Vampire Bride

Chapter Fourteen

Charlie

“Charlie…Charlie, wake up.” I ignore Maxwell’s whispers by burying my head into my pillow. His voice sounds too close for comfort, but when my forehead is scratched by something that feels similar to facial stubble I freeze up.

My mind analyzes the scene before my body starts moving. My head’s not nuzzling into a pillow, it’s snuggling into Maxwell’s shoulder. As the feeling to the rest of my body starts to perk up, I find myself curled up against his cold rock hard body all the way to my toes. My arm drapes across his bare chest, my leg intertwined with his. What seems like minutes, but most likely is mere seconds later, I leap backward, swearing under my breath.

My body over jumps and is on the verge of falling out of bed altogether, but Maxwell’s strong grip pulls me fully back onto the mattress. “What did I do?” I point to myself in shame and immediately blame him instead. “What did you do?” But the blame settles on my shoulders as I contemplate if I actually could have done something. “Please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid. That you didn’t make me do something we both regret again.” My head falls into my hands, afraid to look at him. I swear I didn’t do a thing, but as my mind races. Trying to recall last night, I come up empty-handed.

“I didn’t do what you think I might have done. I let you sleep. But plus enlighten mon what it is that you think you’ve done?” He winks at me with a large smile on his face, which part of me finds repulsive, while another part finds sexy.

I whip the blankets off me, refusing to remain this close to him. Standing alongside the bed, I point my finger at him. “Just because I wake up draped over you doesn’t mean a thing.”

He nods with skeptical eyes, not believing a word I’m saying.

“Will. Not. Happen,” I yell as I walk around the bed to the bathroom.

“What if I told you that you said you loved me? What would you have to say then?”

I have no idea if he’s telling the truth or not. I mean, I can’t remember a single thing that happened last night because I was so tired. For all I know I did say those words in my deep sleep, but I’m not going to admit that. “Then I would have to call bullshit. Maybe you were the one dreaming last night.”

“Well, if I was dreaming, I would have to admit that my dreams came true when you woke up in my arms. Although, if you were talking in your sleep, your dreams must have been fairly strong to force you to rub up against me. Either way it proved to be a pleasant morning.” He barely finishes his sentence before his laugh grows stronger.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” An answer isn’t necessary, but I still have to ask it.

“Not in the least.” Without warning, he turns on the bedside lamp. The smile that is on his face makes me stumble into the doorframe of the bathroom. His sharp fangs glisten in the light. They seem to mock me as I stare at them. Then I remember I’m in Grace’s opinion of sleepwear.

“Hungry this morning, are we?” I say before quickly turning into the bathroom slamming the door. My head thumps against it in defeat. A groan of agony fills the large room as I realize that my clothes are out there. I stay in the room for as long as possible, but eventually I gather my composure and slowly open the door. The light is still on, but Maxwell is nowhere to be seen. Instantly, I start my pursuit to my suitcase, tiptoeing as fast as possible.

The blood in my head drains, leaving me lightheaded, and I stop dead in my tracks as I hear Maxwell’s voice coming from the living room area. All I hear is him thanking someone as I take the last few steps to my luggage. With the suitcase in hand, I turn around, ready to race back to the confines of the bathroom, but my luck runs out.

“I see you finally left the bathroom. Your breakfast arrived.”

“Breakfast? You ordered me breakfast and it miraculously got delivered in the matter of minutes?” I don’t believe his lie.

He walks out of view only to return with a tray full of food. “I had breakfast scheduled for delivery before we arrived. Now change and have something to eat because I have to discuss something with you.” He walks away, leaving me alone in the room.

The clothes were perfectly folded in the bag before I went crazy on them last night. It takes a while, but I settle on a pair of jeans and a sweater before heading into the living room.

I see Maxwell lounging on the couch, pretending to pay attention to some TV show. Without turning around to face me, he tells me to eat and join him when I’m finished. All I can do is pick at the food to start with, but with one bite at a time the plate gets emptier than I expected. My head drops in acknowledgment that I have to have a serious conversation with him. My heart gets heavy just thinking about what it could possibly be about.

