Page 70 of Colin

nineteen

Colin

“Good God, Jay, how do you eat this stuff?” Colin pushed away his bowl of the cereal Jay had brought with him, some overly sweet culinary travesty clearly designed to tame wayward children by driving them into a sugar coma.

“Iff fo good tho’,” Jay argued through a mouthful of the stuff. He swallowed and tried again. “You don’t like it? Soren says it’s the best.”

“Soren has a sweet tooth to rival your own, short stack. He’s not exactly a reliable witness.”

Jay hummed noncommittally, shoveling another spoonful into his mouth.

“Girl talk” had gone on for a few more hours, as Jay had caught Colin up on all the vampires in Hyde Park, how they’d come to be and how they’d found their mates, before Jamie had declared Luc was getting antsy—he hadn’t so much as looked at his phone, so Colin had to assume that knowledge had come from his bond—and fled back home.

At that point, Colin had felt like it was pointless to sleep. He was paying the price for that now, his head horribly fuzzy and his limbs heavier than they should be, but maybe he could talk the twins into a nap later. Not that they’d need much convincing. All he’d really have to do was walk into the bedroom and they’d be right behind him. Stalkers.

Speaking of…

Colin side-eyed the three hulking forms standing around the kitchen table. The twins he was used to by now, but the other—

“Does Alexei always just watch you eat like this?”

“No.” Jay directed a loving smile at his mate. “He usually eats with me, especially if we made something together. Or— Oh! This might be useful to you now! So what you do is—” Jay leaned in conspiratorially but failed to lower his voice even remotely. “You take a can of whipped cream—”

Colin held up his spoon defensively. “This better not be leading to any sort of mention of Alexei’s dick,” he warned.

Jay sat back, his eyebrows raised. “Why not? It’s an extremely nice one. Soren is always very interested when I bring it up.”

Colin cocked his own brow at Alexei, who was looking completely unfazed by the direction of the conversation. “You don’t mind Soren hearing all about your dick?”

Alexei shrugged a broad shoulder. “Jay can talk to his friends however he wants. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

Colin couldn’t help it; his eyes drifted downwards, all the way to…

“Don’t look at his dick,” Fox growled, shoving a granola bar into Colin’s hand. “You look atourdicks.”

Jay stopped smiling adoringly at Alexei to frown at Fox. “I don’t see a ring on his finger!” he yelled, completely nonsensically, before turning to Colin. “Don’t listen to him. You can look at Alexei’s dick.” He cocked his head in thought. “Although, maybe not naked. Naked Alexei is just for me.”

Colin was saved from having to process any of that by the sound of the doorbell.

Dane let out a heavy sigh as Fox swore loudly and left the kitchen to answer it. “Since when are we the goddamn Tucson social club?”

“You don’t have any other friends coming, by any chance?” Colin asked Jay, who’d gone back to shoveling cereal in his mouth like his vampire body actually needed the calories.

“No. Danny and Gabe’s mom was having a bad few weeks, so they wanted to stay close. And Wolfe told me he’d rather stab a rusty spoon in his eye than go on some”—Jay dropped his spoon to make air quotes with his fingers—“‘half-baked children’s adventure,’ but I think he was being a little melodramatic.”

Wolfe had been one of the locals whose vampirism wasnotexactly a surprise. He’d given Colin the creeps from the beginning. But his boyfriend, Eric, was chill enough, now that he wasn’t trying to lure Colin or anyone else with a pulse into bed with him every time he came to the café.

Fox came back to the kitchen, Serena behind him.

“What the fuck areyoudoing here?” Dane asked, belligerently enough that Colin had to double-check to make sure it hadn’t been Fox speaking. Apparently they reallydidn’tlike having strange vamps in their territory, even nonhostile ones.

“The green-haired one told me you’d be here,” Serena said airily, seemingly unconcerned by the lack of welcome. “I’ve been spreading my scent around town for my husband to catch.”

Dane straightened from where he’d been leaning against the counter. “And you’re spreading ithere?”

“Relax.” Serena’s nose wrinkled. “He’s not going to approach a house so clearly reeking of vampires.”

“Hi!” Jay waved from the table. “We haven’t met. I’m Jay! I don’t live here.”

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