Waiting (37 page)

I'd been staring at him, him staring back into my eyes when he silently spoke to Francis, and couldn't help the smile that met my lips hearing all these lovely, teasing words.
 

“
Yeah, mine will probably be a hunchback with no teeth, right?”

 
I burst out laughi
ng the same time Parker did, con
fusing him.

“
Is this what you two usually talk about?”
 
I willed all my strength into getting them to hear my thoughts, and the strain probably showed on my face because they chuckled once more.

“Enough!” Sam's voice was loud and clear as she threw her hands up. “It's been hell having the two of them do the whole secret talking thing, but you too? Please don't leave me by myself, Piper.”

“I'm not going anywhere.”

“Yeah, but when you become a vampire I'll be left out since you can clearly hear their thoughts to
o
. Maybe it's because you
’
r
e
mated to one, I don't care, but you three will just sit there talking in your heads, probably shit about me, and I'll be left out!”

“
Did I ever tell you about the time Sam thought she was in love and almost got us all killed?”

Francis made us both laugh out loud again before I smiled at Sam.

“
Don't worry Sam, it's not that exciting. I'm just happy to finally not be the weakest link.” I looked pointedly at Brian. “Sorry.” He shrugged when I continued. “And it'll wear out of my system shortly and I
'll be just as lame as you.” Sam’s
lips cracked into a smile.

I'm glad she's acting like her old self again. Now we wouldn't have to be on suicide watch. Thankfully. I had a
lot of other plans for the near future and none of them entailed babysitting.

“About you making her a vampire...” Brian spoke so softly I wouldn't have been able to hear him if I didn't have vampire blood in me.

We all slowly walked until we w
ere forming a circle again.  T
his time no
one backed away from me. I was glad to learn it was because Parker was flying at me with enough force to demolish a building on impact, instead of because I smelled.

“That'll
happen when she's ready. As for
you, which is what you're really interested in, not until you're ready and you've thought everything through. You won't be able to see your family and either Francis or I will be your maker, so you'll have to ans
wer to us. You won't be a slave but
if we command something, you'll have to do it.
 
We'll have to teach you how to live and how to live with no
one knowing. Gunner he
re is the last person I changed
so you can talk to him about it, if he's willing.”

“I talked to him about it a bit while you were gone.”

“
I'm talking no
one in your family. Not your
nieces
, not your mu
m, not even your grandmother that you visit every weekend. They have very few men in their lives and I'm not going to let you make a rash decision.”

Parker was clearly warning the both of us, though he only looked at Brian.
 
If he thought he was going to talk me out of wanting to be with him, he was surely mistaken.

“Like they need men in their lives.” Sam decided to impart her wisdom now. “You know we can always watch over them, or he can, if he keeps his distance enough. It's not like we'll let your family be hurt after you're turned, but yes, that is something you'll have to think about.”

Brian shuffled his feet and scattered a few pebbles. Was he
embarrassed
? Was that the smell coming from him?
Weird
that feelings had a smell.

“He doesn't need to turn into one anytime soon. But he should be brought home since he was probably taken
and hasn't contacted anyone.”

Brian
eyed me graciously.

“Actually I contacted them when you were gone. I told them I was taking an impromptu vacation this week. All is well for a
while.”

“Right. Well, then in that case. Leave. I want to talk to Francis and Parker alone. Sorry, but it's really important.”

Sam looked ready to argue before I added that.

“
What did you do?”
I heard Parker ask Francis
before he remembered I could hear it too, looking down at me with a grin that t
old
me he knew he was caught.

“Nothing. And neither did you.”

Sam blew out an exasperated sigh, especially since she didn't need to breathe at all.

“Alright
.
I'll take Brian home and then drop Gunner off with some friends, but then I'm coming back! We still have a
lot to talk about, and I'd like to get
the torture started today
.”

“Meet back at my place then. I'm sure Piper will have no use of me in about five minutes.”

I nodded to confirm.

Sa
m grabbed onto Brian and Gunner.  T
hen wi
th one last kick to Lyle's face
she disappeared into the
growing light
sky.

I guess Gunner still couldn't fly.

I wonder how old you have to be to fly.

“Around a hundred usually. Seventy is th
e least that I've ever heard of.  S
trong minded one, that one. But Gunner's only around ten in undead years, so he's got awhile.” I guess I spoke out loud, or
broadcasted
my thoughts. Oops. Francis kicked Lyle'
s back as if an afterthought
before turning back to face us. “Now, let's get this over with.”

I rolled my eyes. Don't try and take control of my intervention.

“I know about the accident.” I spoke slowly and clearly as I stared into Parker's eyes. They turned cold black the second the words left my mouth. “You don't have to say anything, and please don't apologiz
e. It was an accident. Accident
s happen and once I heard the details it was definitely that. But it was
their
fault.  N
ot yours and not yours.” They both stared at me, not saying a word. “They were drug dealers and let's just say I'm lucky I came out without any birth defects. Long story short, they weren't cut out to be
good parents, or parents at all.  N
ot that that justifies them being dead, but that wasn't your fault either.
They were drinking and driving.  W
ho knows if they even saw you before they hit that tree.”

