Chapter Eight

Natalee

I skipped down the stairs, noticing that lots of people were already passing out.

According to party rumors, Evan usually rented out the nice rooms to his close friends, meaning I probably got one of the guest rooms for the night. Everyone else had to camp in his huge backyard.

That rum punch must have been strong, because the party had been only going on for about three hours.

I walked back toward the dance floor, but a hand reached out to grab mine.

“Alec!” I yelled, half because I was frightened, half because I was excited.

“Hey.” His eyes were dark, his mouth set in a grim line. “Maybe we should go.”

“Are you sick?”

“Something like that.” He looked away, a disgusted smirk spread across his face.

I nodded my head. “Okay, well… um, let me just go talk to Demetri first.”

“Nat, don't.” He grabbed my hand again, but I jerked away from him. “Don't worry! It will just take a second.”

Seriously. What was with these boys?

I pushed through the crowd of people to where I saw Demetri last. He wasn't on the dance floor. Confused, I walked to the drinks. And that's when I saw him.

Mauling a girl from the junior class. She was a known slut, on the cheerleading squad and absolutely hammered.

Demetri's hands were underneath her shirt, and she was pushing him against the wall. Clearly, he was participating.

Rage started pumping through me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to punch her or him. How dare he say all those things to me then go scam on some cheap skank!

I fought the tears that were pooling in my eyes. The music was suddenly too loud, the people obnoxious. I fought my way through the crowds, away from Demetri, away from Alec.

“Nat, stop.” It was Alec. I'd recognize his cologne anywhere. His arms braced behind me, holding me steady as he half-lifted me into his arms and walked out the door.

He was silent as he unlocked the door to the car and gently put me in the passenger side.

So I did. Weird, because I didn't even realize how upset I was until he gave me permission to mourn the fact that my boyfriend of five minutes had just been cheating on me in front of everyone.

I would seriously be a laughingstock at school later this week. Just another girl who had fallen for Demetri's charms.

Alec pulled the SUV into his driveway and wordlessly got out of the car and walked to my side. He opened the door and scooped me up into his arms. Alec carried me into his house totally silent.

My eyes felt puffy. I cursed Alesha for making me wear mascara. I probably looked like a possessed raccoon.

Alec gently placed me on the couch and flipped on the lights to the living room.

It wasn't anything like my house. It was trendy but really comfortable, whereas my house felt sterile and lonely.

I suddenly cried harder, knowing I had to return to an empty house. My mom and dad had most likely gone out. It was date night, after all.

I never did do well with being in the dark by myself.

“Here.” I didn't even know Alec was in front of me. My eyes fell on a mug of something. I took it and sipped.

Tea. Crap. I had just made out with his brother and he was making me tea, in his house, and telling me it was okay to cry.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

Alec knelt in front of me. His thumbs wiped the remaining tears from my eyes. “I'm sorry, Nat. He's drunk. I know that's no excuse, believe me.

“But if he was in his right mind he would have never done that. I know he likes you.”

I nodded numbly.

“Want me to beat him up for you?” Alec asked, a deadpan look on his face.

“Would you?”

Alec nodded.

The idea did have merit.

“Maybe just a black eye.”

“Done.” He smiled and sat next to me on the couch.

I set the mug on the table and started to get up. “I should go home. I mean, it's getting late.”

“Fine, but if you go home I'm going with you. Your choices are as follows.

“Stay with me, while I sleep on the floor guarding your virtue from my brother if he decides to track you down, or I'm crashing at your place. It's not safe for you to stay by yourself, Nat.

“Your parents are gone, right?” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, I know it's Seaside and not L.A. I just don't feel good with you being there by yourself.

I nodded. “You don't have to do that, Alec.”

“Yes. I do.” He swallowed and looked away. “So, what will it be?”

I looked around me. It was so comfortable. How ironic that I would be more comfortable at a stranger's house than my own. “I guess we could stay here.”

“Good, because I already ordered pizza.”

I laughed. “When did you do that?”

“I have my ways. Apparently, there's an app for that.”

I shook my head. “Always is.”

He grinned then cleared his throat, his smile suddenly vanishing. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Of course.” My answer was too fast and forced.

Alec's eyes narrowed.

I looked away. “I'll be fine. I promise.”

“Says the raccoon,” Alec muttered.

“Jerk!” I laughed and playfully pushed him away from me. “I knew I shouldn't have worn mascara.”

“It's not like you need it anyway.” Alec's blue eyes scanned me intently. “You have the thickest dark eyelashes I've ever seen. It's like you're waving every time you blink.

“Actually I'd like to think it's a greeting each time, ‘Hey, Alec. How you doin', Alec?’”

I burst out laughing. “Oh my gosh!

“Oh, I hope so.” He grinned and jumped up from the couch. “That would be entertaining for me.”

