Passions Read online

  She had no idea if Gavin would accept her invitation, but it was worth the shot.

  It had been a week since they’d started working on the novel together. And in that time, she’d grown used to him. She had to admit that it had been a little unsettling for a few days.

  He was no longer secretive about his comings and goings, and, on more than one occasion, he’d startled her by rising from the kitchen trap door without first announcing himself. After a while, he had gotten into the habit of knocking on the floorboards first before making an appearance each evening.

  Chloe soon found confidence in his presence and felt safe knowing that he was there. Apart from the night she’d cut her finger, he had never displayed any sign of thirst or hunger towards her. Gavin always excused himself for an hour or so before they began writing well into the night. She assumed he was out to quench his vampire thirst instead of taking it out on her by accident.

  Her schedule had been totally destroyed. She slept during the day, just as he did, and stayed awake all night. Chloe even began making her meals while Gavin wrote his parts in the novel and purchased black out curtains for her room so the sun wouldn’t disturb her sleep. With each passing night, she began to understand what it must have been like for Gavin to live in a world with no sun. She hated it and could feel the toll it was taking on her mental health.

  Her tan was fading, and though she was not as pale as Gavin, Chloe still found it strange. What was worse, her powder foundation makeup no longer matched her skin tone. A few times, she took naps out by the creek just so she could get some sun exposure.

  While applying her shimmering pink lip gloss, Chloe thought about how close she and Gavin had become. They were friends, to say the least, but there was always the underlying tension between them that Chloe had felt from the first day. Every kind gesture, every prolonged stare, every encouraging word was only fuel for the fire that burned within her for the vampire living in the basement.

  She knew it was wrong—beyond wrong. It was obscene and morbid to think of Gavin as anything more than a friend and collaborating writer. Yet, she couldn’t help but over analyze every detail of his posture and the sparkle in his amazing green eyes. Did they mean that he felt something, too?

  Chloe remembered when Gavin had said she reminded him of someone he once knew. He had never mentioned the girl again, and Chloe had been too timid to bring her up. In fact, she’d been too timid to bring up anything related to the last nearly three hundred years of his existence.

  Their conversations had been strictly focused on the novel they were writing together, nothing more, and nothing less. There were so many times she had wanted to ask him about things she didn’t understand, such as why he lived in the basement, and why he hadn’t moved on to live a life away from the cabin. Why did he only drink animal blood? Why did he look at her the way he did, his eyes so full of unexplainable emotion that made her feel weightless? And why, for someone who had been alive for close to three hundred years, did he know so much about things like how the washer worked and computers?

  She refused to ask him any forward, possibly intrusive questions. She didn’t want a replay of the first night they’d met face to face, and she had scolded him for freaking her out.

  She hoped that tonight would make up for it all.

  Chloe took a step back and looked at herself in the mirror, wearing a pair of faded, flair, hip hugger jeans and a black, long sleeve, V-neck, cashmere sweater top with a camisole underneath. It was certainly something different than she had been wearing for the past week and a half since she’d come to Carter Lake.

  Her attire thus far had been restricted to pajamas and long jackets, with the exception of the night she had gone to Rosie’s Bridge party. The top was form fitting; something that Gavin had not seen her in before. It wasn’t too provocative but hugged her curves just enough to make anyone aware that she was all woman.

  As a blush rose to her cheeks, she wondered if he would be blown away by her efforts to look presentable. Where they were going, no one would really see her, but Gavin would, and that was reason enough to dress up.

  She brushed her hair one more time and checked the clock on the wall. It was just thirty minutes until sunset. If only it were enough time to do something better with her hair. Without regular beauty treatments apart from shampooing and conditioning in the shower, her hair had developed a mind of its own. Most of the evenings she spent with Gavin, she kept her hair up and out of the way in a bun or ponytail.

  But now, letting it down, Chloe pondered what could be done about it. It was wavier and curled tighter at the ends than normal. She owned a hair straightener, but since her hair was so thick, it wouldn’t do much to remedy the disaster unless she spent an exorbitant amount of time sitting in front of the mirror.

  With a great sigh, she pulled out the flat iron and set to work, taming the superficial waves while leaving the ends to curl as they wished. The final result was not exactly what she wanted, but it was acceptable for a night out like this.

  She slipped on a pair of fashionable black leather boots and made her way downstairs. Having had her cup of coffee before putting on lip gloss, she had no fear of ruining the look. She sat down on the sofa and tried to take her mind off of the night ahead by picking up Moby Dick and reading where she had left off so long ago.

  All there was left to do was wait. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. The feeling took her back to her high school days when she would grow anxious just at the thought of her crush coming around the hallway corner. Chloe felt childish. It was just an outing with a friend, nothing more. It wasn’t like one date meant anything. It never did. But this was more than a date. It was a chance to get out of the cabin and take Gavin along with her.

  The sun dipped below the horizon, and she flipped on all the lights downstairs in preparation for the darkness. Each slight creak in the wood made her grow rigid with expectation. But she relaxed after realizing it didn’t mean Gavin was rising from his day sleep.

