"No, you're doing fine." I glanced at Jerry. "Men love women in heels. Am I right?"
"Absolutely. They make your legs look longer. Very sexy. You look good tonight, Penny. Where's this man taking you?" Jerry squeezed my waist. He hadn't quit touching me ever since I'd walked out in my red dress with the plunging neckline and my black lizard high heels that said "Do me."
"He didn't say, but Jenny says his frat is having a party. Seems like that's where we'll go." Penny glanced at a silver watch on her wrist. It was delicate, a far cry from her usual black and functional one that could do everything from tell the room temperature to determine the altitude. This one merely gave her the time.
"Guess you'd better head down. Have fun. Jer and I may go to N-V. They're having a good band tonight and Rafe actually invited us." I smiled at Penny, not even feeling guilty as I told the lie. Which maybe wasn't. If she wound up this date in time, we were definitely giving the club a visit.
"You mean it? You're going to trust me to be around this guy without dogging me?" Penny picked up her black clutch, then stopped in front of me. She narrowed her gaze. "Yeah, right. Give it up, Glory. You're blocking your thoughts, which you usually don't bother to do. I know that effort gives you a headache."
"Busted. Fine. So I don't trust you yet. Do you blame me?" I stood and walked to the door. Jerry knew enough to keep silent, but he was right behind me.
"When am I going to get some privacy?" Penny's jaw was set, her eyes flashing.
"When you prove yourself." Jerry put his hand on her shoulder when it looked like Penny was getting a little too close. "Calm down, fledgling. Think about it. The man is a mortal, your favorite flavor from what Gloriana tells me. Even she would be tempted. And you've barely broken in your fangs. It makes sense that we'd feel compelled to ‘dog' you awhile longer."
"Come on, Mr. Blade. How would you like to have someone trailing you on your dates? It's humiliating. I won't be able to relax and enjoy myself." Penny stomped her foot, then staggered. "Damn these shoes!"
"Sure you will enjoy yourself." I put my hand on Penny's elbow to help her regain her balance. "Forget we're around. We'll make sure no one, especially Josh, sees us. We have supersonic hearing, remember? We won't interfere unless we sense you're losing control."
"You swear?" Penny looked from me to Jerry. Her makeup was perfect and I almost said something. No, she'd get self-conscious and maybe go add a layer. Right now I wasn't exactly the one she wanted to please.
"Yes, we both swear. Out of sight, totally laying back. Josh will never know we're there." I held up my hand, then put it over my heart. Jerry grinned and did likewise. If there had been a Bible handy, we would have broken it out. "Now head out. We'll be down in a few." I watched her practically bolt out the door. Did she think she could make good an escape? As if.
"What's the plan? I really want to take you somewhere like the club. Wouldn't hurt my feelings to rub Valdez's nose in the fact that you're mine." Jerry dragged me close. "I'd kiss you, but I can see you took special care with your lipstick."
"Can the attitude." I shoved against his chest. "You are not, repeat, not rubbing Rafe's nose in anything. If you can't swear to be charming to my friend, I'll trail Penny on my own and you can be alone this Saturday night." I put my hands on my hips.
Jerry held his own hands up in surrender. "It was reflex. Didn't mean a thing. But I'm going to hate the shifter for a long while yet, Gloriana. He had you and he wants to have you again. It's there in his eyes every time he looks at you. You deny that?"
I felt my cheeks grow warm. And Jerry had his answer. He shook his head.
"So, to please you, I'll keep my comments and my fists to myself. And even take you to his damned club because there's nowhere else for vampires to go and be served a decent beverage. But don't expect me to be friends with the shifter."
"No, obviously that's never going to happen." I touched his jaw and felt the tension there. "I know being around him keeps you pretty tightly wound. And I'm sorry for it, but he's in my life to stay."
"You've made that very clear." He grabbed my hand. "I know better than to ask you to make a choice. So I'm working on keeping my anger under control. For you." He looked down at the shadow between my breasts and then up to my lips. "Damn, but I want to kiss you."
