Page 31 of Just the Pool Boy at Vampire Mansion

But I wasn’t going to, for reasons I wasn’t going to think about while trudging through the neighbors’ gardens.

“We learned their pool is well maintained. And I have a job there now. Hopefully nobody follows that up.” I found the gap in the fence, unceremoniously shoved him through, which took a whole lot of effort and grunting, scooted myself between the bits of old frame, then scooped him up and slung him over my shoulder again. “We learned you get a lot heavier after being carried for a while.” But I didn’t mind, seeing as he was quiet. “We also learned that up close, you’re the kind of gorgeous that is not my type.”

I sighed and stepped around a pile of decorative rocks.

“Who am I kidding? You are so my type,” I said aloud, knowing he couldn’t hear. “Chaotic, thrilling, funny, unpredictable, sexy as heck. Unreliable, probably sleep around, terrible boyfriend material. Trouble all the way through to the bones. Why can’t I find a nice boring golden boy? Because it’s boring.” I mocked myself, getting into it. “You’re going to die on the sexy bad-boy hill, Owen.” But it would be a hill worth climbing.

During those few moments, when he’d had me stuffed inside the pump house, pushed up close, I’d definitely wanted Theo in multiple ways, all of them sexual. Damn, I’d wanted him so badly that any shred of my common sense had left the chat.

I may have seen some heat in him when he’d looked at me in that shed too. The kind of heat that came from desire, not hunger, or maybe a bit of both. Right before he’d noticed the cut on my arm and passed out.

Scared of blood. I huffed a dry laugh.

That had to be rough for a vampire.

Although, he’d said pre-transition, he could get away with not relying on blood. So things could have been worse for him. Theo had a lot going on, for sure.

Didn’t mean I was falling head over heels for the guy, though. Just because he had a hard time now and then. Everyone did. And yes, I was attracted to him. Because apparently my body liked things that were bad for it. I’d have to work on that.

I finally spotted the Witherborne pool house up ahead and clomped over, into the light. I’d get Theo inside the pool house and wait for him to come around, and we’d chalk this up to a valuable learning experience.

I made it to the sliding doors, and reached out my free hand to open it, the one not holding Theo’s leg.

A swoop of movement tore Theo from my grip and spun me around. My shoulders and head hit the wall of glass, making the window and my skull rattle.

The rest of my senses caught up. Theo’s brother sneered an inch from my face, fangs out, one hand on my chest, pinning me to the pool house’s wall of windows, the other around my throat. I had no idea where Theo had ended up, but I assumed he was still out cold on the ground somewhere.

My heart lodged in my throat and pounded in my head. I clawed at his grip on my throat.

“What did you do to my brother?!”

His hand pushed harder against my ribs, threatening to either cave my chest in or shatter the glass I was pinned against. My heart throbbed, my lungs starved of air. I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t breathe in to form words. My mouth opened, closed, opened. I tried to push him off. But he leaned in harder.

He smelled like clean linen, which was weird. Soft and cottony. And not what my brain needed to be focused on. For the first time in years, fear had free rein, and I realized I could actually die here, like Jay had. And nobody would care.

I tried to buck, but his arm pushed in like one of those hydraulic rams.

Bentley’s eyes blazed with ice-cold fury. His fangs gleamed. He wasn’t pretending anymore, this was the real monster. “You have three seconds to tell me, or I’ll tear your throat out, pool boy.”

I can’t breathe to speak!

A lounger chair swung from the left of my vision and smacked into Bentley’s side. The chair’s flimsy legs bent around him, jolting him off me, and I twisted and bolted into the pool house. The background music still played, the beers sat on the table. Weapon! I needed a weapon. Fast! I grabbed a bottle, smashed it, spun, and brandished the jagged edges, expecting to stab Bentley.

But he hadn’t followed me. He’d turned on Theo outside.

“Don’t you fuckin’ touch Owen!” Theo yelled, fangs out too.

I watched through the wall of glass as the two brother circled each other. Theo didn’t look so good, gray and washed out, a little wobbly on his feet, panting hard. Bentley, his face illuminated in the pale blue light from the pool, looked exactly like the vampires who weren’t supposed to exist. The ones from old movies, all fangs and glowing eyes. And the nails . . . His nails had gotten long and clawlike. Theo’s too.

They were going to throw down, and I didn’t fancy Theo’s chances.

“My whole life you’ve ruined everything I’ve enjoyed!” Theo sneered.

“Because you don’t deserve any of it!”

This was bad. Probably. Or the average evening’s entertainment in the Witherborne house. But it looked as though things were about to get vicious, and I did not want to see that.

A distraction.