Turning, I sink down onto the stairs, resting my head against the wall. This was all getting to be too much.
“You should get some sleep.”
I look up to see Sage watching me. “I doubt I’ll be able to.”
“I can make you some tea?”
I shake my head. “I don’twantto sleep, Sage. I want…” I let out a sigh. “I need to process all of this.”
He studies me for a long moment, like he knows I’m struggling with so much more than just what happened tonight. “I’m here if you need me,” he says softly, patting my shoulder and walking away.
I’m grateful he doesn’t push it, even though I get the sense that he knows what I’m going through. Was he attracted to women before he met Red? The two are so oddly matched. I never would have thought someone like Sage could be attracted to someone like Red, yet here they are, and they work. They’re happy. Happier than literally any other couple I know.
Jericho and I have always worked that way too. We’ve been two peas in a pod from that very first day in Biology class. He’s always understood me better than anyone.
Don’t I feel the same about him? Don’t Iknowhim, even now? I feel like I do. Except for the vampire side.
I need to talk to him and not let him shy away from all the gory details. We’ve only skimmed the surface of what he goes through now, and I need Jericho to be honest with me about it all. I need to understand where his head was today so I know how to help him, even if it means knowing when to walk away. I’d hated that today, yet maybe it was the only thing that kept him from truly coming for me.
With a heavy heart, I turn and head upstairs to our room. I need quiet, and I need Jericho. So I’m going to wait for him where no one else can bother us.
And then I’m going to make him talk.
20
EVAN
It’s not long before Jericho comes up to our room, wearing nothing more than a pair of boxer briefs. It makes me nearly swallow my tongue.Did he walk through the house like that?
His hair is still slightly wet, clinging to the nape of his neck with a little curl. I love when it’s like that, so soft and silky. I want to run my fingers through it.
He holds a bottle of water and sandwich out for me.
My stomach growls. “Thanks.”
I sit up, devouring the peanut butter sandwich in three bites. He seems nervous as he lies down on the bed, one arm tucked under his head. “How’d it go with your mom?”
“Fine,” I say. “She’s more concerned with you being a vamp than a dude.”
He gives me a weak smile. “A valid point, if you ask me.”
I take a drink then lie on the mattress, facing him. “I know.”
He rolls toward me.
Needing to touch him, I slip a foot through his and reach for his hand. My earlier need for conversation vanishes the moment I lock eyes with him. All I want is to be close to him. To hold him and relishin the fact that he’s okay. He could’ve died today, at the hands of the vampires, or by the shifter who bit him.
“I know we need to talk about what happened, but right now, I just want to be with you. Please? I need to touch you.”
Jericho lets out a long sigh, draping an arm around me like he needs this just as much as I do.
I slide a hand against his stomach, enjoying the way his muscles flex. His gaze drops to my mouth, but he doesn’t move, allowing me to explore his body. We’ve been without clothes before, but never like this, and never touching.
“I… kinda don’t know what I’m doing, since I’ve never been with a guy. So if I mess up—”
“That makes two of us, then,” he whispers. “I’ve never been with someone I’ve truly wanted either.”
I pause, momentarily confused. He’s said that before, but… “What about all the other men in the drawings?” They had to be from experience, right? I mean, how else could he get themthatdetailed?
