Awakening by Leigh Walker

Author:Leigh Walker [WALKER, LEIGH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CMG Publishing, LLC

27

COLD WATER

James was helping Patrick’s family move furniture from the mainland to the island, so we didn’t have plans the next day. I felt oddly empty as I poured myself a coffee and stood in the quiet kitchen. My dad was at work. Becky had taken Amelia to sailing lessons, then was going off-island for yoga.

The house was too quiet. The hours before my shift stretched out before me, long and boring, a vivid contrast to my date the night before.

I’d lain awake in bed for hours going over every single thing that had happened. I still felt a little numb, probably in shock from everything I’d learned. Vampires were real. All the stories, all the books and television shows, were right. And although James was no longer technically just a vampire, he was a supernatural being. He’d gone all Elsa from “Frozen” on me last night and made it snow electric-blue sparks. Not to mention the fact that I’d also gotten a message from my dead mother at dinner… The world was not what it seemed. There was more to it lurking below the surface, just out of sight.

It made my head hurt. I needed a brain break.

I checked my phone and was thrilled to see a text from Eden. Six hours until work, she wrote. Wanna go hang by the pool?

I immediately said yes, then rushed to get my things. Now that I knew vampires were real, the Haven Club and its well-dressed members seemed much less scary in comparison. As long as I had Eden and we could sit side-by-side in our loungers, we’d be fine. We could order burgers and those herbed French fries. Yes. I felt better already.

I smiled as I threw on my bathing suit and my nicest T-shirt, then brushed my teeth and put on a little mascara. I glimpsed my reflection in the mirror—I didn’t look any different. But I was. I had a boyfriend. Who happened to be an ex-vampire.

Who I happened to be in love with.

Having never been in love before, I would’ve questioned the feeling—but it was overwhelming, crystal clear. I knew it from my gut: I was in love with James. I loved him fiercely, with my whole heart.

Still, there was a tiny voice inside my head, a trickle of unease, making me wish that maybe my feelings weren’t so strong. It wasn’t just about James’s being supernatural, though that was certainly part of it. The ugly ear worm that Amelia had planted twisted inside me, wriggling its way into my thoughts. A guy like that’s never gonna actually date you.

But he was. Not only was James dating me, he’d made me feel as though he had real feelings for me, serious ones. That was part of what was troubling me. Had he chosen me—to confide in, to date—because he thought I’d be…an easy mark? I was pretty much alone. My mom had died, and I didn’t really have anybody but my dad, who was beholden to Becky.

This particular worry wasn’t a huge stretch from my original discomfort.

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