NorthangerAlibiInterior (13 page)

“Ah—that’s why you’ve had a sudden change of heart. Both.”

Both? Ugh!
I smiled sweetly. “Really?”

“Yep. They’re both pretty nice, too. Except your mom’s a bit concerned, of course.”

“Of course.”
I’m sure you told her every gory detail.

“Especially once she learned about your fascination with werewolves.”

My jaw dropped.
What? He heard that? He told my mom that? Dang!
“How did you—?”

“Know?” he finished, one eyebrow raised flirtatiously as he leaned forward in the chair. “About your fascination with werewolves? Hmm . . . could it be your love of
Twilight
? Or wait, maybe it’s Native Americans. Or could it possibly be my last name, Black?”

He’s good. He’s really good.
“So, you figured it out?”

“The reason why you fainted? Yeah—”

“I did not faint!”

Jaden chuckled as he pulled himself out of the chair and stalked over to my bed, his dark eyes glittering dangerously. All of a sudden, I found myself wishing I wasn’t alone. He
was
a werewolf, after all, and everyone knows their moods change extremely fast. He prowled right up to me and leaned over.

“Yes, you fainted.” His eyes hungrily devoured my face, and I gulped. “You’re really lucky I like you, because I could’ve eaten you right there on the street.”

“Really?” My eyes were huge.

He gave me a slow, sexy smile and leaned down farther. I sank into my pillows.
Do something. Scream. Bite. Push. Something. Why in the world are you frozen? Only vampires are frozen!
That did it. Just as I opened my mouth to scream, Jaden covered it with his.

Oh my gosh!
About ten rapid heartbeats pounded before he released me.

“Got it,” he whispered above my lips. “I told you I’d kiss you again.”

“Ugh!” I growled.

He smirked, still hanging above me. “And you didn’t even push me away.”

I was pushing now, but he was ignoring me. He lowered the scant few inches to kiss me once more, but this time I was prepared. With a glare, I bit him. Hard.

“Holy—!” The slew of foul language that escaped from Jaden’s mouth as he jerked away from me would’ve made a sailor blush. I wasn’t a sailor. My face stayed stone cold. In fact, I was ticked. I was more than ticked. This was my turn for talking. I invited him up to my room to discuss things on
my
terms.

What in the world does that idiot think he’s doing, trying to kiss me in my bed?

If my daddy were here, Jaden Black would’ve been thrown outside on his head—werewolf or not. Boys weren’t allowed anywhere near our bedrooms at home.

Now I know why. The jerk.

“Are you through?” I smiled a short, tight smile at him.

“Holy mother of Pete’s sake!” He made an obvious attempt to curb his temper as he stomped around, covering his mouth with his hand. “What’d you do that for, huh?”

“That was only your bottom lip. Come near me again and I’ll bite your other one,” I stated calmly.

“You wanted me to kiss you! I could tell.”

The nerve.
I took a deep breath to stay cool. “No. I didn’t. In fact, I was pushing you away.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t draw blood.” He gingerly touched the swollen lip.

“No,
you’re
lucky I didn’t draw blood.” I took an exasperated breath. It was ridiculous, going in circles with this guy. “What did you say to my parents, anyway?”

“Nothing.” He stomped over to the chair and plopped down. “I was just teasing you about the werewolf stuff.”

“You mean you didn’t tell my mom?”

“That you thought I was a werewolf? No.” He leaned forward and pointed to his lip. “Do you see this? Do you? If I were a werewolf, my lip would already be healing!” He slumped back angrily into the chair. “No thanks to you, I’ve gotta walk around like this for forever now.”

“Oh, please.” I folded my arms. “Besides, if you’re that mad at me, what are you still doing here?”

“Good point. I have no idea, really.” He grunted and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Since I’ve met you, my whole life has turned upside down. For some reason I must enjoy this torture—because beyond my gut instincts to run as far away as I can, I find your train-wreck possibilities fascinating. And believe it or not, somewhat endearing. I mean, what other guy can say he’s had smoothie dumped on him, tears smeared all over his shirt, a shouting match in the middle of Bluebird Avenue, a fainting scare, werewolf accusations, and a bitten lip, all within a forty-eight-hour period? See what I mean? I must be attracted to danger.”

Good grief.
“You’re not attracted to danger, just attention. And if you don’t start behaving properly, I’m going to give you some more attention, and I promise you won’t like it.”

“You know, you’re starting to sound like my mom.”

“Good! I’m glad to know that at least one of us is mature around here.”

He grunted and scrunched down lower in the seat, but didn’t answer.

“So, when did you read
Twilight
?” I asked him. “And who had to bribe you to do it?”

“No bribes. Just got tired of hearing my mom and sisters talking about this ‘amazing’ series, and I never knew what they were talking about. Drove me nuts. So one summer, a couple of years ago—before Old Navy—I was bored beyond belief and read the first book in a day. Well, you know how that series is—you can’t stop once you start, so I read the rest. It took about a week. Way too emotional and sappy, if you ask me. And believe me, guys would never act like that in real life. But it was funny to read. I laughed the whole way through, actually.”

