It changes things, knowing there’s another way for people to become vampires if they really want to, even if they don’t have enough money to pay Cody and Jay. Like any shrewd businessman, Jay is providing not just the product, but a premium service. An experience. A more comfortable transformation, plus the benefit of an orientation into the world, blood access at the parties, and an ongoing membership in a community of fellow vampires. It’s kind of genius, actually. He’s the vampire version of Steve Jobs. The thought makes me giggle, and that sound snaps Jordan out of her obedient mode.
“Did you hear me, Daisy? I don’t like being judged.”
“I’m not judging you. I’m a little mad you didn’t tell me, but I understand why.”
“Great. I’m so relieved,” she says dryly. “Now I can go back to sleep.”
“I have more questions. What’s a glutton?”
But she’s already hung up.
I guess that went about as well as could be expected.
I think about texting Mom, but I really don’t want to field her questions about what happened with me and Jay last night. The answer is pretty boring anyway; I fell asleep after dinner and nothing happened. I kind of wish something had happened. But with everything I went through yesterday, all the emotions and the headache, it wouldn’t have been a good idea. My head feels way better today, and my neck is only a little stiff. There’s still a sore lump on my skull, though.
The sun is rising, casting nets of golden beams over the rosebushes, picking out the glittering dewdrops on every leaf and thorn and petal. Its warmth on my bare arms is like a familiar touch. No matter what else has changed, the world is still turning, and the sun is still shining. I’m alive to see it, and so is Jay.
He could have died. The moment I thought he was dead is tangled in the back of my mind like bristling black vines. Remembering that sense of raw, wretched panic kicks my heart into a faster rhythm. My soul was shredded in those moments, and even though it healed up again almost instantly, there will always be faint scars, the echo of what it felt like to lose him.
An unreasonable anxiety crawls through my bones, itching along my skin. I need Jay. I need him right now. I need to be touching him, making sure that he’s really here. Existing. Whole.
I race back through the rose garden, past the entrance to the hedge maze, through the pool area, hopping over the big hose and covering my ears against the noise of the pump. I fight my way through the ghostly sheers blowing across the screened porch, and I hurry along the hall, into the room where I left Jay asleep.
He’s standing there, casual and beautiful, checking his phone. I slam into him, wrapping him in my arms as tightly as I can.
He staggers a little, and his free hand lands on my head, a gentle pressure. “Hey there. You okay?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I murmur into his shirt.
“Huh?”
“It doesn’t matter, any of it. The vampire stuff—it’s all just logistics, something we’ll have to work out. You’re alive because you’re a vampire, so I can never be mad about that, ever. I’m grateful, Jay. So, so grateful.” Tears are streaming from my eyes, and I press my face further into his chest, listening to the thrum of his heart. It’s got an odd cadence—the expected double-thump, with an offbeat echo. His second heart is working away somewhere deep inside. It’s strange, and it’s him. I accept it. I accept all of him, because underneath every choice he’s made, questionable or not, he is good. He’s got a head for strategy and a heart full of goodness and eyes full of hope, and I love him.
Of course I can’t actually say any of that. It would sound dumb and sentimental, and I’d probably cry. So I just hold him, grip him like he might slip backward into that blood-tinged pool and sink forever.
He drops his phone on the floor and closes both arms around me, setting his chin on the top of my head.
After I moment, I tip my face up to his, rising a little on my toes. He meets me halfway, his soft smile pressing to my mouth. The kiss is tender, sweet and warm, like melting chocolate.
Being here like this, with my body molded to his, wakens the familiar flush of arousal over my skin. Last night, the vampire concept was too new in my head, and though I was turned on, it was a cautious sensation, less urgent than what I usually feel with Jay. This morning I’ve accepted it all, and every part of me got the memo. It’s like I was temporarily locked down, and now the right password has been entered, so I’m open again.
My hands follow the slope of Jay’s back down to his tapered waist, then to his backside. He’s got the most squeezable, bitable ass, honestly. I wonder what sound he would make if I bit him there. Pretty sure I’d shriek with delight if he bit mine.
Palms against his butt, I pull him tighter against me. He’s hardening against my lower belly, a thick length that sends a thrilling tingle into my pussy.
He huffs an eager breath against my lips and kisses me again—a fervent crush of a kiss, scorching and hungry. My tongue quests over the points of his teeth, slides into his mouth, and twines with his tongue. He moans low in his throat, gripping me tighter.
“Fuck, Daisy,” he says hoarsely, each word a hot breath between my lips.
His hands find the hem of my shirt, nails scraping my skin lightly, fingers sliding up beneath it. He pushes the bra up, out of his way. It’s wireless and stretchy, so it yields to him easily. My breath hitches at the glorious rush of Jay’s warm hands over my bare breasts, and for a second I forget where I am, what he is, everything but the long fingers enjoying my skin, the thumbs stroking over my nipples.
He takes my mouth again, and I abandon my fondling of his ass to weave all my fingers into his hair. I open wide for him, gripped by a reckless need to be closer to him—to nestle inside him, or swallow him into myself.
But then we hear the distant voice of a pool cleaner, raised to shout instructions. At the same moment a door closes somewhere above us.
“One of the staff,” Jay whispers apologetically. “We could go to my room, or…we could wait until we have more time, more space.” He brushes his lips across my cheek. “When I can really savor you.”
“Oh god, yes.” He’s right. We probably shouldn’t get it on right here. But we can satisfy a different kind of hunger. “Breakfast?” I suggest.
He makes a wry face, but nods. “Breakfast.”
I follow him through a doorway and down a hall. “Where’s Cody, by the way?”
“I’m not sure. He’s been going out a lot lately. Maybe he’s with Nick?”
“Probably. They’ve been spending a lot of time together.”
“Yeah. I haven’t seen Cody quite this devoted before.”
“Nick’s a good guy,” I say. “And he’s family. I don’t want him to get hurt.”
“I can’t guarantee that.” Jay ushers me into the kitchen, a gleaming white-and-silver expanse of islands and counters and appliances. “Cody can be unpredictable. He’s been through a lot. Like I told you, he was turned by Wolfsheim, one of the first-generation vampires, and Cody served as his boy toy for a while. He was dependent on Wolfsheim for blood sources, for protection. Wolfsheim abused him in a lot of ways.”
“That’s horrible. Why does Cody still take calls from him?”
Jay pulls open the fridge. “He doesn’t.”
“Yes he does. I overheard Cody talking to him on the phone at the Met party.”
