Jared (18 page)

“Not so fast.” Otis took a step forward grabbing his handcuffs and nodding to the other officer that was beside him. “I need to take Ms. Pride to the station. Seems she has some unpaid tickets and has a warrant.”

“That’s total bullshit.” Adam pushed past Damon pointing at Otis
, Damon grabbed him around the waist stopping him
. “You’ve been doing shit like this since she dumped your loser ass and won’t take you back.”

“I’ve got room for you
to
o
boy
.” Otis growled at Adam his hand inching toward his gun.

Jared stepped in front of the sheriff. “Go
ing
for that gun will be the biggest mistake you ever make.” Jared grinned enough to show his fangs. “Understand…Oat
?
”

Shocked Otis dropped his hand knowing there was no way he could draw his gun before the vampire was on him. “I’m taking her in.” He said, but didn’t sound as sure now.

“Well
,
I hope you got another pair of handcuffs because you lay one finger on her I will personally
rip your arm off and beat your ass with it
.” Jared had lowered his head toward the sheriff so only he could hear. “All I have to do is make one call to the
V
ampire
C
ouncil and they will be crawling so far up your ass you won’t be able to sit down for a long while.
I am responsible for Tessa and Adam so if there was a warrant out for either of them I would have known it.”

“You’re a VC Warrior?” Otis glanced around at the crowd who had gathered.

Jared straightened back up still holding tightly to Tessa’s hand. “Leave
Tessa and the
boy
alone.” Was Jared’s hard spoken answer before he turned to lead Tessa away.

The expression on the sheriff
’
s stone cold face clearly indicated that he wasn’t taking that threat seriously.

Walking away from the bastard was against Jared’s nature. He wanted to beat the hell out of the sheriff, but he could feel the
anxiety
from the faceoff in the shaking of Tessa’s hand and decided she was more important than his satisfaction at the moment.

“What’s your thing?” Jared looked down at her as they made their way through the crowd and past the game booths.

Tessa’s
wide eyed
confused expression made him smile. “My thing?”

“Yeah.” Jared laughed
,
trying to lighten the mood and take her mind off what had just happened. “If you could win anything what would
you go for?
”

Tessa looked around the game booths and smiled. “I love Angry Birds.”

“A girl after my own heart.” Jared winked down at her before finding a booth that had the funny looking birds. Placing his money down he waited patiently for the game attendant to hand him three balls to knock over the three pins on a small round table.
Damon also placed money down.

The little man behind the booth took the money placing the balls in front of them with a confident smile that he had just taken money from t
wo
sappy suckers trying to win a prize for their women. Jared and Damon glanced at each other before looking back at the man with large grins showing their fangs.

“Ah shit.” The disappointment in the man’s voice was so clear both Jared and Damon laughed loudly.

After knocking the pins completely off the table Jared grabbed Tessa pulling her closer. “Which one do you want?”

Jared watched the excitement radiating from her beautiful eyes as she looked over the stuffed animals hanging all over the booth.
Mate or not she was going to be his. To hell with what anyone thought, council included. He had never been a big believer in the mate crap anyway. He was happy for Damon and others who had found theirs, but he had been walking this world alone for thousands of years and he was done waiting. He had found who he’d been looking for and she stood before him looking more beautiful than anything he had ever seen clutching a red Angry Bird to her chest.

“Hey Jared!” Adam called out. “Try this one. Bet you can’t do it.”

Pulling his eyes off Tessa regretfully
,
he glanced over at Adam who held a football
.
He
look
ed
back down at her. “Guess I need to go make the kid look bad.”

Tessa smiled. “Thank you.”

“Anytime honey.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they headed toward the game Adam was getting ready to play.

“Move over punk.” Jared nudged him. “Let me show you how a real football player does it.”

Adam nudged him back. “Then you better watch me old man.”

“Uh-oh.” Nicole whispered next to Tessa’s ear. She also had a
n
Angry Bird, hers the yellow one.

“What?” Tessa leaned her head back l
ooking at Nicole’s knowing grin

“You got the vamp crush going on.” Nicole’s grin grew.

Tessa snorted shaking her head. “No, I don’t.”

“Yeah…yeah, that’s what we all say.” Nicole laughed
,
drawing the attention of everyone around. “As
my good friend
Pam would say, I call bullshit.”

“Hey sis.” Adam walked pas
t
her. “Come on
,
we’re all going
on the Ferris Wheel.”

Tessa’s feet rooted to the spot as she looked up at the rickety looking thing. “Think I’ll pass.”

“Don’t like heights?” Jared stopped next to her so close their arms were touching.

“Not since I fe
l
l off the roof.” Tessa snorted. She had loved the Ferris Wheel when she was little, but she was afraid she would embarrass herself with a total freak out if she did go up there
now
.

“What the hell were you doing on the roof?” Jared walked her over to a ticket booth.

“Fixing a leak so Gramps didn’t try to get up there by himself.
” Tessa stood to the side out of the way of others getting in line for ride tickets
still looking up at the old thing that had seen better days
. “You guys go ahead.”

Jared took the tickets he purchased grabbing her hand. “Trust me.”

