Page 12 of Vampire Lee

Dillon was carrying tray after tray of plastic cups into the house. Devin had said the plants should be outside for a few hours, and they’d left them on the patio all day. He hoped it hadn’t killed them. They looked fine.

Devin was making pizzas. The scents filled the room, and Dillon’s stomach growled.

“Want to help?” Devin was smiling at him.

“With what?”

“Make a salad. There are veggies in the fridge.”

Dillon nodded and headed for the fridge at the same time as Devin placed a cutting board on the kitchen island. Dillon rinsed a head of lettuce, some tomatoes, and a cucumber.

“How long until we have lettuce, you think?” Devin was adding topping to one of the pizzas and wasn’t looking at Dillon.

“Don’t know. I think it said like four to six weeks or something on the seed pack.”

“That long?” Devin slumped against the counter. “I’d hoped for like two weeks.”

Dillon allowed a small smile. “I think the radishes were three weeks, better suited for the impatient.”

Devin huffed. “Impatient.”

The front door opened, and both Devin and Dillon turned to look at the doorway. Seconds later, Lee walked into the kitchen. Someone must have given him a code to the grid door since he hadn’t buzzed the gate.

“Hi.” He walked closer, and Dillon tensed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Devin do the same. Lee stopped halfway to the island. “Sorry.”

“It’s…eh…” Devin cleared his throat. “It’s okay, we’re being silly.”

Lee frowned. “Where is everyone?”

“Mars and Rei are in the basement working out. Murrie is in town to see his girlfriend. Phone on, should anything happen. I don’t know where Hanna is, her room, I think.” Devin went back to put things on the pizza.

When Lee took another step in Dillon’s direction, he focused on the lettuce.

“Want me to help with anything?” His voice was coming from right next to Dillon, the words pitched low.

He shook his head; his voice having deserted him. When Lee placed a hand on his shoulder, he gripped the knife tighter.

“How was work?” Devin sounded relaxed, and Dillon blew out a breath. Lee squeezed the meaty part of his shoulder before removing his hand.

“It was weird. My boss asked where Rei lives.”

“What?” Devin stilled, but their chatter made it easier for Dillon to focus on what he was doing, so he started chopping.

“Yeah, it was weird. I didn’t answer, said south side, but I think I have to tell the others.”

Devin hummed in agreement.

“Faelan came by too. We switched phones. Where should I put his?” He reached into his pocket, and Dillon found himself watching him. When had he stopped chopping?

“Put it on his desk.”

“Which is his?”

Devin wiped his hands and grabbed the phone. “I’ll take it.” Then he left the room. Dillon took a deep breath.

“Did you have a good day in the garden?” Lee spoke lower now.

“Yeah, we sowed carrots and radishes, built some trellises for the beans and such.”

“Want to go to a garden center?”

Dillon forgot all about avoiding eye contact. “What?”

Lee smiled and held his gaze. It was hard to break away, but he did.

“A garden center. I can take you, and we can see if there are any plants or equipment you want. Devin can come too.”

“Come where?” Devin sauntered back into the kitchen.

“A garden center. Check out some plants.”

“Oh, I’ve been looking online and thought maybe we should buy some tomato starters since I think we’re a little late, but maybe we could go somewhere…” He grimaced. “I’m not going without Mars.”

“No problem. We can bring everyone.”

“Cool. We can talk about it at dinner.” He grabbed a sheet and put it into the oven, looking excited, but Dillon had a hard time breathing. Leave the house? Go outside the walls surrounding the garden.

“Hey.” Lee spoke into his ear from behind. “Breathe. We don’t have to go.”

Devin busied himself with the oven, but Dillon suspected it was to give them some privacy. He nodded, not sure if he meant they’d go or not.

Lee squeezed his shoulder again before moving away, but before he could sit on one of the chairs, his phone rang. He looked at it with a frown. “I had better take this. It’s work.” He got up and stepped over the different trays with seedlings and out onto the patio.

Dillon put the knife down. “I think I’ll go to my room.”

Devin grimaced but nodded. “Good job today.”

Dillon didn’t have the energy to reply, so he left the kitchen without a word.

* * * *

When Lee came back in after having talked to Conan who worked at the bar tonight, Dillon was gone. “Did he leave?”

“Yeah.” Devin pulled the pizzas from the oven and put in another sheet.

“Smells good.”

Devin smiled at him. “Put some plates on the table, and you can dig in.”

He hadn’t more than finished the sentence before Mars and Rei walked into the kitchen, freshly showered. Mars went over to Devin and gave him a kiss while Rei grabbed a chair and sat.

Once everything was on the table, Hanna came to join them, and as everyone was eating, Lee told them about Jala’s questions.

“It’s weird.” Hanna reached for another slice of pizza.

“What is?”

“We’ve been hanging around The Rambling Rogue for years, perhaps not as much as many others, but whenever we go out for a drink, it’s where we go.”

Lee nodded. He considered them regulars even though they weren’t in as often as someone like Eli. Had he found his friend? He hadn’t been in today, not while Lee had been there, at least.

“She could’ve checked into us if she was curious, so why the interest if she hasn’t cared up until now?”

