“It’s a surprise,” Saiden answered coyly. He waved at a security camera and moments later they passed through the imposing front gate.
“Not a huge fan of surprises,” Cora said. The last major surprise in her life was learning that her father had hid her predisposition toward Huntington’s from her. After that, she preferred things to be a little less unexpected.
Although, she had to admit that learning about the existence of vampires wasn’t turning out so awful. Provided they let her leave soon with her veins and mind still intact.
“Well, I’m pretty sure you’ll like this one,” he replied confidently.
“Well, I’m pretty sure you can’t know that for sure,” she shot back. “And besides, don’t you still owe me a third question? I’m calling it in. I want to know where we’re going.”
He chuckled and gave her a heated look. “I thought you said you didn’t want it. Something about shoving it up my obscenely tight ass, if I recall correctly?”
One at a time, her fingers curled into her palms until two tense fists lay at her sides. Trust an ancient vampire to have a memory like Fort Knox. “I lied,” she argued through teeth clenched nearly as tightly as her hands. “I want it.”
“While I would love to give you everything you want, Cora, I think you’ll enjoy this more as a surprise.”
“Saiden,” she pressed, shoring up her voice with steel rebar. “Unless you want this outing to be another kidnapping scenario, I need you totell me where we’re going.”
He said nothing, merely running his hands idly along the steering wheel, and Cora contemplated her options for getting out of the vehicle with her limbs intact.
Before she had to resort to drastic tuck and roll measures, he caved and pulled a folded sheet of paper from his shirt pocket.
“Here,” he said, handing it over. “That’s everything planned for tonight. And I’ll even let you keep your third question for something vampire related. If you still want it.”
Cora snatched the paper from his hand and scanned the itinerary. It took all of ten seconds for her to come to a conclusion.
“Saiden, stop the car.”
“What?” he asked, glancing over at her. “Why?”
“Saiden, stop the car.”
His brow wrinkled in confusion. “Cora, what’s—”
“Saiden, stop the motherfucking car right this second!”
He slammed on the brakes, and she braced herself as the convertible skidded to a stop on the gravely forest road. Turning slowly to face him, she tried to figure out the best thing to say. The best way to explain her reasoning for wanting to crumple up the piece of paper in her hand and drop it in a bottomless well where it could never hurt anyone else. She needed to phrase her words carefully, so she didn’t sound ungrateful, but at the same time she had to make it clear just how far off the mark he was with his plan.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” she bellowed.
Not quite the eloquence she was going for, but it got the point across.
“What?” Saiden blustered, his expression reminiscent of an actor whenever she called ‘cut’ in the middle of a scene. He really had no clue where the bad was in this insane outing of his.
She waved the paper at him. “Do you seriously believe that this is making things up to me? Because honestly? I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
He ran a hand through his hair, transforming the gelled strands on the side from ‘too stiff for even the wind to move’ to ‘sexy, tousled bedhead.’
“I thought this was what you girls liked? Fancy meals and grand gestures.”
Cora scoffed. “Maybe other girls. Look, I know you’ve only known me a couple days but come on. Did you really think I would like any of this?”
He sighed. “No, not really. Tressa and Raven set it all up. They said it’d be perfect, so I figured it was worth a shot.”
Why the hell were his cousins planning out their evening?
“Yeah, it’s pretty much the exact opposite,” she replied. “First off, I hate flying. So locking me inside an airborne death trap to head over to San Francisco? Bad start. Second, I despise fancy food. If it’s not fried or dipped in chocolate, then I’m uninterested. And third, the Opera? Seriously?” Cora looked down at her outfit. “How did you even think you would get me inside looking like this?”
“You would be surprised what money can buy.”
