Chosen at Nightfall (A Shadow Falls Novel) (16 page)

Holiday blushed right along with Kylie. Then, still having a mouth full of cookie, the fae held up her hand as if to say she needed a minute before speaking.

Kylie, oddly over the embarrassment, felt proud of the knowledge she had, and kept talking between licks of icing. “And if a guy carries one around in his wallet too long, it can tear. Then there’re product failures. For whatever reason the condom breaks, or has a tiny hole in it. And you would be surprised how little sperm it takes to get a girl preggo.”

Having tasted away all the icing, Kylie took a bite of the chocolate cookie and spoke around the mouthful of Oreo. “To be on the safe side, you can buy the condoms with spermicide on them. That’s supposed to help kill any of those little escaping sperms. But using spermicidal condoms all the time can cause vaginal problems. So it’s not recommended for long-term use.”

Holiday took a deep swallow. “You…”—she swallowed again, licking her teeth clean—“sure do know a lot about condoms.”

“I told you, my mom left pamphlets on my bed about twice a week. You wouldn’t believe what information I have in my head. I could tell you about all the different kinds of STDs, but it isn’t pretty. I don’t want to think about those.”

Holiday laughed. “I think when I have a kid I might ask your mom about where she gets the pamphlets.”

“Oh, don’t do that. It messes with a person’s mind. I think that’s why I’m still a virgin.”

Holiday chuckled. “Which is exactly why I’ll be getting my kid those pamphlets.” Her smile faded. “Seriously, a teen should not take having sex lightly.”

“True,” Kylie said, and grabbed the last cookie and broke it half. “But too much information isn’t a good thing, either.” She offered one half to Holiday, who didn’t hesitate to take it.

“Thanks.”

“Are you sure you’re not pregnant?” Kylie asked, watching Holiday pop half the cookie into her mouth as if she was starving. Or as if eating for two.

“Positive.” Holiday talked around the Oreo. “Faes, or at least Brandon faes, always know when they’re pregnant.”

Kylie grinned. “Don’t tell me, one of the signs is they get ravenous and eat their friend’s food while they’re waiting on them to wake up.”

“No.” She paused and her brow wrinkled. “Well, being hungry is a symptom, but the most common one is hiccups and burping. I had a cousin who was pregnant and she hiccuped nonstop for eight months. It was sad.”

Holiday looked at the lunch sack as if wishing it weren’t empty. “Why don’t you get your shoes on and we’ll go to the cafeteria and snag some more cookies. Then we’ll find Burnett and go to the falls. Something tells me you could use some soothing ambience.”

The thought of going to the falls sent a warm feeling through Kylie. “Yeah, that sounds really good.” Maybe when she was there she could remember the rest of the dream. God, she really hoped she hadn’t done anything stupid with Derek.

Not that she feared she’d … gone too far—as in all the way, too far. Face it, like she’d told Holiday, those pamphlets did a number on her. Too much information really could be a bad thing. Or in this particular case, a good thing.

Then she realized that if she hadn’t been so cautious where sex was concerned, she might have already slept with Lucas. She was glad she hadn’t. That achy pain tugged at her chest again, and she couldn’t help but wonder how much truth there was to what she’d told Holiday. When she was over being mad at Lucas, could she forgive him?

Did he deserve a second chance?

Pushing Lucas from her mind, Derek stood in waiting and popped right into the forefront of her thoughts. She recalled the kiss in the dream. Had she stopped the kiss? Or had she let herself be pulled into it? Damn! Damn! Offering Derek hope was a bad thing.

And if she had offered him hope, she needed to nip it in the bud, before it led to some irreparable damage. The kind of damage where people got their feelings hurt. And the fact that she did care so much about hurting Derek’s feelings might have given her pause, but she wasn’t going to let her mind go there. Nope!

Kylie snagged her shoes, slipped them on, and walked out with Holiday. Remembering Hayden’s phone, she stuck it in her pocket. Last night she’d considered calling her grandfather, but not knowing what to say, or how to say it, she hadn’t. And if she called him, would Burnett see it as another betrayal?

She glanced up at Holiday. “Can we run by Hayden’s cabin? I need to give him his phone back.” When Holiday looked confused, Kylie explained. “I left mine at my grandfather’s. And I wanted to call my mom.”

“Sure,” Holiday said.

They weren’t out of Kylie’s bedroom door when Holiday let out a light jumpy kind of noise. Then another escaped from her lips.