I looked into both their eyes but saw nothing. No emotion, no response.

“Say something!”

Parker blinked and looked at Francis. Were they having a private conversation? I couldn't hear anything.

“You're a lucky man, Parker. I love your mate and will be here whenever you need me, but for now, I'm taking off. You two love birds have fun. Love you brother.”

With that he was gone, taking Lyle with him.

“I...you...I mean, you're alright? And who told you?”

“No one. I figured it out on my own and then had it verified.” I p
ulled him close to me, craning
my neck to look up at him.
His thick arms encircled me, holding me tight against his solid body. I never wanted to part from him.
“No more moping around about a night that was bound to happen anyw
ays. I had
 
a
great childhood because you were there, always there. It's kind of chilling finding out just how long you were watching over me, and I'm
done
thinking that you're with me becaus
e you feel bad about that night.  B
ut we're here. Us. Together. Forever.”

Something to the effect of a growl escaped him before we were
swirling in a circle,
me locked tight against him.

“I love you, Piper. Never for a second doubt that, or think
I'm with you because I feel bad.  B
ecause that's far from the truth.
I feel bad that your
parents were killed
that night, whether it was my
fault or not, but I'm also thankful for that night. It brought me to you. As soon as I knew they were dead I looked through their wallets to find their address so I could learn the extent of the loss I'd just...the loss that
occurred
.  A
nd when I opened your mum's purse there were a handful of pictures of you. A
swaddled
little baby, innocent, and without parents. I tracked you down that very night a
nd found you with their friends.  O
nly friends if I'm not mistaken. I watched you sleep and made up my mind that I'd make sure you'd have a good life.

“
I came back
and checked on you once a year. M
ade sure things were good with you, made sure you were being treated right. It wasn't until you were sixteen that I realized just how much I loved you. I loved everything about you. I started staying for months at a time, telling my
self it was for your protection.  A
nd then I got that call about Gunner and decided I'd see if you could feel the same way about me. Silly, of course, since you were just a pup, but my
curiosity
led me to infiltrate the school so I could be near you when you knew. That first day, the first time you saw me, I'll never forget.”

I inhaled on a gasp while listening to him
tell me his side of us meeting;
him being in my life.

“Your heart rate sped up so much when I introduced myself on that play set. It was music to my ears. You blushed so cute and started fidgeting. If I hadn't already known your name I wouldn't have caught it when you mumbled it. It took all of my will power to not drag you out of there
. But I did
n’t
.  I
let you grow up having a normal life.”

Parker kiss
ed me, or I kissed him.  I wasn't
sure since I was only concentrating on the feel of his lips stroking mine.

“
You have the kindest soul I've ever known. I'll never hurt you. I promise. Be mine. Stay with me.”

Was he still talking? I was dizzy from our kiss and lack of oxygen. His lips left mine and trailed down my throat
after nipping at my lobe
.

“Yes. To everything. On one condition...” His head popped up with a questioning brow.

Before I could respond he gripped me and brought me back inside, down to our bedroom where my phone was ringing. It was Julie.

“Hey, Julie. I promise I'm fine.  P
lease don't call my mom and scare her.”

“Piper?” It was Bruce's voice that stopped my rambling.

“Bruce? What's wrong? Where's Julie?”

Holy hell. Could nothing go right?

“She's fine, well she's doing ok. We're at the hospital. She asked me to call you and tell you she's in labor.” I gasped and Parker already had us up and out of his house heading to the hospital. “She's fine, a
couple
week
s
early, but the Doctor says everything should be fine. Piper? Can you hear me? All I can hear is static.” He told me she was fine, but his voice was strained, worried.

I shut the phone and wrapped my arms around Parker's neck as he propelled us closer to my friend.

TWENTY FOUR

We
landed on the roof of the hospital
and Parker ripped open the door
since it had been locked. No alarms sounded, thankfully, and he quickly brought me to the right level a
nd then out to the waiting area
since I didn't want to scare Julie by going into her delivery room.
Giving birth was painful enough, or so I’ve heard.
I didn't need to make it more stressful.

“Julie and Bruce Teller, are
the
y
still in the delivery room
or can she have visitors?”

The nurse checked her charts and looked back at me, but not before she eye fucked my boyfriend. Did no one have a sense, or was he just
that
good looking that people lost all of it?

“She's being moved as we speak. I'll go let the father know you're here.”

Th
e twit swayed her hips as if to
entice Parker to follow her, even looked over her shoulder with a smirk.

“Calm down.” Parker chuckled and dipped me
backwards
with a kiss Twit could see, and probably feel what
with how inappropriate this was
in the waiting room of a hospital. “I act calm when men leer at you, since I know I have no
competition
, right? I mean we
have
branded one another.”