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He doesn’t say a word, so Delilah speaks first. “You knew I was standing there, didn’t you.”
Our position up on the roof has excellent acoustics, so we can hear Delilah loud and clear. The atmosphere around the two of them crackles. This is so good. In my head I’m secretly willing them to start kissing each other’s faces off, revealing their hidden love affair. Unfortunately, I don’t get my wish.
“I heard you breathing,” Ira answers after a long stretch of silence.
“You pretended you didn’t know,” Delilah sighs.
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You barely talk to anyone. It’s frustrating.”
Their conversation reminds me a little of the one I had with Ira when he spoke to me for the very first time. The only difference is that, unlike Delilah, I wasn’t so obviously intent on getting it on with him.
“I speak when I have something to say. I don’t see the point of spewing words just to fill a silence. My mother used to say that the loudest mouths are always attached to the emptiest vessels.”
“That might be true, but those who don’t speak make me suspicious. It usually means they have something to hide.”
Oh. Maybe she doesn’t want him in the biblical sense. Perhaps this is more of an interrogation than a romantic interlude.
“I am an open book. Ask me a question and I’ll answer it for you,” Ira tells her and then he closes his eyes. It’s like he’s ending the conversation, despite his invitation for her to ask him anything. I can see Delilah visibly bristle.
“I take back what I said about your silence. You’re even more frustrating when you speak.”
Ira’s eyes shoot open again. “If I have offended you, it wasn’t my intention.”
Delilah makes an effort to calm herself down. “No, no, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m very much on edge these days. I’ve had a rough few weeks.”
“You look like a woman who has survived worse,” Ira comments.
“You could say that,” Delilah agrees, gathering herself. “I apologise for interrupting your meditation. I should go.”
“You can join me, if you like,” Ira offers, gesturing to the empty patch of grass beside him. “If you are stressed it will clear your head.”
She takes a moment to respond, her body language uncomfortable. Finally, she takes a breath and walks over to sit beside him. As they both close their eyes, Ethan pulls us away from the roof edge.
“Hey,” I say in whispered protest. “It was just about to get interesting.”
He smirks at me. “You’re quite the little voyeur.”
“Ugh, when you put it like that you make me sound like a pervert.” Though to be perfectly honest, if they had started sexing it up I probably would have stayed and watched the entire thing. Yep, I’m a pervert.
He brings me to the centre of the roof, before pulling me to his front as he stretches his body out, laying me on top of him.
“It’s strange being up here,” I say, after a few quiet moments of staring ahead at the starless sky.
“Ah, déjà vu,” Ethan mutters, tracing his fingers up and down my arms.
“Huh?”
“The first night I met you it was a starless night just like this one. I sat on the roof of my house with Delilah, staring up at the sky. We spoke about the perils of loving a human.”
“I think it’s slightly more perilous for a human to love a vampire,” I counter.
I can feel him smiling when his jaw moves against my hair. “The perils go both ways, I suppose.”
