“I have my ways,” he said, keeping it vague so Theo wouldn’t feel responsible.Hopefully.
Theo ground his teeth before he spoke.“I want to get my degree.”
Peter nodded, and his fingers flew over the keyboard.“Certainly.”
“I don’t want to move.I…I can keep my phone on unless I’m in class or at work, and I can come over whenever you call.”
Peter tilted his head.“Yes.But you agree to staying here while Bernard is still in town?As a temporary precaution.”
Theo hesitated, then nodded.“Fine.”
“And you will allow me to look around your place and see if you need any additional security.”
That made Theo clam up again.“I’d rather not tell you where I live.”
Peter raised his eyebrows.“Why not?I would not visit you unless invited, and keeping your address off the paperwork is impossible.”
Theo looked down for several seconds before finally nodding.“Fine.”
“Wonderful.Anything else?”Peter was prepared to give Theo whatever he asked for: a car, tuition, hell, even a pony.But to Peter’s surprise—and disappointment—Theo shook his head.“Very well.Then all I need is your full name for now.”
“Theodore Turner.”
Theodore.I was right.
“I’ll go write this up and print it out for you to look over.”He stood and gathered up his laptop, then pointed toward the great room.“Once you are done eating, feel free to move to the living room.Or explore the house, if you prefer.You are quite welcome to roam.”
Theo snorted.“Are you hoping I’ll find all the kinky shit in your drawers?”
Peter couldn’t hold his grin inside.“You’re assuming I keep it inside the drawers, Theo.”You have no idea what Photoshop magic lives on my hard drives.
Only a faint flush rose to Theo’s cheeks, but it was a lovely sight all the same.
8
Theo
Theo,muchcalmernowthat he’d eaten, felt half confident Peter wouldn’t just drag him into the basement.He sat in an armchair in Peter’s ridiculously large living room and read through the contract the vampire had drawn up for him.It all looked very official.
Peter had taken Theo’s laptop and excused himself to “the downstairs office,” which, given they were on the first floor, was the basement.Creepy.
The contract was easier to understand than some literary works Theo had read.It said Peter would provide housing and provide Theo food for the duration of the contract, which in and of itself gave Theo a basic level of stuff he didn’t have to worry about.
Theo hadn’t known that kind of security before, not since he was a child.The contract also detailed that feedings were not to exceed a monthly rhythm unless they could be considered “smaller bites” with no “sucking of blood.”
I didn’t even think that was an option.Bernard never…Theo glanced at the door Peter had vanished through on his way to the basement.Maybe this can work.Just until I have my degree, and then…then I’ll leave this place, start fresh where no one knows me.
Theo wasn’t sure what he would or could do if Peter just started draining him daily like Bernard had done for a time.The contract was all good and well, but there wasn’t much Theo could hope to do to enforce it.
Except he could’ve just dragged me into his creepy basement after compelling me earlier.This is a lot of trouble to go to just to drink me dry.
Theo sighed.He had to at least consider the possibility that Peter wasn’t like Bernard.
After giving the contract one final read-through, Theo picked up the pen Peter had left on the living room table, rolled it in his hand for a few seconds, then put it and the contract down.He needed to move, to think.
Peter kept a bookshelf in his living room, and Theo naturally gravitated toward that.It had looked fake from a distance—not the bookshelf itself, but the books on it.
The bindings appeared aged and more colorful than any books Theo normally came across in the library, except maybe the ones in the historical section, which was closed to the public and only open to researchers.
