Rock the Viper (22 page)

I sigh into his chest, “I don't know what to say, everything is up in the air right now.”

He looks down at me and lifts my chin so I'm looking up at him, “Promise me you will think about it?” I nod a yes for my answer.

His phone goes off and he excuses himself. I make my way to the lounge to make a few phone calls myself. I phone Lara first, to see if she covered at work for me but she didn't answer.

Then I phoned Monica, I could hear the baby crying in the background and had second thoughts about asking, but if I needed space to think, I had to be away from the cause. She said I could stay. I now had to tell Noah that I was leaving for the weekend and I didn't think he would be happy about that.

I found him in his office. I knocked and he opened the door but was on his phone. He let me know he would be five minutes by holding up his hand. I decided to go and pack some clothes for the weekend which didn't take long and found myself back on the sofa waiting for Noah.

When he walked in his eyes went straight to my bag, “Going somewhere?”

I touch the bag, “Yes, I'm going to stay with Monica for the weekend. I need time to think and I can't do that here.” I lower my head.

Noah comes and sits down by me and nudges me with his shoulder, “You are coming back aren’t you?” 

I reach for his hand and turn my body to face him. “Yes, of course I am.” I don't get to say anything else as Noah takes my mouth in a scorching kiss.

He moves away and says, “Is there anything you want me to tell Juan?” 

I shake my head to mean a no. I stand up, pick my bag up and look down at Noah, “ I will see you Sunday night,” I turn to leave and hesitate, then turn back, “Tell Juan I ... tell him I will see him Sunday. Have a good weekend Noah.” I turn quickly, as I don't want to see the look on his face.

I walk to Monica's to give me some time to sort myself out, as I feel I've walked away from the best thing that has ever happened to me. Monica answers the door with her finger to her mouth, points back over her shoulder and mouths the words, “Baby asleep.”

She then points to come in, so I do and I notice all the toys on the floor and clothes everywhere. Who knew a baby needed so many things. Monica's sister, Lisa, had her baby young. She was only eighteen, so relied on Monica a lot to help her out. Monica leads me to the kitchen and puts the kettle on, then turns to me and asks what's wrong. I explained the whole Jacob and Noah thing and I rendered her speechless.

After she found her voice she asked, “But that doesn't explain why you're here, you should be with Noah after what he went through.”

I lower my head, “Please don't make me feel any guiltier than I do already.” I look back up at her. “I found something out about Juan and I don't know how I feel about it.”

The baby starts to cry, so Monica makes her way out to check on him but she turns to me and says, “I'm here if you need to talk.” And I smile at her.

I get a text from Noah asking if I arrived safely and I text back yes I did. Monica and I spend most of our time playing with the baby, but my mind does drift to Juan and Noah and I wonder what they are doing? If Juan knows I've gone yet? A little part of me wants them to turn up here and bring me home, but I know they will give me the space I want. I don't get to talk to Monica much and as everyone else goes to bed, I find myself lying on the sofa wishing my brain would switch off so I could sleep. My phone beeps and I check to find a message from Noah saying, “Goodnight, we both love you.” Tears threaten to spill as I send a goodnight back.

I didn't get much sleep, as the baby was awake at 4 am crying, it seemed that was all he did. At 7 am, I had enough. I was tired and an emotional wreck and needed sleep. I left a note for Monica saying I had gone home and would phone her later.

I made my way back to Noah's house and I had the strangest feeling, as I realized I had called Noah's house my home, because that’s what it had become. My home, and the two men I loved, were there waiting for me. I had to bang on the door and hope someone would answer it and told myself I must remember to ask for a key.

It was Lara who answered the door and let me in, she looked so ill but I was too tired to even ask. I made my way to my room flopped on the bed and closed my eyes and the thought,
I'm never having a baby
, crosses my mind and I drift off to sleep.

I wake to my phone ringing and answer it. Monica's voice comes over all worried. “Peppa are you ok? I’ve been ringing you all day.”

“Hi Monica I'm fine, don't worry, really I'm fine.”

