Promise

'Alexis, relax.' Mom squeezed into the tiny bathroom, sat on the tub's edge behind me and smoothed my hair. 'There's a lot to explain, but right now, I just need you to trust us.'

' Trust you?' How could I trust anything right now?

'You trust me, right?' Mom asked.

'Yes,' I said automatically. 'But…'

Does she really expect me to believe all this? Does she really believe it?

'Alexis, does your leg still hurt?' Tristan asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't want to tell him the truth. I was too stunned…and mad at him. I could feel something in my heart starting to crack, realizing he really was too good to be true. I'd known all along there had to be something wrong with him, for him to like ( love ) me. I'd just never imagined this. He turned my fascination with vampires against me in a bizarre, sick way to try to get into my pants after all. Either that or…his secrets really were worse than I ever thought. What have I gotten myself into?

But I couldn't deny that the pain in my leg was gone. It wasn't that my leg was just numb, either.

'No,' I admitted quietly. 'Actually, it feels good.'

Mom leaned over and looked at the injury. 'It looks like it's trying to heal.'

Tristan examined it, too, holding my leg gently but firmly when I tried to pull away from him. 'It looks a lot better already. It finally stopped bleeding.'

Mom scooted down between my back and the bathtub. 'Finish, Tristan.'

' What? ' I tried to get up and away from them both. Is she crazy ? But Mom wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly. She nodded at Tristan but he didn't move, except to shake his head.

'No. Not if she doesn't want me to.'

'You are not doing that again!' I squirmed in Mom's arms. My thigh hit against her leg and the wound seared with pain again. ' Ouch! '

'If you don't be still, it'll start bleeding again,' Mom whispered calmly in my ear. 'If there's no blood, he doesn't have to suck it out. He can just heal it. Or, you can sit here in pain for a few hours and hope it heals itself. If it doesn't, I'll have to sew it and you can be in pain for a few days. So…you can be miserable or you can trust us. The choice is yours.'

Tears welled in my eyes again as the throbbing returned. I stared at Tristan through the tears and his face looked just as pained as I felt. His eyes were dark, the gold dim.

'Lexi, I can make it go away,' he said quietly. 'But only if you want me to.'

I knew then he was honestly doing it for me. To help me, not to take advantage of me. I leaned back against Mom, squeezed my eyes shut against the tears and nodded. As soon as his mouth was against my thigh, the pain disappeared, replaced by the exciting tingles. My eyes still shut tightly, I tried hard not to envision what he did. I didn't feel any sucking. It just felt like warm, wet kisses. It wasn't nearly as sensual as the first time, though. Perhaps because Mom was there. Or because now I realize how freakin' weird it is!

The kissing sensations stopped and all I could feel were the lingering tingles and the familiar sensation of my body healing. I slowly opened my eyes.

'Much better,' Tristan said, studying the injury.

Mom leaned over me to check it out. 'Yes. Much.'

I couldn't look at Tristan, not sure exactly how I felt at the moment. Disgust, guilt, fear… Curiosity won and I eventually gave in and looked at the wound.

'Whoa,' I breathed. I watched with fascination as the deep fibers knitted themselves back together, the wound closing from the inside outward. I could only watch for so long, though—it was pretty gross and nauseating.

After a few minutes, Tristan ran his hand up and down my leg, sending currents under my skin. 'See. Your leg is nearly as sexy as it was this morning.'

I looked again and, sure enough, the gash had completely disappeared. A long, dark bruise marked its place—bruises took longer to heal than cuts, something having to do with blood vessels in the deeper tissue. It'd be gone by Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

'Is that your medical training?' I demanded.

He laughed. 'No. That comes naturally.'

I narrowed my eyes and jabbed my finger at him. ' You have a lot of explaining to do.'

He grabbed my finger and kissed the tip of it before I yanked it away. He sighed and his eyes dimmed. 'Yes, I do. Sophia?'

I dropped my head with defeat, knowing her answer.

'Yes, we both do.'

My head twisted around as far as my neck allowed to see her face. ' Really? '

She closed her eyes and exhaled sharply, as if she didn't like the idea. 'Yes, really.'

'You're really going to tell me all about me…us?'

She shook her head and opened her eyes. 'No, not everything. I can't provide a lot of details. My soul's existence relies on keeping our secrets until you are able to understand. You'll just have to wait for most of it, but I will tell you what you need to know to understand what Tristan has to say.'

Her soul's existence? She'd never put it like that before.

'First, though, we have some things to deal with at the store,' she continued, squirming to stand up without success.

Crammed into the tiny bathroom, we had to stand one at a time, Tristan first. He held his hands out to help me up. I ignored him and stood on my own, gingerly putting weight on my right leg. It felt fine. Mom squeezed past me, already heading for the front door.

'I need to get back there. I told the police I was just going in the back room to make some phone calls and right now Owen is handling everything.'

'Oh! How's the driver?' I asked. 'Is he okay?'

She frowned, shook her head and whispered, 'No, I'm afraid he's…dead.'

' What?! How?'

'I don't know yet. Just wait about fifteen minutes after I leave, then come to the store, as if I'd called you. We can talk about everything while we clean up.'

I couldn't believe all the bombshells dropped in the last ten minutes and now I had to wait…again.

' Mom …?'

'I guess that one's out, huh?' She turned to look at me and Tristan, her hand on the doorknob. 'Finally. It's about time we stopped the charade. Alexis…I've known Tristan a long time. Well, our family has. He's familiar with who I am and what that means for you.'

'Our families know each other?' I didn't even know our family.

'I don't have any family,' Tristan muttered bitterly from behind me.

'Actually, my relatives— our relatives—have known Tristan for a long time. I'll explain later. For now, well… you can trust Tristan. I wasn't sure at first, but I know now.'

Before I could ask anything else, she was gone, the door shutting behind her. I stared at it for a long moment.

'I need to go home,' Tristan said quietly from right behind me.

I spun around and glared at him. 'Oh, no, you're not! You're staying here and explaining yourself, just as you said. You're not running away from me now, Tristan! You will–'

His glorious smile stopped me.

'What?' I asked with bewilderment. What is he smiling about now? As far as I was concerned, there was absolutely no reason for it.

'You really don't want me to leave?' he asked.

'Of course not!' I blurted.

He placed a hand against the door on each side of me, leaning close. My back pressed against the door as his eyes penetrated into mine. 'Why? Because you want to hear what a freak I am? Or because you really want me to stay?'

I hated how he looked at me so intensely. It disarmed me. I forgot to be mad. 'Um…both?'

He sighed. 'I really need to go.'