Free Fateful 2-Fractured by Cheri Schmidt

been brave enough to try one.
    The knight stuffed Danielle in bed, hit play
for the music, and then instantly disappeared from sight. She
collapsed into her pillows, waiting for her stomach to return to
its proper place from her toes.
    Then her door opened. “Hey, Dannie—er, I’m
sorry, did I wake you?”
    “No, I was awake,” she replied, trying to
not look guilty and dazed.
    “Oh good, may I borrow a rubber? I can’t
find mine,” Brianna said.
    “A-a what?” Danielle could feel the
horrified look on her face as she choked out the words.
    Her cousin’s eyes rounded and then she
erupted into fervent giggles, doubling over with the intensity of
it. “Oh!” She laughed some more. “I totally forgot!” She then
started coughing she was laughing so hard and sat down on the edge
of Danielle’s bed before she collapsed from mirth. “I mean an eraser .” She pronounced each
syllable slowly.
    “Oh,” was all Danielle could muster in
reply.
    “I’m sorry, Cousin, we call them rubbers
because that’s what they’re made of. I haven’t a clue why you Yanks
call them erasers.” She paused to consider that for a moment.
“Okay, well I suppose that does make sense too. Anyway, could I
borrow one?”
    “Eh, sure. There should be one in my
desk.”
    Her cousin walked to the desk, shuffled
around for the eraser, took it, then went back to the door.
Danielle watched her cousin, wondering where the vampire was
hiding, and what he was thinking of this insane verbal
exchange.
    “’ Night, Danielle.”
    “Goodnight, Bri.”
    She waited for Max to reveal his secret
place and nearly shrieked when he slid out from under her bed. He
was jerking with silent guffaws. He gave her a pat on the head and
then jumped out the window. She followed and watched as he landed
easily, and then disappeared around the front of the house.
    Ethan was still there. “Danielle, I must go
home now. But I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Thanks for coming by.” She sighed as his
guards took their places on either side of him.
    “Goodnight.”
    “’ Night,” she replied.
    He also vanished into the night with the
two-man security entourage he’d arrived with.
     
    * * * * *
    “Where are we going this time?” Danielle
asked as they got settled into his car the next day, but realized
that she’d failed at masking her impatience when he chuckled.
    “We’re going back to the ruins, and it
should take about an hour to get there, and yes, I plan to carry
you again,” Ethan replied, anticipating her next set of
questions.
    Laughing, she said, “You’re getting to know
me a little too well.”
    “We’ve been through a lot, Danielle.”
    “That much is true.” She reached for the
blue silk tie he wore. “This is nice, it matches your eyes.” Then
her gaze traveled over his charcoal pinstriped suit. He’d dressed
up special this time, and she wondered why, though she did have
some suspicions.
    “Thanks, and, as always, you’re lovely in
this Edwardian-style dress. And I see you remembered the pearls I
gave you. I’m glad.” His hand traced the inset lace on the skirt,
and then swept upward to brush her hair aside, giving himself a
better view of the jewelry.
    The drive went by quickly, lucky for Ethan,
since Danielle didn’t feel the need to keep asking him how much
longer. He parked the Jag on the shoulder of the road. Once out of
the car, he lifted her into his arms to begin the long walk through
the forest to the ruins.
    As Ethan made his way through the underbrush
in a suit and polished black shoes, Danielle noticed that many more
vampires than their usual guard were in the woods as she and Ethan
passed through. It seemed they’d come out in droves.
    “Why are there so many?” she asked
softly.
    “They just want to make sure we’re safe.
We’re in a forest,” Ethan said.
    His explanation didn’t make a whole lot of
sense, but Danielle was distracted by the sound of music drifting
through the trees as they neared the