Kylie gazed at her. Holiday slapped her hand over her lips and panic filled her green eyes.

“Is that what I think it is?” Kylie asked. “Was that a hiccup?”

“Oh, shit!” Holiday said, and hiccuped again.

Kylie yelped with excitement. “I wonder if the baby will look like you or Burnett.”

Chapter Fourteen

Hayden wasn’t at his cabin, but Holiday, still a little panicked by her two hiccups, agreed to walk by his classroom to see if he was there.

“I’m sure this is nothing,” Holiday said, tapping her chest. “It’s psychosomatic. We mentioned hiccups and it just happened.”

Kylie wasn’t convinced, and apparently neither was Holiday, who repeated the same thing over and over again as if to persuade herself.

“Don’t you want kids?” Kylie asked, remembering what she’d learned about chameleons having a hard time getting pregnant.

“Yes, but … Burnett’s not completely on board with the idea. He says he didn’t have a father, so he doesn’t know how to be one.”

“I think he’d make an excellent dad.”

“I know he would. He’d probably be a tad overprotective, like most vampires, but still fabulous.”

Thinking of another vamp who could be a tad overprotective, Kylie asked, “Is Della back yet?”

“Not until tonight,” Holiday said. “But she’s fine,” she added, as if reading Kylie’s concern. “Burnett spoke with Steve again this morning.”

Kylie nodded. “And Helen’s okay?”

“They let her out of the hospital late yesterday. Her parents wanted her to come with them for a while. Just to make sure she’s okay. Of course Jonathon is having a fit.”

“I’ll bet he is,” Kylie said, remembering how the two of them were practically superglued at the hip.

Holiday and Kylie came to Hayden’s classroom. Kylie saw someone moving behind the curtain. “He’s here.”

Holiday agreed to wait outside, and Kylie walked in.

Hayden, alone in the room, sat at his desk with a phone in his hand.

“Hey,” Kylie said.

Hayden glanced up and dropped the phone. “I was about to try and call you to see if you were okay. And check on my phone? Please tell me you haven’t spoken with my girlfriend this time.”

“No, I haven’t spoken with anyone but my mom.”

“And you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” Kylie pulled the phone out of her pocket. “I wanted to drop your phone off. Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

He nodded. “You didn’t call your grandfather?”

Kylie’s mood went a notch down. She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say to him. I’ll call him in a day or so.” Yes, she was procrastinating, but she decided to give herself a little break on this issue. “Have you told him that Burnett knows everything?”

A frown pulled at his eyes as he nodded. “I had to chance it and use the office phone, since I didn’t have my phone,” he said.

She shot him an apologetic look. “Is my grandfather … okay with it?”

“He’s not happy.” Hayden paused. “I still don’t think he was in on any of the ploy to try to stop you from leaving. And he seemed eager to speak to you about it.”

“I know. I believe you, it’s just … I feel as if I hurt him by leaving, and now he’s going to be upset that I told Burnett about you. The thought of him being angry with me is … just too much.”

“I explained the reasons we had to tell Burnett.” Hayden leaned back in the chair. It squeaked. “Your grandfather cares about you. I know he can be hardheaded, but he’s lost so much in this life—his kid, his wife. Now, he’s scared he’s going to lose you, too.”

“I know. And yet … even if I didn’t belong here at Shadow Falls, I couldn’t live like they want me to live. Isolated from the world.”

“I know. It’s not easy.” The sudden stiffness in his shoulders told Kylie just how hard it had been on him.

“How old were you when you ran away?”

He picked up a pencil. “How did you know I ran away?”

“I was guessing,” Kylie answered.

He hesitated. “Seventeen.”

“Have you seen your parents since?”

He shook his head. “Your grandfather keeps me abreast of how they’re doing and … he started letting me talk to Jenny when…”

“When what?” Kylie asked.

“When he started getting worried she was planning to run away.”

“Is she?”

“I think I’ve calmed her down. She just has to stay there another year or so. She’s almost mature.”

“Mature?” Kylie asked.

“Yes. When you are able to change your pattern. The rule is that if you leave after maturity, then you’re not excommunicated. You’re frowned upon, but you can visit. But the elders are trying to push her into getting married. It’s just another ploy by the elders to try to keep her living on the compound.”

Kylie felt Hayden’s pain and she felt for Jenny, too. “Don’t they see that they’re pushing the young people to leave? It’s like one of those cults that forces kids to live like it’s the eighteen hundreds.”

