Page 51 of This Blood That Binds Us

We nodded.

We waited for Danny to take his phone out and scroll to his previous Uber transactions. Other teammates of his strolled in for practice. All three of us were met with weird looks as they weaved past us behind the glass doors.

After a few minutes, Danny shoved his phone in our faces. His story checked out.

“Now what?” Kimberly said.

We walked toward the weight section. The smell of sweat was everywhere. In every direction I turned, it was all I could focus on. The high ceilings and the echoing amplified this ambience. I could hear everything. Every splash of the pool, the girls sparring in the boxing room, and the clinking of weights hitting the floor. The front lobby doors opened, and William appeared.

My chest tightened, and my stomach felt like lead.

William spotted us instantly and waved at Kimberly. He didn’t look in my direction.

Before I could say some kind of joke, Kimberly’s eyes grew wide, and she grabbed my forearm before ushering me out and onto the school lawn.

“What? What’s happening?”

“William! William was at the party with me! He got up to get food, and once he was gone, Danny came over. He’s the only other person it could be.” Kimberly paced back and forth in the freshly mowed grass. “I didn’t even want to go to that party. I was going to say no, but I dropped something, and he touched my hand. And suddenly, I wanted to go.. .I never suspected him because...because I thought he was my friend.”

She went silent, blinking a few times.

“How could I be so stupid?”

I hated hearing the hurt in her voice and seeing the disappointment on her face.

“Woah, woah, woah. I never want to hear you say that again. You are the smartest person I know. Who wouldn’t want to be your friend? Plus, we don’t know if he is our guy yet. We’ll have to test him first.”

Even though my dislike of William was growing by the minute, I didn’t want it to be true. For her sake, I’d have to hold on to the hope that he wasn’t the guy, which was the opposite of what I needed to do, since we needed to find the rogue vampire.

I was surprised when a soft smile returned to Kimberly’s lips. I tried not to focus on it, but something about her smile drew me in. Hanging out with Kimberly made me happier than I’d felt in a long time. She was genuine. Strong. Brave. Everything I wanted to be.

Kimberly spoke, crossing her arms, “Well, if he’s the guy, then he’s smarter than I thought. We have to be careful. He could have been planning this from the beginning...from the first time I met him. That means he’s cunning, and it sounds like he has some kind of plan.”

“Shit.” I spied my brothers walking toward the gym.

Luke and Zach strutted with their sparring gear in tow, mostly for show, Presley with a basketball under his arm.

Kimberly followed my line of sight. “Oh, no. Are we still sure we shouldn’t tell them anything? I don’t want them to know who I am, but at the same time, I keep asking myself if we’re in over our heads here.”

“I’m sure. If I tell them anything...we’ll be on the road in the next hour. I’m not risking them leaving you here.”

She looked relieved, and I swear I felt her lean into my arm a smidge.

“Besides, if our theory is right, and he isn’t part of The Family, then one vampire shouldn’t be hard for us to handle. Maybethere’s a reason he’s doing what he’s doing. Once we know more, we can tell them.”

“Hey!” Luke shouted, his voice booming between the stone buildings. “You guys should come with us to the gym!”

Luke was back to his usual self, and I hadn’t seen him so much as frown since his incident in the kitchen. He wrapped an arm around me and shook me with delight. “It will be fun. Zach and I are practicing some Krav Maga drills today.”

Kimberly’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “Really? I’ve always wanted to learn Krav Maga.”

“Hell yeah. We’d be happy to teach you.” Zach stuffed his hands in his pockets.

I elbowed her softly. “We can’t, remember? We . . . have . . . stuff.”

“Oh, right. We have stuff.”

Zach smirked. “Stuff, huh? Say...Presley, what was it we were talking about earlier?”