After a page, he quit on his own, his mouth slanted in a wry smile. "Had enough of my nerdy hotness yet?"
"Nope. Keep reading."
"Huh. Could have sworn I heard you snoring there for a second."
"Ha-ha. I do not snore."
"You really want to hear this stuff?"
"Sure." If genetics was the thing that f loated his boat now, why not learn about it? Not that I could really follow much of what he was reading. There were too many holes between my high school level science education and what his college textbook discussed. But clearly he was loving being the smartest one in the room for a change. Why not let him enjoy it for a while longer?
Besides, I really did love the deep rumble of his voice, and here was the perfect chance to hear it uninterrupted. And after such a long and stressful day, I couldn't think of a better way to soothe my ragged nerves. If I closed my eyes, I could almost pretend we were back in the cabin on that Arkansas mountaintop, far away from the rest of the world and all its problems with us. Just the two of us, where things were so much simpler...
I fell asleep four pages into the introduction and slept soundly without any nightmares for the first time in weeks, completely clueless as to what I'd just done and how it would change all our lives forever.
CHAPTER 8
TRISTAN
For the next few days, we tried to settle back into a normal life. Every time Savannah and I were together, I caught her trying not to wonder if my mother was actually considering my synthetic blood idea for BioMed. I knew she couldn't help the direction of her thoughts. But every time she slipped, so did I. Not that I needed her help.
Mom and the BioMed board would be idiots not to take the synthetic blood idea and run with it.
But when it came to vampires, Mom and the all-Clann BioMed board weren't usually all that rational, logical or reasonable. I could all too easily see them barely even considering any idea I came up with, much less one that would help their archenemies.
I should have asked Emily to claim the idea for her own before telling Mom about it so at least Mom would hear her out before rejecting the idea.
If only they could see the huge political benefits to the Clann, as well.
But I wasn't nearly as naive as Savannah. Neither BioMed nor any other Clann-held business would ever make anything that would help vampires, even if it meant curbing their bloodlust or need for real human blood.
So I let the idea go and tried not to care. I'd once dreamed of being free of all responsibility for the Clann or the family company. How could I complain now that I'd gotten that wish?
And once I let it go, I tried my best not to think about anything even remotely related to synthetic blood all week.
Until Emily texted me on Thursday at lunchtime just as I was sitting down in my new regular seat beside Savannah at her friends' table.
Mom liked the idea & presented it 2 the board this morning. They like!
Though reading the text only took me half a second, I had to blink a few times before I thought to show it to Savannah.
Just as she squealed and started to grab my hand with a grin, my phone buzzed with another incoming text from Emily.
Mom wants to do dinner at the house. U free 2morrow night at 8?
I stared at the words, their meaning barely registering. Emily would never joke around like this, especially not about our mother with me.
Savannah either read the message or the thought in my mind. She froze then whispered, "You're going to say yes, right?"
Two yards behind us to our right, the cafeteria doors banged open then shut again as someone entered the building.
When I didn't immediately answer, she said, "Tristan, you have to go. It's your mother. She and BioMed liked your idea. She probably wants to celebrate with you."
"Or see for herself how different I am now."
Savannah groaned. "No, she doesn't. If she wanted to know that, she could just come over to our house for a quick visit."
A house full of three vamps? My mother? I thought, pointedly staring at her.
"Okay, point taken. But still, she wouldn't risk being alone with you if she were still afraid. So why else would your mother invite you over for dinner if not to celebrate and/or apologize?"
Sneakers squeaked to a stop on the linoleum f loor behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and scowled, feeling my pulse take off. Dylan.
"Dinner with your mommy?" he said, and I didn't have to see his face to know he was sneering. It was all there in his tone. "You are the biggest idiot I've ever met, Coleman. Do you really think she's going to welcome you back into the Clann just because you had one idea?"
I growled deep in my chest as my blood heated with the need to grab and smash something. Preferably Dylan's face.
Stay in control, Savannah warned me. You know he's just trying to get you to lose it again in front of everyone and prove you're dangerous.
He should be thinking about how dangerous my fists are to his face, I thought. But I stayed in my seat.
"Get lost, Williams," Savannah muttered. "And you can tell your dad I said he can get lost, too. Neither of you are going to get what you want. Not here, not now. Not ever. We're not that stupid."
"We'll see." Dylan walked away whistling an unrecognizable tune.
When he was on the other side of the cafeteria, I let out a long breath and stole another glance at my phone. Emily was still waiting for a reply.
I slouched in my seat, my left knee beginning to bounce beneath the table. I had no idea how to feel about this dinner invite. Or maybe I did and was just afraid to admit it to myself. How stupid would I have to be to feel hopeful that my mother might be coming around and ready to talk? She hadn't called me, not once, or even sent one text message the entire five months I was in Arkansas trying to remember who and what I was.
And yet now I was supposed to jump just because she was finally ready to invite me over for dinner? A dinner she knew I couldn't even eat?
Something else was up.
Savannah groaned again. Tristan, stop being so paranoid! This is your mother we're talking about. She wants you to come home for dinner. Maybe she wants to apologize for freaking out so badly about your being turned. Can you really blame her for reacting like that at first? Everyone knows how she feels about vamps. And then she was faced with her worst nightmare with no time to adjust to the idea, and the whole Clann was there breathing down her neck. She had just lost her husband and worked so hard to secure your leadership of the Clann, and then bam, her son switched sides and she did the only thing she could. She had to take over the Clann, which was no small thing all by itself. But on top of that she had all those descendants staring at her, waiting for her to make her first decision as Clann leader-