Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) by K. S. Haigwood, Ella Medler Page B

your credit card to take her shopping.”
    “Buy her all she wants; make her happy. But, Rainey, I can’t stand it much longer. I’ll play by your rules for now, but I have no energy left to fight the way I feel. And my patience’s running out.”
    Abe closed his eyes in concentration and pulled his favorite baseball team, the Chicago Cubs, to the forefront of his mind. He figured that would be something safe to think about. He stomped out of Rainey’s chamber and past the girls without raising his eyes, concentrating on how many home runs each player had hit the year before. Right before he touched the door handle, Ariana spoke.
    “You like the Cubs, too? I’m sorry, I thought you asked how many home runs Alfonso Soriano hit last year. It was twenty-nine, right?”
    What was with this girl? Abe thought. He was never going to be able to ignore her the way Rainey wanted him to. I mean, for God’s sake, she liked the Cubbies, he thought.
    Rainey walked out of her bedroom and looked at Ariana, then to Abe. “Well, are you going to answer the girl or not, Abe?”
    Abe broke eye contact reluctantly and spoke in a low voice. “Yeah, that’s right, Alfonso Soriano had twenty-nine home runs last year.” Then he looked up at Ariana, just before he walked out. “And I didn’t say it, I thought it.”
    Abe slammed the door, leaving Ariana with her mouth hanging open.
    Tears sprung in her eyes and she put her hand to her forehead. “He hates me. I accidentally read his mind and he hates me.”
    Rainey walked to Ariana, took her hand and dropped to the edge of the couch, next to her. “He doesn’t hate you; he’s just in a bad mood, that’s all.”
    Ariana looked at Rainey with a confused expression. “Why do you want the High Vampire to stay away from me? Have I done something wrong? I wasn’t trying to listen to your conversation, but I can’t really turn my head off.”
    “Sweet Jesus!” Soundproof bedrooms were obviously no obstacle for mind readers, and that opened up a whole new can of worms. “How much did you hear?”
    Ariana’s gaze dropped to her lap. “Just that you were mad because he was talking to me. I probably wouldn’t have noticed with everyone else’s thoughts in my head, but I kind of recognize your inner voice… and Abe’s, too.” Her stare remained firmly fixed to her knees as she whispered. “You like him… Abe, I mean. Don’t you?”
    Rainey sighed. “Not the way you think I do, honey. I promise you there’s nothing like that going on. And I can tell you Abe likes you very much, only this mess we’ve got to sort out… Well… it’s bigger than we thought. I need Abe to think straight, so I want him to keep away from anything that may distract him. I promise you: soon, really soon, we will sit down and explain everything to you – the reason I brought you here and the reason…” Rainey chose her next words carefully. “The reason you and Abe have to stay away from each other for now.” Rainey looked at Ariana and smiled at seeing her pout like a toddler who dropped his ice-cream. “You really like him, don’t you?”
    Becky butted in. “That’s what I said, but she denied it. I mean you should have seen her drooling over him in the hall a minute ago, she didn’t even hear you say come in.”
    Rainey shot Becky a fierce look. “Shut up, Becky!”
    Becky rolled her eyes. “I’m just sayin’.”
    Rainey put her arm around Ariana’s shoulder and squeezed gently. If Ariana liked Abe half the battle would be won. She would just have to figure out a way to make it work without anything bad happening. Hell, she might as well just let the two love birds go at it and deal with the consequences. “Do you, Ariana? Do you like Abe?”
    Ariana kept her head down and sighed. Her shoulders drooped as she stopped resisting. “So what if I do? I’m just a nobody. He’s the High Vampire; he can have anyone he wants. Why would he even look at me?”
    Rainey sent a silent