Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance (9 page)

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” I
complained.

“You promised Alexi twelve hours,” Liam said
quickly. “Don’t go doing anything rash.”

“I know what I promised!” I snapped. “I’ll
give him the twelve hours, but if he can’t give me a plausible
plan, I’m out of here.”

Kai and Liam both sighed deeply.

“Alice?” Kai asked meekly.

“Yes?”

“I know you wanted some space, and as much as
it’s killed me to do it, I’ve been giving it to you,” he said.

“I thought you hated me,” I grumbled.

“What?” he gasped. “Hated you? Why would you…
No! You wanted space, so I’ve been giving it to you!”

“But you wouldn’t even look at me,” I told
him. “You always look so angry whenever I see you, and you leave
the room whenever I walk in.”

“Because I couldn’t stand looking at you or
being around you!” Kai shouted. “Alice, it
kills
me to be
near you and to not be able to touch you, to hold you, to kiss you.
Just being near you right now is eating me alive!”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, turning my eyes
down toward the floor guiltily.

“No, I’m sorry,” Kai said quickly. “I didn’t
mean to make you feel bad. I just wanted to ask…”

“Ask what?” I asked, when he paused.

“Can I hug you?” Kai asked quietly.

I looked up at him, and his icy blue eyes
were full of love and pain mixed together in a torrent of
emotion.

“Of course,” I breathed.

He approached me slowly, wrapping his arms
around me gingerly. I could tell he wanted to squeeze me tightly,
and I knew he’d never want to let go. But he was respecting my
wishes. He was showing remarkable restraint, and I could sense how
desperately he wanted to kiss me. But he didn’t.

It felt so good to be there in his arms
again. I wanted to stay there. In truth, I wanted to kiss him, too.
I’d missed him terribly in the last few weeks. However, I had to
hold fast to my decision. I needed space, and I couldn’t let my
judgment be clouded over one sentimental moment.

Kai must have sensed my reluctance, so he
pulled away from the embrace. With remarkable restraint, he brushed
my cheek softly with the back of his fingers, and he stepped back,
putting some distance between himself and me.

“Thank you,” he said, looking at the
floor.

“Thank
you
,” I returned.

Honestly, I’d wanted to hug him as much as he
wanted it from me.

“No, thank
both of you
,” Liam said in
a mocking tone, sounding as though he were about to cry, but
clearly just joking around.

“Very funny,” I grumbled at him.

Liam stuck his tongue out at me, and I
giggled in spite of myself. I spit a slobbery raspberry back at
him, and he grinned. He was clearly pleased with himself for
lightening my mood. Leave it to Liam to make me laugh when I wanted
to cry.

“Hey, why don’t we watch a movie?” Liam asked
suddenly.

“A movie? Now? Are you serious?” I asked.

“Why not? There’s nothing else to do. We have
twelve hours to wait for Alexi, right?” Liam added.

“Yeah…”

“Then let’s make the most of it,” Liam
said.

He stood up from the table, and he took our
food and disposed of the uneaten portions.

“Come on, you two,” Liam added. “Let’s
go!”

Kai and I followed Liam to the media room in
basement. It was a huge theater with reclining movie seats, a
popcorn maker, a huge screen, and surround sound.

“What do you want to watch?” Liam asked.

He pushed a button on the back wall, and a
small door opened. A wall of movies slid out of the main wall.
There must have been at least a thousand DVDs to choose from.

“Wow!” I gasped.

“This is just the main collection,” Liam
said. “Grandfather always had this stocked with the latest new
releases and our old favorites. He started doing it when Liam and I
were kids. We loved to watch movies with him when we were
little.”

I could hear in his voice that he was still
missing his grandfather, and I put my hand on his shoulder. He
smiled weakly at me. I could tell he was trying to put on a brave
face for me.

“So what’ll it be?” he asked again.

I scanned the titles quickly. I saw dozens of
movies I was interested in, but my eyes stopped on one in
particular.

“Oh no,” Liam groaned. “Tell me you’re not
looking at the one I
think
you’re looking at.”

“What?” I griped. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Seriously? Sparkling vampires? Who comes up
with this stuff?” he lamented.

