Book: Dead Girls Dance Chapter seven:

Chapter twenty-four

Shane's pov:

I ran into the kitchen to see Claire on the floor I had her family and Carrie with me I raced to her with the others Eve was there too I saw blood I knew it was Claire's but what had happened I looked up there were three people I hadn't seen here before then it all clicked. "Alyssa, mom, dad?" I asked I was in shock this is what Claire had done she had risked her life to bring them back I saw her twin sister and brother by her using their magic to keep her alive I was scared at first of if she would live but I was happy to have my family back Eve came over to me hugging me.

Claire was taken upstairs to our room to rest for the day I started filling in my parents and Alyssa in what had happened after they had died they all seemed okay with this Alyssa got along with Carrie and seemed to like Claire too so did my mom and dad already knew her Amelie said she would find a house for them to live in. She also said that they should hear the stories we were reading now. Everyone was upset about Claire's actions her brother Cayden stayed with her as she rested. Carrie took the book she had been crying a lot about Claire she seemed sad but she still wanted to read the book I agreed to this as she sat with my mom. "Claire couldn't believe how much had poured out of Shane all that grief and horror and bitterness and anger. He always seemed sort of, well, normal, and it was a shock to see all the emotional bloodshed and a shock to hear him talk so much, about things so personal. Shane wasn't a talker." Carrie stopped reading looking at me she smiled her little broken smile just like Claire I smiled back at her she started reading again. "She collected the dishes and did them alone, comforted by hot water and the fizz of soap on her hands; she cleaned up pots and pans and splashes of red sauce, and thought about Shane finding his mom dead in a bloody bathtub. I wasn't in a real good place, Shane had said. The master of understatement. Claire wasn't so sure that she'd ever have been able to smile again, laugh again, function again, if that had happened to her, especially after losing a sister and winning the Drunk-Asshole Lottery with Dad. How did he do it? How did he keep it together, and stay so brave?" my dad looked at me with a sorry look on his face I nodded my head at him but I could tell he was better he had said sorry when he was a brain in a jar. "She wanted to cry for him, but she was almost sure that had have been embarrassed, so she kept the misery inside, and scrubbed dishes clean. He doesn't deserve this. Why don't they all just leave him alone? Why does he have to be the one everybody beats on?

Maybe just because had shown he could take it, and make himself stronger for it.

The kitchen door swung open, and she jumped, expected Shane, but it was Michael. He walked over to the sink, ran some cold water in his hands, and splashed it over his face and the back of his neck.

"Bad night," Claire said.

"Tell me about it." He cut a sideways look toward her.

"Do you think he's right? About them, you know, killing his mother?"

"I think Shanes carrying around a load of guilt the size of Trump Tower." My parents looked at me with sad faces I just smiled at them trying to tell them I was over all of it Claire had helped me through all of this. "And I think it helps him to be angry." Michael shrugged. "I don't know. It's possible. But I don't think we can know one way or the other."

That felt sick, somehow. No wonder Shane was so reluctant to talk about it. She tried to imagine living with that kind of uncertainty, those memories, and failed.

She was glad she did." I knew Claire had felt like that number of times she just didn't know it back then.

"So," Michael said. "I've got about three hours until morning. We need to make some plans about what we're going to do, and what we're not going to do."

Claire nodded and set a plate aside to dry.

"First thing is, none of you leave the house," Michael said. "Got it? No school, no work. You stay indoors. I can't protect you if you go outside."

"We can't just hide!"

"We can for a while, and we will. Look, Shanes dad can't run around out there forever. It's a temporary problem. Someone's going to find him." The unspoken subject of what would happen to Shane's dad after he was caught was a whole other issue. As long as we don't do anything directly that ties us to whatever his dad does, were okay. Amelia's word is good for that.

"You're putting a lot of trust in…"

"A vampire, yeah, I know." Michael shrugged and leaned a hip against the counter, looking down on her. "What choices do we have?"

"Not too many,"

"I guess." Claire studied him more closely. He looked tired. "Michael? Are you okay?"

Now he looked surprised. "Sure. Shane's the one who's got issues. Not me."

No, Michael was all good. Killed, dismembered, buried, and reborn yeah, just another day in the life. Claire sighed. "Guys," she said mournfully. "Michael, I'll stay home today, but I really do have to go to school, you know. Really. Because her missing school was like a caffeine addict going without a daily jolt."

"Your education or your life, Claire. I'd rather you be alive and a little bit dumber."

She met his eyes squarely. "Well, I wouldn't. I'll stay home today. I don't promise about tomorrow."

He smiled, leaned forward, and put a warm sloppy kiss on her forehead."

"So when did this crush on Claire happen Mike?" Eve joked Michael laughed shaking his head.

"I care about Claire like a sister that's all you're my wife I wouldn't have it any other way." Michael replied.

"That's my girl," he said, and left. She sighed again, this time happily, and found herself grinning. Michael might be Eve's new main crush, but he was still available as an oh-my-God-how-cute-is-he thrill."

"See she had the crush on me, but you won out still remember the fantasies she had of you." Michael said that made me laugh.

