Wicked Hunger

Wicked Hunger Chapter 12

“Oh,” Ivy says, “they were studying. They had to go to the gym to get started on their project.”

“Why? What was their topic?”

“They have to do a battle scene. Noah does some kind of martial arts. I can’t remember which one, but he was going to teach some to Van so they could decide whether they wanted to use it in their scene.” Ivy looks pleased to have been able to defend Van, until the heat of my emotions leaks into my expression. Her eyebrows rise in surprise. “Zander, what’s wrong?”

“Van is doing martial arts with Noah?” I ask through my teeth.

Ivy shrinks back against her chair. “Um, yeah. Is that bad?”

“It …” I close my eyes and suppress my anger and fear as much as possible. “It could be.”

What on earth was Van thinking? Not only are we both forbidden from trying any kind of combat training, but all it’s going to do is make her hunger worse! One minute she’s spouting off about Ivy being some kind of threat, the next she’s running off and putting herself in the worst possible situation.

I push back my chair and storm away from the table, pulling out my cell phone as I go. I have no idea what time she left with Noah. All I know is that she was gone when I got home around three o’clock. Knowing this may get heated, I push through the doors of the restaurant and walk outside. The only hope I have as I dial Van is that if something bad had already happened, my grandma would have called me. The ringing of the phone cuts off sharply, followed by the sound of Van’s guilty voice.

“Hey, Zander,” she says slowly. “What’s going on?”

“Tell me nothing happened to Noah! Tell me right now, Van, that you didn’t just ruin everything for us!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Martial arts?” I snap. “Are you freaking kidding me? You know how dangerous that is! What the hell were you thinking?”

“How do you know what I did today?” Van asks quietly.

I falter for a moment before continuing my tirade. “Who cares? What happened today? Is Noah okay? What exactly did you two do this afternoon?”

“Nothing happened!”

“Don’t lie to me, Van!” I warn.

Her growl races through the phone and snaps at me viciously. “I’m not lying. Nothing happened!”

“I don’t believe that. He was teaching you to fight and nothing happened? You really expect me to believe that?” How could she have been so stupid? That was way too big of a risk to take!

“You know, you don’t know everything, Zander,” Van argues. “You don’t know what I’m capable of, either! You think your way is the only way. You laugh at me and think I’m an idiot for having friends and trying to live a normal life. You think I’ll hurt them because I won’t be able to control myself. You don’t know anything about me if you think I’d ever hurt one of my friends!”

A sob breaks through her yelling. “I’m stronger than you think, Zander, and I’m not stupid. I didn’t let things with Noah get out of hand. I paced myself. I was smart about what I let him teach me. Maybe you can’t handle it, but I can have friends and this stupid curse at the same time. I’ve already given up one guy I love for you. Don’t ask me to do it again.”

She sniffs again, and I know she must be crying. “Please don’t ask me to do that. I just want to be happy for once, Zander. Can’t you understand that?”