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I’m not sure what he means by that, but based on the way Anna grabs my wrist and gives me a pleading look, I’m better off letting it go this time. Besides, I don’t know that I’m capable of winning an argument with someone who uses “hurtle” in a sentence.

Time for a tactical retreat.

“I’m going upstairs. Someone call me when lunch is ready.” I’m not making the same mistake again today.

“Thank you,” Anna mouths, letting me go. Clive says nothing, already banging around in the kitchen. I might have to ask him to taste my food before I eat it, just to make sure it’s not poisoned.

The corridor is a mess of plaster dust and shards, with a man-sized impact crater on the staircase wall. I peek into the dining room and see a similar one on the wall beside the door. The door also looks a bit crooked—Clive might need to get the tradies to rehang it. Tristan might look buttoned-up and rigid, but he’s definitely capable of doing a lot of damage when he’s riled.

I pull out my phone as I jog up the stairs and see a missed call and a voicemail message from Cat. Fucking finally! It takes me a few seconds to find my earbuds—still not sure how good vampire hearing is, but I know it’s good—and then I play the message.

“God, Adz, I’m so sorry!” Her hushed whisper fills my ears, and even though I don’t know what she’s about to say, my stomach sinks. “One of Nisha’s companies in New Delhi had an emergency, and we left last night. I was going to call you as soon as we got off the plane, but I forgot my charger and my phone was dead. I’m so sorry. I can’t really talk right now, but we should be back by Monday. Text me if anything urgent comes up, and just try not to make waves. I’m sorry.”

I stare at my phone as the message ends. Seriously? Try not to make waves? A bit fucking late for that.

Though that’s not Cat’s fault. I might try to find a way to blame her for it, but my actions are not on her. I’m a grown adult.

Still, what the fuck am I supposed to do now? Texting isn’t going to cut it, not with the long list of questions I have, and if she can’t talk, it’s not likely that she’s going to be able to send detailed texts. Monday is four days away. As Clive pointed out, a fuck ton of shit has happened in the last twenty-four hours. Can I safely go another four days without a guardrail?

But what other option do I have? It’s not like I know a ton of people who are part of the vampire community and who know that I’m new to it. Aside from Cat, I’ve never even spoken to the vampire feeder members of my extended family.

Maybe Cat’s right, and I just need to sit tight and not make waves.

When I knock on Tristan’s part-open office door that evening, he’s standing by the window, staring out into the dark garden. Can he even see anything out there with the light reflecting off the glass? Is this a vampire thing?

He turns as I close the door behind me, his gaze taking me in, but says nothing. I wish it was easier to tell what he’s thinking. Is he still annoyed about this morning?

“Hi,” I say. “How’s your day been?”

It was the wrong thing to say, I know instantly from the way his mouth presses into a line. So I follow it up with, “Are you hungry?”

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with me? Who asks a vampire if they’re hungry?

On the plus side, the angry mouth line relaxes, and he shakes his head slightly, turning back to the window to close the blinds. Yay. I really don’t like the idea of having a dark window behind me while a vampire sucks my blood.

He sits on the upholstered bench, and I cross the room and sit beside him. I wonder if he prefers to feed in his office to keep things on a professional basis between us. Cat said something about feeding being intimate, and it really is. Does Tristan not like the idea of work friends? Or does he think I might get delusions of something else?

Never gonna happen. The thought of sex with a vampire makes my balls draw up and my dick want to fall off. Potential death has never been a turn-on for me. Maybe if I tell him that, he’ll relax a bit and we can build a better boss-employee relationship.

Not right now, though. He’s about to bite me, and just in case this is something that will piss him off, I’d rather wait.

I extend my arm in the way that’s already starting to feel familiar, and as he bites, I study the top of his head, blocking out the sharp pain. His curls are slightly mussed, and weirdly, my fingers itch to smooth them down. That would not be a good idea, especially after the way I’ve already pushed boundaries today.

As he continues to feed, I relax. This isn’t so bad. It’s only my second day on the job, and already I can say it’s better than any other job I’ve had. There have been a few hiccups, sure, but I’ll work around them. The gossip is for sure better than I thought it would be—I’ve worked places where fights broke out on the regular, but never where the boss threw someone into a wall. Multiple walls.

Okay, new plan, since I don’t want to lose this job. I keep my head down and stick to my room as much as possible for the next few days, then corner Cat when she gets back and find out everything I don’t know.

I might also need to keep my mouth shut until then. That’s going to be harder, since running my trap is kind of my special talent, but hey, I can make sacrifices to get ahead. It’ll be like Tara putting in a stupid number of extra hours at the law firm, except I just need to keep my lips zipped until I can be sure I’m not giving anything away.

Tristan’s tongue laves my wrist, and I startle. Is he finished already? I got lost in my thoughts—not something I can say too often.

His dark eyes rise to study my face. “All right?”

I nod. “Yeah, sorry. I was thinking and lost track of time.”

He makes a sound of acknowledgement and releases my wrist, but before I can get up, he puts a hand on my shoulder to keep me in place.

“How do you feel? Any light-headedness?”