“Whatever you say, Valentine,” he chirps. I wish Ava would’ve never let my full name slip to the obnoxious vampire, but it’s too late now. He slips his hand into the pocket of his sleep pants and holds something out to me. I open my palm, and he drops the square object into it.
“What is this?” I ask, staring at the weird square object.
He pats my shoulder. “Ava will know.”
Still sporting that shit-eating grin, he slowly strolls down the stairs. For a moment, I almost turn back around and decide to tough it out, but no, I’m not going to let Zavier chase me away from my mate with his nosiness.
Taking a deep breath, I ease down the hall to Ava’s room. Standing in front of the door, I hesitate but can’t fight the temptation any longer and push it open. The hinges creak, and I stop, listening to the even sounds of her parents’ breaths down the hall to make sure they don’t wake. Letting myself into her bedroom, I close the door softly behind me. Her room is still that of a young girl. Pink walls and a white desk with a mirror above it. A frilly pink chair sits in front of the desk. Beneath the window is some sort of skirtedbench with a floral print.
Glancing around the rest of the room and taking in all the little details, I find her curled up in a delicate ball within the wrought iron bed. Pink hair is splayed over her pillow in a cascade of glossy waves.
I don’t want to startle her, so I tiptoe closer and gently place my palm against her cheek. She snores softly. I haven’t dared tell her she does, I think she’d either vehemently deny it or be embarrassed, but I find it endearing.
“Ava,” I whisper softly. She stirs a little. “Ava,” I say her name again, and this time her lids flutter.
“Valen?” My name is a groggy murmur, and I smile at the fact that she knows it’s me even half drunk on sleep.
“Is it okay if I sleep here? I’m struggling to get rest alone.”
“Mm-hmm,” she hums. She holds the sheets up as she scoots over to the opposite side of the bed. I hesitate since I normally stay on top of the covers. It feels safer that way. This is a barrier I’ve miserably tried to hold up, but it is slowly crumbling. Perhaps I’m feeling bold tonight after running into Zavier, and I slip onto the soft sheets and let the blankets fall over me.
“What is this?” I ask her, holding up the item Zavier gave me.
She squints in the darkness and takes it from me. Arching a brow, she asks, “Where did you get this?”
“Zavier,” I answer. “I ran into him in the hall.”
She giggles and somehow ends up with her face pressed into my arm.
“What is so funny?”
I feel like I’m being laughed at, but I am not sure why.
“It’s a condom,” she answers.
“A condom?” I repeat the foreign word. “Should I know what that is?”
The room might be dark, but my vision is far better than amere human’s, so there’s no denying the redness in her face. Ava comes off as confident when it comes to everyone else, but with me she seems to let her guard down more. She’s almost vulnerable, and what a treasure that is to witness.
“It’s … um … when you have sex. It goes on your…” She pauses, scrunching her nose. “Penis. Dick. Cock. Disco Stick. Whatever you want to call it. And that way it catches the…” Impossibly, her face gets even redder. “The cum,” she finishes. “So that I … wouldn’t be able to get pregnant.”
I quickly snatch the packet back from her and toss it across the room. “I’m going to kill him.”
Ava dissolves into a fit of giggles, and I can’t help but join her.
“Zavier is such a nosy butthead. He’s our biggest cheerleader, and if I wasn’t annoyed, I’d be flattered.”
“He’s … something,” I agree.
She lays her head fully on my chest, her fingers idly tracing the ridges of my stomach. I’ve finally started to put on some weight and muscle now that I’m not being starved of blood.
“Why couldn’t you sleep?” she asks softly.
“My feet hung off the bed,” I grumble. “And your scent wasn’t strong enough.”
I feel her smile before she raises her head and fully bestows the sight of it upon me. Her pink hair falls over her shoulder, and I shiver when it brushes against my pectoral muscle.
“You like being close to me?”
