It was just past ten o’clock that evening when Caleb returned home. By then Jamie was upstairs in her room asleep. Being the morning person she was she went to bed early. Probably why I wasn’t a morning person, I wouldn’t go to bed for several more hours to come.
Caleb stepped in the door and he wasn’t alone. It wasn’t surprising he’d bring the woman back home, what was surprising was who the woman was. I felt my blood start to boil and now more than ever I was sure Caleb was up to something. “Caitlin Moore.” I crossed my arms in hopes to stop the sensation I had to hit her.
She didn’t expect to see me, her pretty brown eyes lit up in recognition. “Evie? What are you doing here?”
Caleb finished closing the door. “She was staying with Jamie. How do you two know each other?”
I answered before her snobby ass could. Now knowing who she was I didn’t blame Jamie for disliking her. “She used to be a snack for Michael.” I looked at Caleb. “Sloppy seconds to a vampire your type?”
“Still a bitch.” Caitlin hissed. “You can go now.”
I kept my eyes on Caleb; it seemed he had nothing to say. “Gladly.” I marched the short distance to the door and stormed out of it. I was furious as I walked home.
I couldn’t believe what Caleb was doing, he was getting tangled in with someone like Caitlin because he wanted information on the vampires. There was no other answer that made sense.
If Michael was trying to spy on the werewolves and Caleb was trying to get information from vampire snacks then something most definitely was up and it scared me. I never admitted it, I denied it with all my might but if something happened to draw a line between vampires and werewolves I would be torn and I wasn’t sure which side I’d be on.
I locked my door and stayed leaned against it for a moment. I was trying to figure out if there was anything I could do to find answers and maybe a solution. The reasonable part of my brain reminded me it wasn’t my fight, I had no business looking into anything or trying to fix it.
I groaned and pushed off the door, the best thing I could do was go to bed and continue on with my life. I’d face any trouble when it actually came down my way and so far it hadn’t.
I didn’t like that Dominic put me on a leave from work, without work I was clueless on how to spend my days. Going to bed early didn’t help because now I was up early and bored out of my mind. I paced around my living room a few minutes before grabbing my car keys and leaving the house.
I was halfway to my car, halfway from being sensible and leaving when I kept going past the car and continued down the street to the Nikolas residence. So much for butting out.
It was Caleb who answered when I expected it to be Jamie as always. “I was just about to call you.” he said while motioning for me to come inside.
“Really, why?” I knew it wouldn’t be because he wasn’t to confined in me or explain what the hell Caitlin was doing here last night. “Where’s Jamie?”
“She went out to the mall with Sarah and Jamie is the reason I wanted to talk to you. Her sixteenth birthday is next Saturday.”
“Really? She hasn’t told me.” I felt a little low for not knowing. “Sixteen is a pretty big one.” I tried to come up with something I could get her.
“How was yours?” his voice was soft, that same softness that had me wanting to spill my guts.
I opened my mouth and stopped myself in time from answering. I cursed his alpha status and how it affected me, it was as if my mouth had no filters and I was ready to tell him anything he wanted to know. “It wasn’t memorable. Do you have any plans for Jamie?”
“Not really, I was hoping you might. I know she’s been upset lately about Ray and I want to do something that will make her feel better.” Caleb was a loving father, it was obvious to anyone who saw him as he spoke about his daughter.
“You know what she wants from you.” I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t try to sell Jamie’s point of view for her.
“Yes I know she wants to stay with me permanently.”
“You should be proud she loves you enough to want to stick around. A lot of girls don’t have that with their dads.” I knew I said too much when he turned those dark blue eyes on me and I saw pity behind them. “Anyway, the best route would be a huge sweet sixteen party. The more expensive the better.” I got my experience from watching countless hours of TV. At the Coven a girl celebrated her sixteenth by becoming engaged to the mate the Coven selected. There were a lot of reasons I ran at fifteen.
Caleb nodded as he ran his left hand through his black hair, it was getting longer and I found myself stupidly watching the locks of hair as they fell back into place and hoping he wouldn’t cut it. The longer ‘do worked for him.
“You should talk to Sarah.” I was saying. “She and Jamie are barely three years apart and she’ll know more about this.”
“I thought of that then realized Jamie spends the most time with you. She hasn’t mentioned anything?”
“No, I didn’t even know her birthday was this month until you told me five minutes ago.”
“Is this breakup with Ray bothering her that much?” Caleb was glad his daughter was done with the vampire but now he was worried it wasn’t that simple.
I sighed. “I think it’s a combination of things. She doesn’t want to go home and on top of that she has a broken heart.” I wouldn’t break Jamie’s trust by telling her father why exactly she ran from Ray or what she saw. “A party is probably exactly what she needs, do something big and over the top at the compound.” I knew the safest place for a werewolf party would be the compound and it had the most space.
“She’ll want you to come.” He said at the mention of the compound, knowing my aversion to it.
“I’ll have to work and there’s no way out of it since I have this week off.” I knew if I asked Dominic he’d give me the time but I didn’t want it. It would be Jamie’s day and I didn’t want to ruin it by being the weird shifting vampire girl putting everyone on edge. “Oh another way you can help her feel better is telling her this thing with Caitlin isn’t serious. Jamie’s worried she’s getting a stepmother.”
Caleb laughed. “How do you know it’s not serious?”
“Because you’d never go for someone who’s been with a vampire.” I said it as if the fact was obvious, to me it was.
Caleb sobered; his laugh was gone and replaced by intensity he perfected. “You never know.”
I didn’t like how weird the air was feeling. “Well I have to get going. Let Jamie know I stopped by.” I turned toward the door.
“Wait.” Caleb was behind me in the blink of an eye and put his hand flat on the door. “I know there’s something else you want to ask me.”
I turned around and wished I hadn’t because it put us very close to each other, so close his face was bent to meet mine. “What do you mean?” did everything feel as awkward to him as it did to me? Why the hell was my heart racing? I was pretty sure those weren’t the questions he was talking about.
“You tell me.” he didn’t want to overplay his hand and reveal too much and because of that clear fact, I realized what he was talking about.
He was waiting for me to ask about why he was trying to spy on the vampires. I was going to ask until I realized he wouldn’t answer me, he just probably wanted to find out if I had caught on to his plan and if I’d warn Michael. “I have to go and you’re blocking my way. I do have a question; why the hell are you standing so close to me?”
Caleb stepped back. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I have to go.” I turned and ran back home.