I crinkled my forehead at him, and he shook
his head in mock disapproval.

“I like it,” I grumbled.

“You would,” he muttered.

“Hey, how about this?” Kai interjected,
pulling a movie off the shelf.

“Pulp Fiction!” Liam and I both shouted
excitedly.

“It’s perfect,” I said.

“Agreed,” Liam nodded.

Liam took the movie from Kai and pushed the
movie shelf back into the wall. He opened a control panel in the
wall beside the movie screen, and placed the DVD into a player. He
used the controls to dim the lights, and then he took the remote
control from the top of the DVD player.

“Want some popcorn?” Liam asked.

“Well, duh,” I said, as if the answer were
obvious.

Liam chuckled. He took some supplies from
underneath the popcorn machine. He poured some kind of yellowish
orange goo into the metal bowl at the top, and added popcorn
kernels. Then he added a scoop of some yellow stuff. He started the
machine.

“It’ll take a couple of minutes,” Liam said.
“What do you two want to drink?”

“Dr. Pepper?” I asked.

“Got it,” Liam said. “Kai?”

“Root beer?”

“Yep, we’ve got that. A&W okay?”

“Sure.”

“Alright, coming up,” Liam said.

He opened the small fridge beside the popcorn
machine. It was stocked with a dizzying array of drinks, including
practically every major brand of soda pop, juices, teas, and sports
drinks. I was shocked so much could fit in such a tiny
refrigerator.

Liam took a twenty-ounce bottle of Dr. Pepper
for himself and one for me, and he handed Kai a bottle of A&W
root beer.

“Have a seat,” Liam said. “I’ll bring you the
popcorn when it’s ready. Oh, you want some candy or anything? We’ve
got all the usual stuff.”

“Oh, wow. Do you have any Jordan almonds?” I
asked.

“Sure do,” he said.

“Yay! I haven’t had those in ages!” I
squealed.

“Kai, you want anything?”

“Do you have any of those cookie dough
bites?”

“Yep. Coming up.”

Liam opened a cupboard above the fridge. It
was fully stocked with pretty much every kind of candy you’d ever
see in a movie theater. He grabbed two boxes of Jordan almonds and
some cookie dough bites, and he tossed Kai and me our
selections.

I chose a seat in the front row, right in the
middle of the screen. Kai sat to my left. Liam placed his Dr.
Pepper in the drink holder to the right of me, and Kai eyed him
suspiciously.

“Want me to start the movie?” Liam asked.
“I’ll bring the popcorn when it’s finished popping.”

“No, I’d rather wait for you,” I said.

“Alright.”

I could tell Kai wanted to touch me. He would
lean his head toward my shoulder, and then quickly pull it away as
though he were just remembering he couldn’t do that. His hand would
lift as though he wanted to take mine, but then he would put it
down again. I was starting to get really uncomfortable, but then
something
thunked
me in the back of the head.

“Hey!” I shouted, turning to see what
happened.

Liam’s eyes looked up at the ceiling
innocently, and he was whistling.

“What was that?” I grumbled.

“What was what?” Liam asked innocently.

I glared at him, and he chuckled. I turned
back toward Kai, and immediately I was assaulted by the phantom
thunker
again.

“Liam!” I snarled.

“
What
?” he gasped in feigned
incredulity.

I turned around and looked in my seat, and a
Jordan almond was lodged behind me. I turned my eyes toward Liam
and sighed dramatically, holding the almond up as evidence.

“Man, I really need to talk to the cleaning
crew about that,” Liam joked. “They really should’ve seen that when
they cleaned in here.”

“Ha-ha. Funny,” I groaned.

I hurled the almond back at Liam, and he
dodged gracefully. He stuck his tongue out at me, and I rolled my
eyes.

The heavenly scent of popcorn began to waft
up my nose, and my stomach rumbled. The telltale popping sound
started, and slowly the tempo mounted. It reached a peak, and then
began to taper off.

Liam reached into the machine with a huge
scoop and filled a giant popcorn bucket with the freshly popped
corn.

“Butter and salt?” Liam asked.

“Tons of both,” I agreed.

“Good,” he said with a smile.

He layered the popcorn with squirts of butter
and sprinkles of bright yellow popcorn salt, and then he handed me
the bucket.

