Page 47 of This Blood That Binds Us

Aaron gasped. “I need to go get you some milk for these!”

In a flurry, he threw the Oreos into the cart and left. I sighed, looking at all the junk food in my cart.One junk grocery haul wouldn’t kill me.

I kept walking through the aisle and combed through oatmeal flavors. The hair stood on the back of my neck as I looked up expectantly. No one was in the same aisle as me. Looking back, I noticed there weren’t many people in the store, just the overhead lights’ green fluorescent glow, which was unusual for the middle of the day.

An eerie feeling poured into the atmosphere like a fog. In all of Aaron’s excitement, I had let my guard down. Something I had never done before.

I searched around for the threat my body perceived, but it was nowhere to be found. A weight settled on my chest. Gripping the cart, I pulled myself through the aisle. I glanced behind my shoulder once more. An empty aisle mocked me. Someone was watching me, but who?

I picked up my pace. Every few aisles, I skipped and peeked around corners. The large, circle mirrors on the ceilings revealed nothing. I couldn’t put my finger on what I felt or why.

A man walking toward me on his cellphone caught my eye. I ducked into another aisle, hoping to conceal myself. I gripped my cart but kept watch on the bottle of wine on the display next to me, imagining how I could use it to beat the crap out of my attacker. It seemed unlikely that a vampire could be followingme in broad daylight, but like Aaron and I said, anything was possible.

The man dressed in a lounge sweater and button-up collar turned the corner, following me into the aisle. My heartbeat was strong in my chest as I hunkered myself closer to the food shelf. I squeezed my fingernails into my palm as I grazed the white wine bottle. I was ready for anything. To my surprise, he passed me quickly, not even looking in my direction.

I relaxed my shoulders and did another quick sweep. The man was one of the only people in the store. No one was following me. I was truly just being paranoid.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I jumped at Aaron’s voice behind me, surprised by the sudden relief I felt in his proximity.

“Your heart is beating really fast.”

His warm, chocolate eyes panned over me, looking for any sign of danger.

“Oh, yeah. It’s nothing. I’m not used to shopping with someone else. It’s taking a little adjusting.”

Aaron smiled before observing our surroundings. “You don’t need to worry. I won’t let anything happen to you here, and new things are good.”

His words hit me like a ton of bricks, but I kept my reaction neutral. I fought an inside voice that wanted to tell him I didn’t need his help. It was true that I didn’t trust anyone else to protect me, but another part of me—that was growing larger and larger by the day—did. I wanted to trust in the way Aaron did.

“New . . . is really good.”

Aaron cradled a giant, red gummy bear in his hand. “Here. I got you something.” He waited expectantly for my reaction. “Look what I found. Isn’t it great?!”

“It’s . . . a giant gummy bear.”

“Awe, you’re not as excited as I’d hoped. Come on, let’s keep looking!”

We continued walking together down various rows before landing in front of the beverages. I grabbed a liter of Diet Coke and handed it to Aaron to put in the cart.

“You know that stuff will kill you, right?” Aaron smirked.

“Is that more probable than me being killed by vampires?”

“You’ve got a point.”

I pushed the cart but stuttered to a stop. “Speaking of which, I’ve been kind of curious about something.”

“Oh no.” He raised his brow. “It’s a doozy, isn’t it. What is it?”

I checked to make sure no one was around us. “I was just thinking about how...it’s been a few weeks since you...you know. Do you have a plan for...drinking more blood?”

Aaron groaned. “I knew it. Do wehaveto talk about that? I was having fun.” He tried to push the cart away, and I quickly walked in front, blocking the aisle.

“Come on. You don’t think about this stuff? What about your brothers? How do they do it?”

He kicked a dusty wrapper that clung to the floor. “Of course I think about this stuff. All the time...I get it, though. I would be curious, too.”