Leaving a cushion between us, I wait for him to speak first. Not to my surprise, he moves closer to me. He takes my injured hand in his and gently rubs at the bandage. “I’m truly sorry about this,” he says, looking at the white gauze that wraps around my hand.

“That’s what you wanted to tell me? You’re sorry for busting into my house and making me accidentally cut myself? You’re forgiven. Is that what you want to hear? I’ll say it just so you’ll stop with the pity party.” I’m forced to keep my hand in his because his hold gets a little tighter when I try to sneak out of his grip.

“No. We have a meet and greet today at noon and I need you to be on your best behavior.”

“Best behavior! What am I, your dog?” I interrupt.

“Let me finish,” he says with a hint of anger in his voice. I lower my head, taken aback by his harshness. “Charlie…I’m sorry, it’s just that The High Council will be present and I need them to like you. You need them to like you.”

His free hand goes under my chin and lifts my head up until our eyes meet. “Can you do that? You need them on your side, you need them to believe that you love me and that one day you would love to become a vampire. If they sense any type of betrayal or hostility before or during the presentation tomorrow, things could not go in our favor.”

I can sense the fear and regret from Maxwell. If he’s scared of The High Council, I definitely should be. “Fine,” I reluctantly say.

“Why don’t you practice? Try talking positively about me. How about you try telling me you love me?”

“I said fine; don’t push your luck. You want me to trust you, so why don’t you do it in return?” I stand up and stalk away. I have no idea what this meet and greet is all about, but I pray that I get through it alive.

I go back to the bedroom. With nothing better to do, I look at the clothes Grace packed for me. I’ll admit she does have good taste. A light tap on the door before it opens a c***k lets me know that my alone time is ticking down.

“You should get ready.” Is all he says before he shuts the door behind himself.

My heart starts to race and my hands unwillingly become sweaty, so sweaty that I have to change my bandages because they’re becoming damp. It takes a shorter amount of time than I would’ve liked, but with the most attractive dress in the suitcase and my hair cascading over my shoulders, I exit the room. “How much time is left before we have to leave?” I ask Maxwell, whose back is toward me.

He turns around, staring at me in what I assume to be approval. “You look—”

“Save it. When do we have to leave?” I don’t want or need his compliments. My nerves are on overload and I just want this to be over with. There’s absolutely no room for any jitters or excitement Maxwell will add by expressing how I look in his eyes. I can handle Maxwell, but a whole room of vampires is more than I can manage.

“We should leave now if we don’t want to be late.” He walks to the door and opens it for me.

The halls appear to be empty as we walk side by side. Once we reach a certain point, he suddenly loops my arm around his. My injured hand rests on his forearm and his large hand instinctively rests on top of it. “Here we are. Are you ready?”

“No, but let the madness begin,” I say in the best happy voice I can muster up. My nerves are a jumbled mess right now and the feeling as though I could throw up at any second keeps me from saying anything further.

We walk into the full conference room with nothing but pleasant looks on our faces. Maxwell leads us through the crowd of bodies. A wave of relief rushes through me as I see living, breathing human beings mixed throughout the room. Sadly, stiff pristine vampy bodies overpopulate the room.

“Breathe,” Maxwell whispers as he leans in my direction.

I don’t even notice that I’m not breathing. Each forced breath I take matches the aimless steps forward. Nowhere ready to talk to anyone, we come to a stop. Grace’s face comes into view. She has a polite smile across her lips. More than anything I want to yell at her for the trap she set for me, but I have to be pleasant and caring, so I kindly smile back at her.

“I’m sorry about what I did. I hope you can forgive me,” Grace says as she lays her hand on top of my shoulder.

“Maybe,” I say blandly. I know I’m supposed to be happy and what not, but I can’t help the bitterness that fills my voice.

