Page 29 of Pucking Vamps

Pouting at myself, I go for a soak in the bath in hopes it will help me relax. It does, but the effects wear out quickly, my frustration returning before I’ve had the chance to fall asleep so I can make up for the previous nights of endless tossing and turning. Seeing as rest won’t be happening anytime soon, I go downstairs with my textbook so I can make my insomnia productive.

That doesn’t work out as planned. An hour or so in, I hang my head back from the cushiony couch in Leander’s lounge that I’ve claimed for my sad study session. I feel dejected and I can’t even be bothered to pretend I don’t know why. I’m still hung up on the whole thing about him being away without telling me about it like a normal human would have.

Leander is technically not human, so does common human sense even apply to him?

Okay, but still. It’s not that hard to let those you live with know you will be away. Besides, we are missing out on sex and fake dating practice! Yes, that’s totally why I am pissed. I miss his magic cock, not his beautiful smile or his pleasant voice. I may also have secretly been planning to ask him on a fake date, for research purposes of course, so we can test out how we vibe with each other in public.

It’s all gone out the window now. I’ve no idea when he’s even coming back or if it will be before his fancy ball. But, I mean, our deal is for me to go as his date. Whether the rest buy it or not is not my problem, right?

“Mr. Johnson.”

I jump in my seat, almost dropping my laptop. “Jesus, Montgomery! You scared me, man!”

“My apologies, Mr. Johnson. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Please, just call me Hayden. Mr. Johnson sounds weird. It’s like I’m some important bigshot.”

“You are Leander’s guest. That makes you important,” he counters matter-of-factly, dipping his head slightly.

“Yeah, sure. But please, call me Hayden.”

“Very well then. Hayden, please follow me to the conference room.”

The conference room? “What? Why?”

Montgomery offers me a small smile. “Leander would like to speak with you. I’ve patched him through.”

Oh, now he calls? About fucking time after leaving me hanging for almost a week!

I practically sprint after Montgomery to catch up, following him to the third floor where a massive room with a round table, a skylight and floor-to-ceiling windows houses a top-of-the-line home cinema system. The screen is on, showing Leander in a room similar to this one. He has his back to me, leaning on the sill of an open window with scarlet drapes. It’s nighttime where he is.

“Leander,” I say, letting my bite and indignation show.

He spins around, the camera zooming in on his upper body. He’s wearing a black shirt with glitter, his eyes outlined in red eyeliner and his hair slicked back with gel. He looks fucking delicious.

“Hayden. I apologize for not calling you earlier. I had to deal with a newly turned vampire going rogue. It was an emergency.” He walks over to the camera and drapes himself across an armchair. Despite his striking features, he looks tired, like he’s not slept in ages. “Things almost got out of hand. I was negotiating with the local authorities until just now.” He sighs, leaning back into the chair.

My irritation kind of evaporates. He didn’t call because he was too busy trying to keep the vampire secret secret while I was being a whiny little drama queen. Oops.

“It’s all sorted now?” I ask, softening my voice.

“Yes. She’s been detained and will remain under supervision until she can control her feeding urges.”

We’ve not talked a lot about vampires, haven’t really had the time. But I want to know. I have a million questions I want to ask him. “Is that normal? With… new vampires?”

“It happens sometimes. Not always.” His eyes flutter closed. “But let’s not talk about this. How has practice been? I heard you’ve been behaving for the most part.”

I raise an eyebrow, leaning into the camera. “Montgomery?”

“Perhaps.”

“You know then.” I shrug, waving him off. “When are you coming back?”

The words tumble out of me before I’ve realized what I am saying. Leander snaps his eyes open, directing that mesmerizing green right at me. It’s not as potent as it is in real life, and that makes me miss it even more.

It’s just… I know we’ve only known each other for like a total of three days before he left to take care of his vampire problem, but I really wanted to hang out with him more. To chat, maybe to get him to play the guitar for me again. To hear him praise me for acting like an adult at practice, even if it doesn’t lead to mind-blowing sex.

Instead, I got the rug pulled out from under my feet and it wasn’t even intentional or his fault.

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