Page 43 of House of Pawns
What’s the harm, I guess?
I shake my head at him, break off a quarter of one of the squares, and stuff it in my mouth. “How long ‘til it starts working?”
Cameron shrugs as he sets the plate on my bedside table and pulls something from his back pocket. “Probably not very long since you’ve never done edibles before. But I brought this to help pass the time.” It’s a DVD copy ofMonty Python and the Holy Grail. “You have no idea how truly epic this movie is until you watch it with my special snacks in hand.”
I shake my head and smile. “I think I may have underestimated you. You’re a bad influence.”
He smiles his biggest, cheesy grin. “But I did get you to smile. The saddest thing ever, seeing pretty girls sad.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Well, I’m not sure about the method, but thanks. I kind of needed someone to pull me out of my funk.”
“You’re welcome,” he says as he stands and crosses to the giant TV on the wall directly across from my bed. Little does he know that just to his right is a wall that opens up to reveal a hidden armory, to his left is a painting that covers a passage way and tunnel that leads outside the property.
He puts the movie in before making a giant, almost impossible to see leap, before landing back in the bed on his back beside me.
“Hey, don’t break the furniture!” I mock screech. “This bedframe is probably older than Markov!”
And he laughs hysterically. “Way older than Jasmine.”
“Certainly older than you,” I say as I lay next to him and the opening credits start. “Baby.” I nudge him in the ribs.
“Hey! I can’t help my age,” he defends as he takes the remote and starts the movie.
“Well, you won’t be the baby for much longer,” I say as I cuddle up to a pillow that’s propped up on his shoulder.
“Pending death and all that,” Cameron says as the movie begins.
“And all that,” I say quietly. “How did you die?”
Cameron reaches for another brownie and waves it around before taking another bite. “Didn’t know one could have enough pot in their system to kill themselves. Maybe it was the pills I took too.”
“You were a druggie?” I ask with a little laugh.
“Only used the good stuff,” he snickers back.
It feels good. Laughing. Smiling. Being with someone who I don’t feel like I have to manipulate to keep. Cameron is easy going. He just needs a friend, and right now I’m in desperate need of one myself.
By about the middle of the movie, we’re both laughing hysterically, and apparently very loudly, because Nial pops his head in to check on us, and we both shush him far too loudly, but that’s funny too and we both can’t stop laughing. Nial gives us a disapproving look, but shakes his head with a smile.
When the first movie is over, we pop in another. And I think we might start another, but suddenly my eyes are on the ceiling and I feel like I’m floating away. I’m not sure how many brownies I’ve eaten now, but it’s been at least two. Maybe five. Numbers are feeling a little like shimmery bubbles at the moment, prone to pop the second I grasp them.
“You ever think about how damn long you’re going to live?” I ask as I study the ceiling above my bed.
“Sometimes,” Cameron says. His voice is a lot more focused than mine.
“I have no idea how old my dad was, but he wasold,” I say with a little, quirked smile. “I mean, he had to be hundreds of years old. It’s kind of creepy when you think about it, that he was like, ancient, and he hooked up with my twenty year old mom.”
Cameron snickers. “That is pretty gnarly.”
“Yeah,” I say, licking my lips. Suddenly I’m starving. I need something salty. Like now. But my limbs feel really heavy. “So what’s the deal with you and Trinity?”
He gives a littlepshsound and shakes his head. “I’ve been in love with her ever since I joined the House, but she’s only ever looked at me like a friend. Never thought the age thing would be a factor, considering I resurrected at nineteen and she’s only sixteen, but she’s been a vampire for over forty years. I’m just the young stupid friend to her.”
“Ouch,” I say, feeling for him. “That’s hard.”
“Yeah,” he says. He reaches down and pats my leg as my stomach gives a roaring growl. “You have to feed the monster or it will only get worse. Let’s get you some food.”
“Okay,” I say, and for some reason, the way the word sounds is crazy funny to me. I burst into laughter. “Words are weird,” I snicker. I slide my legs off the bed, but put too much momentum behind it or something, cause suddenly I’m slipping to the ground.