Lee shrugged. If his mouth hadn’t been filled with pizza, he might have said something, but he didn’t know what, so he kept chewing.

Hanna dropped the slice she’d been holding on the plate. “I have a bad feeling.”

“Bad how?” Rei watched her in a way that would’ve made Lee shiver, but she didn’t outwardly react.

“As if this is the calm before the storm. We only have little nuggets, no real information, and I have this feeling it’s all gonna explode any second. I almost believed it would now, since it’s the weekend. Don’t they host these kinds of events on the weekends?”

Lee nodded, then shrugged. “It all depends. They could just as well do it on a Tuesday night.”

“Great.” She picked up her pizza again only to roll her shoulders. “I’m antsy. Murrie was antsy too. I think that’s why he went into town.”

“Getting laid helps. Maybe I should head into town too.” Rei grinned, and Hanna huffed.

“You’re in a monogamous relationship, remember? You and Vampire Lee forever.” She formed her hands into a heart, and Lee snorted a laugh before he grabbed his plate and got to his feet.

“And with those words, I think I’ll go check on my bed partner.”

“Bring him some food. He was hungry before he freaked out.” Devin motioned at the stack of clean plates. Freaked out. Was it Lee’s talk about the garden center that had done it? He’d only wanted to do something nice, make him happy.

Shit.

He placed two slices of pizza on the plate and headed for the stairs. As he reached the third floor, he first peeked into Dillon’s room. It was empty. The door to the room they’d been sleeping in was closed, but when he tried the handle, it opened.

Dillon was on the bed, staring out the window where the sun was starting to set.

“Hi.” Lee spoke softly. “I brought you some food.”

Dillon turned to look at him, hesitated for a moment, then met his gaze. Lee smiled, more pleased than he should’ve been.

“Why don’t you eat some, and I’ll hit the shower.”

Dillon nodded and took the plate when Lee offered it to him.

In the bathroom, Lee tore off his clothes and stepped into the spray. He washed efficiently and wrapped a towel around himself when he was done. He’d left his bag of clothes in the room and walked out to grab a pair of underwear. He could feel Dillon’s gaze on him but forced himself not to look in his direction.

Once he had a pair of trunks, he stepped into the bathroom again but didn’t close the door. He dropped the towel, put on his underwear, and headed into the room.

Dillon was still sitting on the bed, the plate empty. Good. He hadn’t piled food on it, and Dillon needed to eat more, but it was better than nothing.

Crawling over the bed, he took the plate from his hands and placed it on the bedside table. “Come on.” He stretched out on his back.

“Come on?”

Lee held out his arms and motioned with his hands for Dillon to come closer.

“What are you doing?” He kept his gaze glued to Lee’s chest, which made him want to growl. There had been eye contact earlier.

“Cuddling.”

“You’re cuddling?” There was a faint trail of amusement in his voice, and it made Lee grin.

“I want to be cuddling. I’ve missed cuddling all day, but someone is holding out on me.”

“You can’t come in here and—”

Lee grabbed him and tugged, not violently and not fast.

“Hey!” Dillon pushed at him but fell over, and Lee hauled him against him.

“See, much better.” He ran his hand over Dillon’s back on top of his shirt. “You smell nice, like shower and sunshine.”

Dillon held completely still. “What?”

Lee dipped his head to nuzzle him when Dillon’s hands shot out and an unholy scream filled the room.

Shit. “Shh.” He cradled Dillon’s head against his chest, but

the scream didn’t die down, and Lee glanced at the door. Would the others rush in and get the wrong idea of what he was doing? “Shh, sweetheart. I’m sorry. So, so sorry. I didn’t think.” He kneaded the tense muscles in Dillon’s back, gently rocking them both. Fuck, he was stupid.

Dillon’s fingers dug into his chest, and he winced but did nothing to dislodge them. “You’re okay. I promise.”

The noise died down to raspy breaths, and Lee continued to knead his muscles and murmur nonsense. He didn’t know what he said, mostly told Dillon he was fine, and Lee was sorry.

Little by little, Dillon relaxed in his arms.

“There you go. You’re all right.”

Lee massaged his neck and rested his chin on the top of Dillon’s head, a shuddering breath leaving him. Fuck, that was nerve-wracking, and he was only the spectator. “I only meant to smell you, swear to God.”

Dillon snorted, which made Lee hug him tighter to his chest.

“You smell awfully nice when you’re not panicking.” He inhaled. “Like…” What did he smell like? “…human, I guess.”

“How strange.” Dillon’s voice was nothing but a broken whisper, but it made Lee grin.

“I know, so strange.” He leaned back and tried to look into Dillon’s eyes, but when he did, Dillon closed his.

“Come on, babe. Look at me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You did before and nothing happened.”

Dillon remained quiet for several seconds. “Then there were other people around, and we weren’t in bed.”

Ah, the bed. Lee bent and kissed his forehead. “I won’t ever control your mind.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Look at me.”

Dillon shook his head, and Lee leaned forward again and kissed his temple, then his cheek, then a little closer to Dillon’s mouth, and those eyes shot open.

“There you go.” Lee brushed his lips over Dillon’s, not so much a kiss as a caress. “I’m sorry, I fucked up.”