Page 29 of By the Pint

“How did he become telepathic?” Holly asked.

“From what I could see in his memories, he was born with it.”

Joey reached forward and placed her empty bottle on the coffee table. “Oh, so he saw into your—”

“No, I pulled up a barrier. All he saw was my love of quilts.”

Goldie barked his laughter. “And he still fucked you? Alright, fair play.”

Holly nestled her hand on the top of mine. “I’m guessing he’s grown up since then. This was what, like, ten, fifteen years ago? He’s probably changed.”

I pursed my lips together to stop my mirth. “Actually, he’s still exactly the same. A big giant baby, as Goldie so eloquently put it.” Goldie did a mock bow. “But … with me, he was different. He was sweet.”

And unsure, and awestruck, and confused, and happy, and surprised to be happy, and just all round adorable.

Joey and Holly both “Awwwed.”

“You gonna see him again?” asked Holly.

“He gave him a fake name,” said Joey, as Goldie said, “He’s human.”

“Oi,” said both the women in unison. Joey dug her elbow into Goldie’s bicep and Holly leaned over Joey to flick her boyfriend on the forehead.

I leant back on the sofa and let out an affected sigh. I didn’t breathe, but it seemed appropriate given the circumstances. The TV continued to play, and I continued to watch the sweaty, jersey-clad Casey zooming backwards and forwards. He never cracked a smile. Didn’t seem like he was capable.

I would have loved to see him again, in real life. Be held by those perfect strong arms. Thumb that little furrow between his brows. Kiss those bowed lips. It was easy around him. I didn’t have to try, didn’t have to keep deflecting his intrusive thoughts because … they were about me, mostly. About getting my clothes off, sure, but also about me in general. He wanted to know more about me, and not just why he couldn’t access my thoughts. He was curious about me, about my un-life, things that I liked, where I lived, whether I was thinking of him, too. I had been. Was constantly.

If he figured out I was a telepath — if he opened my book and found my surprise — I guessed I’d see him again. And if not, well, it was another happy memory to add to the jar.

“Number sixteen’s pretty tasty, too,” said Joey, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Excuse me, you’re not objectifying the wingball players, are you?” said Goldie. “Also, you’re married to one of my best friends.”

“You’ve seen my husband. He has nothing to worry about,” she replied with all the confidence of someone who was one-hundred-percent accurate.

True, Goldie thought. He leant over Joey, furrowed his brow.You okay, D?

“You’re right. We shouldn’t be ogling them like this. If it was the other way round, we’d be … very cross,” Holly added, not aware her boyfriend’s attention had shifted away from the screen.

Joey lowered her voice to a whisper so that only Holly could hear, forgetting that Goldie and I were both mythics and could have heard even if she’d been in the next room. “But look at number sixteen’s thighs.”

“They are very nice thighs,” Holly whispered back, pretending this had been the first moment her eyes were drawn there.

Ignoring the women, I lifted a shoulder to answer Goldie’s question.I don’t know.

Goldie nodded. We’d spoken before about, well, about everything. My chronic loneliness, being a mind reader, being a vampire. Goldie had mated with a human. He’d accidentally invoked some archaic fae love magic, meaning Holly took a cut of his improbably long lifespan. But with immortality, it was different. In theory, there was no ‘end’. And humans lived for eighty, ninety, a hundred years, on average.

Casey wouldn’t even have another fifty human years. He was chasing the immortality high. He wanted to live forever. Which was … whatever, to each their own, I guessed. But the reality was once a human, or any species, had been turned into a vampire, all their previous memories, everything that made themthem, would be wiped from their mind.

So once Casey became immortal, he would no longer be Casey.

He would be just another cookie cutter bloodsucker. Black hair, grey skin, red eyes. Nocturnal, bloodthirsty, horny, sedentary. No longer the angry wingball guy, or the hot gym guy, or the no-nonsense, suit-wearing business guy, or the sweet-underneath-it-all guy.

I didn’t even let myself think about how his telepathy would affect his life after un-death. That was a-whole-nother can of worms. One he had no idea about.

Goldie studied me.Just try not to fall in love with him.

Honestly,I replied. It might be too late for that.

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