thanks to Christian, I was in a foul mood and would end up drinking so much I’d puke all over Rafe. And I was pretty sure that’s
not
how you show a guy you’re interested in him. “Soda is fine.”

We drank in silence for a few minutes before Rafe said, “Gabi, about what he said—”

“It’s true,” I replied.
“I’m an ice queen or a bitch or whatever else they say.” I put the can on the counter, running my finger through the puddle of condensation to make abstract shapes. “I’ve dated, sure, but it’s never gone anywhere. Because I don’t let it.” I finally looked up, meeting his worried gaze. “Because I can’t trust people.”

“Because of your mom.”

Damn, but it felt good that he understood me that well. “Yeah. I mean, your mom is supposed to be there to bake cookies and drive you to soccer practice and share a carton of ice cream when a guy breaks your heart. She’s not supposed to leave. She abandoned us, and how am I supposed to believe it won’t happen again?”

“I understand,” he said softly, reaching out to cup my cheek in his hand.
His skin was so warm,
I thought hazily. How could anyone always be that warm all the time? And why was I focusing on
that
when he was
touching
me?

“How come you understand when no one else does?” I said, choking on my words.
I tried to look away, but his hand kept my head in place so we could stare at one another. “They always force me to be someone I’m not and I hate it.”

“You’re fine the way you are.”
His thumb was stroking my cheek in a way that sent a pattern of fire racing across my skin. I leaned closer, wishing he would wrap his strong arms around me and tuck me into his embrace. “I like you just the way you are, Gabi.”

My heart skipped a beat.
Like as in like, like? As in girlfriend/boyfriend like? Or were we still friends?

God Gabi, just ask him!
You’ll never know if you don’t!
But I was so afraid I’d chase him away if I said the wrong thing!

“Rafe?”
My voice was shaking noticeably.

“Mmm?”
He leaned closer, which made me even more nervous.

“Are we
…I mean, are we dat—”

From outside came the sudden sound of something crashing into the side of the house.
The kitchen actually rattled from the impact and the two of us jumped in shock, the serious moment between us destroyed. “What the hell?” Rafe muttered, getting off the stool to look out the sliding glass door into the backyard. I joined him, squinting into the darkness. There were two figures wrestling; one person was on the ground covering his face while the other repeatedly punched him.

“Oh no,” I said as the one doing the punching came into the light.
My stomach sank all the way into my heels.

Rafe’s hand circled around my wrist, squeezing gently.
“Gabi? Is it…?”

“Yeah,” I said grimly, wondering if the universe was out to get me or something.
I mean, come on! Was asking for some normal guy/girl time too much?! Did it always have to involve messy fights and lots of green blood?

I sighed as Rafe pulled the sliding door open, letting in the chilly October night air.
I was glad I had never bothered to take off my black cardigan. “Yeah, Rafe,” I said again, “that’s a demon.”

We stepped out into the night, ready to face this new horror.