Unraveling Soren by Marisa Maichel (books under 200 pages txt) 📕

ago." I showed her the faint piercing. "I wore a diamond stud."

The limo driver was waiting outside. He opened the door for Sarah, and even tipped his hat to her. He tipped his hat to me, too. I eyed him suspiciously until Sarah nibbled my ear.

I growled and pulled her onto my lap.

"Seatbelts, please," the driver said in a French accent.

I hissed and bared my teeth, and he went pale and swallowed. He drove us to the designated ballroom at the Ritz.

Sarah got out first, and cameras flashed as I followed her, taking her arm and leading her to the ballroom. Mom and Selena were there, too, along with Father, Grandfather, Uncle Soren, and Louis.

"You already got pictures," I hissed. Mom and Father ignored me and continued to take pictures.

Sarah had to close her eyes, because the flashing lights were making her dizzy.

"Sarah, over here!"

"Look over here, Sarah!"

"Sarah, I love you!"

Before we entered, I was randomly screened for drugs or alcohol, getting irritated when the dog shoved his nose into my crotch.

"Sorry, but we have to know," said the female officer.

She looked familiar. I was trying to figure out where I'd seen her, when Sarah figured it out, first.

"Detective Greene?" she hedged.

"Sarah, right?" the detective said, smiling at her. "I remember your case. I'm sorry about how everything turned out."

"Everything's all right," Sarah assured her. The two women smiled at each other, and then Sarah took my arm and led me into the ballroom, where we were greeted by loud music and cheers.

Sarah immediately went to a group of her friends, and I followed, jealousy twisting my gut. Especially when I saw all the attractive males. Dante even planted a kiss on her cheek. I snarled, and he paled.

“What is he doing here?”

“Did Sarah bring him?”

“Sarah, did you know your boyfriend’s a vampire?”

“Ssshh! He can hear you!”

“I don’t care!”

I ignored them. They didn’t know what we had. What I had with Sarah was special-beyond special. What we had was eternal. It would last forever, even if both of us died. I shuddered at the thought of her death, then wrapped my arm around her. I kissed her hair, and then she said,

“Oh! Come on Reese, let’s dance! This song kicks ass!”

We slow-danced to “Earth Angel”, then a fast song came on that I didn’t recognize.

I saw Elliott there, along with Britt, and I gave him a dirty look. He didn’t deserve to live, with the way he’d treated the girls. But Britt had abandoned him to dance with someone else, and he was looking sour.

I walked over to him. He looked afraid and turned as white as a sheet as I approached.

“Donovan,” I growled.

“Emerson,” he growled back.

Possibly sensing a brewing fight, Sarah came between us and tried to direct me away, whispering so that only I could hear her. She was singing a song I recognized as “A Thousand Years” from the movie Twilight. Blech.

“Actually, it’s from Breaking Dawn,” she corrected.

“What?” I asked.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” she said.

“No, I mean…Sarah, did you just read my mind?”

“Huh? Did I? I don’t even know anymore. Have you met my friend Robbie?”

Robbie was a heavyset Italian dude with hoop earrings and a thick accent like Woody Allen. I didn’t like him, but that was nothing new. I didn’t like any of her male friends. Which possibly made me a hypocrite, because I had female friends and she got along with them just fine-she and Ariella were even best friends now.

I grit my teeth and tried to be nice to him, though. It irritated me when he gave her a wink and a peck on the cheek, though. I didn’t kiss my female friends, not even a peck on the cheek.

“You’re lucky,” Robbie told me. “You’ve got the most gorgeous girl this side of the Mason-Dixon line.”

“She’s my girl,” I hissed.

“That’s what I’m saying, man.” He slapped me on the back. I was tempted to turn around and punch him, but public dignity and the thought of Sarah dumping me over my jealousy convinced me to stay humble and just accept it. I would kill Robbie later.

“Have you read his newest book?” Sarah was asking her friend Trina. “I had Reese read part of it to me the other night, but I fell asleep halfway through.”

“That boring?” Trina laughed.

“No, I was just tired. You know I’m not allowed to drink coffee anymore? Too much caffeine.”

“I never liked coffee, anyway. Besides, it’s not good for you.”

“Says the girl who smokes a joint every two days.”

“Bitch, I have more taste than you do! Especially in guys.”

“Watch it, Porter. I’ll bet Reese has a bigger dick than any of your guys do! How many did you sleep with last Saturday?”

Were girls always this catty to each other? I’d never seen Ariella or Amara speak that way to Sarah. But maybe Trina wasn’t a true friend. I knew she was on the cheerleading squad, though. Maybe all cheerleaders had an inherent rivalry with each other, like all males do with each other.

The next few songs were slow, so Sarah and I danced. As the night wore on, more and more people arrived, until I saw almost everyone in our class, including my group of friends. Amara was there with Cole Powers, and Duke and Noah had arrived together, and Mason had Elsa on his arm, the redhead whom we’d met at the library.

Noah was looking sour, and Mason and Elsa went off by themselves.

“You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi began playing, and Sarah walked to the center of the dance floor, where she shook her shoulders and flipped her hair and moved her legs in ways I’d never seen before. A crowd formed around her, and I fought through the crowd and took her in my arms and started dancing with her.

