Page 11 of The Human’s Heart

“Uncle Thayer told me.” He shrugged again, and I honestly wasn’t sure I wanted to know how or why his uncle knew that either.

Instead, I looked at Jett, clinked my glass to his again, and gulped the rest of it down in one go.

It really did taste good.

Thank god.

Now I had to keep my fingers and toes crossed that it stayed down and that I didn’t psych myself out about it again.

Chapter 4

Zaos

Last night had gone far better than I’d expected, and I didn’t think I’d ever been so relieved.

Relieved that Hugo hadn’t minded the taste.

Relieved that he’d drunk it without my begging.

And so fucking relieved that he now had vampire blood coursing through his veins.

It would keep him safe, at least a little. The more vampire blood he consumed, the more it’d do for him. It’d help him heal quickly. It’d slow down his aging.

It could be the thing that saved him if he was ever in a car accident or something like that.

That was something I didn’t want to think about. Especially when I was headed to my summer class and taking a test today. Summer classes were so intense since they had to squeeze everything into a few weeks instead of a few months, and I sort of regretted scheduling this class.

I thought it’d be good to get one out of the way so I could take one less class in the fall—my last semester—and make more time to spend with Hugo. I was going to start an internship next semester, which meant I’d be even busier than I already was since I didn’t want to give up working at the hospital—although I might have to—and I didn’t want Hugo to feel neglected.

Honestly, I didn’t want to be away from him that much.

I wanted to be around him all the time, whether we were hanging out together, eating, running errands, or simply sitting on the couch, watching TV. The fact that I’d have a lot less time to do those things come fall was depressing and making me anxious.

Hugo wasn’t used to people caring about him, and I was doing my best to show him it was okay to accept affection and open himself up to others.

But what was going to happen if I wasn’t around enough?

Would he start questioning my intentions again, thinking that maybe we really weren’t viramores again? Would he feel like I was choosing work and school over him? Would he be angry when I had little time to spend with him or if I was tired, as I was sure I’d be?

I took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts away.

Playing the what-if game was stupid and only made me feel worse.

And thinking all these things about Hugo and our relationship made it seem like I didn’t trust in us.

I did trust in us. I really did.

I had no doubt we’d be together for the rest of our lives.

But I was so happy with how far we’d come already that I was afraid of taking even one step back. I didn’t want to go backward. I wanted to go forward. I wanted to keep growing together.

I decided to check on the construction work outside before I left, so I grabbed my school bag and walked out the back door, ensuring everything was locked up tight. Not that I didn’t trust the workers—I did, honestly—but I knew my grandparents would lecture me if they realized I’d left it unlocked.

After the supervisor said he was good to go, I walked over to my grandparents and said, “I’m headed out for class. Hugo’s already at work, but we’ll both be home around dinnertime.”

Granddad pulled me into a hug, saying, “Stay safe, kiddo.”

“I will.”