“It is
not
sappy. And it’s not funny. And you know what? If guys acted more like Edward, they’d have a lot more real relationships.”

He snorted. “Real relationships? With a vampire? Are you out of your mind?”

You know, I was getting really sick of hearing that question. “No. For your infor—”

My phone chimed, announcing a text. It was on the dresser right next to Jaden.

Dang.
I smiled. “Can you hand me that, please?”

“What?” He looked surprised as he leaned over and snatched the phone. “Oh, you mean this?” He raised an eyebrow and held the cell phone up for me to see. “Are you sure you don’t want me to read it for you?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Now hand it over,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Hmm . . . I’m not sure it’s safe for you to read this—especially with how mentally unstable you are right now. I think I should check it out for you first.”

“Jaden. Give. Me. The. Phone.” I was sitting up in bed, ready to spring at any moment.

He mockingly turned the screen on. The phone chimed again. “Oh, look. Two messages. And they’re both from Tony. Hmm . . . Now that just raised the stakes a bit, didn’t it? Who’s Tony?”

“Jaden Black, if you do not give me my phone now, I’ll make sure your lip bleeds.”

He held his arms out wide. “Oh, you wanna come and give me another kiss. I understand you can’t bear to be apart from me.”

“Ahhh!”
I jumped out of bed. All teasing was gone.

Jaden was on his feet in a flash, tossing me the phone. “Here. Take it. Don’t kill me!”

He laughed when it slipped through my fingers and I had to fumble to pick it up.

“Ha ha.” I faked a smile and scrolled through the texts.

“So, is Tony your boyfriend?” Jaden asked as I climbed back on my bed to read.

“Hmm . . . ?” Already my mind was far away.

thnking bout u 2day. wishd u couldve come. fun game. missd u.

“Wow! Look at you smile as you read that,” Jaden said with a frown. “He is your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

I looked up. “Tony?” I grinned like a fool and then blushed because of it. “No, he’s not my boyfriend.” I opened the next text.

srry ths may sound crzy but u ok? i got a funy vibe earlier. was wondring if something hppnd?

Is he for real?

“What? What happened?” Jaden crossed over to me. “Why are you making a weird face?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” I waved him away.
Just my vampire checking in on me. How cute is he?
I quickly texted back my reply.

evrything fine. was a bit ruff earlier but im good now ur here.

“I have to wonder if that’s what you looked like when you read my texts last night.” Jaden looked down ruefully at me. “I blew it today, didn’t I?” His voice had gone so soft, I almost didn’t hear him.

I pushed “send” and put the phone down. He seemed like he really wanted to know.

“Look, Jaden, truthfully? Yes. You blew it.” I sighed. “Girls don’t like to be scared. Guys do. And we’re all at different levels of scared toleration. The problem is, you hit my level. It wasn’t funny. So much so, I probably won’t go anywhere with you again. When you almost hit that kid, my heart left my body. I can’t begin to imagine what would’ve happened if you had run over him. And frankly, I don’t want to be anywhere near you when you
do
hit someone. You’re a nice guy—more werewolf than guy, actually.” I smiled slightly. “But nice. I just can’t think of you the same way I did yesterday. I don’t think I ever will.”

Jaden sat down on the edge of Cassidy’s bed and stared at the wall for a minute before lowering his head and nodding. “I can see where you’re coming from.” He rubbed his hands on his knees as he released a swoosh of air through his teeth.

My phone chimed again, announcing Tony’s reply. I ignored
it.

“Hey, I’m only here for the summer anyway. It’s not like we’d ever see each other again, right?” I tried to make a joke, but I don’t think it worked.

Jaden stared straight ahead. “I would’ve lost it, had my sister driven with a guy like me,” he muttered. “Kind of changes things when you put it in that perspective, doesn’t it?”

I was so surprised, I didn’t know what to say. “Jaden?”

He stood up and walked over to me. Very gently, he raised his hand and brushed a strand of hair from my forehead. “I’m not going to give up.” He sighed. “There’s something about you that’s so different from other girls. Something alive—I don’t know. You just see the world differently, I guess. It’s kind of addicting, actually.”

“Really?” I smiled a soft, slow smile.
Okay, so he was a total jerk, but under that, he was really sweet.

“Goodbye, Claire Hart.” He leaned forward like he was going to kiss me again. I didn’t move. “I’m gonna kiss your forehead. Is that okay?” His eyes were full of mischief. “I just want to make sure you don’t go for my throat with those teeth of yours before I can kiss you.”

I grinned in response. “I can’t promise anything—I mean, I am mentally unstable right now.”

Jaden threw his head back and laughed. “Dang, Claire. Why’d I have to go and ruin everything, eh?”

I bit my lip, not sure how to answer.

He looked me right in the eye. “I know it’s a long shot, but I’m going to try to win you back anyway. Just promise me you’ll warn me next time you plan bodily damage.”

My eyes lowered to his swollen lip, and I winced.
It
was
bad.
“Deal.”

He chuckled. “Yep. It hurts.” He leaned in, kissed me on the forehead, and whispered, “’Night, Claire. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Bye.”

I watched as he quietly left, and wondered why my heart felt as heavy as it did.