Kristie Cook - Promise

I lay back on the floor with a groan and stared at the ceiling, tears stinging my eyes again. He's right. Now what? His face came into my vision as he leaned over me again. He smiled and the gold sparkled in his eyes.

"I don't care, though," he whispered. "I love you. I've known Sophia for a long time and I know these things about you and I don't care. Even the secrets and the lies. I know it comes with who we are."

I looked into his eyes and felt my brows knit together.

"I don't even know who we are, though," I admitted. "I don't know who I am and I really don't know who you are. I know I have these stupid, freaky things about me and I'm glad you don't care. But you apparently have weird things, too. I love the person I've known for the last several months, but…" My voice trailed off.

"But you want to know the rest of me," he finished.

" Yes . I want to stop the lies and the secrets. I want a real relationship with you, Tristan. But I need to know ."

His eyes darkened. "You'll change your mind."

I shook my head, rocking it on the tile floor. "I'm not changing my mind. I need to know. For us ."

"I meant about loving me," he muttered, his eyes dropping so I couldn't see them.

Is it really that bad? I couldn't imagine it being too horrible—he was just too good . Good like Mom good. And I knew he wasn't just good to me, but good for me. Whatever secrets he kept, I thought I could get over them. And regardless, our relationship just couldn't go on any longer like it had been.

"Just tell me," I whispered. "Tell me who you are. Tell me everything ."

He raised his eyes and held mine so I knew he was serious, then simply said, "Okay."

" Okay? For real?"

"Yes. Okay. You deserve to know…and I'll deal with whatever happens." He smiled, but it was sad. "But…"

"Of course there's a 'but'," I moaned.

" But ," he continued, "I can't do it alone. You have to get Sophia to agree, too."

" Why? What does she have to do with it?"

"Well…to understand me, you need to know more about yourself. And only she can tell you that."

I groaned with frustration. Of course, it had to be the ultimatum I knew would not be met.

"Trust me, she'll do it," he said.

"I doubt it," I muttered.

"She knows it's time. She'll do it." He sounded more confident than he should. I wondered how he could know, but he distracted me with his intense gaze again. "Right now, though, I really need to know if you love me."

As I looked into his eyes, I knew what I felt, at least for now. And I didn't know if anything could change my mind.

"Yes, Tristan, I love you."

He leaned down and kissed me. "Good. Because I'm going to make you better…but now things are going to get really weird."

Tristan removed the towel from my thigh and I propped myself on my elbows to watch. He lowered his head and placed his mouth over the wound.

The pain immediately subsided, replaced by those strange but pleasurable jolts shooting up and down my leg. His hands gently held my upper thigh and calf, spreading electric tingles along my skin, as his mouth moved around the edges of the gash like passionate kisses. It was the most sensual thing we'd done so far—this was so unlike him. He looked up at me, sparks in his eyes.

"There's so much blood," he groaned quietly.

He lowered his mouth again and I felt a stimulating, tugging sensation as he sucked. A distant voice way back in a far corner of my mind tried to tell me something, but I ignored it. I wanted his mouth on me, doing whatever he was doing because it felt so good . Warmth spread through my lower body, his hands caressing my leg. I'd never had an orgasm before, so I didn't know what it felt like. But I thought this might be close.

"Tristan!" Mom gasped, suddenly behind him in the hallway, yanking me out of the oblivion.

"Oh! What the hell are you doing?" I shrieked, lurching my whole body away from him.

I stared at him, my eyes bugged as I realized exactly what he'd been doing. My stomach tilted. He stared back at me, an unreadable expression on his face, the sparks in his eyes dimming to just gold flecks.

"Tristan, what were you doing?" Mom asked.

"He was sucking my blood like a freakin' vampire !" I answered for him.

Tristan actually laughed. Laughed .

"I thought you liked vampires," he said.

"Not for real! Is that what you thought? That I'd like it?! You're a bigger freak than I am!"

He shook his head as he rocked back on his heels at my feet, a smile still on his face.

"I didn't purposely suck your blood. It was just…in the way." The smile disappeared as he turned to look at Mom. "She's not healing, Sophia. At least not fast enough. I was trying to help."

"What? You think your saliva heals? Like a dog ?" I snarled.

"Actually, yes…it does," Tristan said quietly. I stared at him, waiting for the humor to return. It didn't.

"He's right," Mom confirmed with a nod.

" What? " I shrieked. "How do you know?"

"Alexis, relax." Mom squeezed into the tiny bathroom, sat on the tub's edge behind me and smoothed my hair. "There's a lot to explain, but right now, I just need you to trust us."

" Trust you?" How could I trust anything right now?

"You trust me, right?" Mom asked.

"Yes," I said automatically. "But…"

Does she really expect me to believe all this? Does she really believe it?

"Alexis, does your leg still hurt?" Tristan asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't want to tell him the truth. I was too stunned…and mad at him. I could feel something in my heart starting to crack, realizing he really was too good to be true. I'd known all along there had to be something wrong with him, for him to like ( love ) me. I'd just never imagined this. He turned my fascination with vampires against me in a bizarre, sick way to try to get into my pants after all. Either that or…his secrets really were worse than I ever thought. What have I gotten myself into?

But I couldn't deny that the pain in my leg was gone. It wasn't that my leg was just numb, either.

"No," I admitted quietly. "Actually, it feels good."

Mom leaned over and looked at the injury. "It looks like it's trying to heal."

Tristan examined it, too, holding my leg gently but firmly when I tried to pull away from him. "It looks a lot better already. It finally stopped bleeding."

Mom scooted down between my back and the bathtub. "Finish, Tristan."

" What? " I tried to get up and away from them both. Is she crazy ? But Mom wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly. She nodded at Tristan but he didn't move, except to shake his head.

"No. Not if she doesn't want me to."

"You are not doing that again!" I squirmed in Mom's arms. My thigh hit against her leg and the wound seared with pain again. " Ouch! "

"If you don't be still, it'll start bleeding again," Mom whispered calmly in my ear. "If there's no blood, he doesn't have to suck it out. He can just heal it. Or, you can sit here in pain for a few hours and hope it heals itself. If it doesn't, I'll have to sew it and you can be in pain for a few days. So…you can be miserable or you can trust us. The choice is yours."

Tears welled in my eyes again as the throbbing returned. I stared at Tristan through the tears and his face looked just as pained as I felt. His eyes were dark, the gold dim.

"Lexi, I can make it go away," he said quietly. "But only if you want me to."

I knew then he was honestly doing it for me. To help me, not to take advantage of me. I leaned back against Mom, squeezed my eyes shut against the tears and nodded. As soon as his mouth was against my thigh, the pain disappeared, replaced by the exciting tingles. My eyes still shut tightly, I tried hard not to envision what he did. I didn't feel any sucking. It just felt like warm, wet kisses. It wasn't nearly as sensual as the first time, though. Perhaps because Mom was there. Or because now I realize how freakin' weird it is!