Page 69 of Bleed

Albert folds his arms, thoroughly unimpressed by that suggestion. “You’re the one who asked me to come over.”

“Yeah,” I huff. “At dusk.”

One blond brow arches as he gestures toward the wall of windows.

My eyes follow. The sky’s awash in streaks of pink and orange, the sun already slipping behind the skyline.

Dusk.

Right.

I turn back to him, shrugging innocently. “Guess my internal clock’s been a little off since I started living with a vampire.”

His gaze drifts over me, lip curling. “What are you wearing?”

I glance down automatically. Though I didn’t bother getting dressed today, my t-shirt and boy short underwear are hardly scandalous.

I look back up, deadpan. “Uh… clothes?”

“Did you lose your pants?” he scoffs.

“Never put them on.” I flash him a grin. “And my butt looks better in these.”

I spin around and stick my ass out, giving him the full view of the little boy shorts hugging my hips while the bottoms of my cheeks peek out beneath them.

“Right?” I ask as I pivot back around, though obviously it’s a rhetorical question.

Albert just stares back at me blankly.

Rude.

“What did you need help with?” he asks, eyes flicking over the peanut-butter-stained counter with obvious disapproval. “Better not be cleaning.”

I snort. “Nah, figured I’d leave that for the boss since he seems to enjoy it so much.” Cocking a hip, I run my fingers through my hair, aiming for casual. “I need you to do your whole blood drawing thing.”

His attention snaps back to me, eyes narrowing. “Why?”

“Why not?” I lift a brow. “Didn’t you brag about how good you are at it?”

“Sure, but Doc didn’t ask me to draw your blood.”

“No,” I agree. “I did.”

He studies me for a long beat, like he’s trying to figure out what game I’m playing.

“Bex.”

“Albert.”

He sighs, folding his arms. “Why?”

“Because I’m curious,” I reply, shrugging.

He frowns. “About?”

“I’ve been logging all this data from blood samples in the lab, I kinda wanna know how mine compares.”

“You’re suddenly interested in hematology?” he questions dubiously.