"Yeah good ones she still has them,"

"Claire finished the dishes and went back to the living room. The TV was on, tuned to some forensics show, and Shane was slumped on the couch staring at it. No sign of Eve or Michael. Claire hesitated, thinking longingly about bed and forgetting about all this for a while, but Shane just looked so alone.

She went and settled in next to him. She didn't say anything and neither did he, and after a while his arm went around her and that was all right." I smiled at the memory waking up to Claire was a dream to me and I love her all the same as I did back then it just took me too long to figure that out.

"She fell asleep there, braced against his warm body.

It was nice.

Claire supposed that she should have known Shane might have nightmares bad ones but she'd never really thought about it. When Shane jerked and rolled off the couch, she thumped flat onto the cushions. The TV was still one flickering confusion of colour and Claire flailed and scrambled for some grasp of what was going on through the fog of interrupted sleep.

Shane?

He was on his side on the floor, shuddering, curled up into a ball. Claire slid down next to him and put her hands on his broad back. Under the thin T-shirt his skin was clammy, and his muscles were as tense as steel cable. He was making these sounds, agonizing gasps that weren't quite sobs but weren't quite not, either.

She didn't know what to do. She felt helpless a lot in the past few hours, but this was worse, somehow, because Michael and Eve were nowhere to be seen, and she wasn't sure if Shane would have wanted them to see him like this. Or if he wanted her to see him like this. Shane was all about the pride."

"That's a good thing got to have pride," dad said he like me had lots of pride and I agreed having so pride was everything to a man even Michael.

"I'm okay," he gasped out.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." He didn't sound okay. He sounded scared, and he sounded like a little boy."

"Thanks that's what you want to hear." I muttered.

"He managed to sit up. Claire wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight, and after a few seconds of resistance she felt him sag against her, and hug her back. His hand stroked her hair as if she might break. "Shhh," she whispered to him, the way her mother had whispered it to her when things got bad."

"I did along with my other children but I don't think that's me she is talking about but still it's the same thing." Claire's mom said to us, Claire's brothers and sisters all agreed including Chelsea.

"You're here. You're safe. You're okay." Because wherever had been in his dreams, he hadn't been any of those three things.

If she expected him to talk about it, she was disappointed. He pulled back, avoided looking at her, and said, "You should go to bed."

"Yeah," she agreed. "You first."

"Can't sleep." Didn't want to, more likely; his eyes were red and blurred with exhaustion. "I just need some coffee or something."

"Coke?"

"Whatever."

She fetched it for him, and Shane downed it like a frat boy at a mixer, belched, and shrugged an apology. "Where's Michael?" She spread her hands. "Eve?" She did another silent pantomime of ignorance. "Well, at least somebody's getting a good night's sleep. They together?"

Claire blinked. "I don't know." She hadn't thought about it, actually. She hadn't seen them go, didn't know if they'd gone to separate rooms or if Eve had finally worked up the courage to proposition Michael. Cause had never made the first move. That just wasn't Michael, somehow.

"Christ, I hope so," Shane said. "They deserve a little fun, even in hell." He was kidding, but not. He did see Morganville as hell. Claire had to admit, he had a point. It was hell, and they were the lost souls, and it was coming on toward morning and shed been scared for what felt like a very, very long time.

He was watching her closely, in a way that made her feel warmth all over her skin, like light sunburn.

"How about us?" She heard herself ask. "Don't we deserve a little fun?"

"I cannot believe Claire said that she always seemed to shy for that," Eve said laughing I nodded but I knew it was because she was tired.

"That sounds like Cruz to us she was always like that," her sister Catlin said she smiled like that was a good thing but Claire was always like that now most of the time.

"I did not just say that.

Only she had."

Least she knew it was a mistake to say it that was the Claire we knew.

"He smiled. She wondered if the shadows were ever going to leave his eyes again. "I could do something fun."

"Ummm" She licked her lips. "Define fun."

"Quit doing that, jailbait. It's distracting."

"Jailbait she's older than you you're the jailbait not my little sister." Her sister Celyn she laughed it was true now but back then she was younger than me.

"The whole idea that somebody would even think of her as jailbait was tremendously exciting.

Especially Shane. She tried to hide that, and act like she wasn't quaking on the inside like a Jell-O fruit salad. "So now you want me to stay up? I thought you said I should go to bed."

"You should." He didn't put any particular emphasis on it. "Cause if you stay down here, there's going to be fun. I'm just saying."

"Video game fun?"

His eyes widened. "You want to play video games?"

"Do you?"

"You are the weirdest girl."

"Please. You live with Eve." She was not doing this right. How did girls seduce boys?"

"She wrote the book on that her and Cadence sure did the big flirts," her sister Celyn said again she was really annoying me now saying how much of a flirt Claire was she wasn't like that now the past is the past no need to drag it up now.

"What did they say? Because she was pretty sure that talking about video games and bringing up roommates wasn't in the have-fun game plan. She was hyperaware of her body, too. How was she supposed to move? She felt awkward, all angles, and she wanted to be one of those graceful girls, all delicacy and elegance. Like in the movies.

Eve would know.

