Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(75)

“I need to get back to the cabin,” she said, and started to take off.

“So you can go back to mourning and feeling sorry for yourself?”

Angry that he made her grief sound so self-indulgent, she turned around, took two steps closer, and growled.

He didn’t budge, his lack of fear a statement. Not that it mattered a flying flip. She wasn’t afraid of him either.

“No,” she seethed. “I’m going back because Kylie and Miranda will be back any minute.”

“Good, then you won’t be alone.”

What was it to him? Since when had she become his concern?

She continued to stare at him as if the paradox of who he really was would suddenly become clear. Nothing became clear. Except that this close, his scent filled her nose. And his trace registered again as one that had been familiar—one somehow tied to fear. But damn it, she wanted to know where she’d run across this panty perv before. Wanted to know why her gut said he was up to something.

“Do you want to run again tonight?” he asked.

“No.” Not with you. Where the hell do I know you from? Who were you meeting at the fence in the middle of the night? A bunch of questions rested on the tip of her tongue, but she’d already asked most of them, so why bother? Not that she’d stop looking for answers. Sooner or later, she’d get to the bottom of this.

“Come on, we’ll just run together. Say around three in the morning.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because, like I said, you need to run, to push yourself so you can … deal with things?”

“Why do you care how I deal with this?”

He leaned back on the heels of his feet and hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “You haven’t figured that one out yet? And here I thought you were smart.”

“Figured what out?” Was he finally going to tell her the truth?

“That I kind of like you, Della Tsang.”

“I’m not that likable,” she said.

He grinned. “I have to admit, you do make it hard.”

Chapter Twenty-three

When she stepped out of the woods, Della saw Steve sitting on the porch. He started toward her, and from the empathy on his face, she could tell he knew about Chan.

For one second, a very short second, she felt guilty for running with Chase. She pushed that aside. She hadn’t done anything wrong. And if he did have a thing for her, she’d basically told him to take a hike.

Once Steve got within arm’s reach he pulled her against him.

She leaned against him, hoping no one was around to see them. “I thought you already went to Dr. Whitman’s,” she said, and drew back. But right before she moved her nose from his shoulder, she smelled it. A feminine perfume. Some girl had gotten awfully close to Steve. And she’d bet she knew which girl, too. As the jealously started to form, she smashed it like a mosquito. She had so much to deal with, she just couldn’t deal with that now. And besides, Jessie could have accidentally brushed up against him. She wanted to believe that.

“I did, but I planned to come back to see you this afternoon. Then I called, and when you didn’t answer—”

“I didn’t get the call.” She reached into her back pocket. Crap. Her phone? “I must have left it here.” But she always put it in her pocket.

“When you didn’t answer, I called Kylie’s phone. She told me what happened.” He raised her chin an inch to look her in the eyes. “Why didn’t you call me? I would have come immediately.”

She saw disappointment in his gaze. It seemed she was always disappointing him. Only not as bad as she’d disappointed Chan. “I … I knew if I called you I’d start crying again.” Why did Steve bring out her weak side? She didn’t know. Didn’t like it.

As if to prove her right, tears stung her eyes. She started walking to the cabin. He followed her at her side, so close she felt his heat against her hip.

When she shut the door, he reached for her again. “Maybe you need to cry.”

“No.” She pulled out of his embrace and wiped her eyes. “I’ve already cried. And it’s not going to change a damn thing.” She went to the table to check and see if her phone was there. It wasn’t. She’d probably lost it when she’d been flying like a maniac trying to keep up with Chase.

Her parents would kill her if she couldn’t find it. No, they wouldn’t kill her, they’d just be disappointed in her. Again.

Steve frowned. “Tell me what happened.”

It hit her then that her phone was the least of her problems. She’d look for it later, and she’d either find it or she wouldn’t.

She dropped onto the sofa. The overstuffed piece of furniture sighed, a soft sad sound. Or maybe everything sounded sad to her today.

Steve sat beside her and put his arm around her. The smell of perfume clinging to his shirt filled her nose again. Was she going to lose Steve to the perky blonde?

Della sent that thought packing and told him what happened with Chan. In spite of not wanting to, when she got to the part about seeing Chan, his face partially covered in dirt, she felt a few tears slip down her cheeks.

“I’ve been so fixated on trying to find my uncle and aunt, that I didn’t stop and realize that I’d been neglecting the one vampire family member I did have. How the hell could I have been so blind?”