Page 115 of The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends

Cole was blinking rapidly, mouth twisting, jaw working. His lip quivered and his hand in Brennan’s slackened.

He stood then, so abruptly that his chair clattered over behind him. “I think maybe,” Cole said, his voice the strongest it had been all evening, “you need some time.”

He turned on his heel and fled.

Brennan spared a moment to realize that most of the restaurant’s staff and patrons were watching their table before he followed Cole’s footsteps.

The cold air was sharp as Brennan emerged from the restaurant.“Cole!” Brennan tried calling, but Cole didn’t stop moving until Brennan had caught up with him and put a hand to his arm, at which point he stopped in his tracks so suddenly he must have been waiting for it.

“Cole,” he said again, but now that he’d caught him, he didn’t know what to say. His heart ached in empathy for everything Cole must be feeling.

Cole stayed facing away for a long moment, shoulders shaking almost imperceptibly.

“Admittedly, that could have gone better,” Brennan tried, his voice soft even as he winced at the words. Why didn’t he know what to say? Cole always knew what to say, but whenever the tables were turned, Brennan didn’t know how to return the favor.

Cole let out a weak little sound, halfway between a laugh and a sob, and his shoulders shook harder.

Then he finally twisted around in a flurry of motion that Brennan barely processed before his arms were full of Cole. Cole buried his face in Brennan’s chest and Brennan’s hands hovered a second before settling on Cole’s back, tugging him close, burying his nose in the scent of his hair.

“It’s okay,” Brennan soothed, but it felt cheap.

“I made a huge mistake,” Cole gasped, the words muffled against Brennan’s shirt. “They’re my family, I can’t lose them.”

“Look at me, Cole. You did nothing wrong.”

“I shouldn’t have—”

“Hey, no. It’s your life. It’s on them if they can’t accept the idea of you as a barista. Give them time.”

“But everything wasfine,everything was okay and I had to go and ruin it and now they’ll be upset and—”

“Fuckthem being upset. They don’t get to be upset. Their happiness isn’t your problem.”

Brennan wracked his head for something to say that could soothe the hurt riding over Cole in waves.

“You can’t change the way they react, or control the way they feel. It’s their job to figure it out, and it’s your job to be yourself and fuck everyone else!” He paused, wrinkled his nose. “Well, noteveryoneelse, and notliterallyfuck, for a few reasons.”

Cole snorted a wet laugh and pulled back to look up at Brennan. His eyes were red-rimmed, tears streaking his cheeks.

“I should have told you about the internship,” he said.

Brennan said, “I wouldn’t have been opposed to a bit more warning of what I was walking into.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You keep me on my toes.” Brennan sighed, hands dropping from Cole’s shoulders to his waist. “It’s part of the charm.”

Cole opened his mouth to respond—

And Brennan’s world underwent a violent twist.

In the distance came people shouting and car horns beeping, followed by an assault on Brennan’s nose by the tangy iron scent of blood. It was so much, so strong, he was nearly bowled over with the force of it.

He’d fed before dinner to avoid any fang-related mishaps, and he’d gotten good enough to not react strongly at small amounts of blood.

But this was something else. This was alotof blood. More than Brennan had smelled at once since turning.

“Brennan? Are you okay?” Cole’s voice sounded foggy, as if from a distance, and it pulled him back to reality.