Page 15 of Colin

God, he was hopeless.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed—he’d just finished vacuuming the living room—when Fox cleared his throat. “Um, slayer?”

Colin looked up from untangling the vacuum cord. The twins were lounging on each end of the massive, overstuffed couch like big ginger bookends, their sharp eyes in contrast with their slouched postures. “Yes, vampire?”

“Have humans changed quite a bit over these past few decades, or don’t you still need certain things to survive? Things like…water? And food?”

Dane nodded. “Yeah. It’s beenhours.”

“Oh.” Colin straightened, stretching his back enough to feel the dull ache that had been building without his awareness. “I didn’t notice.”

He could be forgetful, he knew. Especially if he hadn’t slept. Which, weirdly enough, he had, once he’d gotten home the night before. A solid five hours, practically unheard of.

When he’d finished getting the kinks out of his back, he found Fox at his elbow, a glass of water in his hand. He hadn’t even heard the guy move. Colin took the glass, weirdly flustered. “Oh, thanks.”

He drained it in seconds, realizing as soon as the water touched his lips how thirsty he’d been.

Fuck, that was good.

Fox hadn’t moved away. “Are you going to eat dinner? You didn’t bring food in any of your boxes.”

“Oh, right.” Colin rubbed at his face with one hand. “I’ll have to pick some up tomorrow. I’m good though. I had lunch with my dad.”

Fox frowned at him, poking at Colin’s arm with a surprisingly gentle touch, looking unimpressed with what he found. “You need to eat. We can’t feed from you if you’re all malnourished.”

Colin moved his arm out of reach, scowling back at him to hide the way that little touch made his skin tingle. “I’m notmalnourished. Jesus.”

“We can get takeout,” Dane offered from his spot on the couch. “What do you like, human?”

Colin shrugged. “Whatever.”

“You’re not vegan or something?” Fox asked skeptically, poking at him again. “You look vegan.”

“What does that mean?”

“You just do,” Dane agreed, nodding like they were actually talking sense.

Colin fought the urge to flip them both off. “Well, I’m not.”

“Well then, we’re getting Thai,” Fox said decisively. “We haven’t had that in ages.”

And then the two brothers were bickering over which Thai spot was the best, their heavy focus finally off Colin for the first time in what had apparently been hours. Colin sighed softly in relief, taking the opportunity to shove the vacuum back into the closet where he’d found it. The vampires he was used to weren’t this…intense. Maybe these guys were like, super ancient or something? There was no other reason for them to be affecting Colin like this. Or maybe he reallydidneed food.

Yeah, that was probably it. Last night he’d been tipsy; today he was thirsty and hungry. Once he ate, they wouldn’t affect him like this anymore.

Simple as that.

So Jay wasn’t the only vampire who could put human food away like it was nobody’s business. Good to know.

Colin picked slowly at his pad thai, weirdly entranced as the two gingers shoveled an absurd amount of takeout into their mouths. They weren’t messy, just…enthusiastic. The phraselustful appetiteskept running through Colin’s head.

He hadn’t gotten around to cleaning their sorry excuse for a kitchen yet, so they were eating at the coffee table, the twins back on the couch and Colin sitting across from them, cross-legged on the rug.

“It’s boggling my mind you only have chips in the pantry when this is how you eat,” he finally said, unable to keep his thoughts in any longer.

Neither of them looked the least bit offended. Dane scooped another helping of curry onto his plate with a small grin. “It’s not that we don’t like human food, we just don’t go to the trouble very often. That’ll change with you here.”

Was he implying they’d be eating more meals together? Colin decided not to take that to heart just yet. The way they’d been following him around all day couldn’t last. They’d grow bored of his presence soon; he was sure of it. He’d gotten enough feedback over the years to know he wasn’t that interesting. Or charming. Or sexy, for that matter.

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