Two Hearts: The Hunt [Slowly Editing]

Chapter Twelve

Blank.

Now this is where I wished I could remember.

I tried to recall what could have possibly happened last night for me to wind up here, back in Caleb's apartment once again. Surely I didn't agree to go home with him. I don't become that stupid when I'm drunk.

I sniffed my hand and scrunched up my nose. "Is this... syrup?"

Caleb nodded and continued to laugh. He tried, with great difficulty, to give me an explanation. "I didn't have any whipped cream, so..."

"Ugh." I pushed past him and stumbled to the kitchen sink. "If you got this in my hair I swear to God I will rip you to shreds."

"Aww, come on," he said, sobering up. "You have to admit, it's pretty funny. Add some pancakes on there and that would be the perfect breakfast."

I thought about saying, "If you don't shut up, you'll be my breakfast." But I didn't want to give myself away.

No need to create a bloodbath in the middle of a human's apartment...

Simply the thought of blood made my throat burn with desire. It wasn't very intense yet but it was definitely getting there, meaning that I needed to take off soon. I was surprised and actually quite proud of the fact that I had managed to control my thirst the entire night yesterday. Well, at least the part of it that I remembered. As for the other half...

"What am I doing in your apartment again?" I asked him while rubbing my face with water and soap from the sink. It was a question that I knew required a long explanation.

I shut the water and Caleb leaned over the bar, handing me a towel. I snatched it from him and waited.

"That depends." He said, meeting my gaze steadily, all ounce of playfulness gone. "What do you remember?"

"I remember dancing..." I said thoughtfully. I tried as hard as I could to recall anything else but it was as if my life was a movie and it simply decided to completely delete the other half of the night from its video stream.

"...And drinking." I added, looking down at the towel as if it held the answer. Then I met his eyes again. "That's it."

Caleb sighed and sat down onto one of the bar stools. He looked like he was deciding on something while he sat in silence for a good thirty seconds, half-spinning his seat to the left and right. Finally, he said, "I might as well tell you, then. If you don't hear it from me you'll hear it from someone else at school."

I waited. He took a deep breath and looked me straight in the eye.

"In case you haven't figured it out, you got drunk. No, wait. Drunk doesn't begin to describe how screwed up you were. You were totally wasted-"

"Okay, I get it," I snapped.

He gave me a look and continued talking. "Some pervert by the name of Jimmy Dean forced himself onto you."

I pretended not to notice how his jaw flexed and his fists clenched when he say Jimmy's name. I saw something dark in his eyes that I did not think Caleb was capable of possessing, and it gave me an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Fear? Ha, not a chance. It was probably just the hangover making me want to puke.

"He had your jacket." He looked at my jacket with a grim expression and kept his gaze there. "You wanted it back, and he, being the pedophile that he is, told you he would give it to you if you kissed him."

Caleb shifted his gaze to mine. "And you agreed to it."

My eyes widened. There was no way I, Adrianna Catalina Marandici, would have agreed to kissing a mere human, no matter how drunk I was. Caleb had to be lying. It was just not possible.