“It’s okay. To be honest, I have no idea what’s going on with Jax. One day, he hates me. And the next, he’s nice to me. Really nice. It doesn’t make sense.”
“His feelings toward you changed while you were in Malibu. He’d go check in on you, make sure you were okay so he could let Trent know. Trent was miserable while you were gone.” Whitney laughed. “But watching you and then becoming friends with you… Jax finally realized how strong you were. How resilient and caring and vibrant. Believe me, he tried to stop how he felt, tried to stop seeing you. Trent was insistent, though. He needed to know you were okay, that you had someone to turn to when your memories started coming back.”
My breath caught. I had no idea how long Jax had been watching over me before he answered my ad, but Trent had already told me all of this. I just didn’t realize how much it had impacted Jax.
Whitney gazed off into the distance, smiling wistfully. “You have no idea how much Trent loves you, though. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I mean, I’ve seen vampires find their soulmates before, but I’ve never seen it like this. It’s so strong.”
My heart swelled, and I smiled despite the seriousness of our conversation. “I love him more than anything.”
“I know, which is why you have to tell him.” Her expression turned hard, and I pulled my hand from under hers.
“Tell him what?” My voice cracked.
“Whatever it is you’re hiding. He deserves to know.”
“I know he does.” I stood. “But it’s complicated, okay? What I know…” I shook my head. “It’s going to change everything, and I’m not ready for that. Not yet.”
“Yeah, but if it changes things for the better, that’s a good thing, right?” She cocked her head as if genuinely curious about my answer.
“Not this time.” I gripped the back of the chair and hung my head. “Trust me, I wish it were that simple.”
“This coven is coming for you, and there’s nothing any of us can do to stop them.” Sadness twisted her expression. “So, if you know something that can help, you have to tell him. He’s driving himself crazy with worry.”
“I know.” I sighed and once again sank into the chair, slouching. “This is the worst girls’ night ever.”
Whitney laughed. “Is it? I’ve never really had a girls’ night before. What should we be doing?”
The only other girls’ night I’d had was with Ellie, Tonya, and Gina. We’d gone to a party at Bushnell Falls, then went back to Ellie’s for a sleepover.
“I don’t know. Pig out on junk food. Share secrets. Talk about boys,” I said.
“Well, we’ve talked about boys.” Whitney’s demeanor brightened. “So, let’s go pig out.” She stood and held her hand out to me. “And no secrets until you’re ready to spill. Promise.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
Maybe Whitney wasn’t so bad after all. I took her proffered hand, and she all but dragged me into the kitchen. She zipped around, gathering all the snacks she could find and depositing them onto the coffee table. Just watching her made me dizzy.
We both sat on the couch and dug into the mountain of food she’d assembled.
“So, how long have you known Trent?” I asked around a mouthful of cupcake.
“A couple of decades. I first met him in a local community college. He was taking classes, and I was pretending to be a TA.” She giggled. “He knew almost instantly that I was a fraud, but he played along.”
Trent never mentioned that he’d met Whitney while in college. Why hadn’t he told me that part? A sudden—and very unwanted thought—crashed into my head. Had Trent and Whitney hooked up? Was that why he hadn’t told me?
“What class?” I asked.
“Human anatomy.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep.” She nodded vigorously. “He sat in the front row, too. Answered every single question.”
“Oh, my God.” I laughed so hard tears formed in my eyes.
My stomach and sides hurt from how hard I laughed, and I winced against the pain. The studious version of Trent she described was nothing at all like the Trent I’d been around in high school. But it was easy to picture him as an overachiever, a teacher’s pet.
“One day after class, he cornered me and threatened to rat me out to the administration unless I admitted I was a vampire. Not like he needed me to confirm it, but I was always putting him on the spot in class. I kinda deserved it.” Whitney reached for a bag of pretzels and tore it open. She shoved a handful into her mouth and wiped her fingers on her jeans. “We became friends, and he introduced me to his dad and brother.”
“The first time I met Trent, I punched him in the face.”
Whitney spit out her food, her eyes wide. “Shut up!”
“No, I’m serious.” I recounted the story of how I’d punched him, how my hand throbbed all day, and how people twisted it into some crazy story about him grabbing me inappropriately.
By the time I was finished, Whitney was leaning back against the arm of the couch, laughing so hard I was afraid she might stop breathing.
“That’s the best story ever,” she said, gasping. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face when you hit him.”
“Oh, I’m sure it was nowhere near as horrified as mine.” I took a deep breath in an effort to calm my own laughter, and a sharp pain stabbed my right side. I shifted on the couch to ease the aching. “And I’ll never forget meeting Jax that day, either. He strutted up to us and he said, ‘Quit messing with the locals.’” I did a bad impression of his deep voice. “So, of course, I said, ‘Oh, I’m not a local.’ God, I’m so lame.”
I didn’t think it was possible
