“Maybe,” Brennan started, “and I’m brainstorming here. But maybe it’s more about the accountability. I know you had good intentions, but you messed up her schedule, so… own up to it and apologize some more.” Brennan sighed. “Youdidapologize, right?”
Tony avoided his eyes. “She knows that I’m sorry, or whatever.”
“But did yousay it? The words? ‘I’m sorry’?”
“Possibly not,” Tony mumbled.
Brennan nodded toward Mari and Cole in a silentThen go.Tony looked like he’d been drafted to fight a war as he made his way to the kitchen.
Brennan stared at the TV screen, where another show that wasn’tThe BacheloretteorLove Islandsat ready to play. How many of these were there? Brennan feared he might find out.
He waited a few moments before Cole, Mari, and Tony emerged from the kitchen. Mari was taking a call, and lingered by the door muttering “yes” and “okay” into her phone. Cole and Tony took their now-designated spots on the couch.
Brennan searched both of them for evidence of carnage. “So? What happened?”
Tony shot a double thumbs-up as he kicked his feet onto the coffee table with a grin. “All good.”
Brennan looked to Cole for a second opinion. Cole shrugged like he didn’t believe it himself. “All good,” he agreed.
Brennan slid into his designated spot on the floor. Cole sat behind him, his knee brushing Brennan’s shoulder in a way that was too distracting. Maybe Brennan had done some good for once, solving problems instead of creating them.
The feeling lasted all of a second, and then Mari hung up her call and pocketed her phone, saying, “Well, that was fucking weird.”
“Me apologizing isnotthat weird,” Tony started.
“No, Dr. Huong called, and apparently we were missing a bunch of samples in the last batch from the blood drive,” Mari said.
Brennan’s breath caught in his chest. “Wait, what?” He tried to keep his curiosity casual, but he was anxious to get an idea of what exactly they knew.
“Yeah, seriously!” Mari said. “What kind of freak would steal blood from a university?”
“I’ll tell you who,” Tony said, with enough confidence that Brennan convinced himself for a millisecond that it was over, the jig was up. “Vampires.”
“Oh please,” Mari said. “It’s some shitty prank. Or something for rush week. Did your friends upgrade to blood sacrifices since you left the frat scene?”
Mari pocketed her phone and joined them on the couch with a bottle of wine, not bothering with glasses. Brennan feigned disinterest even as anxiety roiled in his stomach. Did they have suspicions? Or was this just gossip?
“Come on, vampires is the natural line of logic. My nonna always said she met vampires in her youth. Are you calling Grandma Esposito a liar?”
Mari sighed and took a swig of wine before passing it to Cole. “Cole, can you please tell Tony that vampires aren’t real?”
“I would never disrespect Grandma Esposito like that,” Cole said, accepting the bottle of wine. “Speaking of vampires, if Josh C. doesn’t get kicked off this episode I’m giving the fuck up.”
Cole caught Brennan’s eye and tilted his head back as he took a drink. Brennan followed the motion with his eyes—the arch of his neck, the bobbing of his Adam’s apple. Tony clicked play and Brennan tried not to blush blue when Cole shot him a smile.
Brennan was endlessly grateful for Cole’s help, but anxiety lingered in the back of his mind even as conversation devolved into discussion of the show.Even if they didn’t know when exactly the samples went missing, Mari had seen Brennan the morning he’d stolen them. He had to hope she wouldn’t connect those dots.
But when he cast a glance in her direction, he caught Mari studying him with narrowed eyes and a tilt to her head for a split second before she averted her gaze.
Brennan stayed quiet the rest of the night.
8VAMPIRE JESUS
BRENNAN’S JOURNAL
Travis
Turned both me and Dom.
