Page 31 of Shut Up and Bite Me

Well, I was really hoping she would have an easy explanation. But of course it wouldn’t be simple when it comes to Greyson. To be honest, it’s been weird from the start.

“What does that mean, then?” I ask her, walking over the counter she’s resting against, trailing my finger along the marble top.

“I can ask around, see if anyone’s heard of it or something like it,” she offers, and I open myself up to her senses, biting my tongue hard when all I feel from her is concern.

“What is your gut telling you?” I ask her. “Your instinct is powerful, Autumn. Don’t shy away from it.”

She hesitates, holding my stare intently before taking a deep breath. “You’re connected to him somehow, in a way I don’t understand. But I can’t help but feel wary of it. Whatever it is, I can sense power lurking beneath the surface.” She holds my stare before chuckling. “I probably sound insane.”

Still tapped into her emotions, I sense the genuineness in her words and the lie in her dismissal.

My chest is winding up, my breaths getting stuck in the twists and turns. “I don’t think you ever sound insane.”

This entire arrangement is dangerous enough for Greyson, let alone whatever the hell is happening now. I bought him in the auction because I was selfish and couldn’t stand the thought of another vamp’s fangs in him. Now, all I’ve done is leave my mark on him in some unknown way.

Is that my curse? Getting the humans I like killed?

I’m torn between telling her about the first time Greyson and I met and keeping it a secret for a while longer. I didn’t think too much of it at the time. But the fact that his words demanded to be noticed by me without effort should have been impossible. I’ve never had that happen before. He overrode the walls I keep up.

“Do you know something else that you’re not telling me?” Autumn murmurs, pulling me from the internal debate as she eyes me cautiously.

Opening my senses further, I don’t feel anyone else in the vicinity. We’re alone. “Maybe. I don’t know if it would even be helpful.”

She matches my secretive tone. “More information can’t hurt anything.”

“It’s hard to explain.” I pause, trying to think of something she could relate to, and it dawns on me. “I imagine when you sense energies, you open yourself up to it. Like a window. Would you say that’s correct?”

She nods. “Yeah, like opening a part of myself to allow the energy to flow through me.”

“The same goes for me with reading emotions and tapping into my hyper-hearing. Ever since I’ve learned how to control it, I have to engage that sense inside of me for it to work.” I pause, taking a slow, steady breath. “Except for the night I met Greyson.”

She listens to me intently, her green gaze boring into me as I continue. “Some friends and I went to a club in town, and almost immediately after I entered the place, I heard his voice so clearly, as if he were standing right next to me.”

“Okay?” she questions softly.

“My hyper-hearing wasn’t engaged, and he was nowhere in sight. His voice invaded me, and I had no choice but to listen.”

The wheels begin turning behind her gaze. “Only his?”

“Yes.”

Her brows furrow. “Initially, I assumed that the connection would have begun after you started feeding, but at that point, you had never bitten him, right?”

“No, I didn’t even know him.”

She jots down a few notes. “Was there anything else weird? The smallest details could help.”

“Aside from me thinking he’s insanely hot? No. But he’s attractive as hell, so I can’t fathom that’s a paranormal thing, more so a Vivian and Greyson thing.” I chuckle.

She grins at my laugh before asking, “You’re okay with me talking to some people about this? I’ll leave your names out, of course.”

“Yeah, please do. I need to make sure that after—” I swallow hard and continue. “—our time is over; he will be safe on his own.”

She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, her eyes squinting as she studies me. “You like him. Like genuinely really like him.”

“Oh, stop that.” I shoo her nosiness away.

“You didn’t deny it.” She gasps, my name a breathy exhale. “Vivian.”

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