And why, now that he was logically thinking, he still wanted to take her with him?
"I thought that she would be safer at my house," Den began, "Since there are so many vampires here, and it will probably be only my mother and father apart from the servants back at home." Den knew he was sprouting bullsh*t even as it came out of his mouth. June, Penelope, h*ll, everyone except McCarteny knew that she was safer here than she would be at his house.
June's parents were good people, never forcing their children to do anything, contrary to his. June had also warned everyone not to even lay a finger on McCarteny, and all of them had promised, whereas, at his house. Den shuddered even thinking about it. But the people had promised didn't mean they would keep it, Den still hadn't forgotten Christopher, or forgiven him for how he had acted this morning.
"But it depends on McCarteny totally. She can come with if she wants to." he added, turning to look at her as he addressed her.
Stella let out a small confused sound as she heard this. Three pair of dark red questioning eyes turned towards her. She was sure Allen was looking at her with the same expression, but she couldn't very well see him.
Stella looked from one to the other. Finally, her eyes settled to jumping between June and Sharp. How come the first time she had a choice was the time she didn't want to decide. Stella knew leaving with Sharp would sadden June a lot. It was her birthday after all, and she had been so excited when they all had arrived. And then there was Allen. Stella had become really attached to him, and was sure he thought of her like an extension to his lap now. And also Simon, Stella somehow felt really safe around him, he had a mature kind of aura that was absent in the others. And he was the only one Stella could trust to take care of her if her trouble magnet started working again.
But the thought of staying while Sharp left tugged in a weird way at Stella's heart-strings. There had been a time when she had wanted nothing more than to escape from him. But things had changed a lot since he had promised to try and act nicely. He had almost religiously kept his promise, and they had almost gone back to being Sharp and McCarteny. "But that McCarteny would have jumped at the opportunity to hang out with June and Allen in a heartbeat." something inside Stella's heart whispered, and she pushed it back down before it could become a full blown shout.
"Stella?" June prompted, cutting into Stella's thoughts and she looked up with a snap.
"I think . . " Stella began, swallowing a lump and wondering why it was so fu*king difficult. "I think I'm gonna stay here." she said, looking directly into Sharp's eyes. She frowned as she caught a hint of, what was that, disappointment in Sharp's eyes, but it was gone before she could analyze it any further. Was Sharp disappointed upon hearing she wasn't coming with him? The question made Stella's heart flutter in a way she didn't like very much.