The Knight Of The Rose Read online

  another picture.

  “Yeah, he is sorta cute…in a way.” I shrugged.

  “In a way? Ara, he’s really cute,” Alana said.

  “And you two never uh—” Emily let the suggestion in her tone lead that question.

  I shook my head. “It’s really not like that.”

  “Never?” Emily grinned.

  “Well. I did kind of thr ow myself at him once.” Whoa. Can’t believe I just said that. I bi t my

  info-blurting tongue.

  “Really?” Emily sat up and crossed her legs under her. “Well? Come on, girl, fill us in?”

  Great. My head dropped to one s ide with groan. This will bring on the tears for sure—and

  tears are bad; questions al ways follow tears. “Um, so, it was my fr iend’s eighteenth…” Going well

  so far—no tears. “And…I had a drink at her party. Well, okay, maybe three.” I laughed. “Or more.”

  Alana and Emily gasped, wide-eyed.

  “What?” I shrugged, with half a smile.

  “You rebel,” Alana breathed the words out.

  “I know, I know. It’s not one of my proudest moments. But remember, the legal age for

  drinking in Australia is eighteen,” I added. “So I’m not that far off—not like here.”

  “Huh! So lucky,” Emily scoffed.

  “So, anyway. I walked to Mike’s house to stay the night so my mum wouldn’t f ind out. I’d

  never had a dr ink before, and Mike picked up on it s traight away. He took me upstairs to his room

  and sat me down for a severe talking to.”

  Not that I listened to any of it. I spent the whole time laughing at the serious look on his face.

  Emily and Alana exchanged glances. “How did he know you’d been drinking?” Alana asked.

  “He’s been a cop s ince he was eighteen.” I shrugged. “He knows the signs, and he knows

  me—and I don’t act like that.”

  “Wait. I thought he was just getting into the Force.” Alana asked.

  My head moved in a nod as I po pped a candy in my mouth. “No, he’s just getting in to the

  Tactical Response Group. That’s where he really wanted to be. But he’s been general entry for

  forever.”

  “So...” Emily led, “what happened then?”

  “Um, well, so, he knew I was drunk. I mean, I guess it isn’t hard when your best friend for,

  like, ever, tells you she’s always loved you and thinks you’re gorgeous.” I grinned at the girls.

  “So much for you never really noticing how cute he is.” Alana smiled.

  “Yeah. Well, maybe once. But he was so furious with me for drinking. He even yelled at me.

  He had never yelled at me befor e. Not for anything. Plus, he’s like, all about the law. And I was

  breaking it. Not only that, but, he was so worried something bad could’ve happened to me that—he

  cried.” My voice lowered on the en d. The memory of Mike’s face when he told me what was

  wrong—why he was crying—it just about broke my heart to think of.

  “He must really care about you?” Emily smiled with dreamy distance in her eyes.

  “He does.” I pushed my fringe off my forehead. “So, anyway. With that much alcohol in my

  system, his kindness and over-protection, and years’ worth of noticing how gorgeous he’d become,

  my hormones took over, and I tried to kiss him.”

  “Huh! I would’ve, too,” Emily said.

  “Did he kiss you back?” Alana leaned forward slightly.

  “Yeah—” I lowered my head, “—for a moment. But then he stopped—pushed me away.”

  “Ouch.” Emily winced.

  “That must have hurt?” Alana said, softening her tone.

  “Not really. But I felt rejected, so I ran away from him and hid in the bushes when he chased

  after me.” I l aughed it off, but I’d pushed that memory so far down t hat remembering it came as a

  shock. I’d almost convinced myself the kiss never happened.

  “That sucks. So he didn’t like you the way you liked him?” Emily asked.

  “No.” I shrugged casually. “But it was a mistake. I don’t really feel that way about him. It

  was just the alcohol.”

  “Or did you just tell him it was alcho-lust to save face?” Emily asked.

