“He thinks he can convert me,” Violet responds, not missing a beat.
“Can he?” Ben asks, but Ben rarely smiles, and he is right now, so he knows Violet is blowing smoke up Davis’s ass.
“He’s not Ian Somerhalder, so chances are looking pretty slim,” she says so sweetly it could make your teeth hurt.
“Who the fuck is that?” I grumble, wondering if I need to hunt down some pretty boy and make him less appealing to her.
“Isn’t he that guy that plays a vampire on TV?” Davis asks.
“Yeah, that’s him,” Violet laughs.
“Well hell, Angel, if you want someone to bite you, I can do that,” I volunteer, wrapping my hand around her waist, my fingers pushing gently into her side as I pull her close. She sat down beside me, but not near enough. Her body goes stiff, but I ignore it.
“No thanks, Mikey. I don’t want your mouth anywhere near me. You’ve already bitten me, and I’m not sure why the girls like you at all. My boob might never recover.”
“Oh shit,” Davis laughs and this time Ben, who rarely joins in, is laughing just as hard.
Fuck.16Violet“I’m going to need directions to your house, Violet,” Mike says, and I refuse to panic. He knows I’m a stripper and he’s already using that to blackmail me. There’s no way in hell I’m going to admit that I live on my own. He can think it’s weird I live with my rich aunt and strip for money. Maybe he’ll just write it off as me liking men to admire my body. He’s clueless enough to think that. I’ve met guys like Mike. They think about sex twenty-four seven.
I remember being in line at the library, filling out paperwork for Mrs. Richardson, the librarian. I was actually going to volunteer there before Camden invited me to join the paper. When we were filling out the paperwork, I was in standing in line next to some girl. I don’t really know her that well, but I know she’s loaded. She’s not ostentatious about it, but you can tell she’s got money. On the form she put that she lived on Lakeview Drive.
“Lakeview Drive,” I mutter, praying he doesn’t live there.
“Nice area,” he says.
“You live there?”
“Nah, my old man wanted to live on a big hill to overlook the whole town,” he responds, sounding cynical. “I don’t live far from you, though. Just twenty minutes or so.”
“Great.”
“You sound so thrilled, Angel,” Mike laughs, proving that I can’t seem to piss him off, no matter how hard I try and I’m definitely trying.
“Can’t pull one over on you, can I?”
When we turn onto Lakeview, I see a house with yellow siding. It’s nice, definitely expensive, but it’s quiet compared to the others around it.
“It’s the yellow house on the right,” I tell him.
“The one with the brick mailbox?” he asks, and for some reason the tone he’s using worries me.
“Yeah, is that bad?”
“No, it’s fine,” he says with a shrug and I think maybe I’m just letting my imagination run away with me. I’m nervous riding in Mike’s car. Heck, I’m nervous being around Mike. I’m attracted to him. I don’t know how that happened. I mean, sure, he is great looking – hot as hell, really. He’s all man, too. He might be in high school, but he’s older, like me. I’ll be nineteen when I graduate. The boys were talking while I ate. They didn’t know I was listening, but I heard every word, and I know that Mike is going to turn twenty by the time we graduate. I can’t even imagine that. I want to ask him about it, but I don’t want to pry, either.
Mike’s funny when he’s not ruining it by being an asshole. I liked the way he casually touched me while I was eating and he was talking to his buddies. I don’t think he was doing it for show. There were times I was pretty sure he had no idea he was even touching me. I’d be lying if I tried to deny just how much I did like the way he kept his hand on my leg, or brushed hair out of my face, securing it behind my ear. Hell, I even liked the way he ate fries off my plate as if we were a couple.
What in the hell is wrong with me?
“We’re here,” he says, pulling my attention back to the here and now. I look up to see that we’re parked on the side of the street beside the driveway.
“Uh…thanks,” I tell him.
“Want me to come in with you? You won’t get in trouble because it’s late, will you?” Mike asks, surprising me. I can’t remember the last time anyone has ever been concerned about me. Probably never.
“No, it’s fine. Trust me, my aunt won’t even care where I am. She could care less what happens to me,” I respond and at least that’s the truth. I don’t really want to lie to Mike, but I don’t understand that desire, either. Suddenly, things are getting very confusing where Mike Huntington is concerned.