Page 98 of Fanged Embrace
“Yeah…” I shook my head, smile spreading across my face. “I tripped halfway, and I took Jordan down with me. We both took a tumble down the stairs—in full view of everyone—and we landed in a heap at the bottom. The commotion caught the guy by surprise, andthenhe tripped on his coat.”
Laurie was snickering now, peals of laughter that warmed my chest. “Did he at least land on his face?”
I nodded in tight-lipped satisfaction. “So hard, he chipped a tooth—and that’s pretty rare for a vampire.”
Laurie burst into full blown laughter and the sound shook me to my core. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, still tinted red by earlier tears, and all I could do was stare. When her cackling petered out she noticed, and tilted her head to the side—suddenly self-conscious and flushing slightly in the dark. “What?”
I was speechless for a beat, but I shook my head, surprise coloring my whispered words. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh like that. A real laugh—a happy one.”
Laurie jerked her gaze away, embarrassed. “Yeah, well, maybe I’d have done it sooner if any of your jokes were actually funny.”
“My jokes are funny!” I pushed her shoulder and leaned over her when she tried to hide her smile. “I’ve had centuries to refine my comedy. I can’t believe you don’t appreciate the effort I put into my humor.”
“All right.” Laurie palmed a hand over her face, giggling again while I tried to pry at her fingers. “Tell me a joke right now and I’ll prove to you that you’ve still got a long way to go.”
I sat back against the headboard with a pointed exhale and my arms folded. “Fine—” I got exactly four words into a “why did the chicken cross the road?” joke and she erupted into bouts of loud laughter all over again.
All I could do was stare.
I took in the gleam in her eye and the joy on her face and my heart clenched tightly in my chest. It was so unlike her, so impossibly far from what I could have expected—for once, seeing her light and carefree and not tainted with pain. Her laughter continued, ringing around the room, music to my ears.
It was the most beautiful sound in the world.
48
Laurie
I already knew River herself was odd, and I already knew her friends were… interesting, but watching them all interact outside of an official coven meeting, I wondered if River was aware of just how loopy theyallseemed when they were crammed into one room together.
Maxine was prattling away at an unprecedented volume, tossing curls over her shoulder and rolling her eyes the moment Hunter dared to speak over her. Hunter was poking at Maxine whenever she dared roll her eyes, and Dylan and Amara were having a rather heated conversation in what I assumed was sign language because their hands were flying around wildly enough to knock the milk carton off the kitchen counter.
Jordan was chattering in River’s ear, oblivious to the poor woman’s heavy-lidded eyes and significant lack of sleep, and Sky was overly aware of her plight and doing her best to catch Jordan’s attention. I met River’s gaze across the kitchen island,and she offered a sheepish smile and a mouthed apology for the sudden ambush.
She wasn’t the only nutcase on the team, that much was certain.
I had been peacefully enjoying my cereal in the kitchen when they had all shown up, and now the space was overcrowded and I found myself surrounded by a circle of bickering—very pretty, I’ll admit—vampires. And two humans, though Addison and Leah, holed up in the corner and muttering something about sharing biology notes, came across just as insane as the rest of them.
“All I’m asking for,” Maxine lamented, curling her lip when Hunter scoffed, “is a little warning next time. Leah and I had a pretty extensive shopping spree scheduled for today and now those plans are ruined—all because Dylan just had to call me at the crack of dawn and demand I get my ass ready for a recon mission‘immediately.’”
She mimicked Dyaln’s deadpan expression and bland way of speech, and Dylan’s face cracked into a scowl. “Forgive me, Maxine, it’s only the fate of the coven at stake, along with every human being in the city. But you’re right, shopping and shoes obviously come first.”
Leah nudged Addison with her elbow. “Between you and me, I’m not too bent out of shape about skipping the shopping spree.”
Maxine snapped her head toward her, pure betrayal on her pretty face. “How can you possibly say that, Leah?! We were going to get matching slippers—” which prompted Hunter’s eyes to start rolling again.
Maxine must have been psychic because she sensed the snark immediately and whipped her head around to holler in her ear, “Don’t roll your eyes at me, you degenerate!”
When Hunter lifted a middle finger and Maxine looked justabout ready to bite the digit clean off, Addison wedged herself between them. “Maybe we should all calm down, hmm?”
“Nah.” Leah folded her arms, ponytail bobbing at the back of her head. “Let them duke it out. Maxine is scrappy, but my money’s on Hunter.” She raised her palms in surrender when Maxine rounded on her with a dramatic pout.
It went on like that for a while.
They all spoke over each other and each new voice had something even more outlandish to say; my head bounced back and forth between them so fast I got whiplash trying to keep up. I was the only one still sitting, shoveling cereal into my mouth with my eyebrows rising occasionally like I was watching reality TV.
The volume finally peaked when Maxine accused Hunter of breathing too loudly. I was halfway to shoving my spoon up my own nose to end the madness when River slapped the counter with a clang that shut everyone up mid-sentence.
“Enough!” she barked, voice echoing off the tiles. “Next person who deviates from the topic at hand gets punted into the koi pond. Maxine, I’m looking at you.”