  I shook my head. “We never talked about it again.”

  “Oh. So...how will t hings be when you see

  him on Tuesday, then ?” Emily’s face had

  “awkward” written all over it.

  “It’ll be fine.” I hope. “So, have you guys got a dress for the Masquerade yet?”

  Alana, picking up on my need to divert, knel t up and placed the picture she was holding into

  the pile. “I’m wearing the same dress my mother wore, and her mother and so on.”

  “Wow, that’s so cool. So it’s like, totally vintage?” I knelt up and started placing the pictures

  back in the shoebox.

  “Mm-hm. It was actually firs t worn by my great-great grandmother at the very f irst

  Masquerade.”

  “That is totally cool.” Emily le aned forward and handed me a picture. “I haven’t found one

  yet. I’m still looking. Just, nothing seems to suit me.”

  “I find that really hard to believe.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Well, what about you, Ara? Have you got a dress yet?” Alana asked.

  “Actually, I thought you’d never ask.”

  “Ooh, you do.” Emily squeaked. “Let’s see it, let’s see it!”

  “Okay.” I bounced to my feet. “I’ll just be a sec.”

  They both positioned themselves on my bed, anticipation alight in their eyes, and I bounded

  into my wardrobe, stopping dead as I closed the door behind me.

  What the hell is that?

  My breath quickened, and as my eyes tr aced the zipper down a long white bag, my throat

  constricted to the size of straw. Slowly, I tugged the zip downward and saw blue!

  “Damn vampires!”

  “What?” Emily called.

  “Oh, ah, nothing. I just got bitten by a mozzie.” I sucked my finger, drawing away the mock-

  irritation of a mosquito bite.

  Alana and Emily laughed. “You sound so Aussie when you say that.”

  “Well, I am Aussie.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Emily called, “you just never sound it.”

  “Well, they say practice makes perfect.” I looked back at the blue dress.

  Those conspiring renegades! How dare they. And where is my green dress.

  My breath stopped in a gasp at the sight of a soft, shimmering green fabric sticking out from

  between my old purple sweater and my faded blue jeans.

  So, David wants to play dirty?

  Well, there’s no way I’m going to wear his dirty money, in any form.

  I zipped up the bag and wedged it into a tight space near the wall. “There.” Dusting my hands

  off seemed appropriate.

  But, before I even stepped away, the sudden weight of guilt nearly forced my shoulders to the

  ground. Would it be so bad—wearing the dress? I mean, what could it hurt? After all, David’s already

  paid for it?

  The dress and I stared at each other across the silent battleground of conscience.

  It is a pretty dress, and I do love it.

  I pulled it back out and hung it on the hook.

  It can’t hurt just to try it on ag ain—see if it really is as perfect as I’ve been dreaming it was

  all afternoon.

  Without a second for my conscience to overreact, I unbuttoned my jeans, tore of my top and

  bra, and crawled into the dress—leaving it on the hanger until I had my arms through, then unhitched

  it from the hook and let it slide int
o place around the shape of my body.

  It was hard to think I’d be telling him to return this when it felt so amazing on my skin. As I

  reached around to tighten the satin bows at the back of the corset, I felt a cool touch on my wrist.

  “Shh,” someone whispered; I spun around mid-gasp, and a tall, handsome vampire placed an

  elegant finger to his lips. “Shh.”

  “David, I—”

  “Shh.” He smiled and nodded in the direction of the girls.

  “You’re lucky you’re so cute.”

  Placing a hand on my shoulder, he turned me around and took the ribbons in his fingers. The

  soft tickling on my skin as he twisted each one through the loops and tied them up made my knees go

  weak. I rested a hand to the cold wall for support.

  “All done,” he said, but as I tried to turn around, he held me in place by my shoulders.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Shh.” Using the tip of his very cold finger, the vampire traced a line ever so slowly from the

  base of my neck, all the way down my spine, and stopped between my shoulder blades, just under

  where my bra would sit. “I’ve never seen this part of your body before.”

