In Plain Sight (A Hunted Rose)

Chapter Two

I picked up my wallet and headed to the garage.  My car chirped as I unlocked it.  I opened the garage door and drove out.  I turned on the radio as I drove the five minutes it took to get to the local Wal-Mart.  As I entered the parking lot to search for a spot I saw a huge patch of them right by the front.  There were at least five empty ones surrounding two black Harley-Davidson motorcycles that were occupying one of the spots.  I parked next to them and hoped I wasn’t breaking some sort of unspoken rule.  I locked the car, entered the store and walked toward the linens section.  After I picked out some queen-sized purple sheets, I headed back to the front check out section.  On my way I passed the area they kept all the books, and I got distracted taking a look at all of them.  They had quite a few titles, and I saw many that I had read already.  I noticed there was a new book that came out from one of my favorite series, so I couldn’t help but pick it up. 

About a minute after I got in a checkout lane, I felt a presence behind me.  The person checking out everybody was an elderly lady and she was being kind of slow, but common courtesy dictates that you be polite and not say anything.  The person behind me apparently had no common courtesy.

“Come on,” a masculine voice groaned, “hurry up already.”  I tried to be quiet, but a few minutes later, he spoke again.

“Seriously, can you be any slower?” he asked.  I had enough and turned around, coming face to face with a truly gorgeous guy.  He had black hair that shined in the light and brushed his shoulders and a black leather jacket over a gray band t-shirt.  He wore jeans that cupped all the right places, and had clear gray eyes.  He had lush pink lips, and wore black boots.  If I were human, my hormones would have roared to life as I looked at him.  Such a shame that he was being a prick, he had a great body.  He also had an amazing scent.  All humans smelled different to a vampire, and this guy smelled like the outdoors, fresh yet kind of musky at the same time.  I mentally shook myself out of my hot-guy stupor and commented on his remarks. 

“You’re being kind of rude,” I said to him.

“So?” he said.  “I can be rude if I want.  And, you have to admit, she is going really slow.”  He met my eyes, and then looked at me again.  I knew what he was seeing.  Long, dark brown hair with bright pink sections throughout (which weren’t the best for hiding, but I loved them), and a perfect body, courtesy of vampirism.  Finally, he met my eyes again.  My eyes were such a deep blue they could be considered purple in color, with long thick eyelashes.  “Have I seen you before?” he asked me.

I couldn’t resist mumbling under my breath, “I’d hope not.”

“What was that?” he asked with a small smirk, as if he had heard my comment.

“I said, I would probably remember you.”

His smirk widened and his eyes rolled over my body again, making me want to hit him.  “Yeah, you probably would.”

At his comment I snorted quietly and spoke to him.  “Pig.”

“Brat.”

“You started it,” I said.

“Did not,” he retorted.

"You so did!” I exclaimed.  “You were rude with your comments!”  We sounded like two three year olds, but there was something satisfying about arguing with the guy.

The guy looked like he was going to reply, but a hand appeared on his chest.  I followed the arm up to a sculpted chest that was obvious under a leather jacket.  This guy was dressed almost exactly like the rude guy, but he had just a plain navy blue t-shirt under his jacket.  They were obviously twins, but the new guy had different eyes.  Instead of the clear gray his brother had, his were a lighter gray with blue flecks.  They almost looked polka-dotted.  His scent was almost the same as the other guy’s, but it had a lighter quality to it.    The new guy smiled at me, showing perfect teeth.

“Sorry about my brother,” he started, “we try to keep him at home, but sometimes he needs to get out and stretch his legs.  Even then we try to keep him in our line of sight and within hearing distance, but he has a way of sneaking off.”  He then turned to his brother and spoke to him in a chiding tone.  “What have I told you about scaring the Newbies?”

I stifled my smile, unwilling to admit that I liked the new guy, on principle that the prick was his brother.  “Newbies?”

“Yeah,” he turned back to me.  “It’s pretty easy to tell when someone is new and not from around here.  It’s such a small town that everybody knows everybody.”

“You don’t know me,” I pointed out the obvious.

“I’d like to,” New Guy smiled at me again.  “My name is River, and you unfortunately met my brother Ryder.”  Said brother let out a small snort at his comment.  River and I chose to ignore it.

“Twins?” I asked, although I was sure in my assumption.

“Yep,” River said, at the same time Ryder sarcastically commented, “How did you know?”

“Can you at least try to be nice to me?” I asked Ryder.

“You be nice first,” he said.

“I would, but I can’t be nice to assholes,” I said with a fake pout.  “Sorry.”  River started laughing really loud, which attracted attention from some of the people surrounding us.  Ryder even looked a little, dare I say it, admiring?  Whatever.  I shook it off. 

“So, you’re new here.”  It wasn’t a question, but a statement that came from River.

“Yeah,” I said.  “I just moved here today actually.  I needed to pick up some bed sheets, which is why I’m here, and then I ran into your brother, which led to you being here.  That’s the whole story, in case you were wondering.”  I babbled on, for some reason I was unable to shut up in the presence of this guy.

“Why did you move here?” River asked.

“I needed a change.  I lived in New York City before this, and I got sick of the big city and all the crowds.  I needed something smaller,” I lied easily and without hesitation.  When I looked at River, I noticed he was holding something I didn’t see before.  He had a wrench and a coil of what looked like copper wire.  Interesting.

“Cool,” he said.  “I would like to see New York someday.  How old are you?”

I told the truth this time, mostly because it didn’t jeopardize me if I told him.  There were millions of seventeen year olds in the world.  “Seventeen,” I said to him.

“Me too,” River said.

“Me too,” Ryder mocked him.

“Dude,” River said.  “Either shut up, or go wait outside.”  Ryder made a big show of zipping his lips, locking them, and throwing away the key.  Ass.

So this is kind of how I imagine Ryder and or River -->