Becky laughed. “Raven, you’ve brought the whole town together—even a neighboring one.”
“But I didn’t want to. Even Jameson is freaking out.” He was standing guard outside the kitchen door. “I have to do something. I know…” I took out my phone. “I’ll call the police. A noise complaint and a few squad cars are enough to drive everyone back to their sprawling estates.”
Becky stopped me. “Raven—then Alexander’s party will be a bomb. Look at him.” Alexander was joking with the group of jocks as they replaced the items on the table. He was as content and happy as he’d been when he was out with Sebastian and me. “Wouldn’t you rather the party be a hit than have your boyfriend stuck in his attic room forever alone?”
I weighed my friend’s thoughts heavily.
“Then what should I do?” I finally asked.
“How about have some fun—like everyone else? Why should you be the only one moping?”
Becky didn’t understand the severity of the situation. And it wasn’t something I could delicately break to her over the sounds of pounding music. However, it was Alexander’s mansion, and if Alexander was having a blast, then it wasn’t my place to break up the party.
Alexander was now hanging out by the fire pit with Matt, Sebastian, and several soccer snobs. I was approaching him when I overheard a few cheerleaders talking to him.
“Are you the painter in the article?” one asked.
“Uh…yes.”
“I like to model,” another told him.
“Do you do nude portraits?” the first one asked.
The girls all laughed.
I was steaming! My blood began to boil and my whole body raged.
“There is only one model I use,” Alexander said. “And her name is—”
“Raven,” they said in unison.
“Yes,” he said.
A warm feeling flooded me.
“Perhaps you should get to know her,” he said. “She’s a great girl.”
The girls all turned their noses at him and walked away. I snuck up behind my boyfriend and gave him a huge embrace.
“There you are,” he said. “I was just talking about you.”
“You have groupies,” I said. “Sebastian was right.”
“No I don’t,” he said humbly.
He drew me close and kissed me by the open flames.
“I never dreamed we’d have a hit on our hands,” I said.
“I never did, either,” he said.
Jagger and Onyx and Luna joined us by the fire pit.
“Jagger Maxwell,” Sebastian said, a drink in his hand. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. This is the last place I’d imagine bumping into you.”
Jagger moved in close, out of earshot of the soccer snobs and Matt.
“Alexander and I have to make up for lost time. I thought now was as good a time as any to begin our new friendship.”
“Alexander is really picky about who he hangs out with,” Sebastian said protectively.
“I’m sure he is.”
“Rumor is you haven’t returned to Romania,” Sebastian said.
“I started a club a few towns over. I’ve been talking to Alexander about possibly starting one here.”
“This town could really use a club,” Sebastian said.
Jagger’s blue-and-green eyes lit up. “Then you might be the one to help me.”
“I love clubs. And you’re right—this town could be a perfect place to open one.”
“You don’t know what he’s really talking about,” Alexander warned.
“Perhaps we can go into business together,” Jagger said to Sebastian.
“Maybe…”
Luna yawned and appeared bored.
“Luna,” Jagger said, seizing the opportunity. “I want you to meet Alexander’s best friend.”
“Alexander’s best friend?” she asked, perking up. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“No, I think I’d remember,” Sebastian said, tonguetied.
“She grew up on a different time schedule than we did. But now we are all finally the same,” Jagger said.
“Luna, Sebastian might be interested in starting a Coffin Club here.”
“No he’s not,” Alexander said. “He doesn’t know what you are talking about.”
Sebastian was lost in Luna’s spell, even though she was somewhat intimidating.
“Any friend of Alexander’s is a friend of mine, right, Alexander?” Luna flirted.
“Let’s hope so,” Sebastian said.
“Suddenly this party doesn’t seem so insipid after all,” she commented.
I tried to block Sebastian from Luna. “I think Jameson needs our help in the kitchen.”
“Jameson can find someone else,” Luna said, gazing at Sebastian. “It’s a party, the night is young, and I’m out for blood…. Would you like to dance, Sebastian?” Luna asked.
“Are you kidding?” Sebastian looked as if he would have breathed in garlic if Luna had asked him.
“So tell me what it was like growing up with Alexander,” Luna said, leading him to the dance floor.
Jagger smiled a mischievous smile. “Onyx, would you like to dance?”
Onyx acted as if she’d just been struck by Cupid’s bow. “Of course,” she said, and followed Jagger.
“Alexander—what do we do?”
“How about we dance, too?”
When we arrived on the dance floor, Alexander and I kept a watchful eye on the others. But after a few songs, we got distracted by our own connection.
“This was the reason to have a party,” Alexander said, kissing me. “For us.”
I was so lost in his eyes. I’d gotten so sidetracked that I wasn’t allowing myself to enjoy the very thing I’d been dreaming about all my life: Alexander Sterling.
“I still want to be like you,” I said. “I want to be with you. Forever.”
Alexander pulled me into him and laid a dizzy-making kiss on my lips—so passionate and tender, my knees shook.
Luna bore a gaze that blazed through us.
Becky and Matt applauded, and we got a few whistles.
Alexander and I embraced, and Luna left the dance floor.
“How about a slow one?” Matt suggested. He fiddled with the sound system until he found a song he liked.
The four of us danced, joined by Dullsvillian student couples.
When the song was over, I was jolted out of our romantic entanglement.
The Pradabees were with the other Pradabees, and the soccer snobs were mixing it up with the cheerleaders.
Trevor was flirting with Scarlet, and Onyx was hanging next to Jagger.
“Where’s Sebastian?” I asked.
“He’s probably in mortal babe heaven,” Alexander said. “I appreciate all you’ve done for him.”
“Me? It was nothing.”
One other partygoer was not accounted for. Luna was missing. That could mean only one thing. Trouble.
It was late. Bottles and trash littered the backyard of the Mansion. Alexander and I forced our way through the reveling students. A large crowd had gathered around the gazebo. I pushed through to find Luna, several soccer snobs, and Sebastian sitting in a circle.
In the center, resting on its side, was the empty Transylvania 1972.
The students, unbeknownst to them, were playing a deadly game of spin the bottle.
“We have to stop them,” I said.
“The game seems quite uneven. She must be up to something,” Alexander said.
The crowd was hooping and hollering, and several guys had formed a line vying for a seat in the circle.
“We’re waiting our turn,” a guy said to me.
Luna spun the bottle, and it landed on a soccer snob.
“On the cheek, please,” she said.
“Are you kidding? Forget it.” He got up and walked away.
She spun again. It landed on another soccer snob. “On the cheek, please.”
He gently gave her a slobbering kiss on the cheek, to the crowd’s delight. She made a face and wiped it off with her sleeve.