Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(18)

“Three months?” Lee asked as if annoyed she’d started dating so soon. But hell, the guy was engaged. Where did he get off thinking … She opened her mouth to say something again but Steve jumped in first.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said. “I didn’t introduce myself. You must be an old friend of Della’s. I’m Steve…?”

Lee ignored Steve and looked at Della. “I thought you were at that school.”

That school? Could he not even remember what school she’d been attending? “I am.” She finally got two words out. “We … just slipped out.”

“So you met him at school?” Lee asked and damn if he didn’t sound upset. Anger started to spark inside her again. He had no right to be upset. None!

Steve spoke up again. “Love at first sight.” He glanced at her and ran his warm hand around the curve of her waist and pulled her a little closer. His gaze shot back to Lee. “Still don’t know how I got so damn lucky.” If so much honesty didn’t resonate from his voice, it might have sounded false. For a second she wished she had listened to his heartbeat—another little vampire talent. Had Steve been interested in her at first sight?

Lee’s fiancée rose from her chair behind them and stopped at his side. Della couldn’t help but notice how pretty she was—pretty in a very traditional Asian way. Her hair was longer, sleeker, and blacker than Della’s. Her facial features were doll-like. Beautiful and perfect—a tiny nose, a bow-like mouth, and slanted black eyes that sparkled with intelligence. No doubt, Lee’s parents had chosen well.

Or had Lee chosen her? Had he planned to break up with Della all along? He’d seemed pretty happy sitting next to her until Della showed up.

Not that he looked too happy now. He frowned when the girl slipped her arm through his, but he did the right thing and introduced them. “Mei, this is Della, and her … friend.” The word friend came out sounding like a four-letter word. “Her friend who obviously likes to fight, if his black eye is any indication.”

Della tensed, ready to tell him that Steve got that black eye standing up for her. Something she suddenly realized that Lee had never done. Not even with his parents.

“Actually,” Steve spoke up again, “we were just wrestling around in bed and Della got me in the eye with her elbow.”

Lee’s shoulders tightened and all Della could think was, Go Steve.

Mei looked up at Lee and seemed to see his reaction. A tightness pulled at the girl’s brow as she glanced back at Della. Della recognized that tightness as plain ol’ jealousy. She’d felt it tug at her own brow every time she thought of Lee with someone else. Oddly, now Della felt … What did she feel? Angry. Hurt. Sad. But she didn’t feel jealous. That meant something, Della knew that, but now wasn’t the time to contemplate it.

“We should…” Her words got hung up when she met Lee’s eyes again. The sad feeling swelled in her chest and she realized a better name for that emotion. Grief. She had loved Lee. Loved him with everything she had. And she’d given him her all—her heart, her body, her mind. Now she’d lost him. And now she grieved for what used to be.

“Go. We should go,” Steve finished for her. “I already took care of the bill.” Steve let go of her waist and held out his hand to Lee. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Lee didn’t take it. Which was super-awkward and not like Lee. He normally wasn’t rude. Or was he? Had she missed that about him, too? Della nodded at the couple and when Steve’s arm found its way back around her she let him guide her away.

They left the restaurant and it took a few seconds of the cold fall air hitting her face to realize she was still holding onto Steve. Holding onto him as if the ship of her life had been capsized. As if he was the only thing floating in the stormy waters to cling to.

The sense of weakness, feelings she could easily drown in, washed over her and sparked another flicker of anger. A big one this time.

She pulled away. Confusion bounced around her gut. The grief clung to her heart as tightly as she’d clung to Steve just a few minutes ago, but then the anger she’d experienced earlier returned. She opened herself up to that emotion. Anger she could handle, anger she could run with. So she let it roll around her, washing away the other emotions that made her feel weak and vulnerable.

She looked at Steve, who appeared happy, just the opposite of how she felt. “You followed me,” she accused him.

The slight smile in his eyes dimmed. “I was obeying orders,” he said. “We were told to stay together at all times.”

“Damn it! I don’t give a shit about orders. I don’t like to be followed.” A heaviness filled her chest and she recognized it as guilt. Guilt for …

“Then don’t run away again,” he said matter-of-factly and started walking to the back of the restaurant.

Damn it. Guilt for acting like an idiot with the person who’d just saved her.

She caught up with him. “I’m not finished talking!” she seethed.

He came to a quick halt and swung around. “But I’m finished listening. You can get mad all you want. I was trying to help.” He took off again.

“I said I wasn’t finished!” She flashed forward and shot in front of him, putting a hand out to stop him. When her hand met his warm chest, it reminded her just how cold she was and she pulled it away. She glanced up at him, he looked about ready to give her hell, but she spoke first.