I blew air into my cheeks, wishing there was a way to split an outfit in two. Well… therekind ofwas. And it wouldn’t bethatdifferent from the night before when I’d been in a dress and he’d been in his slutty little tank top.
“What if I took your shirt, and you wore your pants?” I suggested before I could stop myself. There was no room for embarrassment. We needed solutions.
“Is that something you’d be comfortable with?”
“I’m sure your shirt will be a dress on me. It’ll do in a pinch.”
“Alright. If that’s what you’d like. Good thinking.”
Theo’s shirt was a modest-enough length on me; it would’ve passed high school dress code. The problem was I hadn’t realized the additional holes cut into the back for his lower arms would fall against my ribs, revealing a decent amount of side boob and chub.
Oh well. It was better than nothing.
I wrung my underwear out over the sink and scowled. Ireallydidn’t want to put those back on. It felt like asking for ayeast infection. Surely, I could do without? I’d just sleep very…verystill, so nothing could ride up.
Fine. Side boob and no panties it is.
Theo didn’t look at me when we passed each other from bed to bathroom. His gray flannel pants were tossed over his shoulder. I forced out a cheery “problem solved” and tried not to think about how I hadn’t shaved my legs once since getting the zap to this planet. This was one of the more humbling moments of my life, and that was saying something.
Crawling into bed, I closed my eyes and tried to settle.
“Rrrrraaaawwwwwwrrrrr,” my stomach groaned.
Nooooooooooo!
I wanted to stay under the covers—warm, dry, hairiness concealed—but I was fucking hungry, despite the fact that we’d eaten not long ago. Life wasdeterminedto deny me the comfort of this damn bed.
I’d sleep well tonight if it killed me, so it was time to dig some food out of our bag. My berries were filling; a handful should do the trick. Then I’d be back in bed before Theo was out of the shower, and finally get some quality rest.
I rolled out from under the blankets and stepped over to our travel bag. Kneeling beside it, I started undoing the top set of buckles. One… two…
What the fuck?!
Genuinely startled, I fell back onto my ass and scrambled away from the bag, hitting my head on the wooden bedpost in my retreat. I hissed in pain, clutching my skull and gritting my teeth.
“Viv?!” Theo called. “Viv, you okay?!”
I didn’t respond, not quite sure what to say considering what I found.
“Vivian?!” The bathroom door was thrown open, and all my panic was forgotten, exchanged with a new reason for my heart to beat faster.
Theo. My god. Theo.
All four of his arms braced on the wooden doorframe, flexing. Ready to jump into action. The lines from his biceps to his pecks were distinct, defining his rounded shoulders. His body had soft edges, wrapped around strong bulk. The muscles lining his sides and the tops of his hips were thick. Of course they were. They had to support his massive upper body. The same upper body that was currently tense and imposing in the dimly lit doorway. His flannel pants—hisgrayflannel pants—hung low. Those inky tattoos took on a new pattern above his groin, but I didn’t want to stare too long to investigate. Instead, my eyes flickered around, wide and blinking unnaturally.
He looked at the open bag and let out an exhale. “Fuck, you scared me. I thought something happened.They’re charms. To deter the night beasts.”
“They’re jars with an inch of blood in them.” And I was understating the amount of gore. WhatIdahad at her home were “charms”, with reasonable drizzles of dried burgundy subtly crusting an herb.Thesewere vampire shot glasses.
“What can I say? I’m thorough.” He stepped to the bag and flipped the top closed, then made his way to the bed, taking a seat on my right. “I thought you might like to have some on hand.”
I blinked. They were forme? My gut twisted. Where had he gotten so much blood today?
“Is that what you were doing when you went off on your own?” It was the only time I could think he would’ve been able to make them. I’d just introduced him to their existenceyesterday.
“No, I made them last night.” He held his hand up to show me a stitched up, swollen gash across his palm. How had I not noticedthat?
“Oh.” I dragged myself the short distance across the wooden floor to his feet, taking his hand in mine. It was warm. Textured. Massive. “Theo, you didn’t have to do that. I was doing fine without them. My field doesn’t let anything inside that wants to kill me. You know this.”