She sighs, “I'm sorry we didn't get to talk much yesterday, and I have no idea what Juan has done, but life is too short Peppa. If he hasn't cheated, and by the way if he has I will kill him.” I laugh. “Go for it, love them both and let them love you.”

I think,
I wish it was that easy
but say, “Thanks Monica you're the best.” She goes on to say sorry for the baby crying all night and before long we say our goodbyes.

My stomach rumbles and I look down to see I’m still in yesterday's clothes and think out loud, “You are making a habit of this Peppa.” My stomach rumbles again and I decide I need food first, so I make my way to the kitchen. No one is about so I make a sandwich, grab a coke and head back to my room.

After I finish eating, I head for the bathroom and take a shower, brush my teeth and hair, wrap a towel around me and climb back on my bed. I have so many questions going around my head which scare me, but the one thing I keep asking myself is, do I love Juan enough to accept what he is?

I decide to get dressed and to get some answers to my questions and I go and seek out the only man who can answer them.

As I approach the lounge, I hear Juan's voice, “Lara, please get off me. I'm not interested in you.”  Lara then says, “Come on Juan, let me show you what I can do with this and I will make you forget all about Peppa.”

My blood boils as my anger rises and I walk in to find Lara sitting on Juan’s lap trying to kiss him. I don't know where my strength came from but I was pissed. “Having fun Lara? Doesn't look like Juan is from where I'm standing.”

Juan stands and places Lara on her feet away from him and stares at me. “Peppa I didn't do anything, you know I...”

I put my hand up to stop him and open my mouth, but Lara gets in first, “What is it about you Peppa? Look at you, you're nothing, you're not even pretty, yet you have my brother wrapped around your little finger and then I watch as this one here fucks you up against the fridge. I wonder what my brother would say about that.”

I didn't know Noah had entered the room till he says, “I would say I wish I had been there to join in. You see Lara, I already know about them, so nothing you say to me is going to make a difference.”

Lara stands there opened mouth, she looks at Juan and then Noah and when her eyes find mine, well, if looks could kill, I would be dead right now. She stalks over to me, gets right in my face and spits out, “You are nothing and they will see it soon enough you slut.” She tries to walk away but I grab her arm and she flinches like the other times I touched her.

We both look down to see where my hand rests, “Let go of me you slut.”

I think to myself,
there’s that word again
. I shake her arm and her head snaps up to look at me. I get inches from her face and say, “What did you call me?”

She laughs, “I called you a slut Peppa, because that's what you are.”

It was Juan's voice that made me loosen my grip on Lara as he said, “Who's Eric?” Lara and I look at him and say, “What,” at the same time.

Noah speaks first, “Eric is her ex-boyfriend but I thought he was still inside.”

I look over at Juan, “You're reading her mind?”

He nods a yes and says, “Eric was the one who wrote Slut across your wall.”

I turn to face Lara who is staring at Juan with uncertainty written all over it, “How did you know that?”

That's when my legs give out and Noah catches me before I fall and lowers me to the sofa. I look at Lara and shake my head at her and ask, “Why?”

Lara breaks down then and falls against the wall and slides down it. She doesn't look at us when she speaks, “He said he needed money, that he owed someone and if he didn't get it they would kill him. I love him, I've always loved him. He's the only one who listens to me, shows me respect and gets me.”

Noah bends down by her and takes her hand in his. “Lara he used you the first time and now he’s done it again. Why can't you see that? He doesn't love you. He wants the money.”

She snatches her hand back and looks him right in the face and says, “Yes, he does love me and when we get the insurance money he's going to marry me.”

I can't believe what I'm hearing. First, I'm told my boyfriend is a vampire and now I have to listen to my so called friend say her boyfriend trashed our home for the money.
I think I’m going mad.

I stood up, walked over to her, looked down and said, “You let him do that to our home? To destroy everything I own and to make me feel scared of even going back there, for money? So he can marry you? I can't even look at you right now. I need to get out of here.” I walk away. I hear my name being called but I ignore them all. I head back to my room, grab the bag I didn't even unpack and leave the house.

As I'm walking down the driveway I feel a gust of wind go past me and Juan is suddenly standing in front of me. I try and walk around him but he stops me, “Where are you going Peppa?”

