Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

148 - Colby

I was terrified for Rebecca. I had been ever since I left her. A part of the reason was that she could have died and another was she had my blood in her system, meaning she'd come back like me. I didn't want that. I didn't want that for her; I didn't want that for Katrina; I didn't want that for us. I liked things how they were.

But all my panic was replaced with a different kind of panic when, about an hour after I'd left them, I got a call from Rebecca's phone. I answered expecting my girlfriend, but instead, I got a different voice. "Colby?" Angela asked and I tensed. "Um, I'm a bit worried about Becky. She isn't... she won't talk to me." I didn't reply. "I think something happened but I don't know what. We're nearly back, I thought I'd give you a heads up that you might need to help her, I guess. I think she'll tell you."

My eyes met Sam's, who was the only one openly eavesdropping on the phone call. He gave me a look that I read easily: this isn't good. As if I didn't know.

What could have happened to Rebecca? She seemed to be fine, but she'd become unresponsive. When I met Tara's eyes, I remembered that's what'd happened when she saw River last time, but surely she hadn't crumbled just at the sight of him? My girl was stronger than that.

Something else had to have happened.

I became more impatient than before now as I waited for the Woods sisters to come back. Angela had hung up after realising that I wasn't going to say anything and Tara had started to express her concern. Of course, I was mostly ignoring her. I didn't need to know what bad things she thought might have happened over the past hour. I just wanted my girl.

And I got her, about ten minutes later—ten minutes that felt like an eternity.

The girls pulled up without a word and one car door instantly slammed. Then the front door slammed. Then the other car door softly shut. Either Angela had gained a heavy hand, or Rebecca wasn't quite out of it enough to control her door-slamming.

We all listened to her stomp through the house—not as loudly as usual because she didn't have her boots on—towards the red room. I was watching the door, waiting for her to arrive. Everyone was anxious and confused.

When Rebecca did walk through the door, she had a tough face on. Not the kind of face that she usually had, but one that covered up the overwhelmingly sad emotion. I felt it from where I was sitting, and that didn't even have anything to do with the... bond between us. That was just my vampire senses picking it up. I was sure that everyone in the room could sense how heartbroken and... betrayed she felt?

The fuck had happened?

Rebecca came straight over to me, but she didn't sit down like she usually did. She collapsed on me sideways, lying across the chair like I usually would but on my lap. She put her head to my shoulder and covered her face with her hands, slowly breathing in and out as she tried to control whatever she was feeling.

Angela slid in just after her and watched from the doorway, just as confused as the rest of us.

It took a lot to break Rebecca. I wondered what it was this time.

After a moment, I got a gut feeling that she had started crying. I wasn't sure what it was, but I just knew that she had. I shifted her on my lap so that she was straddling my legs and I gently pried her hands from her face so I could see it. Her eyes met mine.

My heart broke. She looked utterly defeated, the usually-strong brown weak and fragile. There was a tear halfway down her cheek, proving that I'd been right. It didn't feel right to look after her down here when everyone was around us so I wiped her tear with my thumb and slid my hands beneath her thighs. She knew what I was doing as she leaned forward and latched onto me, her arms around my neck.

I zipped us upstairs to my room. It wouldn't be much privacy, but it was something. And she showed she knew that by instantly letting out many more tears. I was walking at human speed toward my bed. I didn't even need to hold onto her, her grip was so tight on me. I was sure she'd be choking any human were she to use this strength on them.

As soon as I sat down, she tackled me onto my back and tucked herself as close to me as she possibly could. My heart was breaking for every moment I was there with her like this. There was nothing I could say or do that would make her feel better, however, I didn't think that was what she wanted anyway. She just wanted me. And I was going to stay there for as long as she needed, so she had me. Completely. If only she knew how much.

I brushed my fingers slowly through her hair, my other hand resting on her lower back where I could feel the warmth of her skin. She was incredibly hot in a number of ways, after all.

She laid still on top of me letting her emotions out in this new way she didn't often show. I both loved it and hated it because it reminded me that she was still human. Rebecca could still break down; she could still be broken. Sometimes I forgot about that when I was getting comfortable with her. I couldn't just do whatever I wanted because she could get harmed in the process.

As Rebecca started to calm down, her heart a gentle rhythm beating against my chest, she started to sit up. I remained where I was watching her as she forced herself to sit upright next to me and dig around in her pockets. Curious, I didn't take my eyes away from her.

She pulled out a small piece of paper and a wallet, and it took me a second to realise where they'd come from. She smiled at me, just barely, holding them out. I took them from her and kissed her cheek before zipping out of the room. I didn't stay away for too long: I dropped the things on Sam—or Katrina's lap and darted back upstairs.

I sat down next to Rebecca and she accepted me back in immediately. We sat together on the edge of my bed, my arm resting on it on the other side of her just inside of her own hand. She laid her head down on my shoulder, which made my heart skip.

As I was about to pull Rebecca to lie down, I heard the conversation going on downstairs. Or rather, Sam's concerned voice. "Colby," he said, sounding like someone had a stake to his throat, "did you look at these?"

"Not now, Sam," I muttered back and Rebecca looked at me curiously.

"No, seriously. Did you look at these?"

"No," I replied through a sigh. "Why?"

"We have a name alright." There was a long pause, like Sam wanted to torture me with the possibilities of what he'd seen.

"What is it?" I snapped, getting impatient. Rebecca snuggled her head more into my shoulder, which admittedly did ease up some of my annoyance

There was another pause. And then Sam spoke.

"Colby, River is Julian."