Nope.
I closed my eyes.
Eric coughed quietly, and I cocked my head at him. He couldn’t see my erection because my lower half was firmly hidden beneath the blanket, but…
“Wait… can you smell that I’m turned on?”
Could vampires blush? I wasn’t sure his cheeks were actually turning darker, but his expression certainly matched—a bit impish, a bit embarrassed and uncomfortable.
“Our sense of smell is really good. Like, really, really good.”
“Fuck my life.”
I let my head fall forward. Against Eric’s shoulder.
Because I couldn’t stay away any longer.
Eric wrapped his arm around my shoulder, the tension slowly draining out of him as we just sat there, staring into the void.
Everything had been said, all the secrets aired out, and all that was left was… us.
Just us.
Sitting in a pile of lies and broken hearts.
By all accounts, it should be an ending.
But instead, it felt like a beginning.
Chapter 33
Eric
Ididn’t want Finn anywhere near CRAVE. I wanted him as far away from the whole shitshow that was Ambrose trying to kill us as possible. He’d been abducted once. I wouldn’t be able to handle it again.
But here he was, his fingers laced with mine as we followed Bennie up the steps to Aries’s office, his face grim. Even a week later, he was still dealing with the remnants of his concussion. The headaches were getting better, but they were still there.
Which, apparently, was completely normal. And the rational part of me knew that. But the part that saw each and every wince when he turned his head too fast or the lights were too bright or a fucking car honked outside just wanted the pain to finally be gone for good.
“I wonder what he wants,” Finn mused, running a hand through his hair.
I gave him a tight smile. “Probably nothing that couldn’t have been a simple phone call.”
But Aries didn’t do simple phone calls.
And I suspected he wanted to check in on us. No. Me. He probably wanted to subtly check in on me.
So maybe Finn’s insistence on accompanying me was a good thing. That way, Aries could see for himself that we were solid.
Finn squeezed my hand.
“Don’t let him get to you,” he whispered when we reached Aries’s office door.
I won’t, I thought, but Bennie opened the door before I could actually say it.
When we entered, Aries was standing in front of the windows, looking down at the bustling crowd beneath us. He was wearing a loose white button-up shirt with puffy sleeves paired with snug black jeans that made him look a bit like a pirate.
He turned around with an indulgent smile, holding a wineglass filled with blood.
