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“I think you might be underestimating how much we all miss youeverysecond of every day. You’re not with us when we wake, at least not all of the time.” He put out his hand and I let him tug me toward him. “It would be better if you could sleep when we do and wake with us. Not possible, but I’d like it better.”
“Me too,” Griffin said as he appeared at my side. I jolted and then laughed. Maybe we needed to get him a bell. Actually, that would be a great gift for all of them.
I patted them both on their arms. “The thing is, guys, it’s not like you could wake up to protect me then, anyway. Besides, humans have to live in the daytime.”
“Do they?” Ace rubbed my back.I need bells, damn it.“Who says?”
“I do.” I sighed. “What would you all have done if I’d been in there for hours and come out drunk?”
“Waited.” Rowan spoke across the parking lot as he strode toward me. “Just like we did, but I predicted you wouldn’t be in there long. You’re not the bar type.”
What was it about Rowan? I either wanted to fuck him or smack him, and the two feelings were not mutually exclusive. “You’re an expert on bars, now?”
Griffin interrupted us. “Hey guys, before you start bickering, Tanner’s in the car. Could you give him his voice back?”
I nodded. “Sure. But you’re right. I’m not a bar person. Feel free to be smug.”
“Oh,” Ace laughed. “We don’t need permission for that.”
No, they really didn’t.
I sort of liked it, just the same.
* * *
It was funny how happiness snuck in and took over my life. I couldn’t remember a time I had been as content and pleased with things as I was for the next couple of weeks. It was so all-encompassing to feel settled and okay. With Rowan on our side, I stopped worrying about the elders.
Days moved into routine. I worked, or I had days off, but I spent my evenings with them. Sometimes we watched movies, went for walks, or they bought me things they thought I would like. At least I thought they bought the stuff. Maybe they just stole it? I learned to not ask some questions if I didn’t want the answers.
If that made me a hypocrite, I supposed I could live with it. Besides, I was having way too much sex to be concerned with much other than eating, fucking, sleeping, working, and, for a change, laughing.
They didn’t need very much blood. It seemed like maybe one of them, once a day, outside of Tanner’s daily sips.
I lay on the floor with my head in Griffin’s lap while he rubbed my back. “You need to be careful how you’re lifting boxes.”
Since I made the mistake of telling him my shoulder hurt, he seemed convinced I would perish from my strenuous life. I rolled my eyes but let him rub my back just the same. “I’m okay.”
“You don’t have to work.”
I lifted my head. “Yeah, I do, and, yeah, we’ve had this fight already. I’m not having it again. I need my own job. I feel too much like your paramour otherwise.”
He sat me up so I faced him. “Would it be so terrible to be my paramour? I’d take such good care of you. For your whole life, I’d never let anything happen to you. You would never have another worry.”
Caesar scooted over next to us. “Why do you get to be his paramour? I found you first. You could be mine?”
“No paramours. Nope. No, thank you.” I got up. “What are we doing tonight? Anything?” I was good with the idea of not doing anything, content to stay there, in my happy house that became more and more a home to me every day.
I blinked. It wasn’t just the house that felt like home to me.The guys are my home. What was happening? It had been… what? Weeks since I’d hated vampires more than anything?
“I found some things in the book.” Griffin lifted the book I’d retrieved for him from the guy hiding from the vampires. “It seems some of our history is wrong. Or the book is wrong. What I mean is there’s a conflict of stories. Maybe we had a more profound history than we’ve known? Art. Music. I’m… I’m looking into it.”
I stroked his face. “That would be amazing.”
“It would be.” He kissed my cheek. “I’ll know more soon. Finally, I feel like I’m getting somewhere.”
Ace tugged on the end of my hair. “Maybe tonight we could go into Asheville. I found some late-night clubs we could try out, because I’d like to dance with you. I’ll even try not to kill anyone who bumps into you.”
The door opened and closed as Rowan entered. He couldn’t sleep there—a continued bone of contention that kept him constantly disgruntled. He smiled when he saw me, which always seemed to lighten his face up.
