“Chocolate or vanilla works for me.”
“Be right back.” He heads to the rear of the kitchen.
I glance over my shoulder again to check on Quinn and Griff, not that I think much has changed, it’s just more of an impulse I can’t ignore. Griff is leaning a little closer to her, and his thumb is making lazy swipes across her wrist. I know he’s acutely aware of her blood flow, but still, it’s an intimate touch, which is drawing a lot of attention from the people around them. Especially because it’s so out of character for Griff.
“I brought you both.” I turn to grab the cartons of ice cream from the guy and mumble a quick, “Thanks.”
I make my way back to the table with a canvas sack filled with sweets, but all I can think about is what Quinn will taste like. I can’t imagine how hard this must be for Griff. My instincts are telling me I need to mate her, so I bet for him, every fucking breath is a battle not to taste her blood. “Ready?” I ask before I even reach the table.
Using vampire speed, Griff is up and out of the chair and pulling back Quinn’s so she can stand. “Someone’s eager.” She laughs softly.
She has no clue.
Chapter 5
Quinn
“Mind if we swing by my room so I can grab some stuff?” Evan inquires as we exit the cafeteria.
“About that…” I look around to make sure no one else can overhear our conversation. “Are we just…doing this, like…” I end up waving my hands around in the air. I can’t seem to make myself say the wordsmoving in together.
“Going to my room?” Evan peers down at me.
I lick my bottom lip. I’m just going to have to say it. “We haven’t really talked about the fact that I’m pretty much just living with you guys now. Isn’t that weird? It seems like it should be weird.”
“Yes, we are doing this,” Griffin replies, answering my original question before grabbing my hand as we continue walking.
“But…” I start.
“No buts,” he says quickly, like if he doesn’t let me ask the question, then it will no longer be a concern.
Evan turns around so he’s walking backwards, facing us. “It may not be the norm for humans, but it’s not at all unusual for our…us,” Evan clarifies, amending what he was going to say in the last second.
“Don’t you think it’s kind of fast? I mean, you guys don’t really even know me, and I’m still getting to know you.” I look between them so they know I’m including both of them.
Griffin stops and tugs on my hand a little, so I stop too. “We could give you more time if you need it.” I open my mouth to respond, but Griffin lifts his finger and touches my top lip, effectively shushing me. “Let me finish…please.” I raise my brows at his request.
“The situation in your room sped things up, but I’m not mad at the end result. You’re exactly where I wanted you to be from the first time I laid eyes on you.”
I blink slowly and scoff, “That can’t be true.”
A door farther down to the left opens, and a couple emerges. They stop when they see us standing in the hall. There’s an awkward moment where we all just stare at each other before Evan reacts and resumes walking the remaining distance to his room. The door isn’t locked, so it opens quickly. He plops the bag he was carrying on the counter as the door snaps shut behind Griffin.
“Quinn, do you want more time? Do you want to be back in your own room?” Griffin still has his hand wrapped around mine, and his grip grows tighter with Evan’s question. His inquiry also forces me to examine my answer.
It doesn’t take much soul searching to know I don’t want to go back to my room. That I like spending just about every spare minute with them. Then why did I ask the question in the first place? That’s easy too, just because it’s what I want doesn’t mean it isn’t crazy.
“No,” I finally answer. “But—”
Before I can finish my rebuttal, Evan closes the small space between us and kisses me. His big hands cradle my cheeks as he tips my face up ever so gently to meet his lips. His touch is tender and unhurried, despite how swiftly he moved.
“If we’re moving too fast, just let us know,” he murmurs against my lips, delivering small kisses and nips as he does. I should pull back and tell him it’s not just them, it’s that I want this thing to work out between the three of us so badly, it kind of scares me. But I don’t, instead I return his kiss, because that’s easy.
Griffin
Evan is kissing Quinn. I wish it was me, but he stopped her from overthinking, which is exactly what needed to happen. I’m fucking ecstatic she admitted she didn’t want to go back to her room. My head tells me I can use that to keep her with me, that her confession means I never have to let her go now, but every time she started to add something, I worried it would be about her needing space or that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be with us.
I start to release Quinn’s fingers, but her hand tightens on mine and she breaks the kiss with Evan. Her lips are slightly parted, but her eyes tell another story. She’s searching my face. She’s so human, her expression leaves little doubt what she’s thinking. She’s worried about what I think about her kissing Evan. We’ve told her we’re a package deal, but we haven’t shown her.
