I giggled uncontrollably, and soon, neither of us could speak a word. After all the stress I’d been under and the burden of the secret I carried, I needed a girls’ night more than I realized. It would have been even better if Abby and Ellie were here, but Whitney was cool, too.
Maybe someday, I could introduce her to my friends. I was sure she’d like that, and truth be told, when all this was over, I kind of wanted to still hang out with her.
“I’m glad we did this tonight, Chloe.”
“Me too.” I took a deep, cleansing breath and picked up what was left of my cupcake, which wasn’t much but crumbs and melted frosting. I licked the chocolatey goodness from my fingers. “And thanks for all your insight into everything. It really does help.”
She gave me a knowing smile and a small nod, and with that tiny gesture, I knew I’d found a real friend in Whitney. I had a sudden desire to know everything about her. Could I ask her more personal questions? Would she answer them? There was only one way to find out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:
The Twins
“SO, HOW DID YOU BECOME A vampire?” I asked, reaching for a bag of chips.
Whitney stared at me, eyes wide. Her expression screamed terrified.
I froze. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “Is that rude to ask a vampire?”
I cringed as soon as the words left my mouth. For all I knew, asking how a vampire became a vampire was like asking a woman how old she was or how much she weighed—it was something you just didn’t do. In my defense, though, there wasn’t exactly an etiquette handbook for conversing with vampires.
“No, it’s okay,” she said after a moment. “I was just surprised by the question.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “Really. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
She smiled, her demeanor back to her normal happy, carefree self. “His name was David, and I thought he was the love of my life.” She adjusted so she was facing me, her legs tucked beneath her and one arm propped on the back of the couch. “He was a drifter, and one day, he wandered onto my father’s farm.”
I decided against crunching on chips while listening to her story, and instead, I grabbed another package of cupcakes.
“David was the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen.” She sighed wistfully. “Curly blond hair, brown eyes, pale skin. He was polite, too. The perfect gentleman. He had no trouble winning my father’s favor. Or Wyatt’s. Those two became fast friends.”
I took a bite of the cupcake and nodded for her to continue. The last thing I wanted to do was interrupt her story or cause her to stop telling it.
“In exchange for room and board, David worked on the farm, which meant he was always around. I spent my days watching him whenever I could get away with it, and I’d listen to him speak during supper…” Her eyes took on a faraway look, and she fell silent for a moment. “He seemed so… sophisticated for a boy his age. He told everyone he was seventeen, that his parents had died in a fire, and he was now trying to find his place in the world.”
“And all of that was a lie?” I asked.
“Most of it,” Whitney said. “Eventually, David began to notice me. He’d speak to me when in the presence of company, usually my mother or Wyatt. I mean, that was what a proper gentleman did back then when he was interested in a young woman. But then he started to seek me out when I was alone.”
I snatched my bottle of water from the coffee table and took a long drink.
“At first, I was horrified. I knew better than to be alone with a boy like that, but he had this way of calming me, and soon, I was finding ways to sneak off to see him,” she said and shifted her body so she was now facing the TV, her feet propped on the coffee table.
“My actions only emboldened him,” she continued, “because he began to hold my hand, and then he stole a kiss.”
I had no idea when all of this happened—and I wasn’t about to ask what year this was or how hold Whitney was—but based on the way she spoke, I knew that something as simple as holding a boy’s hand or kissing him was scandalous back then.
“For days after, I refused to be alone with him, despite his pleas.” She laughed, but it lacked any real humor. “But I just couldn’t stay away from him. And it didn’t help that Wyatt encouraged me. He thought David was the greatest, and Wyatt knew I was having feelings for David. Wyatt kept saying I deserved to be happy, that David was an upstanding boy who would make our father proud should I date him.”
“Neither of you knew he was a vampire?” I asked.
“No,” she said.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, when I first met Trent, before I knew what he was, I couldn’t seem to stay away from him, either. It must be a vampire thing.” I laughed.
Whitney smiled. “Yeah, we do have that effect on humans, don’t we?”
“It’s really unfair,” I said.
“Anyway, I kept thinking about everything Wyatt said.” She kept her gaze downcast. “In that day and age, at seventeen and unmarried—not even courting a boy—I was basically an old spinster. My father was very traditional, and I knew he wanted me to marry well, which is why he wouldn’t just marry me off to any boy who came asking. But I also knew he was starting to worry that I might never marry.”
I couldn’t imagine living back then, having to get approval from your father to date. And worse,
