My violet nails tapped the counter while I waited. Vampires weren’t supposed to get hungry, but I was suddenly ravenous. My eyes strayed to Dennis. Maybe I was craving dick and getting the longings mixed up.
I caught bothwaffles when they popped up and grabbed a plate at the same time, then went back to the living room. I slid to the floor beside Dennis and held out the plate.“Want some?”He glanced over, then did a double take when his eyes found my low cut shirt. He nodded. “I meant the waffles,”I said, giggling. He’d clearly misunderstood the question.
“Oh. In that case, no.”
I grinned at his dumb assumption and disappointment. Like I would really offer sex right here in front of everyone. Maybe if it was different company—in different company I mighthavesex right here in front of everyone—but with these people it would justbe awkward.
“See, Ari? This is why I got the bras. Pushups are a mandatory part of life.”
“Oh my god,”she looked up from the laptop,“do you have any kind of filter at all?”
“That’s a dumb question. Everyone knows I don’t.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why you’re embarrassing.”
“Don’t care.”I forked a bite of waffles into my mouth.
A few minutes passed of Ari typing, me eating, and the guys killing zombies. Eventually, the game ended. Maybe. It was a confusing game because it seemed never-ending. The hoard of hideous zombies never really died. The entire thing seemed pointless.
“I’mgoing for blood.” Dennis set his controller down and stood. “Are you thirsty?”
“Yes, please. I’m glad it’s so late, otherwise we might melt today.”I hastily cleaned my dishes, said goodbye to everyone, and ran to catch up since he’d left without warning. I held onto the railing as I ran downstairs, feeling oddly off balance.“So we do this every day?”I nearly fell at the bottom but caught myself in time.
“For now.”
“Hm.” I bounced for a few seconds because I was getting hyper and losing interest. So I gave him a hug. He didn’t move to reciprocate. “Thanks for everything. Especially putting up with me.”I hugged tighter‘til I was almost squishing him, just for funsies.“I usually scare people away by now, but you’re actually still here. It makes me happy.”I smiled before kissing him on the cheek, thenhesitated for a second before kissing him fully.
I was gonna pull away but he responded before I could, kissing back as contently as I’d hoped. I wrapped my arms around his neck. It was different from before; less lust filled and actually kind of meaningful, which made it my cue to stop. I broke the kiss and stepped back.
“I thought you had a rule about—”
I shushed his face because I knew exactly where this was going: my rule about no sweet kissing because it led to emotional attachment and I don’t do that shit.
“I’m allowed to make exceptions,” I said. “Don’t think you’re special.”
“Speaking of,I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?”I glanced over as we startedwalking.
“About something you were thinking on Tuesday.”
It took a few seconds of focus for me to remember what happened Tuesday.“Get out of my head,”I groaned when it finally connected.
I didn’t wanna talk about Tuesday ever again. That was the day of my emotional breakdown, and it was the last thing I wanted to remember. Minus my childhood and my parents and all the other shit I didn’t wanna deal with.
“You thought something about how I’m the second most important, right after Ari. Is that true?”
“I plead the fifth.”I crossed my arms.
“You know what that is?”he asked seriously. “I mean, not that I’m calling you stupid or anything, but you always say you don’t read, so I assumed you’ve never read the Constitution.”
I laughed and uncrossed my arms. “Fair enough. I don’t read, butI’ve been read my rights a thousand times. I could recite them by now. We’re still not talking about it.”
“I wanna talk about it. Share your feelings?”He gave me an enticing smile.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “I refuse. Where were you Tuesday?”I asked, flipping the interrogation on him. “You never told me.”
“Nowhere important. Just figuring some things out.”
