If he’d thought Sorley’s eyeroll in the car had been impressive, this one should have dislocated his eyeballs. “I’m a vampire, Hughes. I’m hardly likely to sleep through a break-in.”
“You might do, if it was at midday.”
They stared at each other, neither prepared to back down. In the end, Sorley sighed. “I’ll change the keypad number. I suppose I could even move. Happy now?”
“Not really. But it’s a start.” Gethin rolled his shoulders. He could do with a nap, but that wasn’t going to happen. Sorley was a loose cannon, likely to head off alone the second Gethin closed his eyes. He pulled up a food delivery app on his phone. “I’m starving.”
They tried to plan while he ate, except everything he suggested, Sorley nixed. Frustrated, Gethin glared at him over the last slice of pizza. “Well, whatdoyou want to do?”
“I want to go out. Go drinking and dancing, and find a warm body to fuck. I don’t want desperation shags from a repressed gay man who’s only putting out because he’s trying to convince himself he’s keeping me safe.”
Ouch.Gethin supposed he only had himself to blame for that. He flipped the empty pizza box shut and got to his feet. “You’re not going alone.” He shoved the box into the bin, then looked around and found the television remote. “Might as well settle down. We can’t go anywhere for a while yet.” He unlaced his trainers and hooked his long legs over one end of the sofa. He was going to watch crap TV and determinedly not think about his sexuality.
Sorley watched for a while, then began fidgeting, then finally sighed dramatically and stood up. “I’m going to get ready.”
Gethin didn’t look up. “We’ve got ages yet.” He managed to get an answer correct on the quiz show, ignoring Sorley’s humph. The guy could bitch all he wanted, but Gethin wasn’t planning an entire night of drinking, so they’d go late, stay a short time, then with any luck, after a decent breakfast for him and some blood for Sorley, he could finally pass out for a few hours.
When he went to shower and change into something more worthy of a night out, he found Sorley sitting in front of a mirrored table, putting the final touches to his outfit, and did a double take.
“What’ve you done to your hair?” The colour was reminiscent of the dull patches he’d noticed when Sorley had broken into his Cardiff house.
“Coloured it.” Thewell, durwas as obvious as if he’d said the words aloud.
Gethin frowned. “I didn’t think hair dye worked on vampires.” Sorley’s auburn hair was now several blended shades of unprepossessing brown. Now he looked closer, his freckles were almost invisible too, with a pale ridge of colour highlighting his cheeks. “Are you wearing make up?”
When Sorley looked up, Gethin bit back a gasp at how different the man looked. “And contacts?” Instead of a clear grey-blue, his irises were a muddy hazel. His face now seemed too thin, his cheekbones prominent. He wasn’t going to be disappointed about the change, because Sorley’s looks weren’t of any interest to him.Keep telling yourself that, boyo.
“Yes, contacts. Helps to keep people from noticing me. The hair colour is the temporary brush-in variety. Dyeing it doesn’t work: I’ve tried. I use professional standard foundation to change my skin tone and contouring to change the appearance of my bone structure.” He set the brush in his hand down on the unit in front of him. “It won’t fool anyone looking for me specifically, but it’s enough to confuse all but the most determined of humans. I always look this way in Leeds.” He glanced at the bag in Gethin’s grip. “Do hurry up. I’m ready now.”
8
GETHIN
Leeds city centre was busy.Sorley bypassed multiple places until he nudged Gethin towards a flag-draped building. He grabbed his wrist and towed him past the queue, giving the bouncer a sunny smile Gethin hadn’t known he was capable of.
The doorman eyed Gethin keenly before grinning at Sorley. “Long time, no see, Saul. All right?”
“Grand, thanks, Jez. This is a friend.” Said in a perfect mimicry of the bouncer’s own Yorkshire accent.
Jez gave Gethin another down-and-up and waved them through. “I’d say have fun, but you always do.”
Sorley shot him another blazing smile. “You know it, man.” And they were inside.
Gethin leaned in. “Saul?”
Sorley ignored him until they both had drinks in their hands, then with his back to a pillar, he tilted his head. In a quiet voice that Gethin only picked up due to his wolf senses, he said, “You do have a fake ID, right?”
Gethin took a swig of his lager and, after a moment, nodded. “Yeah.”
“Exactly. If you do, after a few decades, thenobviouslyI need one.” He necked his own drink at lightning speed and dumped the bottle behind him. “I’m gonna dance. Coming?”
Sorley on a dancefloor was a sight for sore eyes. Without any apparent self-consciousness, he moved as if he was made of water, his moves languid, flawless and so sexy it should have been illegal. Gethin’s dick was pressing against his fly within a minute. He got another beer and savoured it, keeping his eyes on the dance floor. The Geordie menace was attracting a lot of attention.
He barely restrained a growl at the sight of some dark-haired twink all up in Sorley’s space, grabby hands pulling the vampire flush against an arse clad in only a whisper of stretchy spandex, his toothy grin directed back over his shoulder at Sorley as they found a rhythm together and began to sway. It didn’t matter to him who bumped uglies with the undead leech, as long as he kept an eye on hi—
“Toy boy giving you the runaround, or choosing a third for later?” The voice, warm and dark by his ear, took Gethin unawares, something that shouldn’t have happened. He was supposed to be keeping watch, not allowing personal feelings to intrude while he was on duty.
He gave the man a quick once-over. “Neither,” he admitted cautiously. “He’s a…” What could he say, a friend? Hardly. A fuck buddy wasnota suitable label, considering they’d shagged once and that had been a mistake.
