Dark Secrets (Dark Secrets #1)(100)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“Uh, not really. Why do you ask?”

“I was in his next class—saw him talking sternly with you,” she said. “Em said it was ‘cause you were all gossiping during a lecture.”

My brows rose. That had to be the most I’d ever heard that girl say. “Um—no, he just wanted to find out how my mythology paper was coming along.”

“I’m doing mine on fairies,” Alana said in a dreamy tone. “I love fairies.”

“Yeah, I’m doing mine on trolls,” Ryan added. “What about you, Dave?”

David looked up from thumbing his phone, and the words he was holding back washed across his face; he hated being called Dave, but he’d never say it. I smiled sympathetically at him. “I’m uh—I’m actually in Mr Adams’ class. We’re doing a different topic this semester,” he said.

“Yeah, me too,” another kid added from the other end of our little rectangle of friends.

While the conversation continued, I excluded myself, watching David focus intently on his phone, wondering what he was doing.

He grinned without looking up, then inched his body closer so our shoulders touched and his screen sat between us. “I’m tweeting.”

“Really?” I whispered, reading the reply he’d sent to an EricDelaR. “I didn’t know your kind used social media.”

He laughed once and slipped the phone into his pocket. “How narrow-minded of you.”

It amazed me how much more human he was around everyone from school, and how, now I knew what he was, I could see right through his poorly-executed disguise. His movements were so deliberate; blinking carefully, closing his eyelids a little too slowly, and he shifted on a counted beat.

One, two, three—I made it to ten and he crossed his ankle over his knee.

One, two, three—yup, ten again and he uncrossed it.

He turned his head and smiled, branching us away from the group conversation again. “Problem?”

I shrugged.

“Would you prefer an odd count?” His smile gleamed.

I nodded, and counted in my head. One, two, three; he ran his hand through his hair.

One, two; he picked up his cup.

Much better.

“What about you, Ara?” I looked up, like I’d been sprung talking in class. “What’re you doing yours on?”

“My what?”

“Honestly, Ara.” Emily shook her head. “Do you ever pay attention?” I stared blankly at her; she smiled and said, “Your mythology paper. What are you doing yours on?”

“Oh, um…vampires.”

David coughed beside me and shot up out of his chair, dusting soda off his jeans. “Damn it!”

“You all right, man?” Ryan frowned.

“Uh—” He stood up straight, holding a now oddly-shaped cup out from his body, glancing over the wide stares of all the other kids at our table. “Yeah. Swallowed the wrong way.”

Emily’s cheek tightened on one side, and the others, not thinking anything of David’s strange reaction, went back to their food and conversation.

“David?” I whispered, mostly talking through my teeth. “What’s wrong?”

“Can we talk?” he asked, his eyes widening for a second.

“Sure.” I stood up. “Where?”

He jerked his head in the direction of the stage. “We’ll be back,” he said to everyone else.

“Okay, don’t be too long,” Emily said, “I’m gonna kick everyone’s butts soon and get this rehearsal into swing.”

“Of course.” David nodded, though it looked more like a bow, then took my hand and led me away.

Is this just an elaborate escape plan—to get me in private?

“No,” David said.

Hmph!

Chapter Twenty

The heavy black door creaked as I pushed it open, and David ducked under the low frame, closing us into the musty darkness, thick with the smell of latex and old books.

“Ara, you can’t do your paper on va—”

I cut his words off with my lips, flinging my arms around his neck; he attempted protest, laughing under the kiss, but, after a deep breath, slid his long, elegant fingers up the sides of my face, finally letting me have my own way.

“Show me the vampire,” I whispered into the hollow of his mouth.

He pulled away softly. “Not here.”

“Yes.” I grinned. “Here.”

“What if I scare you?”

“Then we’re in a perfect place for me to try really hard not to scream.”

He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “Do you even understand what the vampire is?”

“A less guarded side of you?”

“Yes. Very much so. And he may be inclined to bite you or, at the least, be rough with you, perhaps even do things I might regret after.”

That only made it harder for me to breathe. I knew, deep down inside, that David would never actually hurt me, so the thought of biting only stirred the idea of him as a primal being, all his emotional guards down—just David; raw, instinctual, completely exposed David. And I wanted it bad.

I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist, forcing his lips open with mine.

“Ara, please,” he groaned loudly, but tucked his hands under me, beneath my dress, and finally took control of the kiss. “You know, you really shouldn’t wear dresses to school.”

“Take it off me, then.”

“Ha!” His breath burst from his lips in a cool gust. “Don’t say things like that. I haven’t eaten enough for this kind of misbehaviour, my love.”

“When did you last eat?”

“Monday morning—right before I brought you the pastry.”

“That’s two days. You should be fine.”

“Ara.” He set me down on the ground, and my toes tingled with prickling pins. “This isn’t a game.”

“Who says I’m playing?”

“Ara, be sensible.”

I chewed the tip of my finger for a second, attempting control, but it was just too much—his skin, his warmth, his chest under my breath; I slid my fingers into the neckline of his jacket and pushed it away from his shoulders.

“You don’t know how to take no for an answer, do you?” he said, casting the jacket across the room.

“That wasn’t a no,” I teased, moving closer. “So, you gonna show me this vampire, or what?”

“Why, Ara?” He took a small step back. “What’s with the sudden change of heart?”