Vampire Beach: Initiation (13 page)

Tyler suddenly looked up and rolled an orange across the table, knocking over the salt and pepper shakers. They all stared at him.

"Bowling," he explained.

Man, he was hyper.
Ritalin before breakfast?
Jason wondered. He glanced around the table. No one else seemed to find Tyler's behavior strange.

"It's a good thing you stayed home, Dani," Bianca said. "That's no kind of environment for you."

"You're way too young to start with the bowling," Jason's father agreed, with a smile.

"And bowling was the most scandalous part?" Aunt Bianca asked, spreading strawberry jam on a piece
of
toast.

"Pretty much," Jason answered. What did
she
think? That he was going to start talking about under
age drinking? Or give an estimate on the number of hook
-
ups that took place at Zach's? Or say that Tyler was probably high by the end of the night, and possi
bly now, too?

Bianca turned to Tyler. "Jason's being discreet.
You
tell us about the party. How did it compare to
one of
your Michigan blasts?"

"It's
no
different, right, Tyler?" Dani asked.

"No one ended up dead at the parties
in
Michigan," Mrs. Freeman pointed out, standing
up
abrup
tl
y and refilling her coffee cup.

"Someone
died
at a party out here?" Aunt Bianca
asked
,
stopping with her toast halfway to her mouth. She glanced at Dani. "You didn't tell me that!"

"It was a party on a yacht. A girl fell overboard and drowned. She'd been drinking," Jason's mother explained. "Now do you understand why I don't want Danielle at these things?"

Carrie was already dead when she hit the water,
Jason thought, flashing on her body lying on the beach. Her lips blue.
Eyes staring sigh
tl
essly.

"I... I can't believe it," Aunt Bianca murmured.

"Horrible. I can't even think about her poor par
ents," Mrs. Freeman said with a shudder.

"Well, last night's party was just a party,"
Tyler said. He used his fingers to pop a
Tater Tot into his mouth, then another. He swallowed them, hardly bothering to chew,
then
smiled at Jason's mom. "The big differ
ence was that the girls were wearing
less
clothes than they would have been in Michigan."

Mrs. Freeman actually laughed. Tyler had always been good at making her laugh. Jason's dad snorted.

Tyler grabbed the ketchup bottle, opened it, and thumped on the bottom so hard that he almost completely smothered his remaining Taters. "I even saw a bikini top floating in the hot tub," he added. Then he pointed at Bianca with a grin. "And that's all you're getting out of me."

"Did you go in the hot tub?" Dani asked casually.

Jason knew what she really wanted to ask Tyler "Did you have anything to do with the removal of the bikini top?" Dani could never resist gossip
-
especially where someone she knew might be involved.

"Didn't bring a bathing suit," Tyler replied. He looked over at Jason. "Hey, man. Think you could drive me into the city when you're done?"

"Done now," Jason said, forking the last bite of eggs into his mouth. "Let's go." He got up feeling relieved. It would get him away from any more questions about the party.

"I'll meet you out there," Tyler said. "I want to grab my jacket."

"You're not going to need it," Jason told him, but Tyler was already gone.

Jason stood up and checked his pocket for his car keys. "See you guys later," he told his family as he headed out of the kitchen.

He hurried outside, unlocked the car, and slid into the driver's seat. A minute later, Tyler got in, hoodie zipped to his chin. "Any particular place you want to go?" Jason asked.

"Just Malibu central.
I'm guessing I'll be able to find a post office there?" Tyler replied.

"Sure." Jason backed out of the driveway and headed for the Pacific Coast Highway, enjoying the view as usual. All that blue ocean stretching out for
ever. But he noticed that Tyler wasn't looking at the beach. He sat staring straight ahead, eyes intense, as if willing the car to go faster.

"Not like I'm trying to get rid of you, but won't it take you a few days to get home if you have to hitch? And even with those free days at school..."
Jason let his words trail off. "I could spot you bus money.
Again, not that I'm trying to get rid of you."
Except that he was.
Kind of.
And how alternate
-
universe was that?
Jason wanting Tyler gone?
He used to wish they were broth
ers so he could live with the Freemans all the time.

"School's the least of my problems," Tyler said as Jason turned onto a road peppered with stores. "You can just let me out here."

"Here?" Jason glanced at the tr
en
d
y
restaurants and the shoe store.
"You sure?"

"Yeah.
Here is good." Tyler started to swing the door open before Jason had even pulled all the way over to the curb.

"You want to meet up in a while?" Jason asked. It was more than obvious that Tyler didn't want Jason anywhere around right now.

"I'll find my own way back," Tyler said as he climbed out of the car. "Later." And he slammed the door before Jason could get another question in.

"Thank you for using Jason's cab service," Jason muttered, staring after his friend. What was his deal? And what was he up to now?

Whatever.
Jason couldn't do much if Tyler wasn't going to talk to him. He pulled back out onto the street and made a U
-
turn at the corner. He spotted Sienna coming out of L'OCCITANE en Provence.
Sienna and Belle.