She had those garter hose on, and those thong panties and Claire didn't even own those things, or have any idea how to get them.

And Eve had worn them for Michael, or maybe just as a secret little excitement for herself around Michael. Yeah, Eve would know what to say."

"Of course I know what to say I'm me," Eve said we laughed at that because in high school no boy but Michael really looked at her but now most because of the ways she wears her clothes boys do notice her.

"Say something sexy, she commanded herself, and in a blind panic, she opened her mouth and blurted, "do you think they're doing it?" She was so appalled that she clapped both hands over her mouth."

"Oh my god she really said that that's amazing she really said that to you are CB said that to you Shane Collins wow never knew she had it in her," Eve burst out laughing in was funny completely funny.

"She'd never in her life wanted to take back words so much, and so fast and for a second, Shane just looked at her, like he couldn't figure out what she was talking about.

And then he laughed. "Man, I hope. Those two could use a good uh He blinked and she saw her age flash in front of his eyes. Hell. Never mind."

Words weren't working for her. She leaned forward and kissed him.

It felt weird, and awkward, and he didn't immediately respond maybe he was too surprised. Maybe she was doing it wrong,"

"How can you get kissing wrong?" Eve asked she looked at me I just shrugged my shoulders at them.

"Or she'd been wrong to make the move on him.

His lips parted under hers, damp and soft and warm, and she forgot all of that. Her entire life focused in on the sensations, the gentle pressure that grew more intense the longer the kiss went on.

Chaste kisses, then dirtier ones, and man, those tasted good.

They tasted better the wider her mouth opened, and especially after his tongue touched hers.

She could have done a whole semester of kissing with Shane. Intense personal study. With lab classes."

"She really has got a strange mind hasn't she," Michael said I laughed at that.

"You have no idea, man." I replied.

"Time really wasn't happening for her, but eventually Claire realized that there was a soft glow coming from the windows, and she was numb and sore from sitting on the floor. She winced as a muscle in her back protested, and Shane reached out, pulled her up, and settled himself on the couch.

He stretched out, and extended a hand to her. She stared, tingling and confused. "There's no room."

"Plenty of room," he said.

She felt breathless and kind of wild, stretching out on the tiny area of sofa cushion available next to him, and then smothered a yelp as Shane picked her up and draped her over his chest and, oh my God, over all the rest of him, too.

"Better?" he asked, and raised his eyebrows. It was a real question, and he was looking for a real answer. Claire felt a blush building a fire in her cheeks, but she didn't look away from his gaze.

"Perfect," she said.

It felt like being naked, except for all the clothes. The kisses this time were wet and urgent and deep,

And the feeling of Shane's muscles tensing and relaxing under her was incredibly exciting. This should be illegal, she thought. Well, it was kind of illegal. Or would be, if any clothes came off."

"In my head I really wished we could of but that stupid rule is ridiculous but if I had known that she were older it would have happened," I mumbled to myself.

"Shane might not have been Michael, with all the responsibility, but he definitely wasn't that impulsive. At least, not with her. His hands roamed, but never to places where she wanted them to badly and some of the places they roamed made her wonder why she never wanted someone to touch her there before.

Like the small of her back, where the skin dipped into a shallow valley. Or the back of her neck. Or the inside of her arms. Or…

As he was bringing his hands up her sides, his fingers just barely brushed the outer curve of her breasts, and she gasped into his mouth.

Shane immediately sat her upright, and moved to the other end of the couch. His face was flushed; his eyes were bright and no longer looked even a little bit tired. No, he said, and held out his hand like a traffic cop when she tried to scoot closer. "Red flag. If you make that sound again, we are in trouble. Or I am, anyway."

But Claire felt that blush creeping in again, and had no idea what it was going to be like to put this into words. "What about you?" You know she made a vague gesture that could have been anything. Or nothing. Or anything.

"Don't worry about me. I needed this." He was still breathing deeply, but he did look better. Steadier. More like Shane, instead of that lost and hurt little boy terrified of his nightmares. "So? Did we have fun?"

"Fun," she agreed faintly. So much fun she felt like a fizzed-up soda, ready to burst. "Um, I need to…"

"Yeah, me, too." But Shane made no move to go. Claire swallowed hard and took the course of the better part of valour, up the stairs to her room. She shut the door and locked it, threw herself on her brand-new mattress she hadn't even put sheets on it yet, and they were a little light on blankets after using most of them to fight the fire and bounced. The room smelled like a wet smoky dog, but she didn't care.

Not at all.

Fun.

Oh yes." Carrie finished the book she put it down on the coffee table then ran up the stairs I knew where she was going without asking, she was going to see Claire I ran with her up the stairs to mine and Claire's room her brother Cayden was there with an awake Claire she smiled at me as I entered she was hugging Carrie whom had tears escaping down her cheeks.

"So did you have fun reading the chapter?" she asked me I walked over to her slowly I sat by her lag smiling at her.

"Yeah it was fun it was about when we had that little kiss on the couch," As I mentioned that she started blushing red I laughed at this. "Thank you Claire," I said to her as I kissed her on her forehead.

The end