We danced for a few songs, then she went back to her friends, and I found Duke and Noah. Noah was sourly watching Amara and Cole, who was smoking a cigarette while Amara tried to drag him onto the dance floor. Her hair was back to its original platinum blond color.

Cole kept shoving her off, and finally she just threw her hands up and turned away. She walked over to us instead.

“Some dance, huh, guys?” she said.

“Yeah,” I said, looking over to where Sarah was now dancing with Mia Rayport. “I brought her here to make her happy. This isn’t my usual scene.”

“Come on, it’s your senior year!” she said. “Come on, Reese, dance with me!”

I reluctantly obliged. I twirled her around like I would with Sarah. After a few songs, she went off to get a cup of punch.

I went back to the guys, and Noah glared at me. I glared back. Sarah came back to me, and dragged me onto the dance floor again, where we danced to a fast song that talked about kings

and queens.

Next was an Avril Lavigne song, and Sarah also went to get some punch. Some girls from the dance team cornered her and started talking to her, and I slowly edged my way over in case I needed to interfere. At our school, the cheerleaders and the dance team generally didn’t get along.

They left before I could say anything. Mia Rayport also made her way over.

“What did they want?” we asked at the same time.

“They asked if I knew you were a psycho,” she said. “They don’t really believe you’re a vampire; they think you’re in a cult that claims to be vampires.”

“Fascinating, but not true,” I said. “And what did you tell Brownie?”

“I told her to keep her fat mouth shut,” she replied. “The last thing I need is girls who think they know my boyfriend better than I do. It’s blasphemy!”

“Whatever. Come on, Sarah, let’s dance.”

We danced some more, and I looked around at all the other couples. Some of them looked happy. Others, not so much.

The night ended all too quickly, and I called the limo back and led Sarah to the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up the next day still smelling her perfume. And then I realized she was still next to me. She had taken off her dress, shoes, and jewelry, and had climbed into bed next to me in only her underwear and bra. Her hair was splayed about, tangled and messy. I smiled and kissed her, and she stirred.

“Morning, Reese,” she muttered. Then she turned onto her side and went right back to sleep. Shadowfang jumped up and sniffed her hair, then he came over to me.

“Did you become a father?” he asked.

“Shut up.”

He gave me a reproachful look and then flicked his tail at me. True, I’d fucked her, hard. I was sure I’d used a condom. And she was on birth control, wasn’t she? My stomach took a dive as I saw the offending culprit on the floor. It had ripped.

Apprehensive, I threw it into the wastebasket. I bit my upper lip and climbed over Sarah to pull on a clean pair of shorts and t-shirt. Had I conceived? Had we conceived? Was I going to become a father?

If I was…wow.

I’d always wanted to be a father, especially after I met Sarah and became her boyfriend. I had already met my children, sort of. I’d met Caitlin and Jojo and Cynthia.

I turned to my love and carefully unhooked her bra. I put an old t-shirt over her. She was stealing all my clothes, whether she knew it or not. At least my shirts and hoodies.

I laid next to her on my stomach, admiring her form. She was more beautiful than Venus. I admired her small feet and hands, her perky breasts, her small waist, her pert bottom. I admired her brown hair with blond highlights, the natural curls. I kissed her cute button nose, stared hungrily at her full, pink lips. She still had a little makeup on from the night before.

I rolled her onto her back. She stirred-her arms wrapped around my neck and she grabbed some of my hair. I gently pulled her away and kissed her hand. I admired the short nails painted a pale pink, making her tan stand out more.

“What do you see in me?” I quietly asked her. “You’re amazing. You’re beautiful. I’m ugly and insecure.”

“Shut up,” she murmured. I smiled as she slowly wrapped her arms around me without opening her eyes. “You’re a handsome man, Reese. I know you don’t see it, but I do. You’re beautiful on the inside, too, which is way more important than outer beauty.”

I felt her eyelashes flutter against my cheek.

“God, I need some coffee,” she said. “Go get me a vanilla latte and I’ll fulfill your greatest desire.”

I laughed, my bass mixing with her soprano giggles.

“Honey, my greatest desire is to be your husband. To have you as my wife. I love you, Sarah.”

“I love you, too, Reese.”

I left to get her coffee. When I came back with an iced vanilla latte from Starbucks, she was playing with my stereo.

“Do you have anything other than hard rock and heavy metal?” she scoffed.

“Hey, don’t insult Halestorm,” I warned her playfully. “Seriously, though, why do you hate my music?”

“I don’t hate it,” she corrected. “I just want to know. I grew up on country and soft rock. I prefer pop and alternative, myself. Some people listen to Texas music. I can’t say I like it, but as my dad used to say, everyone should go to hell in their own way.”

“Why hell?” I asked. “You are certainly going to Heaven.” I shuddered at the thought of her death.

“None of us know how we will die, Reese, or when,” she said. “That fact became unmistakably crystal clear when my parents died.”

She turned away from me then, her eyes full of tears. I hesitated.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, Sarah. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, that was my own fault. I’m sorry I’m such an emotional wreck.”

“Sweetheart, I love you, emotional wreck or not. Selena loves you. Cirino loves you. My mother adores you. Alexander, despite