Blood Kisses, Amber Marshall-Nichols [summer reading list txt] 📗

seem. So you mind if I drive in and park up so you can put me back on route?” he restarted his engine. “Please?” he added again.
“Sure thing, drive on in,” I hoped on the roof of the truck and Toby sat beside me, swinging one arm around my shoulders. The guy parked then slid out of the car. He removed his sunglasses to reveal the most gorgeous teal green eyes then shot me a cocky grin. Toby stiffened.
“How can we help?” he asked sounding far too protective. The boy raised his eyebrows.
“Protective brother you’ve got there,” the boy said “So. I’m meant to be moving in somewhere round here, and well my mum and sister got settled in yesterday, but I had some unfinished business to do... so well, now the thing is, I can’t find the house and my mum’s mobile is switched off.”
“Pst,” Toby murmured in my ear “Guy can’t even read a map,”
“My mum took the map, women and navigation. Nightmare.” He ran his fingers through his hair then cleared his throat. A smile twitching in the corner of his lips “Well, I guess I can’t talk,” he said, flushing.
“Well where you looking for, um, sorry I didn’t catch a name?” I said politely.
“I’m Joshua. How about you guys?”
“I’m Anya Martinae, my mother owns a few holiday homes down here, and this... is Toby,” I gestured to my ‘boyfriend?’
“Nice,”
“So where you headed mate?” Toby asked.
“Win view cottage?” he sounded unsure.
“Oh,” I exclaimed. “You are moving in with Evangeline Long? Are you her great grandson?”
“Yeah that’s me, the freaks grandson,”
“She’s not... that bad. She’s a good friend of the locals round here, and that’s important.” I said smiling. WOW! Evangeline’s grandson.
“Yeah, so you know how to get me there?” he laughed.
“Yeah we know the place, just follow me in you’re... Mercedes?” Toby said and UN wrapped his arms from around my neck. I grabbed his arm and shook my head.
“You know what that woman’s like;” I hissed “She may be nice but the stuff she comes out with!”
“I’ll be fine, and I’ll be back,” he promised tapping my nose. “So you ready urm, Josh?”
“Sure, thanks,” Josh began to climb back into his car.
“Wait,” I almost shouted. “You know anything about cars?” He halted his back turned. He turned slowly towards me and a massive grin plastered his face.
“Just about everything,” he shrugged. “What’s the problem?”
“I don’t know about that,” Toby muttered pursing his lips. “I can manage An,”
“Didn’t you say like twenty minutes ago that you were just about ready to give up?”
“Yeah looks like you threw the towel in,” Josh teased having noticed the oil cloth on the grass.
“True, but how do you know you can trust him?” he said as though Josh wasn’t present.
“Oh and I know whether or not you’re going to drive me off a cliff,” Josh snorted.
“There are no cliffs round here,” Toby snapped.
“You know what I meant,” Josh glared.
“Okay point taken. Why don’t you come back later and give me a hand. It’s only this truck here. We’ll be around tonight,”
“Actually,” I began.
“No,” Toby silenced me. “We’ll be around,” he repeated. Then both boys left.
A short while later Toby returned to me busy in the ‘kitchen’. A warm pair of arms enclosed around my waist though didn’t make me jump. Toby groaned into my hair and said my name.
“Thought you didn’t eat?” he whispered,
“Doesn’t mean I don’t cook,” I said simply.
“But who’s going to eat it?” he laughed.
“You, I’d hope. If you trust a vampire’s culinary skills,”
“Of course,” he said, spinning me round to face him.
“What you making?” he asked peeking over my shoulder. “Blood soup?” he teased.
“Not funny,”
“I know baby, so what is it?”
“Just you favourite,”
“Mexican?” he raised his eyebrows then licked his lips. “Yummy, not as yummy as you of course,”
“Shouldn’t it be the other way round?” I said.
“Yeah, right, like you’d have the guts to bite anyone, you have the heart of an angel Anya, that’s one of the things I love about you,”
“Love?”
“So what’s the occasion?”
“No reason, just haven’t seen you in a while. Though I’d lost you there partner,” I said bumping hips with him as I returned to rearranging the food.
“Is that a yes?” he whispered.
“To what?” I heard him laugh behind me and I was sure if I had a heart it’d of stopped just then. “Oh, that,” I dropped a knife in the sink and tried to control my expression for when I feared I’d have to turn round and face him.
“Yes, that. So?”
“Well, Toby, you’re family. Not a, a lover. Family,”
“Isn’t that one of the main reasons we could be lovers? We’ve been together all our lives, there’s no secrecy, and we can look past the attraction stuff and see what’s real in each other. Our parents love seeing us together. I make you happy. What could possibly go wrong?”
“I could hurt you,”
“You couldn’t hurt a fly,”
“I could hurt your soul,”
“I could bruise yours,”
“I have no soul,”
“Bull Shit!” Toby banged his fist on the bench beside me and whirled my body to face him. “Now tell me why, really why?”
I sighed. “I just don’t think it’d be... right.”
“I won’t wait for you,”
“I know,”
“There are other girls,” he began; his voice rough and obviously hurt. I blinked at him twice then unleashed vampire girl.