“You’re quite the rebellious one. I have a pleasant feeling that we’re going to get along just fine.” She laughs, finding humor in something that I must be oblivious to.

“There are many introductions to be had. We’ll talk to you later, Grace,” Maxwell says in the most businesslike manner.

The show is about to start, I say to myself and in a trance, I follow Maxwell’s lead through the people, only stopping or greeting individuals Maxwell acknowledges.

“Care for something to drink?” he asks me.

I numbly nod in response. He turns away, but I clutch his arm tighter, refusing for him to leave me. I’ve never been one to be frightened in being surrounded by strangers, but this is too much…this is too scary.

He wraps his arm around my waist and whispers in my ear, “You’ll be fine; no one is going to hurt you.” With that said, he breaks my grip and walks away.

I barely have time alone to assess the room before three happy-go-lucky humans approach me. I smile in return at their excited expressions. One of the two young men is the first to introduce himself. He extends his hand. “I’m Aiden.” I shake his hand in compliance. His free hand goes to his chest as to point to himself. He then points to the young woman next to him. “This is Paige and this is Eddie.” His hand then lands on the second young man.

“Nice to meet all of you. I’m Charlie.” My voice comes out as if I’m a robot on autopilot, but I can’t help the nervousness that continues to consume me. I mentally shake myself. These people are happy about becoming a vampire, happy to be with a vampire.

“So you’re the reason we’re all here. You’re the one being presented as Maxwell’s bride,” Paige spews out.

“Paige, get a hold of yourself,” Eddie says through clenched teeth as he jabs Paige with his elbow.

“You know Maxwell?” I ask, growing very curious.

“Paige here has had a crush on Mr. Barnett for a few years now. She would kill to be in your shoes,” Aiden informs me.

“Since I can’t physically be in your shoes, I’ll have to settle for the next best thing.” She cheers. She nearly knocks me off my feet as she throws herself on top of me. She crushes me in a hug.

I pat her back gently, praying that she’ll let go…soon.

She holds me out at arm’s length. The sudden movement causes my head to bob. “We’ll just have to be BFFs.”

What? She wants to be best friends. Not what I was expecting to happen out of this meet and greet, but it’s way better than what I did have in mind. I smile profusely at her as I pry her hands off me.

“Is there a problem?” Maxwell asks, walking up behind me with my drink in his hand. He wraps his free arm around my shoulders, looking over the three people who stand in front of him.

“No, I just made some friends...apparently. Who would have thought that would happen.” I turn toward him until my back is to the three sets of eager eyes. I lean in close, pretending to fix Maxwell’s tie. “Let me fix your tie, honey,” I say in a fake nurturing tone. Looking up to meet his eyes, I mouth the words ‘help me’ before turning back around, grabbing the glass from him.

“Well, we have a lot of people to meet still, so we must be going,” Maxwell says toward Paige mostly. I watch her eyes slowly blink in admiration. Give me a break, I huff to myself.

We make it a whole two steps before Aiden’s voice stops us. “Charlie, we were going to ask if you would like to join us in the restaurant for a bite to eat tonight. We don’t get to meet a lot of other…” He pauses, searching for the right word.

“Blood donors,” I say for him.

“Yes, that exactly,” he says through a laugh.

I never thought I would ever have a conversation that consists of calling people blood donors, but I guess there’s always a first time for everything, and I can’t wait for this first time to be done with. “Sure, I’ll scamper down at seven, how about?”

They all nod with joy and I thankfully walk away. I down the glass of whatever it is that Maxwell brought me.

“Nervous much?” he asks as he takes the empty glass away from me.

I’m more than willing to reply, but we come to a standstill once again as a man comes to block our path. I stare at the familiar face before me.

“Maxwell, it’s so nice to see you again. And you must be Charlie.” He turns his gaze on me as he extends his hand to shake.

Wide smile. Check. “The one and only. You must be Eugene.” Pleasurable tone to my voice. Check.