Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(7)

“Her mom let Lucas come over,” Miranda said, and squealed a little.

Della looked back at Kylie. “She did? Did she force you to read ten how-not-to-get-pregnant pamphlets before he showed up?”

Kylie grinned. “Only one. Did you know that only about fifty percent of teen mothers receive a high school diploma? And the children of teenaged mothers are more likely to have lower school achievement and drop out of high school, have more health problems, and be incarcerated at some time during their adolescence?” She grinned. “At least it wasn’t about condoms this time.”

They all laughed again, something they did a lot at these meetings. “Did she let you go out with him, on a date date?”

“No, we went out to eat with my mom and then Lucas and I just went up to my room to talk.”

“I’ll bet you talked. The language of the tongue,” Della teased, and ran her tongue over her lips. Kylie and Lucas were a real couple, meaning they’d done the deed. Not that Kylie talked about it. Well, other than to say it was wonderful. Della could relate to her not wanting to share. Seriously, sex was … embarrassing.

And sometimes wonderful. For one second, she recalled how things had been with her ex-boyfriend Lee. Then she recalled how close things had come to being wonderful with Steve, the sexy-as-sin Southern shape-shifter. Thank God, she’d wised up before she went down that road.

“Okay, you’ve avoided it long enough, give us the lowdown,” Miranda said to Della.

Della frowned. Spilling guts wasn’t her favorite thing to do. While it always ended up cathartic, it also felt a bit like whining, and a bit like being disloyal. Disloyal to her parents. Loyalty had been inbred in her by her father.

She recalled again the picture she’d found in the old photo album. And that’s when she remembered she’d left her backpack with the photo in the fork of the woods.

“Crap!” Della jumped up.

“What?” Kylie asked.

“I left my backpack on the trail.”

“No, you didn’t,” Miranda said. “It was on the front porch. I brought it in. It’s on the sofa.”

“Burnett must have found it and…” Then it occurred to Della. What if it wasn’t Burnett? Could the no-good vamp have done it? He didn’t know which cabin was hers, but he could have followed her scent.

Had he gone through her stuff? The possibility of him looking through her bag annoyed the hell out of her. And it wasn’t just about her padded bras, but because of the picture. If he’d bent it or … Oh, hell, why had she been so careless with the backpack to start with? Oh, yeah, she’d been an emotional wreck.

“What is it?” Kylie asked, obviously reading Della’s mood.

Suddenly extra leery, Della took a flying leap over the table into the living room and snatched up the bag. “There’s a new guy here. He might have been the one who brought this to me.”

“Yeah,” Kylie said. “Lucas told me he showed up on Saturday right after we left. He’s a vampire.”

Della scowled. “He’s a jerk!”

“Why’s he a jerk?” Miranda asked. “If he found your bag and brought it to you, what’s the problem?”

“He might’ve gone through my stuff,” Della said, not believing they didn’t understand. Who wanted a guy rummaging through your underwear or your Smurf pajamas?

She pulled the bag to her nose and sniffed it. “Damn it! His scent is all over it!”

“You met him already?” Kylie asked.

“Yeah, I met him. Burnett neglected to inform me we had a new student on board, and when I found him I thought he was a rogue trespasser.”

“Oh, my!” Miranda giggled. “Did you kick his butt?”

“I was in the process of kicking it when Burnett showed up.”

“Is he cute?” Miranda asked. “Not that I’m looking … Well, I might look, just not touch.” She giggled again.

“I told you, he’s a jerk.” Right then the image of him shirtless walking toward her filled Della’s mind. She opened her bag, looking for the photograph of her grandmother with her father and his brother.

“Is this whole bag thing a ploy just so you don’t have to talk about your weekend?” Miranda asked.

“No,” Della said. “I just want to make sure that…”

She unzipped the bag, looking for the little white envelope she’d carefully placed between her underwear and her PJs. It wasn’t there! She started tossing everything out. She even turned the bag upside down and shook it, praying it would flutter out. Nothing fluttered. No picture.

“Nooo!” she muttered, thinking she might never get it back. It was probably the only picture her dad had of his brother, too. She couldn’t have lost it. Her father would kill her.

No, he wouldn’t, the thought hit. He’d just be disappointed in her even more than he was.

“This can’t be happening,” Della said.

“What can’t be happening?” Kylie asked.

“He took it. Why the hell would he have taken it?”

“Took what?” Kylie asked.

Della didn’t answer. She had to find that piece-of-shit vamp and find her father’s picture. She flashed out of the room.