A Shade of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #2)(35)

But then came the memory of lying on his bed, with my hands pinned above my head, Derek holding me down by the wrists. It was the first time he ever did something like that to me since the incident at the Sanctuary upon his waking. I had to admit that Derek wasn’t as blemish-free as my infatuation wanted to paint him.

“We can’t keep doing this.” I shook my head and got off the bed.

“Can’t keep doing what?”

“Sleeping in the same bed. Not if we want to pursue a relationship… We’re treading dangerous waters.”

“You never had a problem sleeping in one bed with him…”

“Where is this coming from?” My hands rose in the air in utter frustration. I shook my head empathically. “You know what? Forget it. I’m going to do you a favor and forget this happened. I’m going back to my room.”

From outside Ben’s window, I could see faint hues of violets and reds, signaling the break of dawn. It was the morning of our first date. We set our date on the weekend after we decided to give our relationship a shot a couple of days ago. This certainly wasn’t a great way to kick start our first date. I snuck out of my room and returned to mine. Sleep escaped me and I spent what was left of the dark staring outside my window, watching the sun rise.

During breakfast, it was clear from the bags under his eyes that Ben didn’t get much sleep either. True to my word, I was determined to forget what happened earlier that morning, blaming it on some adverse reaction he had to whatever nightmares still managed to plague him. So I smiled at him and playfully punched him on the shoulder before placing a plate of French toast in front of him. He gave me a surprised look, but it seemed he was relieved that there wasn’t a weird tension between us as a result of what happened.

“You two are up early…” Lyle commented as he took a sip of his coffee, his eyes set on the news article he was reading on his tablet. “It’s a Saturday. You’re teenagers. Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping in?”

Amelia and Abby were still in bed. They always slept in during weekends.

I just smiled as I dabbed butter and strawberry jam over my French toast. “Maybe we’re not your ordinary teenagers, Lyle.”

He gave me a lingering stare… enough to bother me. It was as if he knew something about me that even I didn’t know.

I lifted the fork I was holding mid-air. “What?”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing, Sofia.”

“Actually…” Ben drawled as he poured a generous dollop of maple syrup over his toast “…Sofia just couldn’t wait to wake up so she can spend some time with me.”

I wanted to stop my cheeks from reddening, but they did anyway. I couldn’t ignore the way Lyle shifted glances from Ben to me and back. Lyle was soft-spoken and mostly kept to himself. I rarely heard him raise his voice. Even when he was scolding his children, he did it in a calm, almost eerie, voice that made him sound actually far more threatening than Amelia’s shrill diatribes.

“You two ought to be careful.” Lyle warned, his face stoic, his voice flat. “Whatever is going on between the two of you,” he set his eyes on Ben, “I think we know that your mother isn’t yet ready to consider the idea of you being together. Tread lightly.”

“Yeah, Dad… Sure thing…” Ben had that deer-caught-in-headlights look about him.

Ben and I exchanged glances. “How does he know?” I mouthed at him the moment Lyle shifted his focus back on his daily news reading.

He shrugged as he tossed his food around on his plate. Lyle finished the rest of his coffee and replaced his tablet in its case.

“I’m off to work. Enjoy your day, and please.... Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

Ben chuckled as he watched his father leave. “He doesn’t seem to have anything against us dating. Guess that’s a good thing.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“That being said…” He gave me a look-over. “Get dressed, Sofia. Don’t you have a date today?”

“Psshh…” I threw a crumpled paper towel at him. “I was thinking of bailing. A wise man just told me that I should be careful and tread lightly.” I attempted to mimic the way Lyle said those last two words.

“Right…” Ben scoffed at me as he approached. He leaned on the dining table as I got up in order to put aside the dishes. “As if you can bail out on me.”

I raised a brow at him. “What makes you think I can’t?”

He shrugged, feigning self-confidence. “What makes you think you can?” He tilted my chin upward with his forefinger and was about to stoop for a kiss when Amelia walked in, her mass of blonde hair a total mess, looking like she was half-awake, half-asleep.

“Good morning, Mom.” Ben said. Never being a morning person, Amelia just grunted his way and went straight to the fridge.

“Sofia and I are going to spend the day out, okay? We’ll be home by dinner.”

“Uh-huh…” Amelia nodded, her head still stuck in the refrigerator. I was pretty sure none of what Ben said sank in. She poured herself a glass of orange juice and walked out of the room.

I motioned to pick up the dishes but Ben grabbed my arm. “Leave it. I got you.” He grinned, giving my PJs a look. “You really have to get dressed. I can’t be seen with you looking like that.”