Isabelle grabbed the lemonade and followed her mother into the bright sunlight. She blinked rapidly against its rays, waiting until her eyes adjusted beforemovingdown the stairs, and out to the large back yard. A volleyball net had been set up, horse shoes were already clanking loudly, and the smell of human food hung heavy in the air. Aiden had invited some of his friends from school, who had brought their girlfriends. There were now eleven humans in their midst’s, including Kathleen, Jess, and Delia. There were more here now than there ever had had been before, but Stefan had assured her mother that he could handle themall.
That only aggravated Isabelle even more. Her mother and father truly liked him, Aiden was ecstatic because of it, and everyone else was happy that they weren’t going to have to go out to feed. They had made him into the hero of the day. Isabelle scowled as she slid the pitcher of lemonade onto one of the long tables that had been set out. Potato chips, Doritos,cheesypuffs, hamburgers, buns, hot dogs, chicken, soda’s, alcohol bottles, plates, and cups covered them. Isabelle’s stomach turned at the sight of all the food.Humanfood.
She turned quickly away from the table. She honestlydidn’t know whatthe matter with her was. Human food had never bothered her before, now it suddenly made her nauseous. She decided that was his fault too. If she wasn’t feeling so awful, and grouchy, and if she could just get one decent night of sleep, than it wouldn’t be bothering her at all.
Her eyes quickly scanned the people gathered around. Kathleen, Delia, Jess, Abby, and Vicky were sitting in lawn chairs, sunglasses on as they absorbed the sun, and watched the people around them. Aiden and his friends were tossing shoes, laughing happily. Ethan, Ian, Stefan, her father, and the stooges were standing by the keg, filling their cups. Her gaze lingered on Stefan, her pulse instantly pickedup at the sight of him.
He was wearing a tight black T-shirt that showed off his amazing biceps and forearms, and clung to the muscles of his broad, hard chest. His jeans were snug, emphasizing the narrowness of his waist, while clinging to his hard, muscular thighs. To her utter horror, and dismay, she felt the familiar tense anticipation she had been experiencing in her dreams, seize hold of her.
“He is good looking,” her mother said softly.
Isabelle groaned inwardly, she had been staring at him, and of course her mother would notice. She turned her gaze away from him as she scowled. “He’s an ass,” she replied angrily.
“He seems very nice to me. Just look at what he’s done for Aiden today.”
“You don’t know him very well. He is an arrogant, insensitive ass!”
Her mother’s eyes twinkled merrily as she looked at the group by the keg. “Maybe, but so are your brothers, your father, and the stooges.”
“No one is as bad as him,” she grated, her nerves close to snapping.
“So, you like him then?”
Isabelle grit her jaw as her frustration simmered to a boiling point. “I can’t stand him!” she hissed.
Her mother smiled softly as she patted her arm lightly. Isabelle stood seething, feeling like a child. She hated it. She turned away from her mother, scowling angrily, as she moved swiftly over to the empty chair near Vicky and Abby. She didn’t want to be near Jess, but she didn’t know where else to go. She couldn’t hide in the house all day. It would only draw more questions that she couldn’t answer, and more suspicion. Plus, she didn’t want to let him know how much he had gotten to her. However, she was sure that he already knew, and that he was reveling in the fact, secretly laughing at her.
The thought brought a fresh surge of anger forward as she propped her feet up andlaid back. “HeyIssy,” Abby greeted.
“Hmm,” she mumbled by way of greeting.
“Aiden’s friends are really cute,” Vicky gushed. “I especially like theredhead;do you think I should go talk to him?”
Isabelle looked at the redhead playing horse shoes. His girlfriend, a small, petite brunette was hanging on his arm. “I don’t think his girlfriend would like that.”
“Oh, who cares about her?”
Isabelle ground her teeth as she closed her eyes. Why couldn’t she be more like her sisters? They liked every boy that crossed their paths. They flirted outrageously with them, kissed them, and threw themselves at them. Isabelle had never even been kissed before the ass had walked into her life, nor had she ever wanted to be. Damn she hated him.
“We haven’t seen much of you lately.”
Isabelle chose to ignore the hostility in Jess’s tone. In fact, she chose to ignore her completely. “Isabelle’s been helping mom,” Abbyanswered for her.
Isabelle didn’t speak at all for a long time.The day passed slowly in a torrent of games that Isabelle steadfastly avoided. It wasn’t until late afternoon, when her mother and father reappeared, that her father announced the one thing that she had been dreading all day. “Time for football.”
Abby and Vicky groaned;Jess paused in the middle of applying her suntan lotion, while Delia frowned thoughtfully. Her mom was smiling happily as she slid into the chair next to Kathleen. “You two are unbelievable,” Kathleen saidto her. “It’s like you’re still in college.”
“Yep,” her mom said brightly.
“Isabelle, come on!” Ethan yelled.
Isabelle closed her eyes, she didn’t want to play, she didn’t want to go anywhere near that game, and Stefan. “Come on Isabelle.”
She opened her eyes to look up at Aiden. He was grinning down at her, his hand stretched out. “I don’t want to.”
He blinked at her in surprise; shock momentarily crossedhis face before he grinned brightly at her again.“You have to play, it’s my last game.”
Isabelle frowned at him as she shook her head.“You’ll be back.”
