I determined to talk to Draven about getting her a guard later. Maybe I could hire one for her? I made a ton of money now, and I wasn’t really racking up any living expenses...
When the food arrived—cheese-stuffed Hawaiian pizza with cheesy bread and marinara sauce to dip it in, as well as chocolatey chocolate-chip cheesecake, and root beer floats—I made a plate and offered it to the guards first. They all thanked me politely but declined. I’d thought they might. I shrugged my shoulders. Well, I would set some aside for them for later.
I dragged my beanbag over, kicking Zian off of it because a girl needs her space, and practically canon-balled into it, wincing as my body twinged with remnants of pain.
Rhys had brought another potion, so my twinges were far less than they were, but I was still sore. I had a best friend thatrocked.Rhys tried to sit with me, but I held him at bay with a foot. “Uh uh. Girls only. Come on, Dice. Come share before Rhys gets any ideas.”
“Too late,” he grumbled, plunking his butt down next to Draven. Zian came over to my side and sighed as he plopped down next to me, his enormous head resting on a tiny patch of the beanbag. He looked scandalized that I’d taken his bed.
“Sorry boy. A girl needs her space.”
Dice was fighting with the cheese on her gigantic slice of pizza. It kept stretching endlessly, but never breaking apart. I laughed and dug in too, flicking my eyes up to watch Draven eat.
It always amused me to watch him eat, but I tried to be sneaky about it. I didn’t want him to feel like he was an animal in a zoo. He ate so precisely. His napkin covered his lap, and he reacted, just a tiny bit, to almosteverybite. It turned out that vampires were food snobs. And theylovedexcellent cuisine. Draven’s eyes lit up as he dipped the cheesy bread into the sauce and took a bite.
I looked down at my pizza and smirked. I had a few things I wanted to introduce him to. He’d never had a double chocolate chip muffin before, after all, and they were one of my favorite food groups. I considered them a class all their own.
Rhys picked out the movie, an action sci-fi with a romantic bent, and we all settled in to watch. Halfway through the movie, Dice fell asleep. She seemed utterly exhausted. Rhys came over and tucked a blanket around her, and I swapped seats with him, wanting to sit with Draven for a bit.
I plated some cheesecake and curled my legs under me. “I like this movie, Rhys. Good choice.”
He smirked. “I have good taste.”
“Yep.” I turned to Draven casual-like. “He was naked in my shower when I first met him,” I said conversationally. “And I couldn’t even stay mad because my shower is literally the most awesome shower on the planet.”
Draven laughed. “Way to make a splash into someone’s life, Rhys.”
“That was punny,” I deadpanned.
Draven laughed, and those champagne bubblesexplodedin my chest again. I surreptitiously massaged them away, but I think Draven noticed. He went quiet for a bit. “Want some?” I offered him a piece that was marbled with all the gooey goodness.
“No, thank you. Have you tamed my chef yet?”
I thought of Henri’s red face when I’d poked my head in earlier to request our dinner. “He seems to be a little high-strung.”
“High-strung might be an understatement.”
“Thanks for arranging my play date, and thanks for hanging out with us.”
He held out his hand, and I set my plate down and laced my fingers through his.
“I can feel your heartbeat in the webs between your fingers,” he said casually.
“Is that a healthy thing for you to be focusing on?” I mean, vampirescouldbe hazardous to your health.
“For you or for me?”
I shrugged. “Let’s go with both.”
He laughed and looked down at our hands clasped together. “It’s a comfort to me,” he whispered.
I sobered. Yeah, heartbeat equaled life. But Draven didn’t want to talk about what I’d seen when he’d snacked on me a few days ago, so I just squeezed his hand a bit, and laid my head on his shoulder as we watched the rest of the movie.
* * *
I came awake abruptlyand sat up. My eyes tried to see in total darkness, and struggled for a minute until I made out Rhys and Dice on the beanbag chair, curled up with each other. I wanted toawwwout loud, but restrained myself. Barely. Instead, I grabbed another blanket and put it over poor Rhys. Dice had wrapped hers around her like a burrito, or like a girl who didn’t like to share. I laughed silently. Rhys had his work cut out for him with her. She was everything awesome, but she was very hard to reach emotionally. I thought it might be a defense mechanism because she sawsomuch about people.
I slipped on my unicorn fuzzy slippers, snapped my fingers to get Zian’s attention, and left my room with Zian trailing after me. Another guard was on duty outside of my room. I waited while he spoke to Mesmer in his earpiece, and then they both escorted me to the office.
