Page 5 of Colin

It was Colin’s turn to grab his dad’s hand. “I’m going to be coming by every day.”

“I’m counting on it.”

“Am I allowed to stay the night, or should I plan on sleeping in my car?”

His dad rolled his eyes, the grin still on his lips. “You can stay. But no unpacking those boxes.”

Colin rose to follow orders, pausing when his dad didn’t let go of his hand, keeping him in place. He pointed his chin at Colin’s hair. “I like the blue, by the way. I never got a chance to tell you. Very hip. Very cool.”

Oh God. This dork.

A surge of love ran through Colin, strong enough to make his answering smile quiver. He’d missed his dad too.

“Every single day,” Colin promised.

two

Fox

“What are you doing?” Fox asked.

Dane didn’t glance up, his gaze fixed on the little handheld console he was fiddling with. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

Fox crossed his arms, leaning fully against the doorjamb that led into the living room. Obviously, it looked like his brother was playing a game. By himself. “Anything good?” he asked, trying to keep his voice light.

Dane’s brow furrowed as he pressed different buttons. “It’s weird. I’m ferrying these souls to the afterlife, but I have to complete these quests for them first. Make them happy before they go, I guess.”

“Cool.” It didn’t sound cool, actually. It sounded depressing as fuck. Dane usually played his gameswithFox, and they didn’t include doing chores for dead people before they dissolved into the ether. They shot up zombies, or raced stupid little cartoon characters against each other. Fun shit.

Fox’s devil—the vampire part of him—shifted restlessly inside him, but it didn’t make any demands. It was probably feeling just as clueless as Fox himself. If it wasn’t about fucking or feeding, the thing was goddamn useless.

Fox just didn’t know what waswrong. Something had changed in Dane over the past six months or so, but Fox didn’t know what. There was no sadness pulsing down their bond, no anger. Just a strange…blankness. Like a bone-deep boredom.

Fox didn’t know what the fuck to do. He and Dane had been on the same page their entire lives—as humans, as vampires, bonded or unbonded. There’d never been friction between them, never this blank space Fox didn’t know how to fill. It was what made themthem.

What made them freaks, Dane would probably say.

He tapped his fingers against his bicep. “What should we do tonight?”

Dane shrugged a shoulder, still not looking at him. “Dunno.”

Jesus. Fox kicked at an empty bag of chips on the floor. The living room was a fucking mess. Not that it was ever exactly spotless, but it wasn’t usually this bad. Trash everywhere, dust you could practically make a snow angel in.

Dane was usually the neater one.

Fox tried again. “You know that old man down the street, the one that had the ambulance at his place a month or so ago?” He was met with silence. He pushed on anyway. “I saw him in his yard again. Guess he didn’t kick the bucket after all.”

Nothing. Goddamn. He and Dane had always liked spying on their neighbors, ever since they’d moved into town from the desert outskirts five years ago. They’d sit on their porch and watch the humans go by, speculate on their average-ass lives. How long had it been since they’d sat on their porch and gossiped about the humans? Too long.

It wasn’t like Dane wasn’t allowed to have his alone time. It was just…he’d had nothingbutalone time for ages.

Was it time to leave Tucson, maybe? They’d have to go eventually, what with them never aging. Even humans couldn’t remain unobservant of that fact forever. Fox had expected to have more time, but maybe that was foolish thinking. There wasn’t exactly anything in particular keeping them here. It had just felt…right to stay. Like it was where they were meant to be, at least for a time.

Fox didn’t know. He just didn’t fuckingknow. It was like he and Dane were out of sync for the first time since they’d turned, since this bond between them had solidified, stranger and more intimate than anything they’d felt in their human lives. Since they’d found out they were platonic mates, tethering each other to their humanity, keeping either one of them from ever going feral.

He wanted to suggest they go on a hunt, maybe liven things up with a bit of blood, but they had a few days to go, at least, before they needed to feed. Would it be too obvious a ploy if he pushed for earlier?

Or maybe feeding didn’t even need to be part of it. Maybe they were overdue another kind of distraction. How long had it been since they’d shared someone? Maybe they just needed a warm and willing body between them, someone to remind his brother what kind of pleasures their world had to offer.

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