fuck were you thinking, Obe?”
Even though the bond had weakened between them, it didn’t take the exchange of supernatural blood
to know Frankie was pissed.
Snod gritted his teeth, hating how the sting of disappointment and shame stabbed at him. This was not
the reaction he had been hoping for. He curled his hands into tight fists, tense, replying quickly, “I
wanted to get you something. Something special.”
“So you risked imprisonment?” Frankie snapped furiously, the volume of his voice rising louder as he
ranted on. “Obe, you’re trying to start a new life! A new beginning! Your new identity is going to
come through any day now! Why the hell would you do this? After everything I’ve done for you—”
“It’s because of everything you’ve done for me!” Snod found himself yelling back passionately,
glaring at Frankie. “You’ve clothed me, fed me, taken care of me! And I have nothing to give you,
nothing that you will take! You’ve refused me, again and again—”
“I’ve told you! Because of the blood!” Frankie tried to cut him off, but Snod wasn’t done.
“Fuck the blood!” Snod raged on, raw and hurting. “I wanted to do this for you! Even in spite of the
gaping chasm you’ve created between us, I wanted to do something to show my appreciation!”
“Gaping chasm?” Frankie scoffed, baring his fangs. “Being a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“You won’t have me in your bed! You barely stay in my company! All of the things we’ve shared
together and yet we pass each other now like strangers! I wanted to prove myself to you! Prove that
my intentions were sincere, and that this has nothing to do with the blood!” His shoulders sagged in
defeat, and his anger was blanched by an overwhelming sense of sadness. He didn’t know if it was
his or Frankie’s. “I meant it... when I said that I missed you.”
Frankie’s expression was impossible to decipher, again reaching out for the desk as if to make sure it
was really there. He opened the drawer, tracing the spot where he had carved his initials. He sighed
softly, silence spreading between them for several agonizing minutes before he finally said, “And I
miss you.”
Pressing closer, Snod’s tone was strained as he asked, “Then why are you still pushing me away?”
“Because I don’t trust you anymore,” Frankie replied without hesitation. “I don’t trust that everything
you’re feeling is purely your own. It could still be my influence. You’ve never even had a boyfriend
before, you’d never done... I’ve been your first for everything.”
“And I want you to be,” Snod said insistently. “You’re the only one I want.”
