Page 25 of Into The Light

“She was stunning to look at it. We found her just after she’d finished a photo shoot downtown. Legs up to her ears and perfect blonde hair.” He cupped his chest and bulged his eyes. “And huge knockers. Huge! Not that I’m into those things.” He puckered his face like he’d sucked on a lemon.

Beautiful? Now I really hated her.

“She may have been beautiful, but she was like having a fancy housecat around. Just lounging about with her pert nose in the air. Since she never interacted with us, we basically treated her like one. We fed her and kept her in the house and pretty much all ignored each other.” Mark laughed.

“How was she with Aiden?”

“Oh, he hated her. Loved how she tasted so he just woke up, drank from her and she went to bed. They rarely saw one another besides feeding time.”

Like a jolt, it appeared again. The flash of her, beautiful Jenny, with Aiden clinging to her neck. Did she taste better than me? The thought of it gave me another burst of jealousy. Knowing he hated her eased the blow just a touch.

“But now Jenny is gone, finally, and you are here. This situation makes me much, much happier. Aiden thinks so, too.”

“He does?” My head snapped around as I chomped down on my piece of bacon. “Why, what did he say?”

Mark eyed me up, wise to my game.

“It’s not so much that he said anything, it’s how he’s acting around you. He’s different. I can tell.”

“Really?”

“Really. Why, do you like him?” His eyes flashed like my middle school girlfriend, Alissa, when we used to hide under the covers with flashlights and admit to our lovesick crushes.

“I don’t like him like him!” I blushed. “He’s weird! And a vampire.”

“He’s gorgeous.” Mark waggled his brows again. “Don’t tell me you didn’t swoon when you saw him.”

I scoffed. “Okay, yeah, he’s gorgeous. But that still doesn’t mean I like him. It just means I’m not blind.”

“You’d have to be not to appreciate a man like that.” He blew out a puff of air.

“How did you meet him?” I asked, trying to divert the attention from me, though curiosity over how two such opposites could meet tickled my brain.

“I hit on him at a club.” Mark laughed.

“No! Really?” I stared at him over the pickle of my Bloody Mary.

“Yes. Really.” His laughter deepened.

“Tell.”

Mark rolled over onto his side and slid his sunglasses up onto his head.

“It was six, or is it seven, years ago? I’m out at a club and in walks this six-foot-two, pale eyed, chiseled jaw, ripped muscles... well, you’ve seen him.”

I nodded along.

“The group I was with were fighting over him and I said, ‘screw it’ and marched over to him while they squabbled.”

“What did you say?” Aiden terrified me, so the thought of approaching him made my heart race.

“I said...” He doubled over in laughter, struggling to form words. “I said, to Aiden mind you, ‘Do you know what my shirt is made of? Boyfriend material.’”

“No!”

“Yes!”

We both fell backward, rolling in laughter. My whole body shook at the thought of Mark bravely marching up to Aiden and hitting on him with the worst pickup line in history.