Page 55 of Just the Pool Boy at Vampire Mansion

We ordered more drinks at the bar, and stood there for a while, talking. Theo liked snails, was fascinated by them—not slugs, not the same, specifically snails, with the little homes they carried on their backs. They could move anywhere at anytime, taking their whole lives with them. We talked about Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Scrubs. He said the Dracula movie with Keanu Reeves was a surprisingly accurate study of the old vampires’ ways. Vampire Diaries wasn’t that far off either. Damon was hot, we could both agree on that, after Theo had googled pictures of him, because I’d had no idea who Damon was or what the Vampire Diaries were. Some older families were still like that, but they mostly kept to the old countries in Europe. He talked about private school, about how he’d struggled with prejudices. Theo liked to talk, and I liked to listen. So it worked. We worked.

The evening moved on. We left that club and found another with a livelier vibe. More drinks were downed and our moods loosened. The Miami nightlife throbbed with its own kind of rhythm that I’d never experienced before. I wasn’t a Florida guy. I’d been born in West Virginia, but had ended up in New York before it had all gone wrong.

New York nightlife had been all sharp edges and rain on the sidewalk. Miami was different. The heat didn’t quit just because the sun had. It sat on the streets like a warm hand, thick with salt from the bay. Bass leaked out of every doorway and not a single bar played the same song. Neon bloomed in puddles. People spilled out onto sidewalks in barely anything, laughing too loud, dancing where they stood, like the whole city had agreed the night was theirs and nobody had to be anywhere in the morning. It should’ve been too much. But with Theo beside me, it wasn’t.

Theo’s effortless confidence and sideways humor made everything softer.

Sometime around midnight, I’d started noticing the more frequent little touches and what they did to my insides. A hand on mine, a brush of the shoulder, a nudge, a laugh, a tease. We sat closer, leaning together when talking. And I started opening up. I told him about my life before, some of it. The city job behind a desk, shuffling numbers on a screen, wearing a suit to work every day. He didn’t believe it. Laughed, in fact, and said there was no way a body like mine came from a desk job.

I didn’t talk about prison, about the things I’d had to do to guard my heart, about the two versions of me. The Owen I’d been before, and the man I was now.

We moved to another bar, this one on a rooftop alongside the strip, with a view of Miami’s bay stretching toward the dark horizon. The residential neighborhoods crisscrossed below, each of their pools flittering like aquamarine jewels. We leaned against the glass rail, looking out over the city. Theo stood close, his hip touching mine. There was no way he didn’t notice. But in the haze of alcohol and a good time, I didn’t mind.

When I’d met him, I hadn’t expected Theo to be so likeable. Didn’t think it would have been possible. Moody vampire heir, drama llama, shallow and self-centered pretty boy. But that was just the image he projected on social media. He still had those elements, but underneath it all, there was a magnetic softness to him that pulled me closer as the night went on.

“When was the last time you had a night out like this?” Theo asked.

We both leaned our forearms on the rooftop rail, putting us side by side. His hair had gotten wilder as the night had gone on, fluffier and more ruffled. His eyes were brighter too, as though the night rejuvenated him. His smile was the most alive thing about him. It moved around on his lips, going from sassy to sarcastic, light to loose. Right now, he was wearing it sideways, halfway between curious and amused. Almost all his smiles had some degree of amused in them.

“Like this?” Talking with a guy as though we’d known each other for years, feeling comfortable enough to relax? “Honestly? Never.”

“Well, that can’t be right, Freckles. Ain’t nobody ever treated you right?”

I smiled and looked down at the residential neighborhood sparkling below us.

He threw around little teases and compliments like that, like he meant them, but it was just his way. Theo was one of those people who flattered those around him, charming them with compliments.

“Hey . . .” He was still looking over, and now he held my gaze, making sure I couldn’t escape. “I’m not bullshitting you,” he said. “It helps that you’re hot, and I like to flirt, just in case you didn’t notice. But it’s not just that. You’re easy to be around, honest and genuine. I’m not just being cute, Owen. I mean it. Your authenticity is rare. I wish more people were like you.”

I don’t know what my face did, but it must have been complicated because Theo’s smile faded.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to make you sad,” he said.

“No, it’s . . .” My voice croaked. I looked away again, at the rows of glittering pools. “I guess I’m a sucker for a sweet talker, is all. Just can’t help myself.”

Theo turned to face me, leaning his hip against the rail, giving me his full attention. Was he waiting for me to say something or trying to figure out what he should say? Heat warmed my face. Probably the alcohol. I’d lost count of the number of drinks we’d had.

I turned my face away, not wanting to be caught blushing like an idiot.

Movement below caught my eye. A slither of darkness swept through each pool, like a dark mass carving through each one, as though they were connected. Like one of those sharks, their shadows cruising below the surface of a turquoise bay somewhere. But this thing cruised through every single pool, one after another, which was . . . impossible.

“Hey, d’you see that?”

He stopped staring at me, and leaned over the rail, following my gaze. “See what?”

In the second I’d taken to glance back at Theo, it had gone. But I had seen something sweep through the waters.

Individual pools weren’t connected. But Theo’s pool and that of his neighbors had the same chemical makeup. As though they were the same pool, or . . . they were connected.

“Maybe I uh . . . maybe I’m that wasted,” I laughed. Could something have been in the pools? Ten years ago, people hadn’t known vampires existed, and here we were. Clearly, there were things out there we weren’t aware of. “Hey, so there are vampires, right, but are there other things out there?”

“Other things?” Theo asked, his smile cracking.

“Besides vampires.”

“You think I’m a thing?” he asked.

“What? No, that’s not what I meant.”