53

Sophia’s POV

“Do you need help packing?” Jenny asked from the doorway. When I was a normal human girl, I’d have flinched but I wasn’t normal and I wasn’t human. I had smelt her coming minutes before she even got here.

“I don’t know what to pick and what to leave,” I murmured with a slight frown on my face.

“Aren’t you supposed to be packing everything?” She asked, confusion in her tone as she walked in. “Why are you leaving anything behind anyways?”

“Because,” I answered with a shrug. “Whenever I come here again, I’ll need those clothes.”

“You mean when you come here and spend days here, leaving me alone in the house?” She asked. I could hear her frown.

“Well if you want to put it that way,” I answered and turned around, giving her a grim smile. “Yeah, that’s it. Oh, you have a thing with Jacob anyways. You can come here with me anytime I’m coming here. You guys can always have a rematch of the last time.”

“Sophia!” She chided but I continued anyways.

“Or you guys already had a rematch when I was up here?” I asked, turning around and raising a brow at her.

Her heart was beating fast and her cheeks had turned crimson. “Oh wow,” I murmured. “You two did have a rematch.”

“No such thing happened,” she defended with a slight frown. “We didn’t have a rematch or whatever,” she rolled her eyes.

“So? What happened?” I asked. “And what’s with you turning all red? Oh and you do know I can hear your heart beating fast.”

“Hehe,” she rolled her eyes once again. “Jacob and I haven’t spoken since that day,” she answered quietly, rubbing her arms.

I frowned. “That’s such a dick move.”

“Yeah well he has always been a dick,” she murmured in reply. “Oh wait. They can hear us, right?”

I shrugged and turned around to continue folding my clothes. “Uh, no, don’t pick that one,” she said. “Leave that her.”

I stared at the silky body con dress. “Why?”

“Uh, so you can wear it to seduce Ian anytime you’re here, duh,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “Plus when did you get that? It’s…not your style,” she pointed out.

“Oh I got this one of those days I was trying to like, step out of my comfort zone. I never wore it anyway,” I answered, eyeing the dress before throwing it back into the closet and then I closed my box.

I dragged it to the bed and sat down next to her. “Soph?” She called out.

“Yeah?” I asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I know it’s been hard for you, trying to adjust to this new life, and me being around you, it’s tempting for you isn’t it?” She asked quietly.

My first instinct was to lie but I brushed that off. There was no use of lying to her. She’d read it off me somehow, even though I had managed to perfect my stoic look.

I sighed and rubbed my head. “Yeah, it is hard sometimes,” I admitted. “But I’m getting used to it. Plus, I need you to know I’d never hurt you. You’re my best friend.”

“I know that,” she said softly with a smile. She stretched her arms tentatively, coming closer to me. I stiffened, but then forced myself to relax and pull her into a hug. She relaxed in my home with a sigh. “I miss when we used to cuddle and stuff.”

“I miss that too,” I answered. “But we’re going to be doing more of those anyways. We’re moving in together,” I reminded her. “It’s going to be fun.”

“Yeah, it will,” she answered with a nod and then she kissed my cheek. “Plus you’re going to be doing a lot of cooking. You know that right?”

“What? You don’t want to get take out again?” I asked with a raised eyebrow since getting takeouts was something we used to do at the dorm and I was already getting used to it.

“I’ve kind of missed your cooking,” she admitted.

“Yeah. You’re gonna have to learn how to cook though. You know that.”

“Not interested,” She murmured with an eye roll.

“You better find a way to be interested. I’m not the one who’s goi g to be doing all the cooking so you better join me once in a while so you can learn. Or we’ll go back to having take outs,” I told her.

She broke the hug with a pout. “You’re evil.”

“Who? Me?” I asked with a scoff, shaking my head at her dramatic antics.

“Yes, you,” she groaned.

I snapped my teeth at her, my eyes going red and she flinched, falling out of the bed. “Jeez! Sophia! You know I’ve not gotten used to that!” She snapped with an horrified look on her face.

“You’ve not gotten used to that? I thought you would have since you had sex with a vampire. What? He didn’t show you his vampire face and scare you away?” I shot back with an eye roll.

“You know I already regret that as it is. You don’t have to keep rubbing it in my face, Jeez,” she snapped, getting up from the floor and sitting back on the bed. She glared at me.

“Hmm,” I answered with an eye roll. “Let’s go down before Ian starts thinking I’ve killed you or something.”

“You might as well have with the way you keep throwing that night in my face,” she murmured, getting up from the bed and stalking out. I chuckled and shook my head at her before getting up from the bed and dragging my box behind me as I stepped out. I looked around the room for a moment before slamming the door shut. I knew I wouldn’t be back here in a while and I was going to miss this place. It had kind of grown on me.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, Jenny was storming out of the house and dragging her bag behind her aggressively. I looked at her retreating figure, and then at Jacob who had a scowl on his face as he stared after her too.

I rolled my eyes. Thdy were probably having issues and they’d get over it anyways. I did want to tell him that he was acting like an asshole but I decided to pretend like I didn’t know what was going on. I walked out of the door and wrapped my arm around Ian’s waist. He looked down at me and kissed my hair, ruffling it a bit.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Jenny was already in the car. I watched as Jacob got into the back seat next to her and I looked at Ian. “We’re all going in the same car?” I asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“You know they both hate each other and I honestly can’t stand them bickering the whole ride to the house,” I told him.

“I don’t think they’ll be bickering. They’re giving themselves the silent treatment, or something of that sort,” he answered me and held my hand. “Let’s go.”

“I don’t like the fact that you have men everywhere here,” I murmured, pacing around the house. Ian must have thought he was stealthy when he placed his men at strategic points surrounding the house. They were in hiding, but I had fished them all out the moment I noticed the first one.

“They’re for your protection, Sophia,” he reminded me but I shook my head.

“I can protect myself and I can protect Jenny,” I snapped.

“Weren’t you the one just whining about who will protect you and Jenny?” He reminded me.

I narrowed my eyes down at him. “Are you seriously using my own words against me?”

“Yes. And I’m sorry about that but I can’t risk you being alone without anyone to protect you. Any vampire can take you down within a second. You’re not trained. Yes you have the speed and the strength but that’s not all you need,” he said with a sigh.

“Tell them all to leave,” I told him, ignoring his words.

“No,” he answered, shaking his head.

“I’ll kill them,” I threatened.

“You wouldn’t do that, right?” Jenny, whose head had been buried in her phone all these while, asked, looking it me with raised eyebrow.

“I will if he doesn’t take them away from here,” I lied.

“You will not,” he said flatly, his tone indicating that he was done with the conversation. He turned to Jenny. “And do not invite anyone into your home.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re the owner of this house, right? It was bought in your name, right?” He asked, and then he shook his head. “Of course it was bought in your name.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, raising a brow at him.

“Remember you invited Jacob, Sophia and I into the house before we came in? You said ‘Come in’,” he told her. “Never tell that. Never invite anyone into this house. You can tell them to come in in subtle ways, not never say it directly.”

“Why not?” She and I asked simultaneously.

“Because a vampire can’t walk into your house if you don’t invite them in,” he explained.