  “David, you can’t just co me in here, touching me l ike that, and expect me to—” I turned

  around, but my anger dissipated as the green in his eyes melted into liquid adoration.

  “You look so beautiful in that dress, Ara.”

  “I do?” I frayed my fingers down the diamantes on the bodice.

  “A beauty, I fear—” he touched his chest, “—that is a perfection I do not deserve.”

  Well, safe to say no one’s ever said that to me before.

  He placed both hands in his back pockets and lowered his shoulders—shaking his head. My

  frown broke into a grin. I just can’t resist the way he looks at me, with one eye squinting into a smile

  and the other studying me so carefully, like he’s never seen me before. All I want now is to take off

  this dress and tell the girls to go home.

  “I love you, Ara.” David laughed and kissed my cheek. “I have to go.”

  “Hurry up, Ara. What, are you still sewing the seams?” Emily joked.

  “It’s a corset, Em. Good things take time.” I turned back to look at David, but as usual, he left

  without saying goodbye—leaving me to find only emptiness.

  I hope this doesn’t become a habit of his.

  I drew a breath and quietened my heart, then stepped around the corner of the wardrobe to

  show the girls my dress.

  “Oh, my God!” Emily jumped up and ran to me. “Ara, you look like a princess.”

  Alana shook her head, walking more slowly. “No way, she looks like an angel.”

  “Look at th e way it sets off he r eyes. They’re bluer than the sky against that dress, Ara.”

  Emily ruffled the layers of my skirt, then sighed. “I wish I could find a dress like this.”

  “You will. Hey, why don’t we al l go shopping next week? We’ll find something just as

  perfect for you,” I said.

  Emily nodded eagerly. “I’m in.”

  Alana cringed. “I’d rather not—I hate shopping.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I mean, not hate it, but I’d rather do other things,” Alana said.

  I shook my head. “I’m sure you and I are kindred spirits.”

  “Perhaps.” She shrugged. “Except I have better taste in boys.”

  As I turned away, chuckling softly, I caught my reflection in the window; the sky was dark,

  and though the howling wind and the pattering rain outside made my stomach sink—for fear there

  might be a storm on the way—I saw only a smile on the face of the dark-haired beauty in the glass.

  She’s me, she’s really me. And she is beautiful. This dress is definitely better than the green

  one. Once again, David has rescued me from myself.

  “Oh, my God, Ara!” Emily grabbed the tag of the dress, her mouth gaping. “Was this dress

  really a thousand dollars?”

  Crud! My shoulders rolled forward. “Actually, yes. David bought it for me.”

  “What?” Alana picked up the tag and flipped it over, searching for a sale price, I guess.

  “He wanted me to feel special. I tried to stop him, but he did it anyway.” And now I can’t see

  his face, I find it so much easier to be mad at him. He’s in so much trouble when I see him next.

  Emily sat down on my bed, her ga ze distant, her hands folded into her lap. “I can’t believe it,

  Ara. I never thought I’d see the day when David Knight fell in love.”

  “Did you not think he was capable?” I asked.

  “No. I’m sorry. I didn’ t. I was sure that, ten years from now, when we meet for our high

  school reunion, he’d be America’s most eligible bachelor.”

  She has no idea how right she is. Ten years from now, I’ll be so much older than him, and our

  high-school-sweetheart-romance will have become something unclean, something wrong—more like

  a gossip article for the tabloids than a love story.

  He will be a bachelor. There is no other way.

  “He might still be,” I added with a light giggle. “Just because we’re in love now, doesn’t

  mean we’re gonna get married or anything.” Only, I know we would. If things were different. We

  love each other enough to commit to a lifetime of being together, but I just can’t commit to an

  eternity—and David can’t commit to a life.

  “Are you serious?” Emily stood up. “He spends a thousand dollars on a dress, because he

  wants you to feel special, and you’re not sure if you’re going to marry him?”

