“You’re sleeping together, aren’t you?”
“What?” James scoffed, a nervous grin kicking the corners of his mouth upward. “Where’d you get that idea?”
“I saw you two.” I wiped my clammy palms on my jeans. “The other night after we caught Hannah and Kian sneaking around. I came back in to finish our conversation, to finally make a fucking move before we were interrupted again, and I saw her sitting on your desk.” I met his eyes. “Why else were you sucking on her neck? Did she get bitten by a venomous snake?”
Realization flooded James’s face, then he softened. “You weren’t supposed to see that, Ryder.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“I didn’t hear you come back in.”
“Well. Youwerepreoccupied.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He let out an exasperated sigh and collapsed onto a barstool, scrubbing a hand over his face. “You didn’t see what you thought you saw.”
“I saw you sucking on my coworker’s neck. Unless you’re a vampire, I don’t know what else that could have been.”
“We weren’t having sex.” He shifted uncomfortably, lowering his voice. “I haven’t had sex in a long time.”
Silence fell between us, each pondering what to say next. I wanted to comfort him, but first I wanted to hear his explanation. I hadn’t been able to banish the mental image since I’d witnessed it—and that just pissed me off. Beside me, James had his leg extended, foot resting on the rung of my seat. Henervously shook his leg, making my chair bounce. Where the vibrations should have been annoying, I found them strangely comforting.
He was clearly anxious to tell me something. Based on his reticence, whatever it was, it was big. If he wasn’t having sex with Dani, then somethingoddmust be happening. I couldn’t think of any other reason his mouth would be on any part of her body, much less her neck.
Unless…
No. That was absolutely, positively impossible.
Right?
It was only then that I realized he hadn’t acknowledged what I’d said.
I glanced at James. He watched me with that inscrutable intensity I’d seen before. I took the chance to drink him in. God he was beautiful—even if he was as white as a sheet.
And ice cold to the touch.
And could move so fast—and silently—I often wondered if he could teleport.
Fuck it.
I had nothing to lose.
“James.” My voice was soft, but he hung on my every word. “I’m going to ask you a ridiculous question. You have every right to laugh at me until I walk out of here with my tail between my legs, but I want an honest answer.”
“That’s fair,” he said.
Feeling like an utter fool, I asked, “A-are you…” I couldn’t do it. I swallowed hard, the words stuck in my throat. I groaned, hiding my face in my hands. Between my fingers, I blurted, “Are you a vampire?”
Silence—and it was probably much shorter than it felt. Then?—
“Yes.”
Chapter 16
“Ryder it’s beenfive minutes. Please say something.”
In the grand scheme of things, five minutes doesn’t seem like a long time. But I suppose from James’s point of view, it felt like forever. I was staring at the bottles behind the bar. “I need you to say it,” I finally said, my voice so quiet it was a miracle he heard me at all. I looked at him. “If you can meet my eyes and say it without laughing, I’ll believe you.”
James was as still as a statue. The more I watched him, the more I realized he wastoostill—he wasn’t breathing. But I’d seen him breathe before.