“Yes, and it's all about you,” I joked.

“No.” He turned back to me and offered a warm smile. “It's about you.”

My heart stopped beating. Awesome. Breathe, Nat, breathe! Finally, my mouth opened and I was able to suck in enough air so I wouldn't pass out on his couch.

Unfortunately, the air was saturated with Alec. Seriously, the way he smelled did things to me. I'd never been the type of girl to fixate on cologne, but wow.

Maybe those two sips of rum punch messed with my head.

“So…” Alec politely ignored my second awkward moment that night. “Until the pizza gets here, what do you say we play some cards?”

“Cards? You play cards?”

“Um, yeah? What else do you think there is to do on tour buses?”

“Sing?” I offered.

“I think not.” Alec sauntered to a drawer and pulled out a deck of cards and a pad of paper. “I take a vow of silence while I'm on the bus, saves my voice.”

“A vow of silence?”

He nodded.

“How exactly does that work?”

He smirked and shrugged.

“Oh, very funny.” I narrowed my eyes and ripped the deck of cards out of his hands. “So a vow of silence. So you're like a monk?”

“Sure.” He smiled. “Just call me Gandhi.”

“Was he a monk?”

“I have no idea. That's why I'm in school, to learn smart crap like that.”

I laughed and shook my head. I loved this side of Alec. He was so funny and different. I cleared my throat, hoping it would clear my head as well. “So what game are we playing?”

“Go fish,” Alec said without smiling.

“Seriously?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Alec grinned and reached behind him, revealing a giant pack of Swedish fish.

“What do I use?”

“Your mouth.” He winked. “And you can't let your lips touch the counter, it has to be all teeth. Cheaters will be punished.”

“You've played this before?”

“Oh, honey, if this was an Olympic sport I'd have more medals than Phelps.”

“Crap.” I quickly dealt the cards and so started the game.

Within ten minutes I had already eaten five Swedish fish and accidentally touched the table with my lips twice.

The punishment he spoke of was the other player licking the Swedish fish and placing it on the cheater's cheek. You had to stay that way until it fell off, and then you had to eat the fish.

Good thing he had a five-pound bag, because with the way I was playing it was going to be gone.

After the first game, I had successfully eaten fifteen fish. Alec had four.

A knock sounded at the door. “Oh, that's the pizza.” Alec shot out of his seat toward the door, then abruptly turned back. “No cheating!” He placed his cards farther away from me.

I was never one to listen and had always been a rebellious little girl. Plus, I had the biggest sugar high. I grasped his cards and swapped them so he would have to keep eating the fish.

By the time he came back, the smell of pizza filled the living room. My stomach growled.

“I knew you were hungry.” Alec went into the kitchen and returned with a couple plates and napkins. “You gotta eat before you go to a party, Nat. That's like Partying 101.

“Never drink on an empty stomach, kay? Promise me if you ever go to a party again and plan on drinking, that you will eat beforehand.”

I nodded. “I promise, Mom.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Alec patted my head and laughed.

It was so easy with him. It was like, oh gosh, I'm totally going to kill Stephenie Meyer and Twilight. It really was like breathing. Sorry Jacob and Bella, but it's true.

And I'm sorry, but being with a werewolf would not be like breathing. It would be like dying.

It was unexpected and completely confusing. I didn't expect Alec to be so relaxed, or fun, or even protective for that matter. Alec moved casually around the kitchen and grabbed some forks for us.

He was so normal. It was as if I was the most important thing in the world, the most important person in the room. Even though it was just us, his phone kept buzzing off the table.

When it rang for the tenth time, he threw it on the couch and stuffed a pillow over it.

We ate our pizza in silence. I attacked mine like a woman starved. I usually didn't eat junk food, but oh my gosh, the greasy cheese was like manna from heaven.

He had five, so I didn't feel as bad.

“Anytime.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and took our plates back to the kitchen. “How about one more game?”

“You're on!” I giggled. Oh no, I'm giggling like a middle schooler. He's totally going to know I cheated.

“You cheated,” he announced when he sat back down across from me.

I giggled. “No, I didn't.”

“You're giggling.”

“I'm a girl!” I fired back.

His eyes narrowed. “Fine, I'll play. But if I lose, I'll know, Nat. I'll know.”

“I'm not afraid of you.”

He leaned across the table, his face inches from mine. “You should be.”

Wait, were we still talking about the game?

My gaze fell to his lips, then flashed back to his eyes.

He jerked back and cleared his throat. “Do you have any sixes?”

“Go fish.”

He glared and leaned over to pick the fish off the table, his lips grazing the little red gummy.

I gulped, suddenly hot all over watching his tongue slip out of his mouth and attach itself to the fish. I'd never had that type of response to two guys before. It scared the crap out of me.