  I sighed, feeling utterly defeated. I wished I could tell her the truth. She’d understand. She’d

  be able to give me advice and take some of the burden of life and death decisions off my shoulders.

  I wonder how mad David would be if I just let it slip out.

  I opened my mouth and, as Alana sat down in my desk chair, the squeaky hinge woke me to

  reality. I snapped my big gob shut.

  Emily squinted as she studied my face. “There’s more to it, isn’t there?”

  “More to what?” I shrugged casually and started untying my dress.

  “Is it…are you still in love with Mike?”

  “What? I never said I was in love with him.”

  “Then, I don’t understand?”

  How could anyone? David’s perfect. Why would I not want to marry him?

  “What’s to understand, Em? Davi d and I —we’re in love, but we want diff erent things in

  life.” I shrugged. “Eventually, we’ll have to go

  our separate ways. We both know that. David

  understands.”

  Emily and Ala na exchanged glances. “Who ar e you tr ying to convince, Ara? Us, or

  yourself?” Emily asked.

  I held my dress in f ront of my chest, pull ed a shirt over my head and, once covered, stepped

  out of the dress and threw it on the bed. “What does it matter? It’s not like you’re going to lose him,

  Emily.” I laughed, trying to stop myself from falling onto her shoulder and crying.

  Emily shook her head. “Ara, when David first came to the school, he was s o different. Not

  the kind and sweet David you know now. He was cold, kind of stand-off-ish. All that changed about

  a month before you came to the school—”

  About the time I arrived at Dad’s.

  “—He’s happy now,” Emily contin ued. “I’m just one of a hundred girls who was madl y in

  love with David when he came here. I just don’t want to see him get hurt.” She stared at me, her
eyes

  round with concern. “Any one of us would give up everything to be David’s girl. You don’t know

  how lucky you are.”

  “I do. Actually.” I sighed, dropping my arms to my sides as I sat on the bed. “I hate that we

  can’t be to gether. More than you know. But it isn’t my deci sion to make. Not really. There are

  outside factors stopping us from being together.” Like the fact that David’s a vampire, and I won’t

  kill people for a living.

  “Why should it matter? When you love someone, you give up everything for that,” Emily

  said. I’d never heard her speak like that—I didn’t know Emily went so deep. Everything she said

  was true though, and it hurt. I’m ju st not brave enough to risk everything for love. My mother taught

  me better than that—taught me to follow my head, because the heart can lead a girl down a path that

  may destroy her life.

  Granted, Mum never meant that literally, in the sense that I would bring my life to an end for

  love. But being with David will absolutely lead to the end of my natural life. Well, okay, not in the

  physical sense, because I’d still be breathing, but in the natural sense.

  Ironically, by sta ying human—I am following the path that will lead to my eventual, yet

  natural death.

  Hm, complicated; I shook off my confusion. “It isn’t like I don’t want him, Em. Like I said, I

  have no control over this.” And it kills me.

  “Well.” Emily took my hand and sat beside me. “Just so you know…I’m your friend, too. I

  mean, I care for David, but...but I’m here for you, Ara. Okay?”

  “Thanks, Emily.” I squeezed her hand a little.

  “It’ll be okay, anyway.” Emily shrugged. “Love always finds a way, right, Lani?”

  Alana took a long breath. “I hope so—otherwise, what’s the point?”

  I smiled softly. “Thanks guys.”

  The quiet hum of restful breathing filled my room under the howling of the wind outside. I

  laid awake, wishing I could put my bedside light on to illuminate the corners of my room and see

  that there was no scary man hiding there.

  I hugged my copy of Wuthering Heights to my chest and internally sent despise in waves of

  anger to the mattress on the floor.

  I should’ve told Emil y I hate scar y movies. I’m sure she would’ ve understood. She seems

  nice like that. I wish I’d just told her.