Page 74

Chloe cleared her throat, and Gabe brought his focus back to the moment. Danny’s friend was leaning against the wall next to the vending machine, nursing a giant coffee. “Who is he?” she asked. “The little dark-haired kid who’s been coming to work with you, hanging around the cafeteria.”

She meant Jay. “Oh yeah.” Gabe ran a hand through his hair. “He’s, um, a friend of Soren’s.”

Chloe raised a dark brow at him. “Danny and Roman’s roommate? Why is his friend coming to work with you ?”

Well, fuck. Gabe had been hoping no one would notice that he and Jay had been arriving and leaving together. It wasn’t exactly normal to bring random friends to the hospital for an entire shift. Or technically allowed, for that matter.

“Um.” Gabe searched for an excuse. “He’s new in town. Doesn’t know anybody yet.”

Chloe laughed in disbelief. “And you thought he’d make friends in the hospital cafeteria? In the middle of the night?”

“What? No. He’s new, but he’s got…family. Sick family. Family he’s been visiting. I’ve just been giving him a ride?” Fuck. Apparently Gabe was a terrible liar. He hadn’t had that much experience with it. He’d never even realized it was a weakness.

Chloe looked skeptical but made a sympathetic noise anyway. “Aw. Poor guy. He seems like such a sweetheart too. He’s been charming the cafeteria staff. I overheard him calling them ‘culinary geniuses.’”

Fucking hell. Gabe bit back laughter. “He is,” he grunted. “Total sweetheart.”

Chloe took another sip of her coffee. “You excited to be almost done with dog duty? Danny’s back in a few days, right?”

“Oh. Yeah.” Gabe’s stomach sank at the thought. He wanted to see his brother, sure, but it would also be the end of his temporary living situation. A situation he’d gotten very…fond of.

“You never texted me for doggie walks,” Chloe pointed out. “You managing by yourself?”

“Nah, Soren’s been helping me.”

“Huh.” Chloe gave him an inscrutable look. “Didn’t take that one for the pet-loving type.”

“Uh-huh. Well.” Gabe turned his attention back to the candy in front of him, ready to be done with this conversation. He didn’t want Danny’s best friend finding out something was going on between him and Soren before Danny found out himself.

Gabe chose three different options at random, bending low to fish them out of the machine. “Anyway. See ya.”

“Catch ya later.” Chloe waved him off, more than used to his antisocial nature at work.

Gabe tried to corral his thoughts as he made his way over to the cafeteria.

Right. Danny and Roman would be home soon.

Which meant there would be no reason for Gabe and Soren to keep living in the same place.

They had decided not to hide this thing between them from his brother but hadn’t defined what this thing was .

Gabe sighed. Would Soren want space, now that they weren’t required to be near each other?

Would he want to…stay with Gabe instead?

Would that be crazy? To ask the vampire to move in after just a few weeks?

But the thought of sleeping without Soren in his arms made Gabe’s chest tighten.

He’d gotten used to having the vampire around all the time.

He didn’t want to go back to the way things had been before.

Danny and Roman had just chosen each other. After barely any time together at all. Gabe wanted that . He wanted to choose Soren. He wanted Soren to choose him back.

Would Soren choose him back?

He found Jay at one of the cafeteria tables, exactly where Gabe had left him the night before. The little vampire smiled widely at him, pointing to his plate. “Look, Gabe. It’s an omelet.”

Gabe laughed. “So it is.”

“This tastes…very different from what I made.” Jay narrowed his eyes at his food, as if willing it to divulge its secrets.

“Don’t you get bored, sitting here for twelve hours?”

Jay shrugged. “Time passes a little differently when you’ve been alive as long as I have. I don’t mind it. I eat. I watch people. I’ve never gotten to see so many humans in my life. Not like this. Everyone smells so good. Well”—he wrinkled his nose—“mostly everyone.”

Gabe raised an eyebrow. “You know you can’t feed on anyone here.”

Jay huffed. “I know that. I also read.” He held up his phone. “Vee helped me set up books on this thing years ago.” He leaned forward, whispering like it was a secret, “I like romance .”

Gabe nodded, not sure what to say to that.

He let Jay finish his omelet, and they headed for home. Jay’s eyes had widened in delight at the candy, so Gabe had given him a bag of Skittles, too embarrassed to tell the vampire it was all intended for Soren.

They drove the short drive to Danny’s house in silence, Jay too busy popping candy into his mouth to talk much. At least until they pulled into the driveway.

“You should just tell him how you feel.”

“What?” Gabe blinked in surprise, turning to the vampire next to him. Where the hell had that come from?

“Soren,” Jay said casually, as if they were continuing a conversation and he wasn’t just blurting non sequiturs out of the blue. “He’s not going to make the first move. Hendrick really messed him up, you know. Emotionally. Major trust issues.”

Gabe didn’t know where Jay had gotten the idea that this was something they needed to discuss. But Gabe didn’t really have anyone else to talk to about it with, so…

“You think he’d be, um, into that? Me telling him…feelings stuff?” Jesus. If this was the best Gabe could do, a conversation about feelings with Soren wasn’t going to go very well. “L-Love stuff?” he corrected hesitantly.

“Oh sure.” Jay popped the last of his Skittles into his mouth. “You guys are mates. It’s totally obvious.”

Was it though?

“Have you met a mated pair before?” Gabe asked.

Jay nodded enthusiastically. “Just one. They came to the den to stay for a little while, before they realized how toxic it was there. I liked…watching them.” He glanced over, flushing immediately at the look on Gabe’s face.

“Not, like, in bed. Just in general. They were so sweet with each other. Tuned into each other’s emotions.

It was like magic.” Jay sighed dreamily.

“Well…it is magic, right? The whole fated mates thing.”

Jay looked delighted at the thought, his gray eyes sparkling. “You’re right. It is magic. Isn’t that cool?”

It was definitely something.

Gabe eyed the little vampire next to him. “Soren said you were pretty sheltered. But you don’t sound nearly as archaic as Roman. Is that all the reading?”

“And I watch a lot of TV,” Jay said proudly. “Like, a lot .”

Gabe should keep that in mind, if he decided to join the vampire club. Watch a lot of TV, don’t sound like an ancient, out-of-touch geezer.

If he was invited to the vampire club, that was. First he had to tell Soren…love things.

Climbing out of the car, blinking at the bright morning sun, Gabe thought maybe having the whole “I think I’m in love with you, do you want to move in with me?” conversation wouldn’t be so bad. Apparently he had Jay’s vote of confidence, even if he hardly knew the admittedly strange vampire.

That counted for something, right?

And he and Soren didn’t even have to discuss the mates thing yet. There was no rush on that. They had plenty of time.

That was what Gabe was thinking, right up to the point where the big blond man from the day before stepped out of the shadows and snapped Jay’s neck.