“You guys shouldn’t leave your door unlocked. It’s not very safe.” Ari moved past me to sit.
“Not safe at all.” I squished into the seat with her and all our shopping bags.
“Emy, get your own chair. You don’t fit.” She tried to shove me off, but I nestled closer.
“If anyone tries to rob or kill us, I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine.” Sean flashed his fangs in the usual adorable smile.
“What if Ari’s here? She’s human. She might die,” I pointed out.
“Hey!”
“She has me,” Sean said. “Nothing’s gonna happen on my watch.”
I glanced over to see her trying not to smile. I could tell Sean and I were thinking the same thing: she’s so cute when she gets all shy like this.“I almost forgot!” I dropped the shopping bags and hopped up.
“Finally.” Ari spread out in the chair.
“Lookie what I got.” I pulled my shirt over my bra. Sean paused the game as I unbuttoned my shorts and rolled them down a couple of inches.“Isn’t it pretty?” I gushed, turning sideways to show the vixen with its gorgeous mix of black and purple shading.
“That’s awesome. I love it.” Sean leaned forward to get a better look while I smiled proudly.
“It’s perfect,”Mateo said, walking over to take in every detail.“It suits you. Especially the colors.”
“Yay! Thank you.” I buttoned my shorts and pulled my shirt back down.“Ari helped me pick everything out.”
“Where’s yours?” Sean asked her.
“Nowhere,” she said, laughing at the thought.“I’m not getting any. Needles and I are not friends. Minus my ears.” She gestured to the magenta pearl earrings I’d gotten her years ago.
“I’ve been trying to convince her to get one since her eighteenth birthday. It’s not gonna work. Where’s Dennis?” I moved aside so they could restart the game.
“In his room,” Sean said.
“I wanna show him my new tattoo. But first…” I scooped up my shopping bags and dumped them atop our growing pile of things.
“I feel like we’re moving in.” Ari came to sether bagsnearmine, then stepped back and frowned. “This is a mess. I’m gonna fix it.” She started rearranging while Sean watched with a smile.
“I’ll be back,” I announced, nearly skipping down the hall to Dennis’room. I went to knock, but it opened by itself. Well, that was creepy.
“Or maybe I heard you coming and opened it,” Dennis said as I stepped back.
“Don’t do that.” I walked past him into the pitch black room, not bothering to wait for an invitation. He shut the door.“I have to show you something. You have to turn the lights on, though.”
“Why? I can see,” he said it like I was stupid for wanting light. He’s the stupid one for being soanti-light. And then I remembered all the vibrant colors I could see in Mateo’s unlit room. And every dark place, actually. In that case, why couldn’t I see colors in here?“Because there aren’t colors in here.” Dennis gestured to our surroundings. His lips turned up in a teasing smirk as I realized it was true; the red sheets and chair were the only color in here. “What do you have to show me?” He leaned against the chair, eyes freely roaming my body.
“My new tattoo.” I rolled my shorts down and pulled the shirt above my bra so he could see.“Isn’t it perfect?”
“Yeah.” He reached out and I stepped back.“What?”
“No touching. It has to heal.”
“You’re a vampire,” he said.
“What about it?”
“It’s already healed.”
“Oh.” I touched the tattoo. No wonder there was no residual pain. I hadn’t even noticed.“Go ahead. I guess you can touch it.”
