Page 10 of Just the Pool Boy at Vampire Mansion

Is it a dog?

Bet was the only person in my contacts list who I spoke to on the regular. She was also my community correction officer.

Kinda, but he’s not staying

I took a quick snap of the sleeping Theo—she wouldn’t spread it around—and sent it over.

That’s Theo Winterborne! How?!

Long story

Hey, Owen, that’s not what I meant when I said you need some friends

He needed a place to crash

Be careful

You know me

I do, that’s the problem

I put the phone down on the counter, propped my head on my hand, and watched Theo sleep.

While Theo slept, I did some googling.

Theo was the eldest of the two brothers, set to inherit a family fortune rumored to be worth billions. He was also well known for his headline-grabbing antics.

Most vampires, since they’d come out as a race ten years ago, kept to themselves in the old cities like New York, or back in Europe. They went to the theatre, bought shares in tech companies, and generally stayed out of the spotlight. Their coming out hadn’t been a smooth process. The religious backlash had almost turned into a full-blown war, but once people started to realize they’d always been among us, and that their coming out meant we could see what they were up to, the religious fervor had mostly gone underground. But in some states, it was still active, and generally, vampires continued to have a hard time integrating into society. Kinda like how a wolf might feel showing up to an all-sheep party.

So, while they’d come out, most vampires stayed in the background, not making waves, just trying to get by.

Theo didn’t do quiet, though. He was everywhere, all over socials, A-list actor parties, attending the Met Gala in ridiculous attention-grabbing outfits with heels and more bare skin than fabric. He was famous for being the vampire. But his homelife was rumored to be a car wreck. His mother, Geraldine, had made herself into a successful businesswoman and politician, leaving a trail of missing people on each rung of the ladder. Bentley wanted his brother out of the way so he could inherit the fortune. He had openly hired people to kill Theo in the past, and wasn’t shy about it, calling it harmless fun. The press loved it. Sibling rivalry at its most bloody. The father, Leander, wasn’t in the press much, and when he did appear in public, it was usually on his wife’s arm. Quiet, compared to the others, Leander had been the one who hired me when I’d answered an ad on Facebook. We’d spoken over the phone but not met in person.

It all made for a life that suggested a quiet day on my couch was probably exactly what Theo needed. But a day was all he was getting.

I did not want to be anywhere near his brand of drama. I had my own troubles to deal with. And I’d been doing just fine. Apart from the crippling debt, a past I’d rather forget, and a criminal record around my neck that meant my college degree and high-flying job experience were worthless. So yeah, all good thanks.

I headed out for groceries around three p.m., and left a note for Theo with my number on it in case he wanted me to grab him anything from the store. When I got back, he was sitting on my kitchen counter, hair wet from the shower, scrolling through his phone, alarmingly comfortable in my humble life.

I knew he’d be there, waiting for me, but part of me had hoped he’d be gone. The new Owen part. Sensible. Professional. Then there was the other part, the lonely part, who’d wanted him to stay. And also the other other part that really wanted him to stay. In my bed. I wasn’t acknowledging that part. Yeah, it definitely would have been easier if he’d gone.

But Theo didn’t do easy, as I was about to find out.

“So . . . we got a problem,” he said.

“Uh, no. No ‘we’ anything.” I dumped the bag of groceries on the side. “Don’t tell me. Don’t wanna know.” I pulled a can of Diet Coke out of the bag and slid it across the counter toward him.

He pulled his gaze from his phone and tracked the can. “What’s that?”

“I figured you might need it?” He’d asked for cocaine. Maybe that was close enough. “They used to put cocaine in it.”

He looked up through his lashes. “Used to. Like . . . a hundred years ago.”

“Yeah, well, now it has sweeteners. Those are just as bad.”

His lips twitched. “You don’t know much about vampires, huh?”

“Never had much call to. Still don’t need to.” I checked the time on my phone. “When do you leave?”