It wasn’t that he was shy. Jordan just believed in action instead of words. He had gotten straight A’s in school. He didn’t see what the big fuss was. His dad had told him that as long as he kept up his grades, he wasn’t too worried about Jordan’s preference for silence.
The remainder of the ride was quiet. Bailey kept his head turned, staring out the window as Jordan drove. He knew he couldn’t be his usual quiet self if he was going to win Bailey over. The man was held up inside of himself, perfectly content in keeping the world at bay—or at least other men.
“Do you like breakfast?”
Bailey glanced at him, his brows pulled down. “Yeah,” he answered cautiously.
“I was going to head to the diner in the morning. Want to join me?”
Bailey’s sage-green eyes roamed over Jordan’s face for a long second. “That probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”
Jordan was clueless on how to get his mate to spend just a small amount of time with him. It was like trying to pull teeth from a lion with a toothpick. “You don’t believe in making new friends?”
“Are we friends, Jordan?”
“I would like to think so.”
“Even after I acted like an ass last night?”
At least the guy admitted he had acted pissy. “Water under the bridge.” Jordan could feel the tension coming from his mate. Bailey was afraid to open up. “We can try again.”
His mate didn’t say anything as Jordan finally pulled into Bailey’s driveway. The human opened the door and Jordan thought the guy was going to shoot him down again. But before he closed the door, Bailey turned toward him. “Thanks for the ride,” he hesitated. “Breakfast would be nice.”
Jordan inwardly breathed out a sigh of relief. It was just breakfast, but he at least had his foot in the door now. “Pick you up at seven?”
Bailey nodded before closing the door and heading toward his house. Jordan watched his mate’s ass as Bailey climbed the steps. And what a nice ass it was. Jordan smiled to himself as he thought about having Bailey naked, writhing beneath him as he fucked the man until Bailey was shouting his name.
He pulled from the driveway before Bailey caught him ogling his backside. Just as he pulled onto the road, Jordan spotted something moving in his mate’s backyard. It could have been Bailey, but Jordan didn’t think—his stomach dropped when he saw the glow of red.
Vampire!
Jordan shoved the truck into park and jumped out, racing toward the creature. What in the hell was a vampire doing in Bailey’s backyard? He knew rogues wandered these parts. Running across an occasion rogue wasn’t a surprise. Jordan was just frustrated that the damn thing was wandering around Bailey’s backyard.
He came up short when he rounded the house, his eyes scanning the darkened area. Now that he was closer, Jordan could scent the vampire. He just didn’t know where the thing had gone.
Moving closer to the back door, Jordan kept his senses wide open. His panther yowled softly, menacingly at the thought of Bailey being in any sort of danger. Jordan slowly turned his head, his eyes taking in every aspect of his mate’s backyard.
A twig snapped behind him. Jordan spun around just as the vampire attacked. He was knocked onto his back, but Jordan used the momentum, kicking the vampire clear of him. Rolling to his feet, Jordan slammed his body into the vampire’s, narrowly avoiding his sharp fangs as the creature tried to take a bite out of him.
He cursed when his foot got caught in a divot of grass, sending him onto his ass. Jordan threw his arms up, staving off the vampire as he kicked out. They rolled, Jordan landing on top. He going to teach the creature about wandering around these parts so close to Bailey’s home.
His claws elongated and Jordan dug them into the vampire’s throat, ripping blood and tissue from bone. The creature gurgled and then fell silent. Jordan pushed to his feet, exhausted. The vampire hadn’t gone down easy.
His head snapped around when he heard a quick inhale of breath. Bailey was standing in the doorway, his face ashen. When Jordan locked eyes with him, Bailey slammed the door shut. He had seen the horror and panic in his mate’s sage-green eyes.
Shit. Bailey was probably in there right now calling the cops. Jordan needed to get a hold of the alpha before this got out of control. He wiped the blood from his hand onto his jeans before grabbing his cell phone.
He knew he had just fucked himself as far as Bailey was concerned. His job of getting close to the guy had just gotten that much harder.
“Maverick.”
“This is Jordan Sommers, Mark’s new mechanic. I just killed a vampire in my mate’s backyard. I think he’s inside calling the cops right now.” He quickly gave the alpha Bailey’s address.
“Rogue?”
Jordan wiped the back of his hand across his forehead as he gazed down at the dead vampire. “I’m pretty sure. I dropped Bailey off and was getting ready to leave when I saw the vampire in the backyard. He attacked me from behind.”
“I’ll intercept the phone call to the cops. One of my sentries will be there shortly to get rid of the body.” Maverick cleared his throat. “There’s nothing I can do about what Bailey saw. You’ll have to work that out with your mate.”
Jordan had heard how hyperaware the alpha was when it came to his town and what happened in it. He shouldn’t have been surprised that Maverick knew about him and Bailey. “Easier said than done.”
“Always is,” Maverick said before he hung up.
Taking a seat on the back step, Jordan wondered how he was going to explain this to Bailey.
