A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 8: Capitalist America

"So you and Blade must be having fun," Jill said, pushing her sunglasses up on top of her head so she could tan evenly.

"What do you mean?" I asked suspiciously, slathering on some sunscreen. Leah and Katie were busy in the pool, splashing and chasing each other around. Mick had decided to crash our girls day since Aidan was off with Mona again and since he had come, we invited Noah too. So the boys were intensely trying to do a whirlpool, which was failing, probably because the girls were too busy swimming all over the place and ruining it.

Landon had already left to go back home and so did Nate, so they were too far away to hang out with anymore. Which was kind of a good thing. Landon and I were friends, but he still didn't like Blade and I doubted he would have wanted to come spend the day at his house. As for Nate and Katie...no one really knew what had happened after prom, so maybe it was a good thing he wasn't here to make things awkward.

"Well you guys have a whole summer to yourselves and no psychopaths after you either. Must be heavenly," she remarked, smirking slightly.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Oh come on. It's not like we didn't have fun before summer."

"Yeah, but you had school things to take care of. Now you're completely free..."

"Let's be real here, I didn't spend that much time taking care of school stuff. The fact that I even passed is a miracle," I replied. It had taken a lot of bullshitting, tears, late nights, and Blade's help for me to pass and graduate. I had missed a lot of school and a lot of assignments thanks to Aros and all the drama of the past few months. Fortunately, most teachers were pretty understanding considering how beat up and awful I looked most of the time, so they let me make up assignments and helped in any way they could. "And it's not like we're hooking up twenty four hours a day every day."

She lifted one slim shoulder. "Yeah but it must be nice. You guys have your own place, no parents or anyone breathing down your necks. You're living every girl's dream."

I twisted the ring Blade gave me around my finger thoughtfully. "I guess. But I'm so used to it by now that it's kind of just normal for me."

"Wow vampires and normal go together now? Has the world ended?" she asked, epitome of sarcasm.

"Shut up. And yes. It has become the norm for me."

"So does that mean you'll be one?" she asked, suddenly sitting up to fix me with those sharp blue eyes.

I couldn't help but fidget under her stare. "Well...no..."

She arched one perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Seriously? You're going to stay human?"

"Hey! Are you guys coming in the pool or what?" Noah asked, interrupting my answer. 

"Yeah these two completely missed the point of how a whirlpool works so we need some back-up," Mick piped up, giving me that signature puppy dog pout. 

"Alright, alright! I'm coming," I said, waving a hand at them. "Jill? Are you going to join us?"

"Nah. I need to work on my tan," she said, closing her eyes pointedly.

"Suit yourself," I shrugged before I turned and cannonballed into the pool. Thank God Noah had interrupted. I had zero idea of how to answer Jill. Right now I was definitely staying human, I was still young and the idea terrified me thanks to Aros. But maybe...maybe after the other night with Blade, maybe he'd want too. Maybe in the future I would be a vampire. But I wasn't in a rush. I was enjoying the way we were now. Why did we need to change it and potentially ruin it? And who even knew if Blade wanted that?

"So what were you gals talking about? How hunky we are?" Mick asked, giving me a mischevious grin once I surfaced.

"Oh yes totally. You're all we can ever talk about, stud muffin," I said, pinching his cheek.