“Well”—I flap my arms out to my sides and let them fall against my hips with a flop—“I guess it worked. I’m not horny. Like, at all.”
A corner of his mouth turns up, but it isn’t a real smile. He’s bothered by all of this, and he’s doing a poor job of hiding it or explaining himself.
“I feel like you’re avoiding me,” I press a little.
“Am I?” he asks.
“Yes, definitely. You’re all the way over there, and I’m all the way over here.” Granted, there’s like ten steps between us that would solve the issue of proximity, but I don’t move. Neither does he.
“You were… clutching to life when we found you.” The pain in his voice reflects in his expression. From what I understand, it was pretty bad. I’m slightly glad I don’t remember. “I’ve been angry with myself while you slept, tossing between worry, fear, and loathing. None of this should have happened, Millie. You shouldn’t have been here, fighting for your life.”
I close the space between us and reach a hesitant hand out to touch his arm. He doesn’t flinch or pull away, but he also doesn’t seem to find comfort in it either. My stomach knots itself around the dejection with a vice-like grip. I don’t want him to blame himself.
“This isn’t your fault.”
“You know,” he starts, his voice cracking, “I almost offered myself up to him, to Dante, just to make this stop.”
To my surprise, a tear as bright red as his eyes falls down the curve of his cheek. At the sight of it, my heart slams inside my chest. Without thinking, I wrap myself around his middle and hold on as tight as I can. I can feel the coolness of his skinthrough his shirt, and the tense coiling of his muscles under my touch.
“You can’t do that.” My voice feels hard in my throat.
“What else am I supposed to do?” he groans.
“Stay with me,” I breathe, gripping the fabric of his shirt. “Be with me. We can figure this out together.”
“I would never be able to forgive myself if you died.”
“Okay, so, I won’t die.” I look up into his face, which is streaked with shallow trails of blood.
While shocking to see, it’s less so than the dark veins poking through the surface of his skin or the black pools that have overtaken his red eyes. This has happened before, at the church and Tannis’s club. He was distressed then, and so I guess he must be feeling the same way now, too. It doesn’t scare me, though. It just hurts to see him so far from the funny and flirtatious part of him I’ve come to love.
“There’s an easy solution to that.” Untangling my arms from his body, I reach for his face and stand on my tiptoes until our noses are touching. Stroking my thumbs along his cheeks, I whisper, “You could make me like you.”
He pauses, and all the air around us goes eerily still. I can’t hear anything but the rapid beating of my heart, which sounds twice as loud as it usually does. It’s probably extreme, but it does exactly what I expect it to do—it knocks him back to the present. His eyes narrow, and his brows pull together, tight with the same distress present in his expression.
“Millie, I—”
“A vampire? Really?” a voice sing-songs from behind us, startling me. “Don’t you think you’re moving too fast? I mean, at least make your situationship anofficialrelationship. It’ll at least give this ‘war on exes’ meaning.”
“Tannis?” I drop my hands and turn in front of Gray. “When did you get here?”
“Just now.” They say with a dismissive wave of one hand. In the other is a big duffel bag, which they toss my way. Gray’s hand shoots out to catch it before it can hit me. “A change of clothes for her, as you requested. The rest of your baggage is in the car.”
Gray comes to my side and opens the bag, giving it a nod of approval.
“What’s going on?”
Tannis smiles, flashing their pearly white fangs. “You’re going on a road trip.”
“I’m sorry, awhatnow?”
Gray hands me the bag and presses a palm to the small of my back. Without answering me, he leads me past Tannis and down the hall. We stop at the bathroom, and despite my protests, he pushes me in with the bag.
“Shower first,” he says, wiping away the red streaks on his cheeks. “I’ll explain after.”
“Okay?” I eye the bag in my hands skeptically. A road trip? Right now? I haven’t even been awake for two hours.
“Just… trust me,” Gray pleads. “Please.”