And, great. I'm jealous of a candy.

His lips never touched the counter. He ate the fish and grinned triumphantly. His grin, however, was short-lived.

“I think I may be sick,” he announced before having to go fish again.

“Aw, too many fish? We can just call the game now. I mean, it's not like you're going to win.”

He quickly picked up the fish and then spit it at me. Shocked, my mouth dropped open, then I reached into the bag and began pelting him with the fish.

“Ah!” He jumped out of his chair and tackled me to the floor, trying to force a handful of fish into my mouth.

I closed my eyes and shook my head back and forth. His weight nearly crushed me. There was no way I was getting out from underneath him.

And then, it was as if at the same time we realized what was happening. I slowly opened my eyes to see him staring at my mouth like a man starved.

My breath grew ragged as Alec's eyes dilated. He licked his lips and leaned down. I closed my eyes.

“Alec!” The voice jolted both of us away from one another. Alec cursed and helped me up. Demetri was walking through the door… well, stumbling and winding through the hallway was more like it.

“I can't find Nat! I messed up! Where is she? Is she okay?” Demetri's words were slurring together. “Some guy told me I was making out with a chick that wasn't Nat. I didn't know, Dude.

He tumbled into the living room, still not looking in my direction. He smelled like cigarettes and whiskey. “Where's she, man?”

I cleared my throat.

“Natalee!” Demetri opened his arms, I stepped back.

“Just sleep it off, bro.” Alec tried to pull his brother back toward the stairs, but Demetri fought him.

“No! Natalee, I'm so sorry, Babe. I'm so sorry!” He fell to his knees and looked like he was ready to cry. “It wasn't what you think! I'm so drunk — she had blonde hair, I thought she was you!”

I knew it was stupid to argue with a drunk person, but I couldn't help myself. “Really? And when you found out you were wrong you decided to do what? Kiss her back?”

“I'm so sorry!” He ignored my question, still on his hands and knees.

“Sleep it off, Demetri.” Alec moved to grab his brother, but Demetri jerked away then took an awkward swing at him, throwing himself off balance even more. He stumbled and rocked back on his heels.

“A promise is a promise,” Alec muttered before punching his brother directly in the eye.

Demetri cursed as he tumbled to the ground and promptly passed out.

I was frozen in place.

“Is he okay?”

Alec shrugged. “Besides having a headache and the black eye I promised, yeah, he'll be fine.”

I nodded, still in shock.

“Come on.” Alec held out his hand. “Let's go upstairs and get you into bed. I don't care what you say. I'm sleeping on your floor just in case the drunk wakes up and decides to apologize again.”

“Okay.” I felt bad leaving Demetri on the floor. Alec noticed me staring and rolled his eyes, moved back to him, and lifted Demetri, depositing him on the couch.

“Happy?” he asked.

“Yes.” Alec's mood had changed again; it wasn't as lighthearted. More irritated and crazy protective.

I followed him down the dimly lit hall. There were at least ten doors that led into different rooms. He took me to the last room and opened the door, allowing me to go first.

I gulped.

It was his room. It had to be. I was almost alarmed at how clean it was. Didn't boy rooms usually smell bad?

His windows were open, so the curtains were blowing in the slight breeze. It smelled like Alec and the ocean.

The room was huge and had a bathroom off the side of it. His large bed was near the windows and seemed menacing.

“I'll just grab you some sweats to sleep in, kay?” Alec scratched the back of his head then went to a walk-in closet and turned on the lights. His closet was bigger than my room.

He reached into a dresser and searched. Within seconds he was tossing me a t-shirt and sweats. “Will these work?”

“Yeah, they're fine.” I grabbed them.

We stared silently at one another for a minute or two.

I shifted on my feet and Alec quickly looked down at the floor. “Do you want to shower?”

“Kind of, I mean, if that's okay. If not, it's totally fine. I can just go to sleep and—”

“Nat, stop talking so fast, you're making me nervous.”

Right, I'm making him nervous.

“I'll just sit out here and read for a bit.

I couldn't really speak. I quickly turned around, and my face met the wall. I was an inch away from chipping my tooth.

“Careful.” I heard him chuckle behind me. Jerk.

I felt a blush spread from my face all the way down to my toes. I escaped into the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

Should I lock it?

No, he was a perfect gentleman, he wouldn't do anything. Unlike his brother, who would probably find some silly excuse to be in the bathroom at the exact same time.

They were so different.

My original judgment of them had been way off base.

I thought Alec was the brooding, weird one and Demetri the bad boy masquerading as an angel, though their looks proved otherwise.

Apparently, just because a guy glares and has dark features doesn't make him the bad guy. Just like dimples and an easy smile don't automatically make him an angel.

I sighed and turned on the water.