Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(26)

“That close, huh?” Her sister’s brow narrowed and she got that you-ain’t-gonna-like-what-I’m-about-to-say expression. “How close are you

to falling out of love with Perry?”

The question bounced around Miranda’s bruised conscience where she’d been kicking the question around herself for the last few weeks. She

wanted to deny it.

“Close,” she offered in truth. Or at least what she’d thought was the truth until she’d started thinking about taking that first-time step

with Shawn, the one she’d almost taken with Perry. Thinking and wondering why she’d felt so ready then, and not so ready now.

Tabitha’s shoulder came against Miranda’s. “If you need to talk. I’ll listen.”

“I know,” Miranda said. “But to talk about something you need to at least have a handle on how you feel. I’m handleless! Part of me still

cares about Perry, and part of me hasn’t forgiven him. I loved him and he completely blindsided me by breaking it off.”

Tabitha’s brows narrowed. “Yeah, but you said he broke things off because he thought you deserved better.”

“It still hurt. And I would have taken him back when he admitted it to me, but he didn’t give me a chance before running out of my life

again.”

“Well, when he came back and you were paying attention to Shawn, Perry probably thought you had made your mind up.”

“Shawn was in the hospital, I wasn’t seeing him as a girlfriend.”

“I’m not saying you did anything wrong, just that it sent the wrong message to Perry.”

Miranda took in a big gulp of air that tasted like guilt. “I hate it when people do that.”

“Do what?” Tabitha asked.

“Use logic. Kylie does it all the time.” Miranda exhaled. “I’m so screwed up.”

Tabitha gave Miranda’s shoulder another I’m-here-for-you bump. “Not screwed up, but you do need to shit or get off the pot.”

“How? I’m emotionally constipated.” She eyed her sister. “First you sounded like Kylie and now you’re beginning to sound like Della.”

Tabitha grinned. “Probably the word ‘shit.’ Shit seems to be an essential part of a vampire’s vocabulary. Anthony says it all the time.”

She almost smiled. “Not that I mind. Everything he says in that French accent sounds like poetry.”

Tabitha dropped her head on Miranda’s shoulder. They sat there in the mostly-white room with nothing but white noise. Miranda’s mind went to

Perry. She suspected her sister’s stayed on Anthony.

Tabitha’s phone dinged with a text. Her sister shifted and picked up her cell from the bedside table. After reading it, she let out a moan of

frustration and her posture went from relaxed to rock hard. “I can’t fracking believe this!”

“Your mom?” Miranda asked, knowing Tabitha’s mom was the leading cause of her sister’s frustrations.

“No. It’s Anthony. He says they’re blaming him. And his English isn’t that good and he feels like he can’t defend himself.”

Miranda breathed in some of her sister’s frustration. “Burnett won’t let that happen.”

“Well, so far he’s not stopping it. They threatened to have him deported.”

“If he’s innocent, Burnett—”

“If?” Her voice echoed. “You think he did this? You think he has something to do with the house blowing up?”

“No,” Miranda said. “I meant that there has to be a logical reason why Della picked up his scent. Maybe you told him about the fortune-

teller…”

“I didn’t.” The two words tripped off her lips in anger.

“Then maybe he followed us there and left before—”

“No.” Her sister’s eyes narrowed. “I told you, his scent was on me.”

Miranda hated conflict and never liked telling someone they were wrong, especially when it was someone she loved. Her heart crumpled up like

used aluminum foil. She pushed the words off her lips with caution. “But it’s like Burnett said, vampires know the difference between a scent

carried by someone and a scent of someone who’s been there.”

Tabitha’s mouth thinned, and her rose-colored lips turned white. “His scent was all over me.” The pain in her voice hung in the air. “Like

all over me! We had sex before I came to pick you up.”

Miranda frowned, thinking that was way too fast, but she shelved that problem for later. “It’s still a—”

“Stop!” Tabitha sat up on the bed, straight up. “I can’t believe this. You’re going to put this on him, too. Here I am trying to support

you in your romantic chaos and you accuse my boyfriend of being a drug addict and trying to blow us up.”

“I didn’t say…”

Tabitha shot off the bed and out of the room. Loud voices echoed behind the door. Miranda did the one-arm scramble out of bed to follow, but a

black-suited FRU agent blocked her exit.

“No, you stay here!” His brown eyes, glowing with green, told Miranda he was a vampire.