“I really don’t think I can do this.” Tessa shook her head glancing again at the large round death trap going around and around.

Getting in line behind Damon and Nicole
,
Jared turned around looking down at her. “I will not let you fall.” He smiled down at her, his eyes sincere. “You will be safe with me. I promise.”

Tessa stood forever staring into his gorgeous eyes. It seemed like she had waited her whole life to hear those words.
She gave him a small nod afraid to open her mouth and start blubbering all over him. He had so far seen her cry more than anyone in her whole life.

“That’s my girl.” He wrapped his arm tight around her and it felt so right.

They were the next in line. “If something was to happen can
you
jump and land without hurting yourself?”

Jared chuckled. “Honey
,
I could do a back flip and land like a cat.”

“Holding someone?” Tessa squeezed his hand as the ride operator motioned them forward.

Helping her up onto the seat he sat down and wrapped his arm around her pulling her close. “It would be like we were one.”

Grinning
,
Tessa liked the sound of that.
“Well
,
I hope so because if I die on th
is
thing I’m coming back to haunt you.”

Jared laugh
ed
loudly
before his eyes zeroed in on her
.
“You are a treat honey.”

She didn’t want her heart broken again, but sometimes you had to throw caution to the wind and say the hell with it and take th
e
chance.
Turning
away embarrassed
,
she looked out over the
fairgrounds spread out around them. The lights twinkled in different colors making everything look magical and romantic.
“It’s beautiful up here.”

“Yeah,
beautiful
.” Jared replied staring at her.

Tessa turned to look at him
,
her blush blooming across her cheeks. Suddenly the Ferris
W
heel took off
again
with a jerk. Grabbing hold of Jared she practically jumped on his lap. Her stomach
was
tingling, but she was
n’t
really sure if it was from the ride or the vampire holding her tightly in his arms. Adam and Nicole had both looked back at them a few times waving, but Tessa just smiled not comfortable letting go of Jared.

The ride started slowing down and it was their turn to
stop
at the top.
Gripping the bar tightly Tessa looked over. Everyone went on with their
f
un while they were stopped a
t the
top of the Ferris Wheel.
The wind kicked up making their
basket
sway
,
sending Tessa right back into Jared’s arms
.

“I won’t let you fall Tessa.” Jared whispered into her hair.

“You’re going to make it hard for me to stay away from you
.
” Tessa pulled back looking into his eyes. He had honest eyes
….
beautiful eyes.

“
That’s the plan
.”
He chuckled.

“We hardly know each other.” Tessa replied not even realizing they were moving again.

“
Oh, but that’s the fun part Red
.” Jared leaned closer taking a deep breath. “
I hate to see you afraid of a relationship with not just me, but with anyone because of Oat.”

Tessa snorted at his nickname for Otis.
“Yeah, I need to get over that.”

“
Definitely
.” Jared replied
,
playing with a strand of her hair
his eyes still staring into hers
. “You ever been kissed at the top of a Ferris Wheel?”

Her mouth suddenly dry
,
she licked her lips
shaking her head. “No.” she whispered.

Jared’s hand slipped behind her head cradling it in h
is
large hand. “Good.” His mouth slammed down on hers.
“Umm, you taste like cotton candy.” He whispered into her mouth before diving deeper.

Tessa was lost
…s
he knew it…
accepted it
and the real
ly
scary part
was
she
really liked it.
She was s
o lost in the kiss it took her a second to realize he was pushing her away and another second to realize why. Screams reached her kiss fogged brain. Grabbing the rail she looked over to see people running and screaming in all different directions.

“Stay here!” Jared leaped out of the basket
grabbing the rail beside them.

“What do you mean stay here?” Tessa felt panic set in. “
Where in the hell am I going to go?
”

“Fuck!” Jared cursed looking from the panicked crowd below to her.

“Go!” Tessa demanded. She knew he was torn. “I’ll be fine. Go!” Damon dropped down to another rail scaring the crap out of Tessa.

“I called in reinforcements.” Damon shouted and with that both men jumped into the crowd below.

“Tessa!” Nicole yelled down at her. “I’m coming down.”

“Oh my God!” Tessa turned to watch Nicole, not as bravely as the warriors, make her way down to her basket.

Climbing in
,
Nicole
took a deep breath. “Even though I know I won’t splatter that scared the hell out of me.”

“What is going on?” Tessa looked over the edge trying to find Jared, but there was so much panic she couldn’t see him anywhere.

“
Half-breed
s.” Nicole also looked over the railing.

Nicole and Tessa both screamed as they watched Adam, Jill and Steve jump past them to the ground. “No!” Tessa screamed the protest, but it was too late. They were lost in the maze of screaming masses.

“Oh shit.” Nicole’s head popped up. “We got a problem.”

Tessa looked over to where Nicole was looking and gasped. A large
half-breed
was jumping from basket to rail making
his
way up, two more followed. Tessa looked around for a weapon, but there was nothing. Toeing off her shoes
,
she grabbed one, reared back and let it loose as hard as she could
,
hitting the close
s
t
half-breed
in the head.