Page 87 of Afflicted

What the fuck?

Gina sits down opposite me, and a few heads shoot up, eyes full of alarm. I meet her gaze, and she’s frowning.

“What is going on?” I ask quietly.

“I was hoping you’d tell me,” she replies, leaning across the table to take my hand.

“What do you mean?”

She clicks her tongue. “Come on now, I saw what that feeder was doing to you the other night.”

“He wasn’tdoinganything to me.”

Gina squeezes my hand, leaning forward, her brow furrowing with concern. “Baby, I know you’re young and you want love, that’s normal. We’ve all seen how close you and this vamp have become.”

I yank my hand out of her grasp and cast a glance around the cafeteria. Eyes shoot down to plates, heads snapping away from me.

I look back at Gina, my jaw dropping. “Everyone’s weird with me because ofSilas?”

“They all think you’re his favorite or his pet or something.” Her eyes flicker from side to side, and she leans closer. “Some people are saying he’s feeding off you.”

I cough out a laugh. “Oh my god, this is ridiculous. Everyone knows they’re not allowed to bite us.”

“They’re not allowed to have sex with us either.” She reaches across the table to try and take my hand. “Isawhim take off your panties. He was lying right on top of you.”

I bury my hands in my lap, leaning back away from her. “You didn’t see that, that’s not what happened.” I can’t look at her as I lie. I cast my eyes down to the table, and I can feel her gaze burning into my face.

“Pequeña, what is going on?”

“Nothing.”

She sighs heavily, throwing her hands in the air. “Baby, I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me. You’d think you’d have had enough bullshit with that other asshole.”

“Silas is nothing like him,” I snap, and when I look up at her, she’s crossed her arms over her chest and is giving me that Mom look.Thatlook. Like she knows. She knows exactly what’s going on. “Silas cares about me, OK? He’s my friend.”

“A friend who wants to screw you in a dorm full of sleeping people?” She tilts her head. “Baby, he’s not good for you. He’s your goddamn prison warden.”

“He’s not like that. And he wasn’t going to screw me.”

“How can you let a predator like that touch you? After everything you’ve gone through.”

“He is not a predator!”

“Hethreatenedme.” Gina emphasizes the word, and a few heads turn in our direction. “That’s what you like, is it? A friend who chokes me out because I caught you two-”

“You didn’t catch us!” I spring to my feet. “Nothing happened! Alright? Nothing!”

Gina leans back, shaking her head. I look around at all the staring eyes. There’s looks of disbelief, fear… and disgust. They all think I’m some vamp whore. I can’t take them all just staring at me. I can’t take them all judging me like this.

I push out of the cafeteria, into the rain, mumbling something about needing fresh air to the vamp at the door. He doesn’t stop me, and now I really am wondering if I have Officer’s Whore privileges. For some stupid reason, the thought sends tears pricking at my eyes.

I dash them away as I head across the grass. It’s a misty morning, and the damp clings to my cheeks, coating my throat as I breathe in deeply to try and stay composed. I walk down to the garden, my mind racing. The humans see me as a traitor? All because I’m friends with a vamp?

Friends.

Silas and I aren’t just friends anymore. As much as I wanted to lie to Gina, as much as I’ve tried to convince myself it’s not true, we want each other. We’ve been toeing a line that’s loaded with 10,000 volts, waiting for the shock, like it’s going to catch us by surprise. But even if we feel it now, we’re both ignoring it. We’re in too deep.

I tried so hard to push him away, so terrified I’d cause him to get caught, and hurt. But that night, the night he caught me, the thoughts of him and what I wanted him to do to me were too much. The shock I felt when he was suddenly lying over me, the thrill I felt when he touched me, when he pulled my panties down…

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