Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(63)

floor. She reached for the bed ruffle. Fear left an almost metallic taste on her tongue.

She lifted the thin cotton material up. At first she saw nothing. And then she saw … everything. Saw it like a movie in her head.

Perry kissing some other girl.

Shawn holding a bouquet of flowers.

Her sister crying.

Then the ugliest image of all flashed. A girl sprawled out on a scarred wooden floor, her neck ripped open, a puddle of blood widening around

her.

Miranda went to scream, only to have the sound trapped by her gasp when she saw the next vision. This image, not in her head, consisted of what

she really had hidden under her bed.

*

Perry stayed concealed under the bar table in the darkest shadows, watching and listening.

“Where’s your son?” Caleb questioned his father.

“He’s probably off tapping that waitress,” Chuckie said. “She was all over him.”

The words made Perry’s whiskers twitch.

Good one. Remind me to thank you later, Chuckie!

He scurried under another table. Staring up, through several pairs of jean-covered legs, he saw Bell move through swinging doors behind the

bar.

He shot through a pair of dirty tennis shoes and a dangerous pair of red spiky high heels, hoping not to be impaled.

Behind him he heard Chuckie say, “The waitress … she just went into the back room.”

Perry shot forward. Footsteps sounded behind him. Don’t be Caleb!

Perry glanced back. Caleb.

Racing forward, Perry focused on the swinging doors.

To get there first he’d have to shoot across the floor in plain sight. If seen, his plan would be ruined.

Perry ducked his head, tucked his whiskers and gave it all he had. Luckily a group of people blocked Caleb’s way. Perry scurried through

another maze of shoes, finally entering the back room.

Bell had her back to him, a phone held to her ear. “I had eight when I dropped him off. How many times can a three-month-old go pee?”

Frustration eked out of her. “Yeah I made some, but the rent’s due tomorrow.”

“Get the hell out of my way!” Caleb’s voice sounded right outside the door.

Perry morphed. Fast.

He heard people shuffling, arguing. Crap! He needed it to appear as if he’d been in here a while.

“Bell?” Perry said.

She turned.

Footsteps behind the swinging door drew nearer.

Knowing his time was out, he kissed her.

She didn’t fight. Not at all. She leaned into him. The feel of a soft female made it hard to think. The fact that it wasn’t the female he

loved made it feel wrong.

Her tongue slipped into his mouth. He heard a chuckle at the door. Caleb’s chuckle. Bell must have heard him, too, because she waved a hand

for him to leave.

Caleb walked off.

The kiss ended.

“Saved by the Bell.” Perry flinched when he realized he’d said it out loud.

Bell tilted her head to the side, looking a little shy. “And I didn’t think you liked me.”

“I do. I mean, I don’t. I do, just not…” Okay that made a lot of sense. How in snowy hell was he going to explain?

Her eyes twinkled with anticipation. “You want to hang out tonight? I have to pick up my son, but he usually sleeps and we can just have a

beer and … talk.”

“Thanks, but … I’m seeing someone.”

Her brows tightened and her eyes brightened to the color of a ticked-off vampire. “And that kiss?”

He needed an answer that made sense and didn’t include trying to get his parents arrested or stopping a murder.

Bell pursed her lips tight. “It was a bet, wasn’t it? You bet your * friends that you could score a kiss? And I had you pegged for a

decent guy. I suck at picking out guys!”

“No. I didn’t … I am decent.”

She cocked her head, listening for a lie.

“Then why…?”

“It’s complicated.”

Frustration shone in her eyes. “Fine, but … you owe me twenty bucks.”

“I do?”

“Yeah, I don’t kiss for free!” She frowned as if her words tasted bad on her lips.

He remembered her phone conversation. It hit him then. Here was a mother, unlike his own, who was doing everything she could to take care of

her kid.

Pulling out his wallet, he took out three twenty dollar bills and placed them in her hand.

She stared at the money. Something like shame took over her expression. “I said a twenty.” She held out the other two bills. Then closing her

eyes as if dealing with some internal argument, she added the last one to the others.

“Sorry. That was wrong. Take it all back.”

“No, keep it. Please.” He slipped his wallet into his back pocket. “You helped me out.”

“I’m not a prostitute.”

“I know. You’re a mother taking care of your kid.”

She almost smiled. “You really are decent, aren’t you?”

He turned to leave. Before he made it out the door, he heard it. The roar of a lion. Someone had pissed off a shape-shifter. Perry had a