"Enough, Scarlet. If you say any more, I'm going to jump out of this car!" I was only half-joking. "So you don't mind if I continue to see him?" "No, I don't," I said. "And guess what? If you want, I'll come to your wedding."
My blood was boiling by the time we got back to the factory. I was trying to shake off our conversation and also trying to figure out how we'd be able to see if this key was bogus or real without Jagger finding out.
"We need to have Onyx distract Jagger," I said when we got inside. "Hopefully she can like I did with Trevor. But she's a lot shier than I am. So I'm not sure that is going to work." "Hey, where were you guys?" Onyx asked. "We went to see Trevor. Didn't you get my text?" "Yes, but I was hanging out with Jagger." Onyx grinned. "Speaking of Jagger. I need to ask a favor," Scarlet began. "Sure, anything," Onyx said in a cheerful tone. "We need you to keep Jagger occupied while we check out a few things here." "You can't do that. This is his place. We are here to help, not snoop around." "Not me," I said. "That's exactly why I'm here - to snoop around." I let out a laugh, but Onyx wasn't amused. "If he finds out that I am tricking him, he won't want to see me anymore," she argued. "You aren't tricking him. We're not going to steal anything. Besides, we'll take all the blame," I said. "Trust me." Scarlet put her hand on Onyx's shoulder. "He'll still want to see you. If I have my say." Onyx paused for a moment. "Please?" Scarlet asked. Now she was just as curious as I was.
"Okay," she said reluctantly. "But be quick. He's busy, and he doesn't like anything taking his time away from this club. Not even romance."
I pulled the string from around my neck and we raced to the door, monster boots slapping the Masonite floor. I took a deep breath. I pushed the key in and it went in all the way. We both looked at each other and smiled.
Then I turned the key. And it clicked, unlatching the lock. We silently screamed in excitement. I turned the knob and opened the door.
"It worked. It worked!" "What's going on?" a male voice said from behind us. We both jumped and screamed. I pulled the key back out and slunk it into my pocket. Sebastian was back, along with Alexander. "I missed you," Alexander said. "Where have you been?" "With Trevor," Scarlet said proudly. "Trevor?" he said. "That's the last time I leave you alone."
"This is the door I've been telling you about," I whispered to Alexander. "The key I have opens the door, and a workman was here building something down there. Jagger has been keeping this a secret. I have to get down there."
Just then Jagger and Onyx entered the main room. "So do you like it here so far?" he asked. "Yes, it looks great." I exclaimed with a smile as bright as his white hair.
"What about this?" Alexander said, pulling on the unlocked door handle and opening the door. "Where does it go to?" Alexander said, peeking in.
Jagger stepped in between and shut and locked the door. "Nothing now," he said. Then Jagger turned on headbanging music and we all danced for a few hours. When we were all close to exhaustion, Jagger handed us some sodas from behind the bar.
"Now," he said. "I want everyone out. The Crypt is closed for the night." "Where are we going to stay?" Scarlet asked. "Here, but I have some things I need to finish - alone."
It made me wonder what he was doing that he wouldn't let us be involved in. And did it have to do with what was behind the locked door and down the stairs?
"Sure. I'll just get my things," I said. I'd put my backpack in the massive room filled with coffins when I arrived a few hours ago.
I had one chance to check the plans again. While Jagger tended to the last touches of the main dance floor, I tiptoed from the coffin room across the dank hallway into his office. The blueprints weren't lying out on his desk as they had been the last time.
I opened a metal filing case and in the drawer were the blueprints. I unraveled them as quickly as I could and peeked at the ones marked "Covenant." I wanted to see what might have been if he had opened the vampire club.
I scanned it for any hidden clues. There was a rectangular box in the middle of the western wall. "Stage" was scrolled on it in pencil, and at the opposite end was another box marked "Covenant Altar." Jagger was a master of cryptic design, and I knew that this underground club would be different but just as exciting as the Coffin Club's Dungeon.
Just like the coffins, tombstones, and skeleton decorations in the Crypt, Jagger intended to have a covenant altar for decoration in the Covenant. How awesome! I imagined dead vines around a cast-iron trestle. A coffin with goblets of juice on it to give the underground club the spice the torture chamber gave the Coffin Club. Spooky and cool at the same time.
The night we confronted Jagger about the crop circles, he had insisted the Crypt would be mortal only. But with that workman I spotted and the sounds of hammering that were coming from behind the locked door, I was still skeptical that the Covenant part of the club was going to remain closed on opening night.
Chapter 13 - Midnight Madness
Alexander and I had a midnight date at the cemetery. We hadn't seen each other alone in days and were both missing each other incredibly.
When I finally reached the back of the cemetery, Alexander hadn't arrived. Then I saw a figure lurking in the shadows. I raced to him, until I noticed blonde hair.
Trevor took my arm. "It's okay," he said. "No one will notice." "But I'm in love withAlexander," I told him firmly. "And I'm in love with . . . you." "You are not." His stare was riveting. "But you know that I am." He was right. I'd felt it for years. Trevor stepped even closer to me. "Are you going to punish me for the rest of my life? Because I wear khakis and don't listen to that rancid music?" His green eyes bore through me to the bottom of my combat boots. "I'm not punishing you. I don't love you. I love Alex - " I tried to step back, but he still held my arm.
Then he leaned in so close I thought our lips would touch. "But what if you hadn't met him?" he whispered. "And I came to you, like I did tonight. Just us. No one ever knowing."
I didn't turn away. "I don't know . . . I'd probably feel the same way I do now." "But maybe you wouldn't," he urged in his sexy, almost breathless tone. "Are you really being true to yourself? We've known each other since we were kids. Not evenAlexander can say that." His fingers slid down my sleeve so they reached my hand. "We're not all that different. I've been saying that for years." He paused.
I was slightly afraid of what he'd do next.
His fingers slid down between mine. Trevor Mitchell was holding my hand. His grip was powerful, like that of a handsome athlete. He'd crossed a line. I was holding someone else's hand. This hand wasn't Alexander's, but it felt good, too. Like I was supposed to have held his hand and touched him. As if I'd been waiting all my life.
Trevor had grabbed me before but this was different. It didn't feel like he was trying to get back at me or put a notch on his headboard. It felt as if he was doing it because he wanted to more than anything else.
"It's okay," he said. He drew my hair back from my face. "This is about you and me now. Not anyone else. They can't keep us apart any longer. You can't keep us apart. This is meant to be." His movements were tender and his voice soft and sincere.
He pulled me to him so our chests were touching and he wrapped his arms around my waist. We stood face-to face. He smiled his gorgeous smile.