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“It’s 4:30 in the afternoon. They must think I’m an idiot.” Todd slaps his forehead as he pulls up to a small cottage that has definitely seen better days. Despite its rustic charm, and that’s being generous, I think the place might have had potential before my grandparents were born.
Had potential, just like me,I think as we climb out of the car, Marshal Todd in a hurry to get me inside and out of sight.
Even before the car door is closed, he’s got his jacket over my head. I let him usher me up the porch steps because I know it’ll be faster this way.
The front door creaks open, and I’m shuffled inside. Todd pulls the jacket off me, and I wince, not at the feeling, but at the sight of my surroundings. Nothing looks familiar. Nothing looks like mine.
Because it’s not,I think.Not even your name is yours now.
2
EMILE
“It’s not like I’m trying to hurt you or nothing,” Marcel says, casually sipping his ginger-infused bloody lemonade – and the bloody part is literal.
We’ve been vampires, friends, and business partners for years, making what he’s about to say easy for me to guess.
He wants to get you to reconsider sailing solo,I think.
It’s not going to work, however. This time off from our architectural design company, plus our side business of flipping houses, isn’t the only thing I’m trying to get away from. People in general, and how to navigate getting to know them, is the furthest thing from my mind.
Liar.
I’m trying not to focus on the thought plus what needs doing tomorrow, which is everything, so I pick a fight with well-meaning Marcel instead. Honestly, it’s what he gets for sounding like a broken record.
“You can’t drink and listen at the same time,” I suggest, taking his half-empty second supper out of his light grip. “It’s why I need space from you for a little bit. I’d say it’s nothing personal, but it is.”
He knows he’s struck a nerve, so instead of backing away altogether, he doubles down with a knowing smirk.
“Ditto,” Marcel replies as I finish the drink, then places it on the side table overlooking my generous vegetable garden. It’s mostly zucchini, but I don’t mind. I’m a fan of making it into bread, so it doesn’t go to waste.
I have the perfect recipe for zucchini bread, infused with the perfect ratio of crimson clots-to-zucchini flavor. Most humans think vampires can’t eat food-food, but that’s just not true. Well, not for all of us anyway. Everyone has their allergies slash personal preferences, but the trick to the perfect…
“Are you thinking about zucchini bread again?”
Marcel furrows his perfectly groomed eyebrows. His honey-colored locks hang from his long face as he smirks.
“You should be thinking about what you’re going to say to the mermaid you might find when you’re done with that boat of yours.”
“Hello, my name is Emile, and I need directions,” I say. “I’ll be on my way after I back my boat out of these rocks.”
“You crashed your boat onto some rocks?” he asks, playing along with me. “Why would you do that in front of someone hot?”
“Obviously, it would be an accident, so I guess I’d say sorry first.” I shrug.
He’d love to get a postcard from me bragging about a mermaid.
“For crashing into her rock. Okay, go on,” he begins, then gets a thought of some kind. I can tell because his green eyes widen as he points a manicured finger my way.
“Or do you prefer a merman? Maybe that’s why you’re leaving me to handle everything. Lauren drained the last of your attraction to women.”
“Shut up, idiot.”
I shoot him what I hope is a half-decent side eye, one that saysI’m not ready to talk about it.It isn’t for the reason he’s suggesting, not by a longshot. Lauren wasn’t for me because she just wasn’t. It didn’t have anything to do with how physically attracted I was to her. In fact, physical attraction was one of the only problems we didn’t have.
Yeah, she was hot enough. But I just couldn’t make myself care. To the point where I still feel a little guilty about it sometimes. Maybe I’m just never going to be able to care about another person that way. The way you have to if you’re going to have a real connection, a real partnership.
It’s like you’re just going through the motions with me at this point,she’d said a few months back, right where we’re sitting now.
