Page 77 of Of Blood and Smoke

I slid off the bed reluctantly. I’d been so cozy I didn't want to leave. Vaguely, I remembered being curled up in Josiah’s arms, safe and warm and wished I was still there.

“I’m at Josiah’s house upstate. What time is it?” Removing my phone from my ear, I checked. “Are you heading in to work?”

I heard mumbling in the background. It sounded like Andy. “Yeah, in a little bit. If you hadn’t answered I would’ve sent out a search party. Where’s Brett?”

Unsure how to tell my best friend he was strung up like a carcass of beef in the bowels of my boyfriend’s mansion, I said, “He’s indisposed.”

“’Indisposed’,” She repeated. “I don’t think I want to know. Are you coming to work?”

A frisson of panic fluttered through me. She wasn’t as alarmed as I’d expected, she almost sounded bored.

It was almost as if she knew. “I think so? I’m assuming I’m going to work.”

Before she could answer me, the bedroom door pushed open and Josiah’s tall, lean form walked in. He was clearly almost ready for the day, dressed in a form-fitting black button-down shirt that was so dark it seemed to suck in all the light in the room, and a pair of pressed slacks, the line in the front perfectly pressed, with a pair of gleaming black dress boots. A buckle on the shoes, right below the hem, reflected the remaining light streaming in through the window.

“Are we going to work?” I looked at him, trying to shove illicit thoughts of tearing his clothes off from my mind.

He shoved my legs open with his knee and stepped between them before he leaned over and gripped my neck, bending me to press his lips to my skin. I must’ve started panting or something, because I heard Ashley mutter something along the lines of, “No sex while you’re on the phone with me, keep your legs closed.”

Josiah chuckled, “Yes we are.”

“Tell him I said thank you for rescuing you,” she said.

I didn’t have to, he heard her. “Of course; I always will.”

How many times did he think this was going to happen? The gravity of what he’d told me about nameless, faceless people—beings, possibly coming after him filled me with dread. I swallowed it down. He’d suggested it could happen at some ambiguous time way off in the future, but I didn’t want to waste my time worrying about something that may not happen until I was an old, wrinkly senior citizen and I was sitting around waiting to die anyway.

But what if I have grandchildren and me and Ashley are pseudo-flirting with the boys in the park while we feed the pigeons and we’re having a grand old time? Would I still have to worry?

Wait—can Josiah even have kids with a human? Do I want kids?

A chill ran down my spine. I was getting way ahead of myself. Josiah promised me forever but forever was a very long time.

I pushed at Josiah and hopped off the bed. “I guess we’re coming in. I’ll see you there.” I hung up with my friend.

“What do I tell people about last night?”

Miraculously, there was suddenly a cup of coffee in Josiah’s clutches, which he handed to me. “Thanks,” I said, taking a sip of the life-giving brew.

“Get dressed,” he directed me. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t notice the things you’d think they would—and what short term memories they have. You don’t have to say anything. If anyone persists, just say there was an uninvited guest.”

“Okay,” I replied.

The dress I’d worn last night was gone, as were the shoes. It was an odd feeling, knowing someone had been in the room overnight. I’d slept unaware of someone moving around,cleaning up after us. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, no matter how convenient it may be.

Josiah left the room, and I made my way over to the closet, the lights turning on automatically as I stepped inside. I chose a black pair of pants and a flowy blouse, after digging for undergarments. Each pair of underwear and every single bra was the softest, silkiest material I could’ve imagined. It would feel like I wore nothing underneath my work attire.

Walking out of the closet, I glanced longingly at the bed. This all felt like a dream, unreal, like I had stepped through a portal. I had a great job, a literally drop-dead gorgeous boyfriend, and I was in some billion-dollar mansion deep in the woods of upstate New York.

I had a man who would, and did, kill for me.

I wanted to be more upset about Brett than I was, but I couldn’t deny the weight off my back. He never would’ve stopped holding his so-called help over my head. He never would’ve stopped harassing me or pressuring me.

But at the same time, he’d been my friend.

When I pulled up the blankets on the bed to try to straighten them out, I saw the stains. Reddish-brown smudges, the evidence of mine and Josiah’s activities. It marred the white embroidery on one of the throw pillows.

A wave of heat flushed through me.I let him drink my blood. The thought was a turn-on, letting someone else hold my life in the palm of their hands, to have the power of life and death over me.

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