“Why you... God you are an ass whole sometimes Toby! You know that?” I demanded. He was taken-a-back by the volume of my voice and I saw terror strike in his green eyes. “Is that why you asked me for help in the dating department, and flaunted around half naked boasting about how it was this body that scored you some chicks last weekend! To make me jealous? You know I’m pretty darn glad
I didn’t nearly change my mind and say yes to you then, because I’m pretty sure all you wanted was to seduce a teenage vampire to see if the shag’s any better! I’d hate to watch your dreams because they’d make me sick to the core!” I spat at his feet, and then charged in to the hallway. He followed like the puppy dog he was.
“Well SORRY little Miss, I won’t lose my virginity until I’m 187 because I’ll still look hot and I know it! It’s not my fault you’ve been messing with my head the past four years, what is this? Some other sick delusional manipulative vampire skill of yours! I don’t see why any guy will ever want to come near you for any other reason than sex, especially when you ‘flaunt’ yourself like that! The poor Josh lad urlier looked like he was going to faint! I mean look at that dress! White boob tube so short you could’ve stepped out of the seventies. Oh wait, that’s your mother! At least my dad doesn’t dress me like a hooker!”
“My mum doesn’t dress me like a hooker!” I screeched
“Oh yeah, I meant prostitute. Except your too darn protective of your perfect silhouette, people would pay you to put more clothes on and therefore not tempt them!”
“I’d like you to leave now,” I whispered. The words had stung and cut me deep. I knew I should be crying. That’s what humans did when they felt like this, right? But I couldn’t, so I told Toby how he hurt me by saying nothing. Showing nothing, and as he stepped outside I saw that he actually was crying. He turned once to look back at me, his eyes puffy and red, and then walked away. Shoulders slumped and regret hanging on his head.

When three knocks echoed around the house, i almost yelped. I should’ve heard josh’s heavy footsteps pelting against the stones of the driveway. Vampires had superb hearing but to be honest, I was far too distraught to really listen. I jumped to my feet and attempted to smooth out my hair. I gave up after two quick runs through with my fingers. Who cares anyway? The lad was only fixing my truck. Three more loud knocks on the door sent me whizzing in to the hall, and I swung open the door to reveal a changed and much happier looking Josh. The happiness was swept from his face when he set eyes on me.
“Whoa,” he said whistling. “You and your brother have a fight when he got back?”
“He’s not my brother,”
“Then who...”
“He WANTED to be my boyfriend,”
“Oops,”
“0Oops?”
“I think I might’ve said something,”
“Like what?”
“You being pretty,” he shrugged
“Pretty? You’re exact words?”
“Um, No, more like exceptionally hot,” he blushed.
“Ah, well he’s gone now, let’s not fret,”
“Looks like you are,” Josh reached out a hand and began to trace the circles under my eyes. He snapped his hand away as his finger tip brushed against my skin.
“OUCH! I think you gave me frost bite! You are freezing woman! And it’s eighty outside, are you okay? Are you ill? My mum’s a doctor...”
“No, I’m perfectly fine thank you, but your mum’s a doctor, that’s great! What’s her name?”
“Yes she’s a doctor and her name is Melinda, are you sure your okay?” he didn’t look convinced.
”Fit as a fiddle, what about your dad?” Josh looked down as I asked about his dad and scuffed his feet on the carpet.
“Gone,” he finally said. “Left the three of us with virtually nothing, my mum’s got some... issues in the money department; my sister’s epileptic so Evangeline’s the only one we could turn to. Guess I’m the man now.” He slightly smiled at that last part. “Where are your folks?” he looked around him “They don’t seem to be around, either that or you look A LOT younger than you are,”
“Mum works late most days, especially this time of year, and dad... He’s gone also. Like yours,”
“Another woman?”
“No, it wasn’t anything like that. It was just a little complicated. I had no choice to stay with father, though I doubt I would have anyway. You wouldn’t understand that part though, and don’t try to.”
“Okay,” he eyed me suspiciously again. “You really do look like someone’s just died,”
“Why don’t you try cheer me up then,” I suggested “How’d you get lost?”
“That’s really not an interesting story, I just didn’t listen to my mum’s instructions yesterday,” he admitted. “I can take a crack at a few jokes?”
“Go for it,”
“Okay, so what did the papaya say to the watermelon?”
“What?”
“I think your pear-fect!” He grinned, “Tadaa!”
“Yeah that’s not funny,” His smile turned into a hard line.
“Why not?”
“Well firstly if it’s ‘pear’ for perfect, the papaya should be saying it to a pear not a watermelon, and second it sounds too much like the one about the cat going ‘purrrrr-fect’ Try another one,”
“Okay... How about two moose’s on the free way, one goes to the other, ‘you know what?’ the second says ‘what?’ and the first says ‘I’m horny for you!’ You get it?”
“Yeah I get it, but sorry it’s not remotely funny, I mean. Why were they on the free way?”
“Well they had to be somewhere,” Josh insisted frowning. Then I did laugh.
“Your face is so serious!” I giggled.
“So my jokes suck, but my facial expressions make you feel better?” I nodded. “Well I’m offended, I didn’t think my face was that