No.I can’t.That would be very, very bad.There are limits.Besides, he needs me focused on protecting him.Peter sighed.The bother.
Peter watched Puck ignore the salad altogether and instead shove pizza into his mouth, completely forgoing the cutlery.He’d chew, clearly hungry, stop self-consciously, then slow down, though he touched none of the silverware.It was terribly cute.A tiny spot of tomato sauce on Puck’s top lip made Peter want to reach out and wipe it away with his thumb, which was gross, considering there were napkins.
Peter exhaled slowly and tried to come to terms with the fact that he was done for.There would be no more Photoshop fantasies in his future, there would only be a craving for this very real, annoyingly human human.Oh, the absolute bother.
I’d ask him to be handfasted before the equinox, and I’d swear an oath to Odin’s ravens to treat him like a master of my house.I’d have given him half of what was mine back then.Hm.I could give him half of what is mine today.Peter sighed.No.He must never feel as if I want to buy him.He must feel free in all his choices.The handfasting will come later.
Peter waited a few minutes before he spoke.“How’s the food?”
Puck stopped chewing.“Fine,” he said through a mouthful of pizza.
Peter nodded.“Wonderful.Perhaps we could go over a quick outline of what I might offer you, and what you would like in return.I’ll have a contract ready for you within the hour, and you can read through it while I have a look at your laptop.”
“Contract?”Puck asked, his expression wary.
“Yes.Like I said, I would like to have exclusive access to your blood.As such, I would expect you to keep up a healthy lifestyle, exercise, sleep, eat three meals a day, nothing outrageous.Obviously, for the sake of convenience, I’d like you close.I can see why you would not want to move into this house, although that would be my first choice.At a minimum, I’d like you to stay here until we can discuss what will solve your Bernard issue.Which—in addition to providing you with an environment that allows you to hold up your end of this contract—I understand would be one of your demands.”
Puck had begun gaping somewhere through that.“You want to…you want to keep me here?”He put the slice of pizza down and glanced at the door.
Peter sighed, making his best attempt at playacting.“I don’t, as a matter of fact.You see, I like things just so.I like an orderly, quiet life.I’ve never much enjoyed having anyone live with me.
“That said, Bernard seems to think you are his property.I cannot be everywhere, and guaranteeing your security in a place I do not control…well, it would be difficult.”He paused for effect, then added, “Costly.I’m willing to adapt for the sake of convenience, only until I have taken care of your vampire problem.Your blood is simply that enticing.”
Puck clenched his jaw and wiped his fingers on a napkin.“My vampire problem?I thought you lot all stuck together.”
Peter smiled.“My lot?Puck, I assure you, that vampire is nothing like me.”
Puck frowned.“You know that’s not my name, right?”
“Yes, but you never gave me another.”
Puck picked the slice back up and took another bite out of it.“It’s Theo.”
Theo.Theodorus?No, Theodore if anything.It suits him.It makes him sound so bookish and sweet.
“A pleasure, Theo.”
Theo looked at Peter.“Will I get paid?”
“Of course.Generously.”
He nodded.“I won’t quit Madame Celeste’s.How would that work?”
Peter felt as if a knife were being shoved into his belly.He’d never thought of himself as the possessive kind, but the very idea of Theo giving his attention to someone else…he didn’t like it.Only I have no right to forbid him.I have no more right to dictate what he does with his time than this Bernard person.Peter’s eyes fell to the bruise on Theo’s wrist.No right whatsoever.
“I don’t think she will have an issue, once I inform her of my intentions and negotiate fair compensation.In the end, she should be able to benefit as much as you and I.”
Theo snorted.“A win-win-win.”
“Precisely.”
Theo wiped his fingers again.“How would you take care of Bernard?”
Peter shrugged.“Highly dependent on how smart he is.On what his survival instincts are made of.”
That made Theo gape.“Wait.Wait, wait.Are you saying you would order a hit on Bernard?”
Peter had experienced some twists and turns in his legal career, so he had no issue keeping a straight face right then.The fact that Theo didn’t assume Peter would do the murdering himself should have been upsetting, but Peter was a bigger man than that.People believing he was incapable of committing murder had long since stopped upsetting Peter.
