I turned away from the sound of my name. Not now. Julian held out a gloved hand. Why did he wear those gloves?
“Thea!”
“No!” I moaned, earning another low chuckle from Julian. The wicked sound of it sent heat pooling in my core.
A light snapped on, illuminating the night, and he vanished into the air like magic. I flipped over and buried my head in a pillow.
“That’s it!” Olivia’s voice was muffled by the pillow. “Don’t blame me if you fail your final semester.”
Fail.
Her choice of wording had the intended effect. I bolted up, tossing the covers off, and mumbled, “I’m awake.”
“I can see that,” she said dryly. “Also, your mom is trying to reach you, sleepyhead. She called me. I’ve got to run. Call your mom!”
“Crap!” I fumbled for my phone, practically ripping it from its charging cable, and found I’d missed three calls from her. I hit the redial button as my thoughts began to race. It wasn’t like her to bother me during the week. We’d arranged to video chat every Monday since my schedule was so packed.
“Did Olivia wake you up?” she asked when she picked up the call.
“Are you okay?” I ignored her question. “Do you need me?”
Since my mother’s diagnosis a couple years ago, I dreaded unexpected calls from her. Every time I was certain she was about to deliver bad news. I’d started to breathe a little easier since she finished her last round of radiation. But somewhere, deep down, I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Calm down, sweetie! I didn’t mean to worry you. I just wanted to check in,” she said quickly.
I slumped into the bed and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m fine.”
“You sound tired,” she said with that uncanny knack mothers had for seeing anything you tried to hide.
“Late night,” I croaked, wishing I had some water. I sandwiched my phone between my ear and shoulder as I got out of bed to get some. “I had a gig.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“And work.” I yawned, stumbling into our narrow galley kitchen where I discovered a pot of coffee waiting for me with a note.
Figured you needed some go-go juice.
XO, Olivia
She knew me too well. I bypassed the water and poured myself a cup of it. Cupping my palms around the mug, I savored how its warmth spread through me.
“Okay, but nothing’s up?” Mom pressed.
I was still shaking off my dream, but I thought it sounded like she was worried.
“Not really.” As soon as I said it, the particulars of the night before crashed into my conscious brain. My cello. Vampires. Julian. Was I okay? I mean, mostly. The stranger thing was that she was asking. “Are you okay?”
“It’s nothing.” There was a pause on the other end of the line. “A nightmare, I guess.”
“Well, I’m in one piece.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the cello. It would only make her frantic, and we had enough hospital bills to worry about. I had to trust that Julian would stay true to his word and get it fixed. There was no sense worrying my mom. “What about you? It must have been some nightmare.”
“I think it’s the radiation,” she admitted. “I swear it’s made me have the strangest dreams. Look, Thea, I know this is silly, but–”
A knock at the door interrupted her.
“Hold on a sec,” I told her.
I cradled my coffee mug in one hand and unlocked the door to find a uniformed man holding a box.
“What is it?” Mom asked, sounding almost panicked.
She really was on edge.
“Just a package,” I told her, smiling at the delivery man.
“Thea Melbourne?” he asked, and I nodded. “Great, sign here.”
I scratched my signature across his pad, and he handed me the box. It wasn’t a typical package. Instead of a cardboard box covered in printing labels, it was a large gold gift box wrapped with a white satin ribbon. I scanned it for signs of who it was from, but I had no clue. “Thanks,” I said and began to close the door.
“Wait!” he stopped me. “There’s one more. I wanted to make sure you were here before I brought it up.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“Be right back,” he called as he dashed down the stairs.
“That’s weird,” I muttered, forgetting I was still on the phone with my mom.
“What?” she asked.
