Page 11 of The Stars and the Stage
“Like she’d ever willingly leave that place. The area is getting more and more expensive though, and she’s been struggling to keep up, especially with me leeching off her since my TV money dried up.” He didn’t sound remorseful about it. “But she signed a major deal with the Hughes doctors recently—you remember the Hughes, right? They just had their second kid. They named him Clementine, like the fruit. Can you imagine?”
“It’s almost as bad as Maddox.”
“Mh, yes, of course.Clemmywould be much better.” His eyes sparkled as he said it.
Diego shoved him, gently. “You ever think about getting a job? Supportingyourself?”
“A paying job that’s not acting? Please, that would ruin my flawless resume,” he replied, though the snark seemed forced, like there was something deeper buried beneath. Something Diego did not want to dig up, lest it make them feel for him all the more.
It was better to keep Maddox at a distance. To keep their head above water.
Which would have been far more feasible, if only Diego wasn’t expected to bite him in front of the entire court.
They refused him when he asked and stepped around the topic when their guests brought it up, laughing their denial off with a myriad of excuses, from a lack of hunger to a desire to test him further, and when the first two didn’t suffice, to, “Princes are like fine wines; they taste better the longer you hold them in suspense.”
The lack of blood was wearing on them, though. The Celestial Club provided its vampires with donated bags when they weren’t working a role that partnered them with a human, but their stores were limited, so Diego was meant to be feeding off Maddox whenever possible for these three weeks. Every bagged sip they took to tide them over was one they were stealing from a vampire who needed it more.
But they could not, would not, sink their fangs into Maddox only to suffer for it later.
Their guests kept talking though, and worse, Valentine had begun pestering them during the live events too. He and Maddox would brush hands as they whispered, their gazes on Diego, so conspiratorial that it became part of their characters—the right hand of the vampire lord trying to make his sovereign jealous enough to finally succumb to their obvious yearning. By the fifth night of the event, it was growing harder for Diego to sustain the energy of their and Maddox’s fictional relationship without some kind of new development.
It was the final night the club would be open for the week before their three-day break, and they had to give the crowdsomething. Not a bite.Probably, not a bite. But something…
Maddox sat at his customary seat during the pre-meal interactions, his attention for once not locked on Diego, but surveying the crowd with intense contemplation. He was just as beautiful caught up in something else as he was when his intensity was aimed at Diego. They lingered quietly behind him, letting themselves look at him for once. For the show of the thing. Their attention drifted naturally, from the corner of his jaw, down the lean length of his neck. When they weren’t fighting to ignore it, the gentle pulse of his blood sang to them and his dry, oaky scent seemed to fill their lungs to bursting. They pressed a finger to their lips.
A taste might be safe enough, still. Just a quick prick, and then they’d withdraw.
Diego crept forward, so softly that when they ran a hand through Maddox’s hair he startled. They tightened their grip, holding him in place. He went still. He didn’t turn to look, just closed his eyes with a deep exhale, and let Diego tip his head to the side. In motions harsh enough to hide the shaking of their hands, they unclasped his half-cloak and pulled back his collar. Their nails dug into his skin—they could see the red marks they were forming as they grabbed the bared space of his shoulder—and still he didn’t resist, didn’t so much as make a sound.
He was laying himself out as a canvas for Diego, willingly trading his pain for their pleasure.
Right now they could press their mouth to his skin, and he’d probably melt beneath it, or they could dig their fingers in until he bled, and he might let them lap at the wounds. If they bit him like this, he’d likely sigh at the first hint of venom—come from a few strokes of their hand beneath the table if they gave him enough of the blissful intoxicant. And Diego wanted that, wanted all of it. They could feel their apprehension and the pain of their past fighting the desire, but if they focused on craving, if they let nothing else in…
They bared their teeth and lowered their mouth to his neck. The moment their fangs touched his flesh, a wave of panic tore through them, not merely fear for the future, but horror in an exact replica of what they’d felt as he’d held the pliers toward them.
“Maybe if you pull them out.”
They shoved Maddox away on impulse, catching themself just in time to play off the action with a bitter smile, like they had merely meant to taunt Maddox the whole time. A few of the guests laughed, but others called out in Maddox’s defense. “Give it to him, he’s earned it!”
Diego gave a disdainful huff and straightened their suit, swallowing down their rush of anxiety. This Maddy, whoever he was, had no pliers, no threats. They couldn’t bite him, though, that much was obvious. Maybe they could stir up some other drama; Countess Amile’s vampire had been just sassy enough tonight to warrant a challenge of her dedication. But as Diego stalked around the front of their small table, Maddox called from behind them.
“Am I not worthy yet?” He sounded just as fierce as always, but there was hurt there too. Playing to the sympathies of the crowd, damn him. He stood and stepped around their table, his fingers dragging along the shimmering cloth that covered it. “Because I will prove myself again, if I must.”
Diego stilled. “Perhaps I merely find you… unappetizing.” Everyone who had seen the way they’d looked at Maddox that first night—and every time his back was turned since then—knew that Diego craved him from his blood to his bones. This wasn’t a truth; it was a challenge.Can you make me cave,Diego wanted to ask.Make me forget myself, and then maybe I’ll forget what you’ve done to me, too.
One of his hands snaked out. He drew up his dinner knife with obvious contemplation. As he examined the blade, his other hand lifted to the side of his neck. He rubbed the skin there with two fingers, tilting his head like he was… finding the vein; threatening to spill his blood in such a quantity that Diego could no longer ignore it.
But splitting a vein in the neck with a blade was something only done with the utmost safety precautions, and never an act one was meant to do onthemself. If he nicked a hair too deep, a vampire would have to be on him in seconds to start the healing, and even then there was only so fast that their venom and saliva could work. Yet as Maddox watched Diego, his fingers landed on the exact spot where Diego would have slipped in their fangs. A chill ran down their spine.
They scoffed, trying to unsettle both their own fear and Maddox in one go. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“For you, I’d dare anything.” Maddox replied and lifted the knife.
Diego launched at him. They moved so fast that they had their hand around his before he even touched the blade to his skin. But as they went to yank it away, they felt his direction shifting. Despite his slower, weaker human body, he managed to twist Diego around, pulling their back to his chest like they were grinding slow dancers, his arms wrapped around them and his wrist conveniently in front of their mouth. With his scent so overwhelming, soeverywhere, it was all they could do to keep themselves from pressing their nose to his skin and—
Fuck, this had been his plan all along, hadn’t it?
Diego would have been impressed if they weren’t so annoyed. They ducked free of Maddox’s grip, and turned toward him as they elbowed him in the ribs. He took the blow with grace. Knife still in hand, he caught Diego by the thighs and lifted them onto his hips like they weighed nothing. He was so solid between their legs, and the ache for him that formed in their center was like a wildfire that rivaled even their craving for his blood. But they barely had time to think of that.