I look at him, “I don't know, but I can't stay here right now.”

He puts his hands on my shoulders and I flinch a little, which he notices, and his arms drop back to his sides, “Are you coming back Peppa?”

I walk around him and as I pass him I say, “I don't know.”

Chapter 23  (JUAN)

I laugh to myself as I get excited about picking Peppa up from work. It's not a big thing but it means something to me. I can't be with her through the day time and I miss out on what she does. So, picking her up from work gives me a little idea of what her life revolves around. I need to feed first, so I use my vampire speed to get to the farm two towns away. I get friendly with a pig I have named Dolly, to get my daily iron intake.

I was quicker than I thought, so I headed back to the house and practiced with Cruz and Saul for a bit. Saul said he had to pop out for a few hours, which I thought was very odd, and would talk to him about it later. I decided to leave and walk at human speed to get Peppa. I left Cruz playing his guitar and singing a song I hadn't heard before.

When I reached Café Net, there were no lights on. I knocked on the door but saw no movement. She knew I was picking her up and I knew she would be waiting for me. I knocked again, but still nothing, I called her phone but that went to answer phone. I called Noah to see if he knew where she was but he didn't answer either. I phoned Noah's house and no one picked up. I had a thought that maybe she was offered a lift home or ordered a taxi. I was trying not to worry that something bad had happened, so I speed back to Noah's house to see if she had turned up there.

When I'm back I check the house and even went down to check with Cruz to see if he had seen her. He stopped playing, “Calm down Juan give it fifteen minutes and see if she turns up. She more than likely had a ride home.”

I slump down on the sofa, “It seems a bit weird. Why wasn't she there waiting for me? She knew I was coming.”

He shrugs his shoulders, “Maybe she had a bad day and wanted to get home and took the easy way.”

I shake my head, I knew she wouldn't do that and something seems to feel very wrong about it all. I try her phone again but nothing. I try Noah's and again nothing. I start pacing the floor and turn to Cruz who is standing there watching me and I say, “Something’s wrong, I know it is.” And I start pacing again.

I don't know how long it was before I finally decided to go and look for Peppa. I had just left the basement and I was hit with the energy that I knew meant Peppa was near. I call out her name but she doesn’t answer back, I know she is near, so I go to the front door and open it. Saul rushes in carrying Noah and as he storms past me he says, “She knows, she knows we are vampires.” And my world crashes down around me.

This is the moment I have dreaded, she is going to be hurt, but the way she reacts to me will tell me everything. When she walks in she looks at me, I see the hurt and confusion and I even see how frightened she is and that’s one of the things I have feared; that I would scar her and that she would think I would hurt her.

She walks straight past me and I grab her hand and tell her I'm sorry and let her know I should have told her. She tells me she doesn't know what is real and the sadness I see in her eyes scares me, because the one thing I’m scared about more than anything is losing her and my reality might come true as I watch her walk away.

I let Saul explain to me what happened and all I can think is,
if Saul hadn't dealt with Jacob, I would have and he would be six feet under by now. No one comes between me, my woman and my man.
So yes, Jacob was very lucky it was Saul who handled the situation. As Saul walked away I shouted after him, “Saul is there something you want to tell me? Like why you were at the club to begin with?”

Saul rubs the back of his neck and I watch a smile come across his face and he says the one thing I didn't expect to hear from him, “I've met someone. It's early days, so I don't want to talk about it all yet. So no more questions ok?”

I nod my head and smile, “Ok, thank you for saving Noah and Peppa and bringing them back to me. I think I have lost her Saul, she isn't going to accept what I am.” I lower my head and I feel his hand go to my shoulder. 

I bring my head back up look at him and he says, “Then fight for her, she will need time, but fight for her brother, don't ever let her go.” And he hugs me and is gone in a flash.

I make my way to Noah's room and I listen at the door. I can hear little sobs coming from Peppa, but I know she is asleep as her heart has slowed down. I open the door and find a chair in the corner of the room and sit and watch over the two people who mean more to me than life itself.