  She checked the clock on the wall again and bit the inside of her mouth anxiously. If he didn’t hurry up, they might be late. She did, however, account for his nightly feeding. But she at least wanted to propose her plan first before he hurried out of the kitchen door.

  Finally, after a long wait, she heard his usual rap against the bottom side of the floor. The trap door in the kitchen opened without a sound and Gavin stepped into the light. He wore a black pinstripe, button up shirt with the first top few buttons undone and a pair of dark jeans. The shirt was not tucked in, unlike his usual custom of looking as if he were going to a job interview. But instead, the shirt hung out over his waist, and he was not wearing his usual coat. He constantly amazed her with his variety of wardrobe and style. Somehow, she had imaged that he only had one outfit to wear all the time.

  He closed the trap door but hadn’t looked to Chloe yet, even though she had snapped the book shut and sat up a little straighter on the couch with a bright smile.

  When he finally laid eyes on her, Chloe watched Gavin’s eyebrows arch in surprise.

  “Good evening,” he greeted. “Are you going somewhere?”

  She beamed at him and nodded. “As a matter of fact, I am. And you’re coming with me.”

  Gavin blinked and crossed the divide between the kitchen and living room. “I hope wherever it is we’re going, you can take your laptop with you.”

  “Nope. No writing tonight.”

  Gavin gave her a blank stare as if she had just spoken in a foreign language. Surely he didn’t expect her to write every night like a machine? She needed to get out just like anyone else. Chloe wasn’t suffering from cabin fever just yet, but she felt that in another few days she’d be standing on the borderline for sure.

  Then, as if a sneaking demon had latched onto her brain, she remembered Atlanta and Brent and how he’d treated her. But Gavin wasn’t like Brent, right?

  Slowly, Gavin nodded. “I suppose a break would be beneficial. But I won’t b
e joining you, wherever it is you’re going.”

  With that, he turned on the balls of his feet and strode towards the back door. Chloe, stricken by the urgent need to convince him, leaped up from the couch and pursued.

  She even surprised herself when she was quick enough to place herself between Gavin and the door. Only when he stopped and went as still as a statue did she realize exactly what she was doing. Chloe was getting in the way of a hungry vampire and his path to a meal. She might as well have thrown herself atop the carcass of a deer while a pack of ravenous wolves gathered.

  And she could tell from the ominous glint in his eyes that he was not amused by her bold move.

  “Why won’t you come with me?” she asked.

  Gavin sighed heavily. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Chloe shook her head. “No, it’s not. Do you think you’ll lose control and kill everyone or something?”

  He did not find that comment funny either, and she saw his hands form into tight fists at his sides. “I don’t know. I haven’t been around a large crowd in centuries.”

  Chloe overlooked the way he said it so calmly as if he were talking about a few months rather than a few hundred years. She wondered if she would ever get used to how old he really was. “Would it help if I told you where we were going?”

  “Where you are going. And no, it wouldn’t. You can’t sway me so easily.”

  She stepped closer and squared her shoulders confidently. “We are going to the movies. It’s a drive-in movie, and I think you’ll enjoy it.”

  Gavin’s head tilted just the slightest, and she couldn’t help but note the animal-like movement. “A movie?” he questioned, his lips parted.

  “Yes. It’s a movie my mom loved watching while I was growing up, and it’s playing in town for tonight only. If you hurry up, we should be able to make it in time.”

  A few long moments of silence passed as Chloe began to wonder if she had won the battle. He seemed intrigued but still skeptical. If only she knew what exactly he was weighing in his mind, if she could really sway his decision. How far would she go to bribe him?

  “A drive-in movie?” he clarified.

  She nodded. “It’s where you drive up in your car, and there’s a speaker box where the sound feeds through, but the movie is projected onto this big screen. And the whole thing is in a big field. They also have a concession stand where you can buy drinks and popcorn.”

  Gavin shook his head in frustration as if he came to a decision that displeased him as much as it did her. “Too many people around.”

  “You never have to get out of the car,” she reasoned, taking another step forward. She hadn’t willingly been this close to him before. All the other times, he had trespassed into her space. But the tables had turned, and perhaps now he would know that she was too serious about this plan to let him reject her.

  “I can strap you in with strings of garlic and hold a cross on you if I have to.”

  Gavin broke into a chuckle. “I’m not so sure that would hold me still for long.”

  Chloe didn’t think it such a funny thing. The first few nights after she had discovered that he lived in the basement, she had placed a bulb of garlic under her pillow. And now he told her—in so many words—that it was useless.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes to make you comfortable while we’re there. I just don’t want to go alone.”

  It was an underhanded card to play, but Chloe laid it on the table anyway. She really wasn’t afraid to go alone. She just wanted him to be with her. Although he had been alone for centuries, she didn’t want him to suffer in that way anymore; no matter how willing he was to do so. No one deserved to be that isolated.

  Gavin’s expression softened, and after quite a bit of mental debating, he finally nodded. “Fine, I’ll go with you. But please step aside.”

  She didn’t have to be told twice.

  “I’ll be back shortly,” he said as he disappeared into the cold, autumn night. He didn’t have to declare his intentions for her to know exactly what he was going out to do.

