Page 10 of Colin

Yeah, sober probably would have been better.

The new twin tipped his chin at Colin. “Who the fuck are you?”

Colin did his best to ignore the frankly offensive animal magnetism of the duo and peer past their stupidly large shoulders into the house. “This place have two bedrooms?” he asked.

New Twin blinked at him. “Three.”

“And it’s just you two here?”

“Yeah.” First Twin scowled at him. “Is that a fucking problem?”

Colin scowled back. No one would ever accuse him of not being able to match attitude for attitude. “Why would that be a fucking problem?”

New Twin put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. He was soothing him, Colin was pretty sure, judging from the way First Twin’s expression softened minutely at the touch. “I’m confused. Are you here looking for vampires or a real estate opportunity?”

“Both.” Was Colin swaying in place? He hoped he wasn’t swaying in place, but it was kind of hard to tell. These two were sucking up all his available focus. “I need a place to stay.”

“We don’t take on charity cases.”

“I’d make it worth your while.”

“Oh yeah?” First Twin leered at him. Colin was pretty sure he’d never been leered at before. He didn’t know it was a thing people actually did, outside of bad movies. “Tell me, slayer, how would you do that?”

“You can feed on me,” Colin offered. He thought about arching his neck in demonstration, but maybe that would be too lurid for a first encounter. Hedidhave a nice neck, though, he was pretty sure. They should appreciate that, right?

The twins exchanged a look. First Twin narrowed dark-blue eyes at Colin. “Who’s this friend of yours again?”

“Jamie.”

First Twin’s lips pulled into a hard smile. “Of fucking course. Listen. Forget what you heard. Your friend’s just an asshole. Vampires aren’t real, we eat hamburgers, not the blood of virgins, et cetera, et cetera.”

What kind of idiot did they take Colin for? He frowned at them. “Theyarereal though. I’ve met a few now. And I’ve been fed on before, so you two can stop gaslighting me.”

The twins crossed their arms in unison, muscles bulging. Jesus. Colin didn’t even have a thing for muscles. Did he? It was hard to remember at the moment. He licked dry lips. “So how about it?”

“You want a free place to stay in exchange for a little blood every week?” First Twin scoffed. “There’s two of us. And we’vegot big appetites. I doubt that scrawny body of yours could satisfy us both.”

Colin’s cheeks felt hot all of a sudden. Why did everything sound like sex coming from this guy? He cleared his throat. “A place to stay and your willingness to answer a few questions now and then. I can clean too. I could pay a little rent, even.” He pointed a finger at them. “Although, that’s starting to feel like you taking advantage of the situation, considering.”

“Taking advant—”

First Twin held up a hand, halting New Twin’s protest. He was looking from his brother to Colin and back again. “Personal blood bag and housekeeper all in one, huh? One moment please.” He pushed his twin back and started to close the door, then paused and gave Colin a stern look. “Don’t fucking move.”

Colin didn’t think he could even if he wanted to. He felt it again—that sense of being on the precipice of something big. He’d camp out on this porch if he had to.

These two weren’t getting rid of him anytime soon.

four

Dane

Dane let himself be shoved back, although he was annoyed with his brother for cutting off his view of the intriguing blue-haired boy. He knew what was coming next: Fox was going to tell him they needed to fix this, compel the lanky human into forgetting what they were, then either intimidate or beat the shit out of Jamie and Luc as a message to not go spilling their secrets to whomever they pleased. (Whether Dane and Foxcouldsuccessfully beat the shit out of Jamie and Luc was another question.)

The bottom line was Fox was too protective to let this slide. Too angry. Too—

“I say we go for it.”

Dane gaped at his brother, at that face that was so like his own and yet so completely different (how people couldn’t tell them apart baffled Dane on the daily—Fox was clearly his own person, with distinct expressions and tells anyone paying attention could see). Fox’s eyes were currently lit up with some inner fire, and a mischievous smirk was gracing his lips. It wasthe most perked up Dane had seen him in ages. Lately he’d been all worried looks and concerned sighs—like Dane was some sort of mental case Fox was trying to solve.

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