"Go ahead. And thanks. For trying, Jerry. It means a lot to me." I smiled and pulled his head down to mine. "I can always redo my lipstick in the car." I gave him a deep and satisfying kiss. Maybe not a smart move. It got Jerry going and might make us too late to catch Penny and Josh. But we finally came up for air and ran down the stairs. We were just in time to see Josh help her into that black SUV.
"Don't you want to go to your frat's party?" Penny was asking as he held the door for her.
"Naw. It's always the same old, same old. And that's getting to be a drag. Nothing but kegs and a DJ with the music too loud and everybody getting drunk. How about we go somewhere we can talk?" Josh slammed the door and walked around the car, whistling.
Both of us saw Penny's disappointed look before she pasted on a smile as Josh got into the vehicle.
I turned to Jerry. "Damn it, what he just described was the perfect frat party. The kind Penny's been dying to finally attend. Go somewhere to talk is code for ‘Let's go parking and make out.'"
"How do you know that?" Jerry stared down at me.
"Never mind. Just run and get the car and pick me up here. I'm going to watch and see which way he goes." I tapped my foot. Damned user frat boy. Not go to his own party? It didn't take a mind reader to see where this was headed. Penny was going to be so upset and I had a feeling she'd already figured the whole thing out.
She'd told me she hadn't read his mind before. Well, I bet she was paging through that dipstick's frontal lobe right now. And getting steamed. No way should she be alone with him once he stopped the car. I anxiously watched the car head down Sixth Street. It turned right several blocks down just as Jerry roared up in his own SUV, black of course.
I jumped in the passenger side and told him where to turn. It didn't take us long to catch up but we stayed a few cars back. Josh's car had tinted windows and it was impossible to see what was going on inside, but I soon had a pretty good idea where they were headed and I couldn't believe it.
"Jerry, they're going back to where that creep dumped Penny, the hilltop where he abandoned her the night she was turned."
"You're kidding me. The man has to have shit for brains. What woman would find that romantic?" Jerry reached over and took my hand. "Do you think Penny suggested it?"
"Had to. If she's read his mind, she's bound to have figured out that Josh is a loser with some insecurities." I realized I was grinding my teeth.
"Insecurities? What do you mean?" Jerry made a turn as we left the main highway and followed a narrow track up the hill. He turned off his headlights, not really needing them with his vamp vision and clearly getting off on playing private eye as he tailed Josh.
"The guy obviously likes Penny, but doesn't have the guts to be seen with her. Because she's not the same size six that most girls the frat boys date are." I sighed and looked out the window as we bounced along, noticing the brush and trees that lined the rutted road. The isolation was either creepy or romantic depending on your agenda.
"That's ridiculous. She's very attractive. I've always been partial to redheads." Jerry reached over and tugged at one of my curls. "After blondes, of course."
"Thanks. But you're old-school, Jer. Bless your blind eyes and Neanderthal outlook. Josh is a twenty-first-century guy and he wants someone model-thin on his arm. At least in front of his posse." I ran my tongue over my fangs, down at the thought of that idiot's attitude and how he was hurting Penny. My vulnerable fledgling's new fangs were probably already aimed at Josh's jugular. And she'd drain him dry unless we got there in time to stop her.
"He's ashamed to be seen with our Penny?" Jerry's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "That bastard! I'll teach him to toy with a woman's affections."
We were nearing the clearing where Penny had lost her mortality. Sure enough, she and Josh were already out of the car and he was lying flat on the ground, staring up at her like he couldn't believe she'd managed to put him there. Jerry pulled the car to a stop and we both jumped out.
"Stop! Penny, what are you going to do?" I ran up to her. Jerry was on her other side but neither of us touched her. She had tears running down her cheeks and a shoe in each hand.
"Help! The chick's gone psycho on me. First, she says let's go park, then she throws me to the ground and threatens me."
"Death by Payless?" I snickered. "Were you scared, fella? How'd a little thing like Penny manage to throw you anywhere?"
"Caught me by surprise is all." Josh wouldn't look at us. He just got to his feet, keeping a good distance between himself and Penny, and brushed off his expensive khakis. "What are you doing here? Oh, never mind. Guess that's obvious. This is a prime make-out spot. But I'm not letting her get in my car again. Can you take her home?"
"You thinking of abandoning your date? Up here?" Jerry grabbed Josh by the front of his designer shirt.