Page 29 of Taste of Death

I watched the side of her face, noting how her eyes refused to meet mine. “That’s a bit manipulative, don’t you think?”

Amy shrugged again, feigning nonchalance, but I could tell she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea.

“Pulling something like that is more likely to drive a bigger divide into your friendship than repair it,” I said. “Why do you even wantmeto come with you?”

She laughed like the question was ridiculous. “I mean, why not? I like talking to you and you’ve been really nice to me. You don’t treat me like they do, always tiptoeing around me like I’ll explode into glass shards at any second. And all the pitying looks.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “It feels like you’re my only real friend besides Tavia, and she’s all wrapped up in Cyan now. I just… don’t want to feel alone during the ceremony.”

Amy finally turned her head and looked at me, her expression open and vulnerable. “I’m sorry if that’s weird and too much since we just met, but it’s the truth. I know you and Blood ‘til Dawn don’t get along, and I don’t mean to be manipulative. I just want a friend at my side while I support my other friend during her big day. That’s all.”

My thoughts almost turned to,this poor woman, but I quickly shoved that away. She didn’t want pity. She needed someone at her side, meeting her where she was as she figured out this new life. And for some reason, Amy wanted that to be me.

It had been a long time since I felt like I had a real friend as well. And I liked Amy for all the reasons she seemed to like me. It was honestly a relief to meet someone who didn’t have any preconceived notions of me based on the past actions of my clan. I still couldn’t believe how steadfastly she defended me while I was being searched and questioned, fearlessly demanding my release. No one, not even anyone in my own family, stood up for me like she did.

One small fang dragged across her plump lower lip and my skin heated at the memory of her mouth on my neck when we first met.

“So?” she prompted, utterly unaware of the effect she had on me. “What are you thinking? Will you come with me?”

I propped an elbow on the counter and rubbed my forehead. There were hundreds of ways this could go wrong, but maybe a few ways it could go right. She needed me and I wanted to be there for her. Walking untouched among Blood ‘til Dawn would be an added bonus.

“Let’s do this,” I said. “Talk to your friend, Tavia. Tell her that you want to bring me.”

Amy’s face scrunched up like she smelled something rotten, and that told me plenty how she felt about my idea.

“Handle it however you want.” I raised my hands. “Ask for permission to have me as a guest, or simply inform her that I’ll be your plus-one. But I’ll feel a lot better about attempting this if she has a heads-up. And,” I grinned, “it forces you to communicate instead of trying to deceive her.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Amy rubbed the bridge of her nose. “And if I’d rather not?”

“Then I’m not going.”

Her glare was adorable. “Seriously?”

“Yes, that’s my one condition. The bride deserves to know who’s crashing her big day, does she not?”

Amy groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “You’re the worst.”

“That’s a funny way of saying I’m such a good friend, trying to repair your relationship with your other friend.”

“Shut up.” Her head popped back up, a wry smile tugging at her lips. “Fine. I’ll talk to her.”

“Excellent. Let me know what she says. Do you have a phone?”

Amy straightened, patting her pockets. “Oh yeah, I do. I always forget I have it on me. We didn’t have personal phones in Sapien.”

So shewasfrom there, and had probably been in the attack. It didn’t feel appropriate to bring it up while we talked about phones, so I filed the information away for later.

“That’s surprising,” I said, taking my phone from my pocket. “We’re permanently attached to our devices out here.”

“I can see why. Text messaging is so much fun. It’s like passing notes.”

Trying to keep my smile hidden, I saved Amy’s number as she recited it to me, then sent her a bat emoji so she would have my number.

She squealed when the message popped up on her screen. “How do you get other emojis? I only have the basic smiley faces.”

“It should be an option on your keyboard. Here.” I held my palm out and she placed the phone in my hand with no hesitation.

Time ceased to exist as I showed Amy various features on her phone, including the camera and the few mobile games we could poach from the human world. She proceeded to take no less than a dozen blurry selfies of us, and I showed her how to attach photos to the contacts in her phone. Of course, she chose the least flattering picture of me to save to my number, but at least she looked cute in the photo.

She was in an incredibly tense game of Snake when I felt fatigue settle over me like a heavy cloak, and a warning itch creeping up my spine. Glancing up, I noticed for the first time we were alone in the kitchen. Jo must have left ages ago.

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