  Chloe shut the door behind him and did a silly victory dance before returning to the couch to read a little more.

  As Chloe began to drive down the mountain, she could sense the tension in Gavin. He wasn’t enjoying the tight turns down the winding road. Now, wearing his long coat, his body was hard to distinguish in the dim light. The lights from the dashboard illuminated his pale skin, and she could see the occasional wary glint in his eyes. Other than that, with his collar turned up to conceal his neck and much of his jaw, he resembled the shadow she had thought him to be the first night they had met outside the cabin.

  “Easy on the leather,” Chloe said laughingly. “This car is pretty new to me.”

  Gavin’s hands were gripping his seat and car door so tightly, she thought something would rip or break off at any moment. When she spoke, his hands relaxed, and he apologized.

  “Don’t like cars?” she asked.

  “Never been in one before.”

  Chloe’s eyes went wide in surprise, but she wasn’t sure why. Since he had lived through all of the technological changes of the world, she figured he would have experienced a little of everything by now.

  “You’ve never ridden in a car?”

  “Not once,” he replied. “I never perceived the need to. I prefer to go down the mountain on foot. I always thought these infernal machines were a waste of time and money.”

  Chloe snorted. “How would you know that they were?”

  She saw Gavin’s eyes dart around in the darkness, latching onto subtle details outside of the jeep that caused him some sort of alarm. “I remember hearing conversations when they first came out. I remember your grandparents discussing how expensive gas was. In fact, that’s been quite a frequent complaint amongst those staying in the cabin.”

  It was so strange to hear him talking about her grandparents like he knew them personally when she was sure that was far from the truth. Eavesdropping on conversations was not a way to get to know anyone. It was stalker-like behavior in her mind.

  “What other things have you overheard?” she asked, eager to continue the conversation. This was possibly the first time they had ever discussed something outside of the novel.

  Gavin opened his mouth but paused as if in thought. “I’ve heard about car accidents and how deadly they can be.”

  “And hiking down the mountain is any less dangerous?”

  “It’s simply more convenient.”

  Chloe tapped lovingly on the dashboard. “Well, this is more convenient for me.” She ended the reply with a laugh, but Gavin did not return it.

  He’d been fairly placid since they’d left the cabin. He had fed, that was for certain. The unreasonable grumpiness in his demeanor was gone. But what was left was something she never thought a vampire would so willingly display—Gavin was nervous.

  It could have been a number of things. He had been vocal about his concern regarding being in a highly public setting. Or maybe he was worried about riding in a car, as he had already mentioned.

  Something she had learned about Gavin was that he was openly expressive about many things but unwilling to explain himself. Years of living in darkness and solitude had left him without the social skills that normal humans needed. He lacked the mask, the shield of politeness to throw up in front of strangers.

  There was a level of discretion when it came to interacting with others. If you were upset, you didn’t show it. If you were sad, you bottled it up. Any sign of weakness and society would label you for life as an aggressive jerk or an emotional nutcase.

  Gavin had no such skills, no talent in closing himself off and putting on a smile when he didn’t feel like smiling. In that same way, he did not hide how terrified he was of riding in a car, or his unease about going into public.

  And then there was the way he constantly slid a glance towards her, looking her up and down with the usual appreciation that men showed towards women. He probably tho
ught she didn’t notice, but she did. Just in the same way that Chloe thought he didn’t notice when she checked him out.

  When she came to the base of the mountain and turned onto the main road that split through Carter Lake, Gavin seemed to slump in the passenger seat. It was clear that he didn’t want to be seen or noticed.

  “Have you ever been to the movies before?” she asked. It was a silly question, but the thickening silence that filled the cab was suffocating. It had to break at some point; might as well be now. Maybe conversation would help calm him down enough to stop digging his nails into his car seat.

  “No, I have not. But I’ve heard discussions about them.”

  Chloe smiled. “You sure hear a lot.”

  “Yes, I hear many things.”

  “Like what? What do you hear right now?” It might be a dangerous question. She’d read about how vampires and other monsters had heightened senses, but how much could he really discern? She imagined that there would be so much to hear and see that it would overload his senses. But, then again, the idea that someone could drink gallons of blood and not get sick was still a bit of a stretch on her imagination.

  Gavin went quiet for a few beats then replied, “I can hear your heartbeat, your breathing, the engine, the sound of the tires against the road, crickets, the wind outside…and that man’s horrible singing as he’s taking a shower.”

  He pointed towards a small house sitting near the road with a few lights on. Being human, she obviously couldn’t hear any of that. She was glad that she couldn’t hear his singing either.

  Chloe giggled and then turned back to the path ahead. “That must get annoying sometimes,” she commented.

  “It does. Sometimes, I hear things that I don’t want to hear.”

  That alone made her mind wander, and she cringed to think of the things he might have heard coming from upstairs late at night, such as the disturbing conversations that had taken place in the kitchen, or the arguments in the living room that hadn’t ended well.

  It didn’t take long for Chloe to find the turn for the road that led to the drive-in theater. The billboard, lit by only two out of four floodlights, was fading with age, and the paint was chipped practically all over. But she could find this place even in the dark and without the sign.