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What did you do with Theo?

I believe he sent you a photo of what we did

Naughty??

Be gentle with him, Annie

Or you’ll be in trouble

Please tell me you are coming back

There is a long pause before he replies, and I find myself holding my breath as I wait.

I am,mi amor

I promise

Before I can reply, Theo returns and sees me holding his phone. His eyebrows go up, but he does not seem angry. I pass it over to him silently, and he looks at the messages.

“Well, at least you got him to tell you he’s coming back,” he says, flopping onto the couch. I lean into his chest, and he puts his arm around me, then pulls the blanket around us.

“When he does come back, will you ask him about what Monty said?”

“He promised he’d give us an explanation anyway, so I’m hoping I won’t have to.” We fall back into silence as Theo resumes the show.

Eventually, he falls into a fitful sleep, and I keep him warm by pushing Hellfire through my body. He begins to mutter, twitching and groaning. I cannot tell what he is dreaming of, but he clings to me like I am his lifeline, and I hold him too. I am not certain how to soothe him, so I attempt singing, adjusting my human vocal cords so the sound is low and gentle. The only song I know by heart now is the one Ben and I danced to, so I sing that. It appears to help, and I spend the rest of the night with him wrapped in my arms, wondering how much longer I have here.

In the middle of the night, I take his phone out and use his finger to unlock it, then type a single message to Ben.

I think I miss you. Please come home to us. —A

29

Theo

The first thing Ifeel when I wake up is Annie’s lips on my neck. Then her warm, almost hot, hand reaches beneath my shirt, sliding across my lower stomach.

“Hey,” I murmur groggily against her hair. She moves back to look at me and smiles.

“Good morning,” she purrs, and her hand moves down, brushing my waistband.

“What’re you doing?”

“You are already hard for me, Theo,” she replies. I am, and I laugh softly, then put my hand over hers.

“Annie, sweetheart, that’s just…something that happens in the morning.”

She pulls away again, making that adorable pouting face. “Oh…so, you do not want me?”

“Fuck,” I breathe. “No, I definitely do…” She wriggles down, then pushes my shirt up and runs her mouth over my stomach and hips. Before I know it, she’s straddling me, and my hands go to her waist on instinct. She’s still wearing those damn shorts with no panties, and she grinds against my cock, sending me into overdrive. I reach up and grab the back of her neck, pulling her down for a hungry kiss. Her fangs sink into my lower lip and I let out a ragged gasp, but just as I’m about to slide my hands into her shorts, there’s a loud, insistent knock on the door.

“Godammit!” I groan, holding onto Annie’s hips and trying to savor the contact before she scrambles off me, giggling like we’re in high school and my parents just got home.

“Who on earth is that?”

I stand up and try to hide the fact that I’m hard as a rock, which is impossible to do in gray sweatpants.

“Better not be my mom,” I sigh, and wrap a large blanket around myself like a cloak before I go to the door and squint through the peephole. It’s Ben, grinning from ear to ear, holding a paper grocery bag and what looks like a bouquet of sunflowers. I glance back at Annie and smile, then open the door.