Shit, this was a bad idea. A very bad idea.
“What the hell was that about?” Violet screams in my ear. Even this close, she has to raise her voice in order for me to hear her.
“What?” I turn towards her in confusion, surprised to see jealousy swarming in her gaze.
“Did you fuck that guy?” she queries, and my eyes widen comically.
“Huh?”
“Paul? Did you fuck him?”
I think back to the earlier days of school. My numb days. For the longest time, I thought there was something wrong with me. I would seek out “pleasure” any way I knew how, but nothing worked. Girls, boys…it was all the same to me. I couldn’t get hard to save my fucking life. I even went so far as to ask Mikey, Merlin’s son, for solutions. I’ve never actually fucked a person, but I have engaged in sexual activities with members of both sexes. I wouldn’t be able to tell you what they looked like, let alone what their names were. So Paul? There’s a very real possibility I gave him a hand job and he attempted to give me one.
“Are you…jealous?” I ask in amazement, staring at the tiny blonde temptress before me. What in the world does she have to be jealous over? Does she not know yet that she’s my stars and my moon? My sun? My entire world?
“It’s stupid.” Flames engulf both of her cheeks as she ducks her head. “Come on. Let’s get something to drink.”
“Wait…” I pull at her arm gently, and she immediately spins until she’s back in my embrace. I settle my hands on her thin waist as she wraps her arms around my neck. “Talk to me.”
“It’s just that…” She leans forward until her lips are against my throat. My breath hitches at her close proximity. All I can smell is her; all I can feel is her. In that moment, the rest of the world doesn’t exist, my entire focus centered solely on the blonde vampire in my arms. “I thought you were a virgin. I thought I could be… Fuck, it’s really stupid. Don’t listen to me. I think it’s the whole ‘mate’ talk thing.”
My heart skips a beat at hearing her so candidly address the mate bond. For the last few weeks, she has regarded it like an elusive entity. A ghost, almost. In her mind, if she doesn’t acknowledge it, then it doesn’t exist. She failed to realize that it’s constantly lurking just above her shoulder, waiting for the correct time to pounce.
“I am.” I press my face to the top of her head and inhale her spicy scent. She must be wearing a new perfume. It reminds me vaguely of rose gardens and cinnamon. “A virgin, I mean. I am one.” My arms tighten imperceptibly around her as I lower my lips to her ear. “And I am your mate. You might not want to admit it yet, but I know it as surely as I know I’m a monster, an experiment. And, yours.” Her breath catches as I begin to sway us back and forth, right there in the middle of the walkway. “I don’t have a heart. Not technically.” I grip her hand and place it between our bodies, directly over my chest. “The thing you feel…the thing that beats…it’s not real. It’s an illusion, a machine. Something Frankenstein put inside of me to make me feel more…human. But if you rip it out of me, it won’t kill me, as you have seen firsthand.” She shudders delicately at the memory before tilting her head back up. “But losing you would kill me, because in the short time I have known you, you have become my heart.” I take another deep breath as we continue to sway.
“I’m nothing but an illusion, Violet. I’m nothing but parts and wires and spells. I don’t technically have a heart, but that’s only proof that the heart doesn’t dictate who you can and can’t love. That responsibility is for the brain alone. That was the one thing my bastard father actually gave me. It’s yours, if you want it. I can’t give you the world like the others. I can’t lasso the moon for you. But I can give you the one thing I once treasured above all else—my mind. It’s the only real thing inside of me, and it tells me repeatedly that I was made for you. I can’t give you everything, but I can give you that. It’s the only true thing I have.”
Her lips hover over mine as her pupils dilate. All I would need to do is lean forward an inch…
A body jostles me from behind, effectively breaking the moment. Violet takes a step away from me, focusing intently on a button on my dress shirt. Fuck, I almost thought…
Would it be crazy to say I almost thought she was going to kiss me?
“Come on!” I yell into her ear, guiding her towards the bar. “Let me get you something to drink.”
I don’t come here often—read as, at all—but the bartender is an old client of mine. I’d concocted a potion designed to make people fall out of love. He was still hung up on his ex, but she was engaged to marry a different guy. Normally, I don’t create potions that impact emotions, but he was a special case.
“Frankie, my man!” he says enthusiastically as soon as I step up to the counter. He slaps me on the shoulder as I awkwardly stand there, shuffling from side to side.
“Um…”
Fuck, what is his name again?
Before I can make an ass of myself, Violet sidles up beside me and smiles at the bartender.
“Hi, I’m Violet, Frankie’s date. And you are…?”
Thank the lord.
“Benji,” he introduces, extending a hand. I can’t help but notice the way his eyes light up when he stares at her, as if she’s a tasty morsel he wants to devour. I suddenly understand Violet’s reaction
