His shirt wasn’t tight, but the fit emphasized the muscles in his chest, and his gorgeous eyes landed on me. “What’s the hurry? Are you being chased?” He grinned.
He probably thought he was being clever. Yeah, he was a wolf and thought I was unaware, but frankly, I was the one who had the upper hand. At least, for now… “Nope, just needing to get away from you.” I turned on my heel, and as I walked past him, he reached out, snagging my arm.
“Most girls are flattered to receive my attention.” He arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
“Well, being stalked isn’t flattering in my book.” I yanked my arm away from him and tried not to shiver. His touch was way too pleasant, and it couldn’t happen again. “So why don’t you go spend your time on them and not me.” I pushed my legs to walk fast, gaining distance between us, but he was watching me, so moving at a speed I wanted to wasn’t a good idea.
“Hey,” he yelled at me, but I ignored him as I hurried into the parking lot. Maybe he’d get the hint.
I arrived at work only a few hours after my last class. I hurried into an already buzzing, packed building.
The one good thing about busy nights was there were a lot of dishes I had to scrape off and clean, so I should get out of having to do anything that involved peopling.
Not wasting any time, I clocked in and headed toward the kitchen.
“Thank God you’re here.” Brad pointed at the dishwashers. “All three of them just now stopped running. Fill them up and do the remainder by hand. We’re in for a busier than normal night.”
“Oh, what’s going on?” We were always busy, but I normally didn’t have a ton of dishes to wash by hand.
“We have the same business party and a rehearsal dinner.” He walked into the back and put on an apron. “It’s all hands on deck.”
That was fine with me. I dug in and began working. It didn’t take long for my arms to be elbow deep in soapy dishwater.
Thankfully, the night ended fast.
“Good job, everyone.” Brad took off the apron and threw it in the dirty clothes hamper. “We somehow survived.”
He hadn’t been kidding when he said it was going to be crazy. I still had another two loads to fill.
“Let’s go clean up the dining room while Elena finishes up here.” The crew went into the dining room, leaving me and the other cook behind.
The cook was cleaning the kitchen while I focused on unloading and loading the dishwashers.
It didn’t take terribly long to fill one of the machines when something dropped and rolled over to my feet.
My eyes dropped and landed on some kind of marble. I bent down to snag it off the ground. I picked it up and looked inside. It had a three-dimensional image of a triangle upside down with a line straight through the center. A circle partially arched into the center.
That was the ancient vampire symbol for danger.
I glanced around; looking for who dropped this, but there was no one in sight. The only evidence that it was, in fact, a vampire was the sweet, pungent air they’d left behind. It had to have been that guy from the party.
There was no other evidence that he was still around. Granted, my senses weren’t as strong as a wolf that had shifted. I wasn’t quite sure if someone was threatening me or warning me. Either way, it was disconcerting.
Feeling the need to get out of there, I moved fast, in a hurry to get home. Within the next five minutes, I was done and heading toward the door. “Hey, I’m done and need to be heading home.”
Brad gave me a strange look but nodded. “Okay, we’re done here. See you tomorrow.”
I waved and ran out the door. I scanned the area again, but there wasn’t anyone around. I forced myself not to run to the car because, if he was watching me, it would make me seem more like prey.
As I slammed the car door, something caught my eye in the woods. I examined the area, but other than the tree limbs swaying, there wasn’t anything out of place. Needing distance, I pressed the gas, hauling ass home.
Chapter Six
A chill ran through me as I threw on my jeans and a teal shirt. Even though I hadn’t noticed a vampire since Friday, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. I had too much going on and probably needed to stay low-key.
Of course, it didn’t help that it was Monday, so the week was only getting started. I yawned and put on enough makeup to hide my dark circles and ran the brush through my hair. I was off tonight, so I was hoping I’d get caught up on sleep. I glanced at the vampire marble that I’d placed in my jewelry box, attempting to hide it from my guardians.
It didn’t take me long to grab something to eat and head out the door. I paused, scanning the area before climbing into the car.
The past weekend had been a little intense. Between the vampire and how busy the bar had been, my mind hadn’t been able to shut off.
Not noticing anything out of place, I hurried to my car and cranked the engine. Before I realized it, I was coasting into the school parking lot. I’d gotten here earlier than I had intended, but at least, the area was more crowded here.
I slowly grabbed my things and stood, enjoying the sun that warmed my face. There were only rare moments where I felt somewhat peaceful.
“Do you normally hang out here before class?” The familiar deep rasp
