Page 70 of Love Bleeds
Chapter Twenty-Four
Why couldn't my family see that my plan was solid? Lure Nicolai out of the building, pump him full of dead man's blood—once we figured out where to get that--then finish him off with a flamethrower, or, in the likely scenario that we couldn't get a flamethrower, have Aldrich or Talon take his head off while he was weakened.
But no, we had to wait for the witches to comment on my plan.
Okay, that wasn't the only thing. We also needed some way to make sure that Nicolai was actually in the building when we started our attack. But that was just part of the details that could be worked out.
"You look like you're in a bad mood," Crimson observed.
"I'm not," I lied, pausing with my pen on the paper. We were still sitting at the dining room table, even though everyone else had vacated the room. I wanted to add some more things to my notes, and Crimson was playing around on my laptop. I'd brought it down earlier to work on, but for now, I preferred the experience of pen on paper. Something about writing long-hand that got my thoughts going more than pressing keys on my computer--as much as I loved doing that in other circumstances. "I'm just frustrated," I added when Crimson shot me a doubtful look. "I want to take action."
"I understand," Crimson said, which, of course he did, because we'd talked about this before.
I paused to think for a moment.
Was I becoming single-minded?
I tended to do that when something took up my attention. Focus on a single thing to the exclusion of everything else going on around me. It wasn't my most desirable trait, for sure.
Yes, I wanted to save Crimson, but I also needed to spend time with him and talk about things other than how to get rid of his sire.
Closing my notebook, I glanced at the laptop screen. Crimson had a page with Google search results open. As my eyes skimmed the headlines, I realized that he'd been googling himself.
Instantly, my cheeks flushed. If I hadn't been so distracted he could have asked me about these things instead of turning to Google.
"There isn't a lot about me on the Internet," he said when he noticed that I was looking.
I shrugged. "You were never really into social media. I think you had a Twitter account once, but you deleted it after a week or two. You told me you wanted to follow some sci-fi actors, but then you lost interest."
"I see."
"Do you remember what Twitter is?"
"Not really. It sounds familiar. I'm guessing it's some sort of social media platform."
"It's a cesspool, for the most part." I played with the pen in my hand, twirling it, as I wondered what Crimson might want to know about his past that I hadn't mentioned yet. "If you have any questions, you can always ask me, you know?"
"I didn't want to bother you."
I let the pen drop. "You're not bothering me." Moving my chair, I inched a little closer to him. "You realize the only reason I'm so obsessed with this is because I can't lose you again, right?" I spoke the words quickly enough I didn't have time to worry about how cheesy they sounded. And then, immediately after I finished speaking, I pulled my phone out to distract myself--and him--from my words. "If you want to see pictures, I have pictures. Look. This is from when we went to Comic Con."
"Why are we dressed like that?"
"Because we're superheroes. It's called cosplay. Look at all the people in the background." I pointed at the many people in costume going about their business behind us. I swiped to the next picture. "Oh, this is from our last gaming session at Carly's place. We slaughtered that white dragon and ordered pizza to celebrate." I glanced at Crimson, curious if any of this was tugging at his memory. His expression was pretty neutral, though. I might as well have been showing him a stranger's photo album.
"I guess you wouldn't have any pictures of my family, would you?" he asked.
"Uh..." I scratched my chin. "Not really. Sorry. I think I got your brother on Facebook, though." I reached over to the laptop. My arm rubbed Crimson's as I did so. He drew back. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing," he said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Was that just my imagination or was he shifting away from me in his seat? I swallowed. Was it possible that the more he accepted his new life as vampire, the less interest he had in me? It was Damian who'd had a crush on me. Maybe to Crimson, those feelings were nothing but the remnants of a distant past.
The thought was a lot more upsetting than I wanted to admit, even to myself. The idea that he might not want to touch me anymore, that he might not want to kiss me anymore...that his feelings for me were in the past...
I couldn't linger on those thoughts. I had my friend back. That had to be enough, no matter where else our relationship might or might not go. Itwouldhave been enough, just a few days ago. I was supposed to be straight.
Now I wasn’t sure what I was anymore.
