“Do you remember Brandy?”
“Yeah, she had that little beagle that used to chase me around. Peanut, right?”
She hums.
“I loved that dog. I always wondered what happened to her.”
She makes a pained sound. “It was so awful, Evan. The police had to lock her away, and even then, it took a year for her to adjust. She attacked so many people. Killed so many. It was horrible.”
I flinch. Jericho’s turning hadn’t been easy either. He’d killed people… multiple people. I can’t forget that. But it still doesn’t change how I feel around him. Predator or not, I feel safe with him.
“Jericho has worked hard, Mom. I know it’s only been ten months, but he’s good. I promise.”
“Honey, just be careful,” she says. “You know I love him, but this… it scares me, baby.”
“I know, but if it makes you feel better, we’re not alone.”
She perks up. “Oh? Who are you with?”
“We’re staying with some… friends. Near Prodigy.” I hope she doesn’t catch how I paused on the wordfriends. I wouldn’t call the pack that, not after how they tried to kill Jericho. But they did come to our rescue when Bronson showed up, and they have listened to us so far.
“You aren’t with his coven, are you?” Mom asks.
“No. Um, we’re actually with some shifters. Jer doesn’t belong to a coven.”
“Shifters?” she says incredulously. “I didn’t know you knew any shifters?”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know you knew any vamps, so I guess we’re even,” I say, keeping my tone light.
To my relief, she laughs. “Do I know them?” It’s a fair question, since Mom has met several of my friends back in Comstead.
“No, but they’re good people.”Ihope. “Anyway, what have you been up to?”
While she talks, I look out the window, but the yard is empty.Where are you, Jer?I want him back. Every moment he’s away is thick with dread.
I see his sketchbook still lying on the mattress and immediately reach for it, using his art to calm me. I flip through it, half-listening to Mom go on about her latest sales. Each page is breathtaking, reminding me of when he’d fill entire notebooks with “doodles,” as he calledthem. Except these arenotdoodles. They’ve never been doodles. His talent is incredible.
Does Jericho even know how good he is?
As I shift back on the bed, I knock aside a stack of clothes, revealing a small notebook with a bright red cover underneath. Curious. It matches the other sketchbooks, yet it’s not with them. Maybe it’s his most recent work?
I pull it out, still listening to Mom rattle on about the latest house she’s fallen in love with. But when I flip the cover, my mouth falls open and a curse slips from my lips before I can stop it. “Holy shit.”
“Pardon?” Mom says, stopping abruptly.
“Um, sorry. Not you. I just… saw something is all.” A very big something.
The man in the drawing is lying on a bed, completely nude, with a hand around his dick. One leg is bent at the knee, and his mouth is parted in ecstasy. He looks like he’s about two seconds away from blowing his load.Jericho drew this?
I turn the page, and nearly drop the phone at yet another graphic image, only this one is of a man giving a blowjob. The receiving man’s body is cropped so only his abs and pelvis are showing, but his long, thick erection is full and hard as it enters the other man’s mouth. The details are like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before. So unbelievably realistic, like I’m seeing it happen right before my eyes. I can see the vein on the side of the cock, as well as a dribble of spit on the man’s puffy lips.
I can’t look away, and my cheeks heat, caught off guard by something so… well, undeniably sexy. I’m not even attracted to men, but the raw emotions in these sketches make it difficult to form words. I feel like I’m right there with them.
I turn another page to find a guy on his back, legs spread wide as another man fucks him. The detail is just as stunning, right down to the sweat glistening on their skin. I can almost feel their desire radiating off the page.
My eyes are drawn to the bigger man, driving into his lover. He has thick dark hair, and looks a little like Jericho. The way his hair partially hides his face, and the veins in his neck.Is this what Jericho looks like overcome with passion?
“Evan, are you still listening?”
