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The thought hit her that she probably hadn’t tried hard enough to fit in with her parents. Instead of dreading dinners she should have found food she could stomach and cooked them for her family. She should have passed dinnertime encouraging conversation instead of feeling like a monster and hence coming off as one.
If only …
Her chest felt heavy when she wondered if she would get a second chance to make things smoother?
Della finally looked at her watch. It was after eight. “I’d better get back, or Burnett is gonna have a shit fit.”
“Yeah,” Chase said. “We’d better go. It’s been fun. Thanks.”
“No, thank you,” Natasha said. “For everything—saving our lives, letting us stay here. It’s been just what we needed.”
“Well, you’re welcome to come back anytime. Take the key with you,” he said to Natasha, but he reached over and held a chicken finger to Della’s lips.
Della was so surprised, she ate it. And it wasn’t half bad. Then Chase ran his finger over her lip.
Della felt the blush hit her cheeks, and she realized Liam and Natasha were watching and smiling. Didn’t Chase know she could feed herself?
“Aren’t you going to move back in?” Natasha asked.
“Not for a while. I think I’ll hang out at Shadow Falls.”
“What?” Della shook her head. She’d thought he’d been staying at the school because Liam and Natasha were here. “This place is ten times better.”
“Yeah, but Shadow Falls has something this place doesn’t.” Natasha grinned.
“No,” Della said. “You’ve seen the cabins there.”
“It has you,” Natasha answered.
Della glanced at Chase. He didn’t deny it. And he winked at her. Winked?
First he feeds her and then he winks at her?
“You’re crazy,” she said.
“Here’s to being crazy,” Liam said and picked up a glass of blood for a toast.
They walked out on the porch. Natasha pulled Della to the side. “Is my mom…? Do you still see my mom?”
Della nodded, and decided not to mention that Holiday wanted to perform an exorcism to send her packing. “Yeah.”
“Can you tell her that I’m happy? Really happy.”
“I’ll tell her.”
Her cousin hugged her. “Chase is a good guy,” she whispered in her ear. “Stop fighting it.”
Della didn’t answer that, but the thought hit her that if she was fighting it, she was doing a piss-poor job of it. Every damn day he got closer … not even just physically, but emotionally. And what was this feeding-her crap?
She glanced over at the guys.
Chase shook Liam’s hand. “Hey,” Chase said. “I just noticed your shoes. Are those the Nike foamposite shoes?”
“A knockoff, I’m sure,” Liam said. “My mom got them. She couldn’t afford the real thing.”
Della looked down at his bright blue shoes with weird soles and … bam. Just like that her world flipped. She wasn’t even standing. But lying flat on her back on a … cold, bloody, concrete floor.
“Della?” she heard Chase say her name. “You okay?”