“Just one?” I asked suspiciously.

“It’s more fun to share,” Liam said,
defending his choice. “Alexi and I always used to share when we
were kids. I can refill it. There’s plenty more.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Liam turned the lights off, and then he took
the seat to the right of me and pushed a button on the remote. The
opening segments began to play.

During the movie, Liam and Kai’s hands bumped
mine several times while reaching for popcorn. I wouldn’t have
thought that at all suspicious, except for the fact that I never
once noticed Kai and Liam bump hands.

Pulp Fiction just happened to be one of my
favorite movies, so I had a great time. All three of us knew many
of the lines by heart, so we would spout off our favorite lines
whenever they occurred.

My favorite scene was the one where Jules
asked Brett,
“English, motherfucker, do you speak it?”
All
three of us recited the entire scene line by line, all the way
through the part where he starts shouting,
“Say ‘what’
again!”
It was hilarious.

I had to hand it to Liam, he found a way to
take my mind off my troubles. I managed to go through almost the
entire movie without thinking of anything depressing. He knew
exactly what I needed.

After the movie, Liam turned the lights back
on, and Kai suddenly burst out laughing.

“What’s
your
problem?” I asked
him.

He continued laughing so hard tears started
rolling down his cheeks, and he covered his mouth with one hand and
pointed to my hair with another.

“
What
?” I growled.

Liam dissolved into howls of laughter, as
well. Kai and Liam were obviously having a very good gag at my
expense.

I reached up to my hair, and my hand brushed
against something rough. When I pulled my hand back, a kernel of
popcorn fell to the floor.

“Very funny, guys,” I grumbled.

The two of them were still doubled over with
fits of laughter. I didn’t see what was so funny about sticking a
kernel of popcorn in my hair.

“What in the world is so freaking funny?” I
demanded.

Liam managed to regain his composure
briefly.

“Go look in the mirror,” he said, struggling
to contain his laughter by twisting his lips together.

A snicker escaped his lips, and then he
couldn’t contain it any longer. I barged out of the media room as
Kai and Liam dissolved into more fits of hysterics.

Just outside the media room, there was a
small bathroom. I flicked on the light and glared at the mirror in
horror. There were dozens of popcorn kernels lodged in my hair. The
two of them must have been carefully shoving them into my hair
during the whole movie. I was fuming with anger. I took a deep
breath and stormed back into the media room.

“Uh oh,” Liam said, trying mockingly to sound
scared.

Liam and Kai burst into yet another round of
intense laughter, and my hardened expression began to soften. It
was hard to be mad at them when they were having such a good time.
I crossed my arms in front of me and pouted.

“Aww, we’re sorry, honey,” Liam said in a
playful voice. “Here, let us help you get it out of your hair.”

Struggling very hard to contain their
hysterics, Kai and Liam both started plucking popcorn kernels from
my hair while I stood with my arms crossed looing thoroughly
annoyed. When they were done, I stalked over beside the popcorn
machine and stared at it intently. I was silent… motionless.

“Are you really mad at us?” Liam asked,
sounding surprised.

“We were having so much fun, and the two of
you had to go and ruin it all! I’m so mad right now!” I said,
trying to sound convincing.

“Wow, I’m sorry, Alice,” Liam said. “We were
just playing.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, too,” Kai said, sounding
hurt.

I listened carefully, and I heard the two of
them approaching me. I waited until just the right moment. Then in
a flash, I grabbed a double handful of popcorn and flung it right
in their faces!

Some of it stuck in their hair, and I noticed
a kernel fall down inside the front of Kai’s shirt. This time, it
was I who burst into laughter. The two of them realized they’d been
played, and they both reached in and grabbed handfuls of popcorn
and started hurling it at me. We all kept grabbing more and more,
and eventually the room looked as though we’d been in a popcorn
blizzard! Popcorn was everywhere. It covered the floor, coated the
seats, and stuck in our hair. We all fell to the floor, struggling
to catch our breath through fits of joyous laughter.

That’s when the door opened, and Alexi walked
in.

“What in the world happened in here?” he
asked.

“We were just keeping Alice’s mind off
things,” Liam explained.