Without giving himself enough time to wimp out, Jason pulled into the parking space just vacated by an SUV. "Hey," he called as he got out of the car. "Impressive moves on that wall last night, Belle." He figured it was safer to say something to Belle first. Belle was always friendly.

"I made a couple hundred in tips," she joked.
"Cold, hard cash.
But Dom wasn't happy. He doesn't get that I just like attention. Is that so horrible?"

"I vote no," Jason said. "So what are you two up to?"

"I just bought some Olive Paste. It's the best thing in the world for sun
-
damaged hair," Belle told him. "Sienna's keeping me company. Not that she's actually talking or anything."

"I've talked," Sienna protested.

"Right.
You said the words
venti
mochaccino
about half an hour ago," Belle teased.

"Half an hour ago?"
Jason repeated. "Then you must be ready for another one. I know shopping for hair products is tiring work. Not that I spend much time shopping for hair products," he added, which didn't sig
nificantly improve his not
-
so
-
brilliant comment.

Not that it mattered. All that mattered was that he got to spend some time with Sienna. Enough time so that she'd actually start speaking to him again. Possibly even want to kiss him again, in this lifetime.

"No, Belle needs to get home," Sienna said. She seemed to be talking to his left ear. "She insisted on wearing her new Jimmy
Choos
and she's destroyed her feet."

“I’ll
drop you at your car,"
Jason offered gallantl
y, thinking that even that would give him a little Sienna
-
time. "Where'd you park?"

"We walked," Belle answered. "Not my most intel
ligent decision, I admit." She shook her head at her sandals, which were nothing but some thin straps and spike heels.

"I'll drive you home, then," Jason said firmly.
Score.
He'd drop Belle off first, then
-

"
Oooh
.
Yes, please," Belle said, pulling Jason away from his thoughts. She slipped off the sandals and picked them up.

"Do you mind if I don't come with you?" Sienna asked Belle. "I said I'd drop in at Brad's place and help his mom pick out new drapes. I'll call and have Brad pick me up." She looked Jason in the eye for the first time. "I'd rather not put you out."

Or be anywhere near you,
Jason added sil
ently
.
Got it.

"Sure. Don't let my feet spoil the rest of the day for
you," Belle said, seeming oblivious to the conversation going on under the conversation. She turned to Jason. "Can we go? This pavement is getting hot on my poor
little
piggies
."

What could he say? "Sure." He opened the passen
ger door of the bug, and Belle hopped in. Jason shut the door for her.

"Sienna, about what happened at the party...," he began, taking the unexpected opportunity for an attempted explanation.

She pulled out her cell and hit a speed
-
dial num
ber. "Hey, babe," she said, looking right at Jason. "Want to come get me?"

Jason gave a nod, then walked around to the dri
ver's side of the car and slid behind the wheel. "Thanks so much. You are such the lifesaver," Belle told him. But Jason wasn't really listening.

You knew Sienna was with Brad. You've known it since the day you met her,
Jason told himself.
It's better this way. Let her stay pissed at you. You shouldn't be going after her, anyway.

"Where's that Tyler?" Belle asked. "All the girls at the party were intrigued. Some of them are planning a hunting trip to Michigan, which now seems to be Land of Cute Boys."

"He's still in town ... someplace," Jason told her.
Doing who in the hell knows what,
he thought.

"Did he have fun at his first Malibu party? Zach's was definitely the one to go to."

"He claimed to. He disappeared for a while, which is usually a sign of some kind of fun, right?" Jason asked, grinning.

"Absolutely.
I love to disappear at parties. It makes Dominic go mental, but the best amusements happen away from the crowd," Belle answered.

They drove past the police station, and Jason thought about Adam: "Child of the poor but hard
working chief of police," as Adam had described him
self on the day they met. Maybe he was right. Maybe something had been going on last night with the vam
pires that at least a few humans should be aware of. And Belle knew Jason was in on the truth about exact
ly who lived in DeVere Heights.

"I noticed you and Sienna and some of the others disappeared upstairs for a while too," Jason said, trying to sound casual. "Were you having fun?"

"Yes."

Jason thought it was the first time he'd ever heard Belle give a one
-
word answer to a question. She didn't say anything else for the rest of the ride.

Clearly whatever the vampires had going was nothing humans were allowed to know about. But, like Jason kept telling Adam, that didn't mean it was anything bad.
Right?

J
ason noticed it as soon as he walked into the locker room for swim practice on the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. Judging by the uncharacteris
tic quiet, something was wrong. The guys on the swim team were all there as usual, but they were changing in silence. No
postschool
,
prepractice
banter.

"What's up with you guys?" Jason called. "You all still in a turkey coma?"

"One of us is a thief,"
Harberts
answered fla
tl
y.

"What?" Jason demanded, wandering over to
Harberts
s locker. Brad sat next to him, swim goggles pushed up on his forehead.

"The
Lafrenière
s got robbed the night of Zach's party," Brad explained.

"They're sure somebody who was at the party did it," Van Dyke added from the next row of lockers over.

Jason relaxed a tiny bit. "So you're talking one of us who
was
there, not one of us on the team," he said.

"It better not be somebody from the team!" Van Dyke declared, appearing from around the corner. "That would be an even bigger betrayal."