Two: Simon was staring at him.
"Your eyes," Simon said, voice strange.
"What about them?"
Simon opened his mouth, closed it, then seemed to gather himself. "They're brown."
"They've always been brown?"
"They were nearly black earlier. Lifeless." Simon stepped closer, and Charlie found himself frozen under that intense scrutiny.
What was the hunter seeing in him?
Was Charlie healthy enough now to deserve being staked?
Or did Simon want to keep him for observation?
Was this some kind of experiment?
Simon was close enough now that Charlie could see the flecks of gold in his dark eyes, could count his eyelashes if he wanted to. Which he didn't. Obviously.
Simon blew out a breath, and he seemed almost exasperated when he asked, "Who the hell turned someone like you into a vampire?"
The question hung between them.
Charlie opened his mouth to answer—to make a joke, maybe, or deflect—but Simon had already stepped back, shutting down whatever moment had just happened.
"Never mind." Simon's voice went flat. "You need sleep. Come on."
He turned and walked away, leaving Charlie standing in the kitchen holding a dented water bottle and feeling oddly bereft.
"Come here," Simon called, so, for a lack of better options, Charlie did.
The bedroom was as sparse as the rest of the apartment. A bed with black sheets, military-crisp. A single nightstand.
Simon pulled a blanket from a closet and dropped it on the bed. "You can sleep here."
Charlie stared at the bed. Then at Simon. Then back at the bed.
What was happening?
"You're not serious."
Simon's expression didn't change. "Do I look like I'm joking?"
No. No, he didn't. He looked exactly like someone who'd decided the most logical solution was to... share. A bed. Together.
Charlie's brain short-circuited.
He sat gingerly on the edge of the mattress, hyperaware of every movement, trying to figure out the logistics of this absolute disaster waiting to happen.
It wasn't that he wouldmindlying next to Simon.
In fact, he probably wouldn't mind it as muchas he should.
His skin still hummed from drinking Simon's blood.
Would Simon notice? God, he'd totally notice, wouldn't he? That there was something majorly wrong with Charlie's head that made him think the man who wanted him dead was unfairly attractive.
