stepping out from behind the Mazda. We made the rest of the walk hurriedly. The rest of our conversation consisted of creating a plan for what we should tell everyone happened to my neck, because I was sure they were going to ask. Laylen insisted that we should just blame the bite on him, since Alex was probably going to accuse him of it anyway. I thought this was a ridiculous idea, and told him we didn’t need to tell Alex anything, and that I would just wear a turtle neck or something. But then I realized that wearing a turtle neck in the scorching hot desert would look a little bit suspicious
So that problem just hung in the air.
It was when we reached Adessa’s that we both realized we had another problem. One that needed to be dealt with really fast.
During our little jumping-out-of-the-building thing, it never had occurred to either one of us that getting back up might be a little tricky. So we just stood there, staring up at the window we’d jumped out of, trying to come up with some kind of solution.
“Maybe there’s a fire escape somewhere?” I suggested.
He shook his head. “I don’t think there is.”
In the distances, dogs were howling like crazy, and I saw Laylen tense up as he glanced around apprehensively. When the dogs stopped howling, he shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh. Then he kicked a plastic bottle that was on the ground and it whipped up in the air and thumped against the side of the brick building.
“Dammit,” he cursed noisily, and now I was the one glancing around apprehensively.
“Laylen,” I whispered. “You need to be a little quieter or someone’s going to hear us.”
He ran his fingers through his blond hair, and I was sensing that a meltdown was about to take place. “Who cares. I’m already screwed anyway.”
“Why are you screwed? Because you staked Vladislav? I thought you said you just had to lay low for awhile and it would pass over,” I said.
He looked at me gravely. “Gemma, I didn’t just stake Vladislav. I staked Vladislav, one of the oldest vampires.”
“So is that worse than staking a young vampire?” I asked.
He stared at me, not answering, and I suddenly grasped that he was in more trouble than he first let on.
“Laylen, you shouldn’t have let me go with you.” I told him, guilt choking up inside me.
“It was your choice, Gemma,” he said. “You should be able to choose what you want to do.”
“Well, I think I picked the wrong one.” I swallowed hard. “I’m really sor…” I stopped as a spark of electricity coiled up my spine. “Ah crap.”
“What’s the matter?” Laylen asked, his eyebrows dipping down.
Before I could tell him what was up, or try to find a place for us to hide, Laylen’s gaze darted over my shoulder, and I knew without even looking that we were so busted.
“So funny thing,” Alex’s voice came up from right behind me. “I was up in my room, and I just happened to look out the window. And boy was I surprised to find you two standing down here, in the middle of the night, for God knows what reason.”
I caught Laylen’s eye, and I tried to communicate to him telepathically what we should do. Of course, I didn’t have telepathic abilities and neither did Laylen so guess how well that went.
I shook my head, and decided to face the inevitable. I took a deep breath, and covering the bite on my neck with my hand, I turned to face Alex. I wasn’t too worried about what he was going to say to me. He could chew me out all he wanted—I was used to it. I just felt guilty because I knew Alex was going to put most of it on Laylen.
Alex’s eyes were all over me as if he could sense something was wrong. “What’s the matter with your neck?”
The lighting was scarce, so I was hoping that it was dark enough that he couldn’t see the blood dried up on my skin. “I have a kink in it.”
He gave me a yeah-right look. “You have a kink in it?”
I shrugged. “It happens.”
He shook his head, irritated. “So why are you two standing out here?”
I had no idea what to tell him and the way he was staring at me was making my brain all hazy.
“How about we go inside, and then we’ll tell you,” Laylen said restlessly.
Alex glanced back and