“It was Eric’s wish,” Wolfe said simply, as if that was all it took. Jay beamed at him, even though Wolfe wasn’t looking at him to see. He was just soproudof his friend, taking such good care of his mate.
Eric glanced around the clearing, a worried expression on his face. “But we get, like, sleeping pads, right? We’re not actually sleeping on the ground?”
“I have a tent all set up for you,” Jay reassured him.
They made the s’mores, the process helped along by a surprising amount of booze. There was Wolfe’s wine, Danny’s whiskey (“it seemed like a camping kind of liquor”), and Gabe and Soren had brought a huge thing of tequila, which Eric was drinking an awful lot of.
Jay was disappointed when his marshmallow immediately caught fire, but Jamie hollered in approval. “Now you just blow it out and you’ve got yourself a tasty treat. Charred to perfection.”
Soren sneered from his spot on Gabe’s lap—and Jay had really chosen the camping chairs well, hadn’t he, if they could hold both vampires in one? “Ugh. Youwouldlike your marshmallows that way.”
Jamie cheerfully waved his middle finger at him.
Jay noticed Soren’s marshmallow was perfectly golden, like a real professional’s. Danny’s was somewhere in between: he’d gotten one side all luscious and golden-brown, but then he’d let the other side catch fire and burn to a crisp. When he caught Jay looking, he grinned. “I get impatient,” he explained.
And Jamie had been right earlier: the s’moresweremessy. Although, no one else seemed to get as much sticky marshmallow on their face as Jay, but that was okay because Alexei was the nicest, kissing it off him, ignoring Soren’s pretend gagging sounds.
“Is this when the orgy starts?” Gabe asked, grabbing the tequila from Eric.
Danny coughed out his sip of whiskey. “Excuse me?”
Jay was too content to be embarrassed as Gabe pointed at him with a lazy finger. “You know, Jaybird’s obsession with orgies?”
Danny tossed a marshmallow at him. “You really thought Jay was bringing us out here for an orgy? And you still saidyes? We’re brothers!”
Gabe chuckled, and from the sound of it, he’d had just as much of the tequila as Eric. “I didn’t really think so. I just…worried…initially.”
“No orgy,” Jay promised, a little contrite he’d made his friends worry. “But everyone’s welcome to…you know…we just have to be quiet. Respectful,” he explained, repeating what Alexei had told him earlier when he’d brought it up.
He squirmed a little at the thought, biting at his lip. It was hard for him to be quiet when Alexei was inside him. But maybe if Alexei put his hand over Jay’s mouth…
“Oh my God, little guy.”
Jay looked up to find everyone staring at him, with varying expressions he was too happy to try to decipher at the moment.
Although, Jamie’s was easy enough, the vampire grinning as wide as Jay had ever seen him do.
Eric
Eric’s limbs felt loose, and his head was heavy, but in the nicest way. Was he a little drunk? He hadn’t really been drunk since he’d turned—apparently it took a lot to manage it—but he and Gabe had been passing the tequila back and forth all night, and the bottle was pretty much empty.
He felt a hand cover his, and he turned to Wolfe, who was managing to make even his camping chair look elegant, his long legs crossed, an actual wineglass in his hand.
Wolfe gave a small smile at whatever he saw on Eric’s face. “It will be dawn in a few hours, and you wanted to catch your fish, darling. Shall we take to our bed?”
Eric’s lower lip pushed out in something between a frown and a pout. “We’re vampires. Can’t we stay up all night?”
“Easily,” Wolfe soothed. “But you’ve had quite a bit of tequila, and you may wish to sleep it off, if only for an hour or two.”
Ah. So Ericwastipsy. Trust Wolfe to know these things. “Is everyone else going to bed?”
Danny stretched in his chair. “It’s not a bad idea.” He giggled. “Plus, I want to see Rome in a tent. I was promised.”
Roman gave his mate a fond smile. The stern vampire had relaxed considerably after the snobby trio—he, Luc, and Wolfe, of course—had polished off quite a few bottles of “outdoor wine.” He and Luc had even gotten to reminiscing together, their stories ending in laughter instead of the usual threats of violence.
They were weird, those two.
“There are no more marshmallows left either,” Jay added sadly, holding up the empty bag.