“They think they’re protecting them,” Hayden said. “And perhaps in the elders’ day it was the right thing to do. But things have changed and they can’t seem to see that. I’ve managed to create a life for myself and I’m not living in danger.”

Kylie nodded, but she couldn’t help but wonder how good of a life it was if he had to hide his true identity. Nevertheless, she supposed it was the better option. “Are you going to stay here?” She held her breath with hope.

He leaned back in his chair. “Burnett hasn’t gotten back to me.”

“But if he says you can stay, will you?”

He picked up a pencil and rolled it in his hand. She jumped in. “Please. I’d kind of like it if you stayed. I still have questions and it would be really nice to have you around. And … I think I want to try to change things. You know, help the other chameleon teens. I haven’t mentioned it yet to Holiday or Burnett, but I’m just waiting for the right time.”

“I’ll give it some thought,” he said. “But let me just say that your friend Burnett makes leaving sound like the better deal.”

“He’s not all bad,” Kylie said. “I know he can be … difficult. In a lot of ways, he sort of reminds me of my grandfather. And even you a bit.”

“I’m not nearly as pigheaded,” Hayden said. “He has no right to treat me like this.”

Kylie could argue the point with Hayden that coming here and hiding his whole identity didn’t instill trust in Burnett, but what good would it do? “Just promise you’ll consider staying on. I really need you here.”

“I’ll consider it, but that’s all I can promise.”

*   *   *

With another sandwich, Oreos, and Burnett in tow, Kylie and Holiday made their way to the falls. Burnett moved with them, but the vamp kept tripping, mostly because his concerned focus stayed on Holiday, instead of watching where he stepped.

She hadn’t hiccuped again, but neither had she stopped panicking. At least it appeared that way, because she hadn’t lost that oh-shit look on her face. Obviously, Burnett picked up her oh-shit look, too.

“Everything okay?” he asked for the second time.

“I told you, it’s just tummy issues,” Holiday answered, and Kylie recognized her answer as a version of the truth, so her heartbeat wouldn’t give away the fact that she lied.

“Do you need to see a doctor?” His brows tightened and the big bad vampire became a worried, normal-looking guy who cared a whole hell of a lot for Holiday.

A warmth filled her chest just looking at them. With it came a sense of accomplishment. A feeling that she’d not just played a part in getting these two together, but it had been part of her quest that she’d completed, and completed well.

“No, I don’t need to see a doctor,” Holiday said. “At least not yet,” she added quickly to counter another lie.

“Probably wedding jitters,” Kylie added, hoping to help the conversation move away from her tummy issues before Holiday couldn’t find another half truth to throw out.

Looking away from the couple holding hands, Kylie could swear she heard the whispering sound of rushing water over the falls. She slowed her steps and tuned her ears to listen. Yup, it was the falls, and yet they were probably a half mile away. She inhaled deeply, longing for the peace she would find behind the magical wall of water—a place where all the wrongs in life didn’t feel so wrong. Or at least they felt manageable.

“Wedding jitters?” Burnett asked as if he’d been considering Kylie's statement. “She has nothing to be nervous about.” He almost sounded offended. “I will do everything in my power to be a good husband.”

“Brides are always nervous,” Holiday said.

“About what? It’s not as if you don’t already know all my bad habits. Or me yours.”

Holiday shot him a funny face. “What bad habits do I have?”

“You’re a cover hog.” Burnett grinned and stared with devotion at her. Kylie had seen that look on his face before, but now he wore it with pride.

“But seriously,” Burnett continued, “what would you have to be nervous about?”

Kylie noticed that when they talked, it was as if she wasn’t even here. They were so tuned in to each other, everything and everyone else disappeared. And hadn’t she felt the same about Lucas? She pushed that thought back.

“What if you get cold feet?” Holiday asked, and some of the teasing tone slipped from her voice.

Kylie remembered that Blake, Holiday’s ex fiancé, had left her at the altar—after sleeping with her twin. No doubt, Holiday probably did have wedding jitters.

“My feet are always cold. I’m a vampire,” he said in a teasing voice, almost as if he was trying to chase away Holiday’s somberness. “And if I remember correctly, you complained about that last night.” He slowed down and slipped his arm around Holiday. “Marrying you doesn’t scare me a bit. It’s the best thing that could ever happen to me. I’d never run out on you. I’ll be the first one to the church.”